1KAK(1)                      General Commands Manual                     KAK(1)
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NAME

6       kak - a vim inspired, selection oriented code editor
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SYNOPSIS

10       kak -help
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13       kak -version
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16       kak -l
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19       kak -clear
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22       kak -f keys [-q] [-i] file...
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25       kak -p session_id
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28       kak  -s  session_id  -d  [-n]  [-ro]  [-E  command] [+line[:column]|+:]
29       file...
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32       kak [-c session_id|-s session_id] [-n] [-ro] [-ui ui_type] [-e command]
33       [-E command] [+line[:column]|+:] file...
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DESCRIPTION

37       Kakoune  is  a code editor heavily inspired by Vim, as such most of its
38       commands are similar to Vi's ones, and it shares Vi's "keystrokes as  a
39       text editing language" model.
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41       Kakoune  can  operate  in two modes, normal and insertion. In insertion
42       mode, keys are directly inserted into the  current  buffer.  In  normal
43       mode,  keys  are  used to manipulate the current selection and to enter
44       insertion mode.
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46       Kakoune has a strong focus  on  interactivity,  most  commands  provide
47       immediate and incremental results, while still being competitive (as in
48       keystroke count) with Vim.
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50       Kakoune works on selections, which are  oriented,  inclusive  range  of
51       characters, selections have an anchor and a cursor character. Most com‐
52       mands move both of them, except  when  extending  selection  where  the
53       anchor character stays fixed and the cursor one moves around.
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55       For  more information, use the :doc command after starting Kakoune, the
56       Kakoune wiki at https://github.com/mawww/kakoune/wiki or the main  Kak‐
57       oune web site: https://kakoune.org/
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OPTIONS

61       -help  display a help message and quit
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64       -version
65              display kakoune version and quit
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68       -n     do not load resource files on startup (kakrc, autoload, rc etc)
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71       -l     list existing sessions
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74       -d     run as a headless session (requires -s)
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77       -e command
78              execute command after the client initialization phase
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81       -E command
82              execute command after the server initialization phase
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85       -f keys
86              enter in filter mode: select the whole file, then execute keys
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89       -i suffix
90              backup  the  files  on which a filter is applied using the given
91              suffix
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94       -q     when in filter mode, don't print any errors
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97       -p session_id
98              send the commands written on the standard input to session  ses‐
99              sion_id
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102       -c session_id
103              connect to the given session
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106       -s session_id
107              set the current session name to session_id
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110       -ui type
111              select the user interface, can be one of ncurses, dummy or json
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114       -clear remove  sessions  that  terminated  in  an incorrect state (e.g.
115              after a crash)
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118       -ro    enter in readonly mode, all the buffers opened will not be writ‐
119              ten to disk
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122       +line[:column]
123              specify  a  target  line and column for the first file; when the
124              plus sign is followed by only a colon, then the cursor  is  sent
125              to the last line of the file
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128       file   one or more files to edit
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ENVIRONMENT

132       KAKOUNE_POSIX_SHELL
133              Overrides the posix shell binary path to use for %sh{...} expan‐
134              sion.
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137       KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR
138              Overrides the location of the directory containing kakoune  user
139              configuration, defaults to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak if unset.
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142       XDG_CONFIG_HOME
143              Path   to   the   user   configuration  directory,  defaults  to
144              $HOME/.config if unset.
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147       XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
148              Path to the user session sockets, defaults to $TMPDIR/kakoune if
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FILES

153       In the paths documented below, <rtdir> refers to the runtime directory,
154       whose value is determined in relation to the path to  the  kak  binary:
155       <rtdir> = <path_to_kak_binary>/../share/kak.
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157       If   not   started   with  the  -n  switch,  Kakoune  will  first  load
158       <rtdir>/kakrc, which will in turn load the following additional files:
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160              if the $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload directory exists, recursively load every
161              *.kak files in it and its sub-directories
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163              if it does not exist, fall back to the system-wide autoload directory
164              in <rtdir>/autoload, and recursively load all files in a similar way
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166              <rtdir>/kakrc.local, if it exists; this is a user-defined system-wide
167              configuration
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169              $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/kakrc, if it exists; this is the user configuration
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171       Consequently, if  the  $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload  directory  exists,
172       only scripts stored within that directory will be loaded - the built-in
173       *.kak files will not be.
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175       Users who still want to have the built-in scripts  loaded  along  their
176       own  can  create  a symbolic link to <rtdir>/autoload (or to individual
177       scripts in it) in their user-configuration directory:
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179              ln -s <rtdir>/autoload "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/kak/autoload
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EXAMPLES

183       Edit a file:
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185              kak /path/to/file
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188       Edit multiple files (multiple buffers will be created):
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190              kak ./file1.txt /path/to/file2.c
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193       Insert a modeline that sets the tabstop variable at  the  beginning  of
194       several source code files:
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196              kak -f "ggO// kak: tabstop=8<esc>" *.c
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SEE ALSO

200       vi(1), vim(1), sam(1plan9)
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204                                                                        KAK(1)
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