194 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
194 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
kakoune(k)
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==========
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NAME
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----
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faq - a
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How to pronounce the name of the project and what does it mean ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The name of the project is pronounced "Kak-oon", and is a word taken from a
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New Caledonian dialect based on french. It means a hard blow, usually a punch,
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but generally refers to a blow into which all of one's strength went.
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Is there going to be a Windows port of Kakoune ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As many features provided by UNIX systems would be missing, or if anything
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much less efficient on a Windows system, the incentive to porting the
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project to this operating system is pretty low.
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Moreover, you can get pretty decent performance by using Kakoune on Cygwin
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(which is officially supported).
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Can you get rid of the `boost` dependency and just use std::regex ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The `boost-regex` library provides use with several features that are heavily
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relied upon across several core scripts, and a few of them are not available
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in the standard `std::regex` implementations. Therefore, until the standard
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catches up with `boost` in terms of features, the latter will remain a hard
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-mandatory- dependency.
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Kakoune is very slow on big files, what can I do about it ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The default build mode (set in the `Makefile` of the `src` directory of the
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project) is "debug", which makes it convenient to track issues but also
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affects performance. To disable the debug mode, recompile the project by
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setting the `debug` variable in `src/Makefile` to `no`.
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Note that if your distribution provides a "kakoune" package, the program should
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already be built in non-debug mode (if you still experience slowness, please
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report the issue on the bug tracker).
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Can I use Kakoune as a pager ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Kakoune can be used as a pager, either by setting the `PAGER` environment
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variable to `kak`, or by writing data directly to its standard input using a
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shell pipeline. However, since the program relies on several heavy dynamic
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libraries (`boost` being one of them), it will be slightly less practical
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than other regular pagers (such as `less` or `more`) which have a minimal
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amount of runtime dependencies.
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Are there any non-console based frontends available ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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No graphical frontend is currently officially maintained, you can however
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try experimental community-developed ones.
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Why are colors misrendered in my Kakoune clients ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The most probable cause for that is a very widespread practice that consists
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in setting the `TERM` environment variable in the shell's configuration file.
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This variable should be set by the terminal emulator, and not overridden with
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an arbitrary value, otherwise it might interfere with general UI rendering on
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the terminal's window.
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Note that if you're using `tmux`, the proper -official- way to get Kakoune to
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work is to add the following line to your `tmux` configuration file:
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`set -sg default-terminal screen-256color`
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How do I automatically indent code, as Vim does with `=` ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As `Kakoune` doesn't parse the contents of the buffers, there is no builtin
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equivalent for this Vim feature. Use a formatter/prettifier dedicated to
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the language you're using with the help of the `|` key.
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Example: `%|indent<ret>` to indent an entire buffer with C code.
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Note that some languages have a default formatter set, which you can use
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with the `:format` command.
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Can Kakoune automatically complete the parameters of my functions ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As mentioned in the above question about Vim's `=` key, Kakoune does not
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parse the contents of a buffer by itself, which makes it impossible for
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the editor to propose candidates upon completion.
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However, support for such a feature can be achieved through the use of a
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dedicated tool, as is the case with `clang` and C code: you can use the
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`clang-enable-autocomplete` and `clang-complete` builtin commands whenever
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editing a C/C++ file, and completion will work on function parameters.
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Note that the same features are available for python buffers, with the
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`jedi` script.
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Why aren't widely known command line shortcuts such as <c-w> or <c-u> available in Kakoune ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Despite their widespread availability in multiple tools, those shortcuts do
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not fit the paradigm that Kakoune implements, which is based on selections
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first.
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However, you can easily declare key mappings in your configuration file
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to be able to use those control-based shortcuts in insert mode (c.f. the
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"map" command in the "commands" documentation page).
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How can I explore the filesystem the way Vim's NerdTree does ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The builtin file completion engine used when opening a file for editing
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(using the `:edit` command and letting the suggestions popup in the menu
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beneath) is much more convenient than Vim's, which should suit basic needs.
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However, if you need an actual explorer to interact with the editor,
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you can create a Kakoune script that will spawn the tool in question,
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which should in return send an "edit" command followed by the path of the
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file you selected to the current Kakoune session (e.g. `echo "eval -client
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$kak_client edit /path/to/file" | kak -p $kak_session`).
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Why aren't there other scopes similar to `%sh{}` e.g. python ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Supporting custom scopes would add hard dependencies to the project, which
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is too much of a drawback when balanced against the low cost of using
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an interpreter in a regular shell scope (e.g. `%sh{ python -c "..." }`).
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The shell scope allows users to spawn any interpreter they want, for a minimal
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cost in terms of performance, it is therefore the reason why it's the only
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one available by default.
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Can I disable auto-indentation completely ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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All the indentation hooks are conventionally named `<lang>-indent`, which
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allows us to use the `disabled_hooks` variable to disable indentation
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globally with the following command: `set global disabled_hooks '.+-indent'`
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How to enable syntax highlighting ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The mimetype of the files opened in new buffers is detected using the
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`file` command, and syntax highlighting enabled automatically when
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possible.
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My file seems to be highlighted with the wrong colors, I thought syntax highlighting was detected automatically ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The `file` utility has several short comings, such as detecting the
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wrong mimetype for a file containing data with different syntax, e.g.
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a Python script containing hardcoded HTML templates detected as an HTML
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file.
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Kakoune does its best at detecting file types (using known extensions
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for a given format for instance), but not much can be done about those
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ambiguous cases. You might consider writing a custom `$HOME/.magic` file
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if needed.
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Can I disable syntax highlighting completely ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Similarly to the indentation hooks, the name format followed by the
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highlighting hooks is `<lang>-highlight`. You can thus disable syntax
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highlighting using the following command: `set global disabled_hooks
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'.+-highlight'`
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Why does a dot `.` in a regex select newline characters ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Data in buffers is a stream of characters, and newlines do not receive special
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treatment compared to other characters, with regards to regex matching. In
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order to select data in a line without any trailing newline characters, one could
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use the `[^\n]+` pattern, which is arguably a good compromise when
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balanced against the ability to select data over several lines.
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Can I split the window to display different buffers in them ?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As a fairly compliant follower of the UNIX philosophy, Kakoune does not
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try to implement features that are best handled by separate, dedicated
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tools. Windows splitting in terminals is a prime example of that
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concept, where the editor provides commands to interact with several
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terminal multiplexers (e.g. `tmux`), as opposed to emulating their
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functionalities.
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In order to open buffers in the same window simultaneously using `tmux`
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(or one of the supported multiplexers), run Kakoune in a `tmux` session,
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and simply use the `:new` command to spawn new clients as you would
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have otherwise in an X11 environment.
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