<chapter id="kate-part">

<title>Working with the &kate; editor</title>

<sect1 id="kate-part-overview">

<title>Overview</title>

<para>The &kate; editor is the editing area of the &kate; window. This
editor is also used by &kwrite;, and it can be used in &konqueror; for
displaying text files from your local computer, or from the
network.</para>

<para>The editor is composed of the following components:</para>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term>The editing area</term>
<listitem><para>This is where the text of your document is located.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>The Scroll bars</term>
<listitem>
<para>The scroll bars indicate the  position of the visible part of
the document text, and can be used to move around the
document. Dragging the scrollbars will not cause the insertion cursor
to be moved.</para>
<para>The scroll bars are displayed and hidden as required.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>The Icon Border</term>
<listitem>
<para>The icon border is a small pane on the left side of the editor,
displaying a small icon next to marked lines.</para>
<para>You can set or remove a <link
linkend="kate-part-bookmarks">bookmark</link> in a visible line by
clicking the &LMB; in the icon border next to that line.</para>
<para>The display of the icon border can be toggled using the
<menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Show Icon
Border</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item.</para> 
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>The Line Numbers Pane</term>
<listitem>
<para>The Line numbers pane shows the line numbers of all visible
lines in the document.</para> 
<para>The display of the Line Numbers Pane can be toggled using the
<menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Show Line
Numbers</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

<itemizedlist>
<title>Also in this Chapter:</title>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-navigation">Navigating in the
Text</link> </para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-selection">Working with the
Selection</link></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-copy-and-paste">Copying and
Pasting Text</link></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-find-replace">Finding and
Replacing Text</link></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-bookmarks">Using
Bookmarks</link></para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="kate-part-auto-wrap">Automatically
Wrapping Text</link></para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-navigation">
<title>Navigating in the Text</title>

<para>This section is not yet documented.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-selection">
<title>Working with the Selection</title>

<para>There are two basic ways of selecting text in &kate;: using the
mouse, and using the keyboard.</para>

<para>To select using the mouse, hold down the &LMB; while dragging
the mouse cursor from where the selection should start, to the desired
end point. The text gets selected as you drag.</para>

<para>Double-clicking a word will select that word.</para>

<para>Triple-clicking in a line will select the entire line.</para>

<para>If &Shift; is held down while clicking, text will be
selected:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>If nothing is already selected, from the text cursor
position to the mouse cursor position.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>If there is a selection, from and including that
selection to the mouse cursor position</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<note>
<para>When selecting text by dragging the mouse, the
selected text is copied to the clipboard, and can be pasted by
clicking the middle mouse button in the editor, or in any other
application to which you want to paste the text.
</para>
</note>

<para>To select using the keyboard, hold down the &Shift; key while
using the navigation keys (The Arrow keys, <keycap>Page Up</keycap>,
<keycap>Page Down</keycap>, <keycap>Home</keycap> and
<keycap>End</keycap>, possibly in combination with &Ctrl; to extend
the move of the text cursor).</para>

<para>See also the section <link
linkend="kate-part-navigation">Navigating in the Text</link> in this
Chapter.</para>

<para>To <action>Copy</action> the current selection, use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item or the keyboard
shortcut (defaults to <keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>).</para>

<para>To <action>Deselect</action> the current selection, use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Deselect</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item, or the
keyboard shortcut (default is <keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>A</keycap></keycombo>), or click
with the &LMB; in the editor.</para>

<sect2 id="kate-part-selection-block">
<title>Using Block Selection</title>

<para>When Block Selection is enabled, you can make <quote>vertical
selections</quote> in the text, meaning selecting limited columns from
multiple lines. This is handy for working with tab separated lines for
example.</para>

<para>Block Selection can be toggled using the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Toggle Block
Selection</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item. The default keyboard
shortcut is <keycap>F4</keycap></para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="kate-part-seleciton-overwrite">

<title>Using Overwrite Selection</title>

<para>If Overwrite Selection is enabled, typing or pasting text into
the selection will cause the selected text to be replaced. If not
enabled, new text will be added at the position of the text
cursor.</para>

<para>Overwrite Selection is enabled by default.</para>

<para>To change the setting for this option, use the <link
linkend="config-dialog-editor-select">Select Page</link> of the <link
linkend="config-dialog">Configuration Dialog</link>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="kate-part-selection-persistent">

<title>Using Persistent Selection</title>

<para>When Persistent selection is enabled, typing characters or
moving the cursor will not cause the Selection to become
deselected. This means that you can move the cursor away from the
selection and type text.</para>

<para>Persistent Selection is disabled by default.</para>

<para>Persistent Selection can be enabled in the <link
linkend="config-dialog-editor-select">Select Page</link> of the <link
linkend="config-dialog">Configuration Dialog</link>.</para>

<warning>
<para>If Persistent Selection and Overwrite Selection are both
enabled, typing or pasting text when the text cursor is inside the
selection will cause it to be replaced and deselected.</para>
</warning>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-copy-and-paste">

<title>Copying and Pasting Text</title>

<para>To copy text, select it and use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item. Additionally,
selecting text with the mouse will cause selected text to be copied to
the clipboard.</para>

<para>To paste the text currently in the clipboard, use the
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
menu item.</para>

<para>Additionally, text selected with the mouse may be pasted by
clicking the <mousebutton>middle</mousebutton> mouse button at the
desired position.</para>

<tip>
<para>If you are using the &kde; desktop, you can retrieve earlier
copied text from any application using the &klipper; icon in the
&kicker; icon tray.</para>
</tip>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-find-replace">
<title>Finding and Replacing Text</title>

<sect2 id="find-replace-dialog">
<title>The <guilabel>Find Text</guilabel> and <guilabel>Replace
Text</guilabel> Dialogs</title>


<para>The Find and Replace Text dialogs in &kate; are very much the
same, except the Replace Text dialog offers the means of entering a
replacement string along with a few extra options.</para>

<para>The dialogs offer the following common options:</para>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Text to Find</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>This is where to enter the search string. The interpretation of the string
depends on some of the options described below.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Regular Expression</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>If checked, the search string is interpreted as a regular
expression. A button for using a graphical tool to create or edit the
expression will be enabled.</para> 
<para>See <link linkend="regular-expressions">Regular
Expressions</link> for more on these.</para> 
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Case Insensitive</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>If enabled, the search will be case insensitive.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Whole Words Only</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>If checked, the search will only match if there is a word
boundary at both ends of the string matching, meaning not an
alphanumeric character - either some other visible character or a line
end.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>From Beginning</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>If checked, the search will start at the beginning of the first
line in the document, otherwise it will start at cursor position.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Find Backwards</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>If checked, the search will look for the first match above the
starting point, either cursor position or the beginning of the
document, if the <guilabel>From Beginning</guilabel> option is
enabled.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

<para>The <guilabel>Replace Text</guilabel> Dialog offers some
additional options:</para>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Replace With</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>This is where to enter the replacement
string.</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Selected Text</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>This option is disabled if no text is selected, or if the
<guilabel>Prompt on Replace</guilabel> 
option is enabled. If checked, all matches of the search string within
the selected text will be replaced with the replace string.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Prompt on Replace</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>If checked, a small dialog will prompt you for what to
do for each time a match is found. It offers the following options:
<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Yes</guibutton></term>
<listitem><para>Activate this to replace the current match (which is
selected in the editor).</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>No</guibutton></term>
<listitem><para>Activate to skip the current match, and try to find another one.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>All</guibutton></term>
<listitem><para>Activate to cancel prompting, and just replace all
matches.</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Close</guibutton></term>
<listitem><para>Activate this skip the current match and end the
searching.</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

<note>
<para>There is currently no way to use minimal matching when searching
for a regular expression. This will be added in a future version of
&kate;</para> 
</note>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="finding-text">
<title>Finding Text</title>

<para>To find text, launch the <guilabel>Find Text</guilabel> Dialog
with <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo>or
from the <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Find...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item,enter a
search string, set the <link
linkend="find-replace-dialog">options</link> as desired and hit
<guibutton>Ok</guibutton>. If no matches is found between the starting
point for the search (either the text cursor position or the beginning
of the document) you will be prompted for permission to continue from
the start (or end, if you are searching backwards) of the
document.</para>

<para>If a match is found it is selected and the <guilabel>Find
Text</guilabel> Dialog is hidden, but stay tuned, finding further
matches is very easy:</para>

<para>To find the next match in the search direction, use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Find
Next</guimenuitem></menuchoice> command or press
<keycap>F3</keycap>.</para>

<para>To find the next match in the opposite direction, use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Find
Previous</guimenuitem></menuchoice> command or press <keycombo
action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F3</keycap></keycombo>.</para>

<para>If no match is found before reaching the document border, you
will be prompted for permission to cross that.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Replacing Text</title>

<para>To replace text, launch the <guilabel>Replace text</guilabel>
Dialog using the <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Replace</guimenuitem></menuchoice> command, or the
<keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo> shortcut,
enter a search string and optionally a replace string (if the replace
string is empty, each match will be replaced with &quot;&quot;), set
the <link linkend="find-replace-dialog">options</link> as desired and
hit the <guibutton>Ok</guibutton> button.</para>

<tip>
<para>If you are using a regular expression to find the text to replace, you can
employ backrefences to reuse text captured in parenthesized subpatterns of the expression.</para>
<para>See <xref linkend="regular-expressions"/><!-- xref to reg-exp appendix --> for more
on those.</para>
</tip>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-bookmarks">
<title>Using Bookmarks</title>

<para>The bookmarks feature allows you to mark certain lines, to be
able to easily find them again.</para>

<para>You can set or remove a bookmark in a line in two ways:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Moving the insertion cursor to that line, and activate the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Bookmarks</guimenu><guimenuitem>Toggle
Bookmark</guimenuitem></menuchoice> (<keycombo
action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>B</keycap></keycombo>) command.</para> 
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Clicking in the Icon Border next to that line.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>


<para>Bookmarks are available in the <guimenu>Bookmarks</guimenu>
menu. The individual bookmarks are available as menu items, labeled
with the line number of the line with the bookmark, and the first few
characters of the text in the line. To move the insertion cursor to
the beginning of a bookmarked line, open the menu and select the
bookmark.</para>

<tip>
<para>If the <link linkend="config-dialog-general-reopen-files">Reopen
Files</link> option in the <link linkend="config-dialog">Config
Dialog</link> is enabled (or if &kate; was started by the session
manager), your bookmarks will be restored when the document is
reopened.</para>
</tip>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="kate-part-auto-wrap">

<title>Automatically Wrapping text</title>

<para>This feature allows you to have the text formatted in a very simple way: the text will be wrapped,
so that no lines exceed a maximum number of characters per line, unless there is a longer string of
non-whitespace characters.</para>

<para>To enable/disable it, check/uncheck the <guibutton>Word Wrap</guibutton> checkbox in the
<link linkend="config-dialog-editor-edit">edit page</link> of the <link linkend="config-dialog">configuration dialog</link>.</para>

<para>To set the maximum line width (maximum characters per line), use the
<link linkend="config-dialog-editor-edit-wrap-words-at"><guibutton>Wrap Words At</guibutton></link>
option in the <link linkend="config-dialog-editor-edit">edit page</link> of the <link linkend="config-dialog">configuration
dialog</link>.</para>

<para>If enabled,
it has the following effects:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>While typing, the editor will automatically insert a hard line break after
the last whitespace character at a position before the maximum line width is reached.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>While loading a document, the editor will wrap the text in a similar way, so that
no lines are longer than the maximum line width, if they contain any whitespace allowing that.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</para>

<note><para>There is currently no way to set word wrap for document types, or even to enable or disable
the feature on document level. This will be fixed in a future version of &kate;</para></note>

</sect1>

</chapter>