kak(1) - f36

1KAK(1)                    BSD General Commands Manual                   KAK(1)
2

NAME

4     kak — a vim-inspired, selection oriented code editor
5

SYNOPSIS

7     kak [-d] [-n] [-ro] [-c session_id | -s session_id] [-ui ui_type]
8         [-e command] [-E command] [+line[:column] | +:] [file ...]
9     kak -f keys [-q] [-i suffix] [file ...]
10     kak -p session_id
11     kak -l
12     kak -clear
13     kak -version
14     kak -help
15

DESCRIPTION

17     Kakoune is a code editor heavily inspired by vim(1) and vi(1).  As such,
18     most of its commands are similar to vi(1)'s, sharing its “keystrokes as a
19     text editing language” model.
20
21     Kakoune operates in two modes, normal and insertion.  In insertion mode,
22     keys are directly inserted into the current buffer.  In normal mode, keys
23     are used to manipulate the current selection and to enter insertion mode.
24
25     Kakoune has a strong focus on interactivity.  Most commands provide imme‐
26     diate and incremental results, while still being competitive in keystroke
27     count with vim.
28
29     Kakoune works on selections, which are oriented, inclusive ranges of
30     characters.  Selections have an anchor and a cursor.  Most commands move
31     both of them except when extending selection, where the anchor character
32     stays fixed and the cursor moves around.
33
34     The options are as follows:
35
36     -help   Display a help message and quit.
37
38     -version
39             Display Kakoune version and quit.
40
41     -n      Do not load the system's kakrc.  (often, /usr/share/kak/kakrc)
42
43     -l      List existing sessions.
44
45     -d      Run as a headless session (requires -s).
46
47     -e command
48             Execute command after the client initialization phase.
49
50     -E command
51             Execute command after the server initialization phase.
52
53     -f keys
54             Enter in ‘filter mode’: select the whole file, then execute keys.
55
56     -i suffix
57             Backup the files on which a filter is applied, using the given
58             suffix.
59
60     -q      When in ‘filter mode’, don't print any errors
61
62     -p session_id
63             Send the commands written on the standard input to session
64             session_id.
65
66     -c session_id
67             Connect to the given session session_id.
68
69     -s session_id
70             Set the current session name to session_id.
71
72     -ui type
73             Select the user interface type, which can be terminal, dummy, or
74             json.
75
76     -clear  Remove sessions that were terminated in an incorrect state (e.g.
77             after a crash).
78
79     -ro     Begin in readonly mode, all the buffers opened will not be writ‐
80             ten to disk.
81
82     +line[:column] | +:
83             Specify a target line and column for the first file.  When the
84             plus sign is followed by only a colon, then the cursor is sent to
85             the last line of the file.
86
87     file ...
88             One or more file(s) to edit.
89

ENVIRONMENT

91     KAKOUNE_POSIX_SHELL
92             Overrides the POSIX shell used for %sh{...} expansion, which is
93             /bin/sh (sh(1)) if unset.
94
95     KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR
96             Overrides the location of the directory containing Kakoune user
97             configuration.  If unset, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak is used.
98
99     XDG_CONFIG_HOME
100             Path to the user's configuration directory.  If unset,
101             $HOME/.config is used.
102
103     XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
104             Path to the user's session's sockets.  If unset, $TMPDIR/kakoune
105             is used.
106

FILES

108     In the paths documented below, <rtdir> refers to the runtime directory,
109     whose value is determined in relation to the path to kak's binary loca‐
110     tion: <rtdir> = <path_to_kak_binary>/../share/kak.
111
112     If not started with the -n switch, kak will first load <rtdir>/kakrc,
113     which will in turn load the following additional files:
114
115     •   If the $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload directory exists, recursively
116         load every *.kak file in it, and its sub-directories.
117
118     •   If it does not exist, fall back to the system-wide autoload directory
119         in <rtdir>/autoload, and recursively load all files in a similar way.
120
121     •   <rtdir>/kakrc.local, if it exists; this is a user-defined system-wide
122         configuration.
123
124     •   $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/kakrc, if it exists; this is the user configura‐
125         tion.
126
127     Consequently, if the $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload directory exists, only
128     scripts stored within that directory will be loaded — the built-in *.kak
129     files will not be.
130
131     Users who still want the built-in scripts to be loaded along their own
132     can create a symbolic link to <rtdir>/autoload (or to individual scripts
133     in it) in their user-configuration directory:
134
135           ln -s <rtdir>/autoload ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}
136           /kak/autoload
137

EXAMPLES

139     Edit a file:
140             kak /path/to/file
141
142     Edit multiple files (multiple buffers will be created):
143             kak ./file1.txt /path/to/file2.c
144
145     Prepend a modeline that sets the tabstop to multiple files:
146             kak -f "ggO// kak: tabstop=8<esc>" *.c
147

AUTHORS

159     Maxime Coste <frrrwww@gmail.com> and many others.
160
161BSD                              June 15, 2021                             BSD