git clone https://github.com/mawww/kakoune.git
cd kakoune/src
make
./kak

• Multiple selections as a central way of interacting

• Powerful selection manipulation primitives

  • Select all regex matches in current selections

  • Keep selections containing/not containing a match for a given regex

  • Split current selections with a regex

  • Text objects (paragraph, sentence, nestable blocks)

• Powerful text manipulation primitives

  • Align selections

  • Rotate selection contents

  • Case manipulation

  • Indentation

  • Piping each selection to external filter

• Client-Server architecture

  • Multiple clients on the same editing session

  • Use tmux or your X11 window manager to manage windows

• Simple interaction with external programs

• Automatic contextual help

• Automatic as you type completion

• Macros

• Hooks

• Syntax Highlighting

  • Supports multiple languages in the same buffer

  • Highlight a buffer differently in different windows

Kakoune dependencies are:

• A C++11 compliant compiler (GCC >= 5 or clang >= 3.4) along with its associated C++ standard library (libstdc++ or libc++)

• boost (>= 1.50)

• ncurses with wide-characters support (>= 5.3, generally referred to as libncursesw)

• asciidoc (for the a2k tool), to generate man pages

To build, just type make in the src directory. To generate man pages, type make doc in the src directory.

Kakoune can be built on Linux, MacOS, and Cygwin. Due to Kakoune relying heavily on being in a Unix-like environment, no native Windows version is planned.

In order to install kak on your system, rather than running it directly from its source directory, type make install, you can specify the PREFIX and DESTDIR if needed.

Just running kak launch a new kak session with a client on local terminal. kak accepts some switches:

• -c <session>: connect to given session, sessions are unix sockets /tmp/kakoune/<user>/<session>, <user>/<session> can be used as well to connect to another user’s session, provided the socket permissions have been changed to allow it.

• -e <commands>: execute commands on startup

• -n: ignore kakrc file

• -s <session>: set the session name, by default it will be the pid of the initial kak process.

• -d: run Kakoune in daemon mode, without user interface. This requires the session name to be specified with -s. In this mode, the Kakoune server will keep running even if there is no connected client, and will quit when receiving SIGTERM.

• -p <session>: read stdin, and then send its content to the given session acting as a remote control.

• -f <keys>: Work as a filter, read every file given on the command line and stdin if piped in, and apply given keys on each.

• -ui <userinterface>: use given user interface, <userinterface> can be

  • ncurses: default terminal user interface

  • dummy: empty user interface not displaying anything

  • json: json-rpc based user interface that writes json on stdout and read keystrokes as json on stdin.

• -l: list existing sessions, and check the dead ones

• -clear: clear dead session’s socket files

• -ro: prevent modifications to all buffers from being saved to disk

• +line[:column]: specify a target line and column for the first file

The main concept in Kakoune is the selection. A selection is an inclusive, directed range of character. A selection has two ends, the anchor and the cursor.

There is always at least one selection, and a selection is always at least one character (in which case the anchor and cursor of the selections are on the same character).

In normal mode, keys are not inserted directly inside the buffer, but are editing commands. These commands provide ways to manipulate either the selections themselves, or the selected text.

When entering insert mode, keys are now directly inserted before each selection’s cursor. Some additional keys are recognised in insert mode:

• <esc>: leave insert mode

• <backspace>: delete characters before cursors

• <del>: delete characters under cursors

• <left>, <right>, <up>, <down>: move the cursors in given direction

• <home>: move cursors to line begin

• <end>: move cursors to end of line

• <c-n>: select next completion candidate

• <c-p>: select previous completion candidate

• <c-x>: explicit insert completion query, followed by:

  • f: explicit file completion

  • w: explicit word completion

  • l: explicit line completion

• <c-o>: disable automatic completion for this insert session

• <c-r>: insert contents of the register given by next key

• <c-v>: insert next keystroke directly into the buffer, without interpreting it.

• <c-u>: commit changes up to now as a single undo group.

• <a-;>: escape to normal mode for a single command

• h: select the character on the left of selection end

• j: select the character below the selection end

• k: select the character above the selection end

• l: select the character on the right of selection end

• w: select the word and following whitespaces on the right of selection end

• b: select preceding whitespaces and the word on the left of selection end

• e: select preceding whitespaces and the word on the right of selection end

• <a-[wbe]>: same as [wbe] but select WORD instead of word

• f: select to the next occurence of given character

• t: select until the next occurence of given character

• <a-[ft]>: same as [ft] but in the other direction

• m: select to matching character

• M: extend selection to matching character

• x: select line on which selection end lies (or next line when end lies on an end-of-line)

• X: similar to x, except the current selection is extended

• <a-x>: expand selections to contain full lines (including end-of-lines)

• <a-X>: trim selections to only contain full lines (not including last end-of-line)

• %: select whole buffer

• <a-h>: select to line begin

• <a-l>: select to line end

• /: search (select next match)

• <a-/>: search (select previous match)

• ?: search (extend to next match)

• <a-?>: search (extend to previous match)

• n: select next match

• N: add a new selection with next match

• <a-n>: select previous match

• <a-N>: add a new selection with previous match

• pageup: scroll up

• pagedown: scroll down

• ': rotate selections (the main selection becomes the next one)

• <a-'>: rotate selections backwards

• ;: reduce selections to their cursor

• <a-;>: flip the selections' direction

• <a-:>: ensure selections are in forward direction (cursor after anchor)

• <a-.>: repeat last object or f/t selection command.

A word is a sequence of alphanumeric characters or underscore, a WORD is a sequence of non whitespace characters.

for most selection commands, using shift permits extending current selection instead of replacing it. for example, wWW selects 3 consecutive words

Most selection commands also support counts, which are entered before the command itself.

For example, 3W selects 3 consecutive words and 3w select the third word on the right of selection end.

Any normal mode command can be prefixed with \ which will disable hook execution for the duration for the command (including the duration of modes the command could move to, so \i will disable hooks for the whole insert session).

As autoindentation is implemented in terms of hooks, this can be used to disable it when pasting text.

• i: enter insert mode before current selection

• a: enter insert mode after current selection

• d: yank and delete current selection

• c: yank and delete current selection and enter insert mode

• .: repeat last insert mode change (i, a, or c, including the inserted text)

• I: enter insert mode at current selection begin line start

• A: enter insert mode at current selection end line end

• o: enter insert mode in one (or given count) new lines below current selection end

• O: enter insert mode in one (or given count) new lines above current selection begin

• y: yank selections

• p: paste after current selection end

• P: paste before current selection begin

• <a-p>: paste all after current selection end, and select each pasted string.

• <a-P>: paste all before current selection begin, and select each pasted string.

• R: replace current selection with yanked text

• r: replace each character with the next entered one

• <a-j>: join selected lines

• <a-J>: join selected lines and select spaces inserted in place of line breaks

• <a-m>: merge contiguous selections together (works across lines as well)

• <gt> (>): indent selected lines

• <a-gt>: indent selected lines, including empty lines

• <lt> (<): deindent selected lines

• <a-lt>: deindent selected lines, do not remove incomplete indent (3 leading spaces when indent is 4)

• |: pipe each selection through the given external filter program and replace the selection with it’s output.

• <a-|>: pipe each selection through the given external filter program and ignore its output

• !: insert command output before selection

• a-!: append command output after selection

• u: undo last change

• a-u: move backward in history

• U: redo last change

• a-U: move forward in history

• &: align selection, align the cursor of selections by inserting spaces before the first character of the selection

• <a-&>: copy indent, copy the indentation of the main selection (or the count one if a count is given) to all other ones

• `: to lower case

• ~: to upper case

• <a->`: swap case

• @: convert tabs to spaces in current selections, uses the buffer tabstop option or the count parameter for tabstop.

• <a-@>: convert spaces to tabs in current selections, uses the buffer tabstop option or the count parameter for tabstop.

• <a-">: rotate selections content, if specified, the count groups selections, so 3<a-"> rotate (1, 2, 3) and (3, 4, 6) independently.

Commands beginning with g are used to goto certain position and or buffer:

• gh: select to line begin

• gl: select to line end

• gi: select to line begin (non blank)

• gg, gk: go to the first line

• gj: go to the last line

• ge: go to last char of last line

• gt: go to the first displayed line

• gc: go to the middle displayed line

• gb: go to the last displayed line

• ga: go to the previous (alternate) buffer

• gf: open the file whose name is selected

• g.: go to last buffer modification position

If a count is given prior to hitting g, g will jump to the given line. Using G will extend the selection rather than jump.

Some commands, all beginning with v permit to manipulate the current view.

• vv or vc: center the main selection in the window

• vt: scroll to put the main selection on the top line of the window

• vb: scroll to put the main selection on the bottom line of the window

• vh: scroll the window count columns left

• vj: scroll the window count line downward

• vk: scroll the window count line upward

• vl: scroll the window count columns right

Using V will lock view mode until <esc> is hit

Current selections position can be saved in a register and restored later on. By default, marks use the '^' register, but using the register can be set using "<reg> prefix.

Z will save the current selections to the register. <a-Z> will append the current selections to the register. z will restore the selections from the register. <a-z> will add the selections from the register to the existing ones.

Some commands, like the goto commands, buffer switch or search commands, push the previous selections to the client’s jump list. It is possible to forward or backward in the jump list using:

• <c-i>: Jump forward

• <c-o>: Jump backward

• <c-s>: save current selections

Kak was designed from the start to handle multiple selections. One way to get a multiselection is via the s key.

For example, to change all occurrences of word 'roger' to word 'marcel' in a paragraph, here is what can be done:

• select the paragraph with enough x

• press s and enter roger, then enter

• now paragraph selection was replaced with multiselection of each roger in the paragraph

• press c and marcel<esc> to replace rogers with marcels

A multiselection can also be obtained with S, which splits the current selection according to the regex entered. To split a comma separated list, use S then ', *'

The regex syntax supported by Kakoune is the Perl one and is described here Regex syntax.

s and S share the search pattern with /, and hence entering an empty pattern uses the last one.

As a convenience, <a-s> allows you to split the current selections on line boundaries.

To clear multiple selections, use space. To keep only the nth selection use n followed by space, in order to remove a selection, use <a-space>.

<a-k> allows you to enter a regex and keep only the selections that contains a match for this regex. Using <a-K> you can keep the selections not containing a match.

C copies the current selection to the next line (or lines if a count is given) <a-C> does the same to previous lines.

$ allows you to enter a shell command and pipe each selection to it. Selections whose shell command returns 0 will be kept, other will be dropped.

Some keys allow you to select a text object:

• <a-a>: selects the whole object

• <a-i>: selects the inner object, that is the object excluding its surrounder. For example, for a quoted string, this will not select the quote, and for a word this will not select trailing spaces.

• [: selects to object start

• ]: selects to object end

• {: extends selections to object start

• }: extends selections to object end

After this key, you need to enter a second key in order to specify which object you want.

• b, ( or ): select the enclosing parenthesis

• B, { or }: select the enclosing {} block

• r, [ or ]: select the enclosing [] block

• a, < or >: select the enclosing <> block

• " or Q: select the enclosing double quoted string

• ' or q: select the enclosing single quoted string

• ` or g: select the enclosing grave quoted string

• w: select the whole word

• W: select the whole WORD

• s: select the sentence

• p: select the paragraph

• ␣: select the whitespaces

• i: select the current indentation block

• n: select the number

• u: select the argument

• :: select user defined object, will prompt for open and close text.

For nestable objects, a count can be used in order to specify which surrounding level to select.

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 is 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 its name if filename is not given. If the file is write-protected, its permissions are temporarily changed to allow saving the buffer and restored afterwards when the write! command is used.

• 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, use kill! to ignore unsaved buffers

• 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>

• 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>

  • -debug: print the given text to the *debug* buffer

• nop: does nothing, but as with every other commands, arguments may be evaluated. So nop can be used for example to execute a shell command while being sure that it’s output will not be interpreted by kak. :%sh{ echo echo tchou } will echo tchou in Kakoune, whereas :nop %sh{ echo echo tchou } will not, but both will execute the shell command.

Multiple commands can be separated either by new lines or by semicolons, as such a semicolon must be escaped with \; to be considered as a literal semicolon argument.

When entering a command, parameters are separated by whitespace (shell like), if you want to give parameters with spaces, you should quote them.

Kakoune support three string syntax:

• 'strings': uninterpreted strings, you can use \' to escape the separator, every other char is itself.

• "strings": expanded strings, % strings (see Expansions) contained are expended. Use \% to escape a % inside them, and \\ to escape a slash.

• %{strings}: these strings are very useful when entering commands

  • the { and } delimiters are configurable: you can use any non alphanumeric character, e.g. %[string], %<string>, %(string), %~string~, %!string!.

  • if the character following the % is one of {[(<, then the closing one is the matching }])> and the delimiters are not escapable but are nestable. For example %{ roger {}; } is a valid string, %{ marcel \} as well.

If not launched with the -n switch, Kakoune will source the ../share/kak/kakrc file relative to the kak binary, which will source additional files:

If the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/autoload directory exists, load every *.kak files in it, and load recursively any subdirectory.

If it does not exist, falls back to the site wide autoload directory in ../share/kak/autoload/.

After that, if it exists, source the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/kakrc file which should be used for user configuration.

In order to continue autoloading site-wide files with a local autoload directory, just add a symbolic link to ../share/kak/autoload/ into your local autoload directory.

Kakoune ships with some color schemes that are installed to ../share/kak/colors/. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/colors/ is present the builtin command colorscheme will offer completion for those color schemes. If a scheme is duplicated in userspace, it will take precedence.

:set [global,buffer,window] <option> <value> # buffer, window, or global scope

:decl [-hidden] <type> <name> [<value>]

:face <name> <facespec>

fg_color[,bg_color][+attributes]

Registers are named lists of text. They are used for various purposes, like storing the last yanked text, or the captured groups associated with the selections.

Yanking and pasting uses the register ", however most commands using a register can have their default register overridden by using the " key followed by the register. For example "sy will yank (y command) in the s register. "sp will paste from the s register.

While in insert mode or in a prompt, <c-r> followed by a register name (one character) inserts it.

For example, <c-r> followed by " will insert the currently yanked text. <c-r> followed by 2 will insert the second capture group from the last regex selection.

Registers are lists, instead of simply text in order to interact well with multiselection. Each selection has its own captures or yank buffer.

Kakoune can record and replay a sequence of key presses.

Macros are recorded with the Q key, and are stored by default in the @ register. Another register can be chosen by with hitting "<reg> before the Q key.

To replay a macro, use the q key.

Using the * key, you can set the search pattern to the current selection. This tries to be intelligent. It will for example detect if the current selection begins and/or ends at word boundaries and set the search pattern accordingly.

With <a-*> you can set the search pattern to the current selection without Kakoune trying to be smart.

The regex syntax supported by Kakoune is the Perl syntax currently provided by Boost : Perl Regular Expression Syntax.

The :exec and :eval commands can be used for running Kakoune commands. :exec runs keys as if they were pressed, whereas :eval executes its given parameters as if they were entered in the command prompt. By default, they do their execution in the context of the current client.

These two commands also save the following registers, who are then restored when the commands have been executed: /, ", |, ^, @.

Some parameters provide a way to change the context of execution:

• -client <name>: execute in the context of the client named <name>

• -try-client <name>: execute in the context of the client named <name> if such client exists, or else in the current context.

• -draft: execute in a copy of the context of the selected client modifications to the selections or input state will not affect the client. This permits to make some modification to the buffer without modifying the user’s selection.

• -itersel (requires -draft): execute once per selection, in a context with only the considered selection. This permits avoiding cases where the selections may get merged.

• -buffer <names>: execute in the context of each buffers in the comma separated list <names>, '*' as a name can be used to iterate on all buffers.

• -no-hooks: disable hook execution while executing the keys/commands

• -with-maps: use user key mapping in :exec instead of built in keys.

• -save-regs <regs>: regs is a string of registers to be restored after execution (overwrites the list of registers saved by default)

The execution stops when the last key/command is reached, or an error is raised.

Key parameters get concatenated, so the following commands are equivalent:

Kakoune can propose completions while inserting text, the completers option controls automatic completion, which kicks in when a certain idle timeout is reached (100 milliseconds). Insert mode completion can be explicitly triggered using <c-x>, followed, by:

• f : filename completion

• w : buffer word completion

• l : buffer line completion

Completion candidates can be selected using <c-n> and <c-p>.

From insert mode, pressing <a-;> allows you to execute a single normal mode command. This provides a few advantages:

• The selections are not modified: when leaving insert mode using <esc> the selections can change, for example when insert mode was entered with a the cursor will go back one char. Or if on an end of line the cursor will go back left (if possible).

• The modes are nested: that means the normal mode can enter prompt (with :), or any other modes (using :on-key or :menu for example), and these modes will get back to the insert mode afterwards.

This feature is tailored for scripting/macros, as it provides a more predictable behaviour than leaving insert mode with <esc>, executing normal mode command and entering back insert mode (with which binding ?)

Manipulation of the displayed text is done through highlighters, which can be added or removed with the command

and

highlighter_id is a name generated by the highlighter specified with highlighter_name, possibly dependent on the parameters. Use command completion on remove-highlighter to see the existing highlighters' id.

General highlighters are:

• regex <ex> <capture_id>:<face>…​: highlight a regex, takes the regex as first parameter, followed by any number of face parameters. For example: :add-highlighter regex (\hTODO:)?[^\n] 0:cyan 1:yellow,red will highlight C++ style comments in cyan, with an eventual 'TODO:' in yellow on red background.

• dynregex: Similar to regex, but expand (like a command parameter would) the given expression before building a regex from the result.

• flag_lines <flag> <option_name>: add a column in front of text, and display the given flag in it for everly line contained in the int-list option named <option_name>.

• show_matching: highlight matching char of the character under the selections' cursor using MatchingChar face.

• show_whitespaces <-tab <separator> <-tabpad <separator> <-lf <separator> <-spc <separator> <-nbsp <separator>: display symbols on top of whitespaces to make them more explicit using the Whitespace face.

• number_lines <-relative> <-hlcursor> <-separator <separator text>: show line numbers. The -relative switch will show line numbers relative to the main cursor line, the -hlcursor switch will highlight the cursor line with a separate face. With the -separator switch one can specify a string to separate the line numbers column with the rest of the buffer, default is |.

• wrap <-word>: Soft wrap buffer content to window width, wrap at word boundaries if -word is specified.

• fill <face>: fill using given face, mostly useful with Regions highlighters

• ranges <option_name>: use the data in the range-faces option of the given name to highlight the buffer.

Commands can be registered to be executed when certain events arise. To register a hook use the hook command.

<scope> can be either global, buffer or window (or any of their prefixes). Scopes are hierarchical, meaning that a Window calling a hook will execute its own, the buffer ones and the global ones.

<command> is a string containing the commands to execute when the hook is called.

For example to automatically use line numbering with .cc files, use the following command:

If <group> is given, make this hook part of the named group. groups are used for removing hooks with the remove-hooks command:

The above remove every hooks in <scope> that are part of the given group.

Existing hooks are:

• NormalIdle: A certain duration has passed since last key was pressed in normal mode.

• NormalBegin: Entering normal mode

• NormalEnd: Leaving normal mode

• NormalKey: A key is received in normal mode, the key is used for filtering

• InsertIdle: A certain duration has passed since last key was pressed in insert mode.

• InsertBegin: Entering insert mode

• InsertEnd: Leaving insert mode

• InsertKey: A key is received in insert mode, the key is used for filtering

• InsertChar: A character is inserted in insert mode, the character is used for filtering

• InsertDelete: A character is deleted in insert mode, the character deleted by the main selection is used for filtering

• InsertMove: The cursor moved (without inserting) in insert mode, the key that triggered the move is used for filtering

• WinCreate: A window was created, the filtering text is the buffer name

• WinClose: A window was destroyed, the filtering text is the buffer name

• WinDisplay: A window was bound a client, the filtering text is the buffer name

• WinResize: A window resized, the filtering text is '<line>.<column>'

• WinSetOption: An option was set in a window context, the filtering text is '<option_name>=<new_value>'

• BufSetOption: An option was set in a buffer context, the filtering text is '<option_name>=<new_value>'

• BufNewFile: A buffer for a new file has been created, filename is used for filtering

• BufOpenFile: A buffer for an existing file has been created, filename is used for filtering

• BufCreate: A buffer has been created, filename is used for filtering

• BufWritePre: Executed just before a buffer is written, filename is used for filtering.

• BufWritePost: Executed just after a buffer is written, filename is used for filtering.

• BufClose: Executed when a buffer is deleted, while it is still valid.

• BufOpenFifo: Executed when a buffer opens a fifo.

• BufReadFifo: Executed after some data has been read from a fifo and inserted in the buffer.

• BufCloseFifo: Executed when a fifo buffer closes its fifo file descriptor either because the buffer is being deleted, or because the writing end has been closed.

• RuntimeError: an error was encountered while executing a user command the error message is used for filtering

• KakBegin: Kakoune started, this is called just after reading the user configuration files

• KakEnd: Kakoune is quitting.

• FocusIn: On supported clients, triggered when the client gets focused. The filtering text is the client name.

• FocusOut: On supported clients, triggered when the client gets unfocused. The filtering text is the client name.

• InsertCompletionShow: Triggered when the insert completion menu gets displayed.

• InsertCompletionHide: Triggered when the insert completion menu gets hidden.

• RawKey: Triggered whenever a key is pressed by the user, the key is used for filtering.

When not specified, the filtering text is an empty string.

You can redefine a key’s meaning using the map command:

scope can be one of global, buffer or window (or any prefix), mode one of insert, normal, prompt, menu or user (or any prefix), key a single key name and keys a list of keys.

user mode allows for user mapping behind the , key. Keys will be executed in normal mode.

An optional -docstring switch followed by a string can be used to describe what the mapping does. This docstring will be used in autoinfo boxes.

Mappings can be removed with the unmap command

If <expected> is specified, unmapping will only proceed if the current mapping matches the expected keys.

New commands can be defined using the :def command.

<commands> is a string containing the commands to execute.

def can also take some flags:

• -params <num>: the command accept <num> parameters, with <num> either a number, or of the form <min>..<max>, with both <min> and <max> omittable.

• -file-completion: try file completion on any parameter passed to this command

• -client-completion: try client name completion on any parameter passed to this command

• -buffer-completion: try buffer name completion on any parameter passed to this command

• -shell-completion: following string is a shell command which takes parameters as positional params and output one completion candidate per line.

• -allow-override: allow the new command to replace an existing one with the same name.

• -hidden: do not show the command in command name completions

• -docstring: define the documentation string for the command

Using shell expansion permits defining complex commands or accessing Kakoune state:

Some helper commands can be used to define composite commands:

• prompt <prompt> <command>: prompt the user for a string, when the user validates, executes <command>. The entered text is available in the text value accessible through $kak_text in shells or %val{text} in commands.

• on-key <command>: wait for next key from user, then execute <command>, the key is available through the key value, accessible through $kak_key.

• menu <label1> <commands1> <label2> <commands2>…​: display a menu using labels, the selected label’s commands are executed. menu can take a -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 <text>: display text in an information box, at can take a -anchor option, which accepts left, right and cursor as value, in order to specify where the info box should be anchored relative to the main selection.

• try <commands> catch <on_error_commands>: prevent an error in <commands> from aborting the command execution, execute <on_error_commands> instead. If nothing is to be done on error, the catch part can be ommitted.

• 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 these commands are available in interactive command mode, but are not that useful in this context.

With :alias commands can be given additional names. Aliases are scoped, so that an alias can refer to one command for a buffer, and to another for another buffer. The following command defines <alias> as an alias for <command>:

<scope> can be one of global, buffer or window.

Will remove the given alias in the given scope. If <expected> is specified the alias will only be removed if its current value is <expected>.

The :edit command can take a -fifo parameter:

In this case, a buffer named <buffername> is created which reads its content from fifo <filename>. When the fifo is written to, the buffer is automatically updated.

If the -scroll switch is specified, the initial cursor position will be made such as the window displaying the buffer will scroll as new data is read.

This is very useful for running some commands asynchronously while displaying their result in a buffer. See rc/make.kak and rc/grep.kak for examples.

When the buffer is deleted, the fifo will be closed, so any program writing to it will receive SIGPIPE. This is useful as it permits to stop the writing program when the buffer is deleted.

When a menu is displayed, you can use j, <c-n> or <tab> to select the next entry, and k, <c-p> or <shift-tab> to select the previous one.

Using the / key, you can enter some regex in order to restrict available choices to the matching ones.