NAME

       kak - a vim inspired, selection oriented code editor

SYNOPSIS

       kak -help

       kak -version

       kak -l

       kak -clear

       kak -f keys [-q] [-i] file...

       kak -p session_id

       kak -s session_id -d [-n] [-ro] [-E command] [+line[:column]|+:] file...

       kak  [-c  session_id|-s  session_id]  [-n]  [-ro]  [-ui ui_type] [-e command] [-E command]
       [+line[:column]|+:] file...

DESCRIPTION

       Kakoune is a code editor heavily inspired by Vim, as such most of its commands are similar
       to Vi's ones, and it shares Vi's "keystrokes as a text editing language" model.

       Kakoune  can  operate  in  two  modes,  normal  and insertion. In insertion mode, keys are
       directly inserted into the current buffer. In normal mode, keys are used to manipulate the
       current selection and to enter insertion mode.

       Kakoune  has  a  strong  focus  on  interactivity,  most  commands  provide  immediate and
       incremental results, while still being competitive (as in keystroke count) with Vim.

       Kakoune works on selections, which are oriented, inclusive range of characters, selections
       have  an  anchor  and  a  cursor  character.  Most commands move both of them, except when
       extending selection where the anchor character  stays  fixed  and  the  cursor  one  moves
       around.

       For  more  information,  use  the :doc command after starting Kakoune, the Kakoune wiki at
       https://github.com/mawww/kakoune/wiki or the main Kakoune web site: https://kakoune.org/

OPTIONS

       -help  display a help message and quit

       -version
              display kakoune version and quit

       -n     do not load resource files on startup (kakrc, autoload, rc etc)

       -l     list existing sessions

       -d     run as a headless session (requires -s)

       -e command
              execute command after the client initialization phase

       -E command
              execute command after the server initialization phase

       -f keys
              enter in filter mode: select the whole file, then execute keys

       -i suffix
              backup the files on which a filter is applied using the given suffix

       -q     when in filter mode, don't print any errors

       -p session_id
              send the commands written on the standard input to session session_id

       -c session_id
              connect to the given session

       -s session_id
              set the current session name to session_id

       -ui type
              select the user interface, can be one of ncurses, dummy or json

       -clear remove sessions that terminated in an incorrect state (e.g. after a crash)

       -ro    enter in readonly mode, all the buffers opened will not be written to disk

       +line[:column]
              specify a target line and column for the first file; when the plus sign is followed
              by only a colon, then the cursor is sent to the last line of the file

       file   one or more files to edit

       At    startup,   if   -n   is   not  specified,  Kakoune  will  try  to  source  the  file
       ../share/kak/kakrc relative to the kak binary. This kak file will then try to  recursively
       source  any  files  in  $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/autoload (with $XDG_CONFIG_HOME defaulting to
       $HOME/.config, and falling back to ../share/kak/autoload if that autoload  directory  does
       not exist), and finally $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/kakrc.

       That  leads  to  the following behaviour: by default, with no user autoload directory, the
       system wide autoload directory is used, once the user wants control on  autoloading,  they
       can  create  an autoload directory and eventually symlink individual scripts, or the whole
       system wide autoload directory. They can as well add any new  scripts  not  provided  with
       Kakoune.

EXAMPLES

       Edit a file:

              kak /path/to/file

       Edit multiple files (multiple buffers will be created):

              kak ./file1.txt /path/to/file2.c

       Insert  a  modeline that sets the tabstop variable at the beginning of several source code
       files:

              kak -f "ggO// kak: tabstop=8<esc>" *.c

FILES

       If not started with the  -n  switch,  Kakoune  will  source  the  ../share/kak/kakrc  file
       relative to the kak binary, which will source additional files:

              if the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/autoload directory exists, load every
              *.kak files in it, and load recursively any subdirectory

              if it does not exist, fall back to the system wide autoload directory
              in ../share/kak/autoload

       After  that, if it exists, source the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak/kakrc file which should be used
       for user configuration. In order to continue autoloading  site-wide  files  with  a  local
       autoload  directory,  just  add  a  symbolic link to ../share/kak/autoload into your local
       autoload directory.

SEE ALSO

       vi(1), vim(1), sam(1plan9)

                                                                                           KAK(1)