<chapter id="fundamentals"> <chapterinfo> <authorgroup> <author><personname><firstname></firstname></personname></author> <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS --> </authorgroup> </chapterinfo> <title>The Fundamentals</title> <para> If you have ever used a text editor, you will have no problem using &kate;. In the next two sections, <link linkend="starting-kate">Starting &kate; </link> and in <link linkend="working-with-kate">Working with &kate;</link>, we will show you everything you need to get up and running quickly. </para> <sect1 id="starting-kate"> <title>Starting &kate;</title> <para> You can start &kate; from the application launcher or from the command line. </para> <sect2 id="starting-from-the-menu"> <title>From the Menu</title> <para> Open the &kde; program menu by clicking on the application launcher icon on the toolbar at the bottom left of your screen. This will raise a menu. Move your cursor up the menu to the <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Advanced Text Editor &kate;</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item. </para> </sect2> <sect2 id="starting-from-the-command-line"> <title>From the Command Line</title> <para> You can start &kate; by typing its name on the command line. If you give it a file name, as in the example below, it will open or create that file. </para> <informalexample> <screen> <prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>kate</command> <option><replaceable>myfile.txt</replaceable></option></userinput> </screen> </informalexample> <para> If you have an active connection, and permission, you can take advantage of &kde;'s network transparency to open files on the internet. </para> <informalexample> <screen> <prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>kate</command> <option><replaceable>&kde-ftp;README</replaceable></option></userinput> </screen> </informalexample> <para>To change the directory for temporary files, which defaults to <filename class="directory">/tmp</filename> set the <envar>TMPDIR</envar> environment variable before starting &kate;, ⪚ <informalexample> <screen> <prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>mkdir</command> /tmp/kate -p && export TMPDIR=/tmp/kate && kate</userinput> </screen> </informalexample> </para> <sect3 id="command-line-options"> <title>Command Line Options</title> <para>&kate; accepts following command line options:</para> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--help</option></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> This lists the options available at the command line. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-s</option> <option>--start</option> <parameter>name</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> Starts &kate; with the session <parameter>name</parameter>. The session is created if it does not exist already. If a &kate; instance running the specified session exists, the specified files are loaded in that instance. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-p</option> <option>--pid</option> <parameter>PID</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> Only reuses an instance with the specified PID (Process ID). </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-e</option> <option>--encoding</option> <parameter>encoding</parameter> <parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Uses the specified encoding for the document. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-l</option> <option>--line</option> <parameter>line</parameter> <parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Navigates to the specified line after opening the document. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-c</option> <option>--column</option> <parameter>column</parameter> <parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Navigates to the specified column after opening the document. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-i</option> <option>--stdin</option></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Reads the document content from STDIN. This is similar to the common option <option>-</option> used in many command line programs, and allows you to pipe command output into &kate;.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--startanon</option></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Start &kate; with a new anonymous session, implies <option>-n</option>.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-n</option> <option>--new</option></userinput></term> <listitem><para>Force start of a new &kate; instance (is ignored if <option>start</option> is used and another &kate; instance already has the given session opened), forced if no parameters and no URLs are given at all.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-b</option> <option>--block</option></userinput></term> <listitem><para>If using an already running &kate; instance, block until it exits, if URLs given to open.</para> <para> You can use &kate; with this option as editor for typing in commit messages for version control systems like &git; or <application>Subversion</application>. These systems expect to block the editor till you have entered your message, because they then open the temporary file, which would be empty if &kate; immediately returned to the caller. </para> <para>This option is also needed with KIO (&kde; Input/Output), if you open a remote file (which has been downloaded to a temporary) and should be reuploaded, after you saved it. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--tempfile</option></userinput></term> <listitem><para>When used, the specified files are treated as temporary files and deleted (if they are local files and you have sufficient permissions) when closed, unless they were modified since they were opened.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--desktopfile</option> <parameter>filename</parameter></userinput></term> <listitem><para>The base file name of the desktop entry for this application.</para> <para>This is in particular useful for wrapper applications and applications having in general multiple desktop files. Thus each desktop file can have its own command line for the <option>Exec</option> entry. </para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--author</option></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> Lists &kate;'s authors in the terminal window. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>-v</option> <option>--version</option></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> Lists version information for &kate;. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--license</option></userinput></term> <listitem> <para> Shows license information. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </sect3> </sect2> <sect2 id="drag-and-drop"> <title>Drag and Drop</title> <para> &kate; uses the &kde; Drag and Drop protocol. Files may be dragged and dropped onto &kate; from the Desktop, the filemanager &dolphin; or some remote &FTP; site opened in one of &dolphin;'s windows. </para> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="working-with-kate"> <title>Working with &kate;</title> <para> <link linkend="quick-start">Quick Start</link> will show you how to toggle four simple options that will let you configure some of &kate;'s more powerful features right away. <link linkend="keystroke-commands"> Shortcuts</link> lays out some of the default keystroke shortcuts for those who can't or don't want to use a mouse. </para> <sect2 id="quick-start"> <title>Quick Start</title> <para> This section will describe some of the items on the <guimenu>View</guimenu> menu so that you can quickly configure &kate; to work the way you want it. </para> <para> When you start &kate; for the first time you will see two windows with white backgrounds. Above the two windows is a toolbar with the usual labeled icons. And above that, a menubar. </para> <para> The left-hand window is a side bar. It combines the <guilabel>Documents</guilabel> and <guilabel>Filesystem Browser</guilabel> windows. Switch between the two by clicking on the tabs to the left of the window. </para> <para> If you've started &kate; with a file, the right-hand window will show the file you are editing and the <guilabel>Documents</guilabel> on the side bar will show the name of the file. Use the <guilabel>Filesystem Browser</guilabel> window to open files. </para> <para> You can toggle all sidebar windows on and off in <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guisubmenu>Tool Views</guisubmenu></menuchoice> menu or use <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;&Shift;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo>. This menu offers you your first glimpse into &kate;'s power and flexibility. </para> <para>In <guisubmenu>Tool Views</guisubmenu> you have a list of all enabled plugins. Click the checkbox in front of each item or click with the &LMB; on the tool buttons in the sidebar to toggle this tool view on and off. </para> </sect2> <sect2 id="keystroke-commands"> <title>Shortcuts</title> <para> Many of &kate;'s keystroke commands (shortcuts) are configurable by way of the <link linkend="settings-help-menu">Settings</link> menu. By default &kate; honors the following key bindings. </para> <informaltable> <tgroup cols="2"> <tbody> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para> Help</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para><link linkend="whats-this">What's this?</link></para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para> <link linkend="file-new">New</link> document</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>L</keycap></keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para> Save All</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>O</keycap></keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para><link linkend="file-open">Open a document</link> </para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;<keycap>O</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Quick Open</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Full Screen Mode</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>,</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Configure &kate;</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>W</keycap></keycombo> / <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Esc;</keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para><link linkend="file-close">Close</link> </para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Quit - close active copy of editor </para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;&Shift;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Show Sidebars</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>T</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Split Horizontal</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>L</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Split Vertical</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycap>F8</keycap></para></entry> <entry><para>Next Split View</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F8</keycap></keycombo> / <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Esc;</keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para>Previous Split View</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo> </para></entry> <entry><para>Close Current View</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Alt;&Right;</keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para>Next Tab</para></entry> </row> <row> <entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Alt;&Left;</keycombo></para></entry> <entry><para>Previous Tab</para></entry> </row> </tbody> </tgroup> </informaltable> <para>Additionally you can use the shortcuts provided by the <ulink url="help:/katepart/keybindings.html">&katepart;</ulink> component and by all activated <link linkend="plugins">&kate; plugins</link>.</para> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="kate-mdi"> <title>Working With the &kate; <acronym>MDI</acronym></title> <sect2 id="kate-mdi-overview"> <title>Overview</title> <para>Window, View, Document, Frame, Editor... What are they all in the terminology of &kate;, and how do you get the most out of it? This chapter will explain all of that, and even more.</para> <sect3 id="kate-mdi-overview-mainwindow"> <title>The Main Window</title> <para><indexterm><primary>Main window</primary></indexterm> The &kate; Main Window is a standard &kde; application window, with the addition of side bars containing tool views. It has a menubar with all the common menus, and some more, and a toolbar providing access to commonly used commands.</para> <para>The most important part of the window is the editing area, by default displaying a single text editor component, in which you can work with your documents.</para> <para>The docking capabilities of the window is used for the tool windows of any plugin enabled in the settings dialog.</para> <para>Tool views can be positioned in any sidebar, to move a tool right click its sidebar button and select from the &RMB; menu</para> <para>A tool view can be marked as <emphasis>persistent</emphasis> in the &RMB; menu for its sidebar button. The sidebar can contain more tools at one time so that when a tool is persistent other tools can be shown simultaneously.</para> <para>If a plugin has configuration options you can use the first item in the context menu to open the corresponding page in &kate;'s settings dialog.</para> </sect3> </sect2> <sect2 id="kate-mdi-editor"> <title>The Editor area</title> <para><indexterm><primary>Editing Area</primary></indexterm> &kate; is capable of having more than one document open at the same time, and also of splitting the editing area into any number of frames, similar to how for example &konqueror; or the popular <application>emacs</application> text editor works. This way you can view several documents at the same time, or more instances of the same document, handy for example if your document contains definitions in the top that you want to see often for reference. Or you could view a program source header in one frame, while editing the implementation file in another.</para> <para>When a document is available in more than one editor, changes made in one editor will immediately be reflected in the others as well. This includes changing the text as well as selecting text. Search operations or cursor movement is only reflected in the current editor.</para> <para>It is currently not possible to have more instances of the same document open in the sense that one instance will be edited while the other will not.</para> <para>When splitting an editor into two frames, it is divided into two equally sized frames, both displaying the current document of that editor. The new frame will be at the bottom (in the case of a horizontal split) or at the right (for a vertical split). The new frame gets the focus, which is visualized by the blinking cursor bar in the focused frame.</para> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="fundamentals-using-sessions"> <title>Using Sessions</title> <para>Sessions is how &kate; lets you keep more than one list of files and &GUI; configuration around. You can have as many named sessions as you want, and you can use unnamed or anonymous sessions for files you want to use only once. Currently &kate; can save the list of open files, and the general window configuration in the session; future versions of &kate; may add more features that can be saved in sessions. With the introduction of sessions, &kate; also allows you to open any number of instances of the application instead of just one as it used to do as the default behavior.</para> <para>Sessions are supported in three areas: <itemizedlist> <listitem><para><link linkend="command-line-options"><emphasis>Command line options</emphasis></link> that lets you select and start sessions when launching &kate; from the command line.</para> </listitem> <listitem><para><link linkend="sessions-menu"><emphasis>The Sessions menu</emphasis></link> that lets you switch, save, start and manage your sessions.</para></listitem> <listitem><para><link linkend="config-dialog-sessions"><emphasis>Configuration options</emphasis></link> that lets you decide how sessions generally should behave.</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> </para> <para>When starting a new session, the &GUI; configuration of <guilabel>Default Session</guilabel> is loaded. To save window configuration in the default session, you need to enable saving window configuration in the sessions configuration page of the configuration dialog and then load the default session, set up the window as desired and save the session again.</para> <para>When a named session is loaded, &kate; will display the session name at the start of the window title, which then has the form <quote><replaceable>Session Name</replaceable>: <replaceable>Document name or &URL;</replaceable> - &kate;</quote>.</para> <para>When opening files on the command line with <option>--start <replaceable>name</replaceable></option> or if a session is selected using the session chooser, the specified session is loaded prior to the files specified on the command line. To open files from the command line in a new, unnamed session, configure &kate; to start a new session as default in the session page of the configuration dialog or use <option>--start</option> with an empty string: <replaceable>''</replaceable>.</para> <!--FIXME still valid for kf5 --> <para>Since &kate; 2.5.1 the <acronym>PID</acronym> of the current instance is exported to the environment variable <envar>KATE_PID</envar>. When opening files from the built in terminal Kate will automatically select the current instance if nothing else is indicated on the command line.</para> </sect1> <sect1 id="fundamentals-quick-open"> <title>Quick Open</title> <para>To be able to quickly open/switch between files, Kate comes with a built-in quick open dialog. You can open it with <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Alt;<keycap>O</keycap></keycombo>. </para> <para> Quick open can show all open documents in Kate as well as all files in open projects. To be able to see project files, you need to enable <link linkend="kate-application-plugin-projects">Project Plugin</link>. </para> <sect2> <title>Using Quick Open</title> <para> Using quick open is very simple. Once you open it, just type the name or portions of the name of the file you want to open and quick open will filter the list based on what you typed. Hitting &Enter; opens the selected file, while &Esc; hides the quick open. </para> <para> By default, only the file name is matched while filtering. If you want to match path, you need to have a "/" in the typed text. For example: "doc/index" will match all the files that contain "index" inside the folder "doc". </para> <para> The documents which are already open are highlighted in bold and are listed at the top when the dialog opens. Also, when quick open shows up the previous open document is already selected so you can just press &Enter; and it will take you to that document. </para> </sect2> <sect2> <title>Configuring Quick Open</title> <screenshot id="screenshot-project-quickopen"> <screeninfo>Quick Open</screeninfo> <mediaobject> <imageobject><imagedata fileref="project-quickopen.png" format="PNG"/></imageobject> </mediaobject> </screenshot> <para> Quick open provides a couple of config options. To access these options, right-click in the input line edit. </para> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term>Currently available options are:</term> <listitem> <para><userinput>Current Project</userinput> - Show files from current project only</para> <para><userinput>All Projects</userinput> - Show files from all open projects</para> <para><userinput>Fuzzy Filtering</userinput> - Use fuzzy matching algorithm to filter files</para> <para><userinput>Wildcard Filtering</userinput>- Use wildcard matching to filter files</para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </sect2> </sect1> <sect1 id="fundamentals-getting-help"> <title>Getting Help</title> <sect2> <title>With &kate;</title> <variablelist> <varlistentry> <term>This manual</term> <listitem> <para>Offers detailed documentation on all menu commands, configuration options, tools, dialogs, plugins &etc; as well as descriptions of the &kate; window, the editor and various concepts used in the application.</para> <para>Press <keycap>F1</keycap> or use the <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu> <guimenuitem>&kate; Handbook</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu topic to view this manual.</para></listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry id="whats-this"> <term>What's This Help</term> <listitem> <para>What's This help offers immediate help with single elements of graphical windows, such as buttons or other window areas.</para> <para>We strive to provide What's This help for any elements for which it makes sense. It is available throughout the configuration dialog, and in many other dialogs as well.</para> <para>To employ What's This help, press <keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo> or use the <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu><guimenuitem>What's This</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item to enable What's This mode. The cursor will turn into an arrow with a question mark, and you can now click any element in the window to read the What's This help for that element, if it is available.</para> </listitem> </varlistentry> <varlistentry> <term>Help Buttons in Dialogs</term> <listitem> <para>Some dialogs have a <guibutton>Help</guibutton> Button. Pressing it will start the &khelpcenter; and open the relevant documentation.</para> </listitem> </varlistentry> </variablelist> </sect2> <sect2> <title>With Your Text Files</title> <para>&kate; does not (yet!) provide any means for reading document related documentation. Depending on the file you are editing, you may find the <link linkend="kate-application-plugin-konsole">Built in Terminal Emulator</link> helpful for viewing related &UNIX; manual pages or info documentation, or you can use &konqueror;.</para> </sect2> <sect2> <title>Articles on &kate;</title> <para>&kate;'s homepage provides some <ulink url="https://kate-editor.org/featured-articles"> Articles and Howtos</ulink> with further information beyond the scope of this handbook.</para> </sect2> </sect1> </chapter>
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