PRIMITIVES¶
Some commands take an exclamation mark (!), which can be
used to force the execution of the command (i.e. to quit a modified buffer,
the command q! has to be used).
cd [<directory>]
change the current directory to directory, or the
home directory if unspecified
doc <topic>
display documentation about a topic. The completion list
displays the available topics
e[dit][!] <filename> [<line>
[<column>]]
open buffer on file, go to given line and column. If file
is already opened, just switch to this file. Use edit! to force
reloading
w[rite] [<filename>]
write buffer to <filename> or use it’s name
if filename is not given
w[rite]a[ll]
write all buffers that are associated to a file
q[uit][!]
exit Kakoune, use quit! to force quitting even if there
is some unsaved buffers remaining
kill
terminate the current session, all the clients as well as
the server
w[a]q[!]
write the current buffer (or all buffers when waq
is used) and quit
b[uffer] <name>
switch to buffer <name>
b[uffer]n[ext]
switch to the next buffer
b[uffer]p[rev]
switch to the previous buffer
d[el]b[uf][!] [<name>]
delete the buffer <name>
source <filename>
execute commands in <filename>
runtime <filename>
execute commands in <filename>, <filename> is
relative to kak executable path
colorscheme <name>
load named colorscheme
rename-client <name>
set current client name
rename-buffer <name>
set current buffer name
rename-session <name>
set current session name
echo [options] <text>
show
text in status line, with the following
options:
-color <face>
print the given text with face, most commonly
Error or Information
-markup
expand the markup strings in text (c.f. the
expansions documentation page)
-debug
print the given text to the \*debug* buffer
nop
does nothing, but arguments will be evaluated (e.g. shell
expansion)
set <scope> <name> <value>
change the value of an option (c.f. the options
documentation page), note that the name of a particular buffer can be
specified when the target scope is buffer, e.g. set
buffer=/path/to/buffer foo "bar"; the scope can also take the
current special value, which will automatically point to the narrowest scope
available in the current context
unset <scope> <name>
unset the value of an option (c.f. the options
documentation page)
alias <scope> <name> <command>
define a new alias, within the context of a scope
unalias <scope> <name> [<command>]
remove an alias if its current value is the same as the
one passed as an optional parameter, remove it unconditionally otherwise
declare-option [-hidden] <type> <name>
[<value>]
declare a new option, the -hidden hides the option in
completion suggestions (c.f. the options documentation page)
face <name> <facespec>
define a face (c.f. the faces documentation
page)
exec [<flags>] <key> ...
execute a series of keys, as if they were hit (c.f. the
execeval documentation page)
eval [<flags>] <command> ...
execute commands, as if they were entered in the command
prompt (c.f. the execeval documentation page)
define-command [<flags>] <name>
<command>
define a new command (c.f. the Declaring new
commands section below)
map <scope> <mode> <key> <keys>
make
key behave as if
keys were typed. with
scope being one of
global,
buffer or
window,
mode being
insert,
normal,
prompt,
menu or
user.
*user* mode allows for user mapping behind the *,* key. Keys
will be executed in normal mode.
unmap <scope> <mode> <key>
[<expected>]
remove the mapping of key in given scope
and mode, if expected is specified, only remove the mapping it if
matches the expected keys.
hook [-group <group>] <scope> <hook_name>
<filtering_regex> <command>
execute a command whenever an event is triggered (c.f.
the hooks documentation page)
remove-hooks <scope> <group>
remove every hooks in scope that are part of the
given group (c.f. the hooks documentation page)
add-highlighter [<flags>] <highlighter_name>
<highlighter_parameters> ...
add a highlighter to the current window (c.f. the
highlighters documentation page)
remove-highlighter <highlighter_id>
remove the highlighter whose id is highlighter_id
(c.f. the highlighters documentation page)
HELPERS¶
Kakoune provides some helper commands that can be used to define
composite commands:
prompt <prompt> <command>
prompt the user for a string, when the user validates,
executes the command. The entered text is available in the text value
accessible through $kak_text in shells or %val{text} in commands.
The *-init <str>* switch allows setting initial content, the
*-password* switch hides the entered text and clears the register
after command execution.
on-key <command>
wait for next key from user, then execute
<command>, the key is available through the key value, accessible
through $kak_key in shells, or %val{key} in commands.
menu <label1> <commands1> <label2>
<commands2> ...
display a menu using labels, the selected label’s
commands are executed. menu can take an -auto-single argument, to
automatically run commands when only one choice is provided, and a
-select-cmds argument, in which case menu takes three argument per
item, the last one being a command to execute when the item is selected (but
not validated)
info [options] <text>
display text in an information box with the following
options:
-anchor <line>.<column>
print the text at the given coordinates
-placement {above,below}
set the placement relative to the anchor
-title <text>
set the title of the message box
try <commands> catch <on_error_commands>
prevent an error in commands from aborting the
whole commands execution, execute on_error_commands instead. If nothing
is to be done on error, the catch part can be omitted
reg <name> <content>
set register name to content
select
<anchor_line>.<anchor_column>,<cursor_line>.<cursor_column>:...
replace the current selections with the one described in
the argument
debug {info,buffers,options,memory,shared-strings}
print some debug information in the \*debug*
buffer
Note that those commands are also available in the interactive
mode, but are not really useful in that context.
