Actions

Keymap

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Notes for reading

1. When "selection" is mentioned, you should read it as "selection(s)", because these actions work with multiple cursors.

Search

Search

Open search prompt.

This

Search this selection.

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Modifications

Raise

This is one of my favorite actions, it only works for syntax node selection modes.

This replaces the parent node of the current node, with the current node.

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Note: Raise should never cause any syntax errors, if it does that's a bug.

← Replace/Replace →

Replace current selection with previous/next copied text in the clipboard history.

This is similar to Yanking Earlier Kills in Emacs.

This is useful when you want to retrieve earlier copies.

Open

Open next to current selection.

Open is directional¹.

Open inserts a newline with the respective indent of the current line, In Syntax Mode, exceptionally, it inserts a gap next to the current selection.

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Delete

Delete until the left/right selection.

Delete is directional¹.

This deletes the current selection(s), however, if the current selection mode is contiguous, it will delete until the next/previous selection, and selects the next/previous selection.

But, if the current selection is the last/first selection, it will delete until the previous/next selection instead, and selects the previous/next selection.

For example, consider the following Javascript code:

hello(x, y);

Assuming the current selection mode is Syntax Node, and the current selection is x, pressing d results in the following:

hello(y);

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Delete 0 Gap

Delete until the previous/next selection.

This is similar to Delete, but it doesn't delete the meaningless gaps between selections.

Meaningless gaps are usually whitespaces, or insignificant nodes like comma or semicolon in the Syntax Node selection mode.

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Change

This deletes the current selected text, and enter Insert mode.

Replace #

Replace with pattern.

This replaces the current selection using the search pattern and replacement pattern specified in the Text Search Configuration.

For example:

Mode	Selected text	Search	Replacement	Result
Literal	f	f	g	g(x)
Regex	"yo"	"(.*)"	[$1]	[yo]
AST Grep	f(x)	f($Z)	$Z(f)	x(f)
Naming Convention Agnostic	a_bu	a bu	to li	to_li

Join

Joins multiple lines within the current selection(s) into a single line.

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Break

Break the current selection(s) to the next line, with the indentation of the current line.

This is a shortcut of i enter esc.

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Dedent/Indent

Dedent/Indent the current selection by 4 spaces.

Transform

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Transformative actions are nested under here, such as (non-exhaustive):

• Casing conversion
• Wrap
• Toggle line comment
• Toggle block comment

Meta

← Insert/Insert →

Enter insert mode before/after selection.

Mark Sel

Toggles a bookmark at the current selection, allowing you to navigate elsewhere in the codebase while maintaining a reference to your focal point without memorizing its exact location.

Mark File

Mark/unmark the current file. This feature allows you to efficiently manage and switch between your primary files and other ancillary files.

File unmarking has two behaviors:

1. When the current file is the only marked file: File remains unmarked and focused.
2. When the current file is NOT the only marked file: File is unmarked and focus shifts to the next marked file, similar to closing a tab.

To move between marked files, see here.

Workflow Overview

This workflow is designed to streamline your editing process by allowing quick access to your primary files. During an editing session, you often work on primary files while occasionally referring to other less important files. Using the number keys, you can quickly jump back to your main files, enhancing your productivity and focus.

By utilizing file marking, you can efficiently navigate your editing environment and maintain your workflow's momentum.

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Undo/Redo

Notes:

1. Undo/redo works for multi-cursors as well
2. The current implementation is naive, it undoes/redoes character-by-character, instead of chunk-by-chunk, so it can be mildly frustrating

Save

Keybinding: enter

Upon saving, formatting will be applied if possible.

After formatting, the Current movement will be executed, to reduce disorientation caused by the misplaced selection due to content changes.

Clipboard

The usual disntinction between two kinds of (system and editor) clipboards, like in other editors like vim or helix, are unified in ki's user interface:

For single cursor,

• Copy copies to system clipboard also adds to editor clipboard history
• Paste uses the system clipboard content but adds the pasted content if it is new.

For multiple cursors,

• Copy copies to system clipboard a html formatted text containing list of div tags
• Paste uses the system clipboard's html formatted text containing list of div tags.

Note: Effectively, the user only interacts with the system clipboard, the editor clipboard provides clipboard history.

Copy

This action copies the current selected text.

Copy behaves differently depending on the number of cursors.

When there is more than one cursor, the selected texts of each cursor will be copied to the cursor-specific clipboard.

Paste

Paste copied content next to current selection.

Paste is directional¹.

This action pastes the content from the clipboard, next to the current selection.

Notes:

• It does not replace the current selection.
• The pasted text will be selected.

Smart Paste

Smart Paste will be executed when the selection mode is contiguous.

Smart Paste works by analyzing the gap between the current selection and the previous/next selection, then insert the gap before/after the pasted text.

For example, consider the following Javascript code:

hello(x, y);

Assuming the current selection mode is Syntax Node, and the current selection is y, and the copied text is z, performing a p results in the following:

hello(x, y, z);

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Change X

This is similar to Change, but it copies the deleted text into the clipboard.Like ctrl+x in Windows and cmd+x in macOS.

Replace

This replaces the current selected text with the copied text.

Replace X

Replace Cut, swaps the current selection with the content in the clipboard.

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Change keyboard layout

Keybinding: *

This has a special keybinding that is non-positional so that the keyboard layout can be switched easily.

Footnotes

1. Actions can have Directionality which can be changed using ⇋ Curs. Directionality means, that the result of that action can be applied in two opposite directions. For example, deleting backward and deleting forward, both are the same action only directionally opposite. To change the direction of the action make sure to first swap the cursor using ⇋ Curs before applying the action. ↩ ↩² ↩³