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

ENVIRONMENT

       KAKOUNE_POSIX_SHELL
              Overrides the posix shell binary path to use for %sh{...} expansion.

       KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR
              Overrides the location of  the  directory  containing  kakoune  user  configuration,  defaults  to
              $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kak if unset.

       XDG_CONFIG_HOME
              Path to the user configuration directory, defaults to $HOME/.config if unset.

       XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
              Path to the user session sockets, defaults to $TMPDIR/kakoune if unset.

FILES

       In  the  paths  documented  below,  <rtdir> refers to the runtime directory, whose value is determined in
       relation to the path to the kak binary: <rtdir> = <path_to_kak_binary>/../share/kak.

       If not started with the -n switch, Kakoune will first load <rtdir>/kakrc, which will  in  turn  load  the
       following additional files:

              if the $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload directory exists, recursively load every
              *.kak files in it and its sub-directories

              if it does not exist, fall back to the system-wide autoload directory
              in <rtdir>/autoload, and recursively load all files in a similar way

              <rtdir>/kakrc.local, if it exists; this is a user-defined system-wide
              configuration

              $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/kakrc, if it exists; this is the user configuration

       Consequently,  if  the  $KAKOUNE_CONFIG_DIR/autoload  directory  exists,  only scripts stored within that
       directory will be loaded - the built-in *.kak files will not be.

       Users who still want to have the built-in scripts loaded along their own can create a  symbolic  link  to
       <rtdir>/autoload (or to individual scripts in it) in their user-configuration directory:

              ln -s <rtdir>/autoload "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/kak/autoload

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

SEE ALSO

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

                                                                                                          KAK(1)