Scripting with JavaScript

The KatePart editor component is easily extensible by writing scripts. The scripting language is ECMAScript (widely known as JavaScript). KatePart supports two kinds of scripts: indentation and command line scripts.

Indentation Scripts

Indentation scripts - also referred as indenters - automatically indent the source code while typing text. As an example, after hitting the return key the indentation level often increases.

The following sections describe step by step how to create the skeleton for a simple indenter. As a first step, create a new *.js file called e.g. javascript.js in the local home folder $XDG_DATA_HOME/katepart5/script/indentation. Therein, the environment variable XDG_DATA_HOME typically expands to either ~/.local or ~/.local/share.

On Windows® these files are located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\katepart5\script\indentation. %USERPROFILE% usually expands to C:\\Users\\user.

The Indentation Script Header

The header of the file javascript.js is embedded as JSON at the beginning of the document as follows:

var katescript = {
    "name": "JavaScript",
    "author": "Example Name <example.name@some.address.org>",
    "license": "BSD License",
    "revision": 1,
    "kate-version": "5.1",
    "required-syntax-style": "javascript",
    "indent-languages": ["javascript"],
    "priority": 0,
}; // kate-script-header, must be at the start of the file without comments

Each entry is explained in detail now:

  • name [required]: This is the indenter name that appears in the menu ToolsIndentation and in the configuration dialog.

  • author [optional]: The author's name and contact information.

  • license [optional]: Short form of the license, such as BSD License or LGPLv3.

  • revision [required]: The revision of the script. This number should be increased whenever the script is modified.

  • kate-version [required]: Minimum required KatePart version.

  • required-syntax-style [optional]: The required syntax style, which matches the specified style in syntax highlighting files. This is important for indenters that rely on specific highlight information in the document. If a required syntax style is specified, the indenter is available only when the appropriate highlighter is active. This prevents undefined behavior caused by using the indenter without the expected highlighting schema. For instance, the Ruby indenter makes use of this in the files ruby.js and ruby.xml.

  • indent-languages [optional]: JSON array of syntax styles the indenter can indent correctly, e.g.: ["c++", "java"].

  • priority [optional]: If several indenters are suited for a certain highlighted file, the priority decides which indenter is chosen as default indenter.

The Indenter Source Code

Having specified the header this section explains how the indentation scripting itself works. The basic skeleton of the body looks like this:

// required katepart js libraries, e.g. range.js if you use Range
require ("range.js");

triggerCharacters = "{}/:;";
function indent(line, indentWidth, ch)
{
    // called for each newline (ch == '\n') and all characters specified in
    // the global variable triggerCharacters. When calling ToolsFormat Indentation
    // the variable ch is empty, i.e. ch == ''.
    //
    // see also: Scripting API
    return -2;
}

The function indent() has three parameters:

  • line: the line that has to be indented

  • indentWidth: the indentation width in number of spaces

  • ch: either a newline character (ch == '\n'), the trigger character specified in triggerCharacters or empty if the user invoked the action ToolsFormat Indentation.

The return value of the indent() function specifies how the line will be indented. If the return value is a simple integer number, it is interpreted as follows:

  • return value -2: do nothing

  • return value -1: keep indentation (searches for previous non-blank line)

  • return value 0: numbers >= 0 specify the indentation depth in spaces

Alternatively, an array of two elements can be returned:

  • return [ indent, align ];

In this case, the first element is the indentation depth as above with the same meaning of the special values. However, the second element is an absolute value representing a column for alignment. If this value is higher than the indent value, the difference represents a number of spaces to be added after the indentation of the first parameter. Otherwise, the second number is ignored. Using tabs and spaces for indentation is often referred to as mixed mode.

Consider the following example: Assume using tabs to indent, and tab width is set to 4. Here, <tab> represents a tab and '.' a space:

1: <tab><tab>foobar("hello",
2: <tab><tab>......."world");

When indenting line 2, the indent() function returns [8, 15]. As result, two tabs are inserted to indent to column 8, and 7 spaces are added to align the second parameter under the first, so that it stays aligned if the file is viewed with a different tab width.

A default KDE installation ships KatePart with several indenters. The corresponding JavaScript source code can be found in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/katepart5/script/indentation.

On Windows® these files are located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\katepart5\script\indentation. %USERPROFILE% usually expands to C:\\Users\\user.

Developing an indenter requires reloading the scripts to see whether the changes behave appropriately. Instead of restarting the application, simply switch to the command line and invoke the command reload-scripts.

If you develop useful scripts please consider contributing to the KatePart Project by contacting the mailing list.

Command Line Scripts

As it is hard to satisfy everyone's needs, KatePart supports little helper tools for quick text manipulation through the built-in command line. For instance, the command sort is implemented as a script. This section explains how to create *.js files to extend KatePart with arbitrary helper scripts.

Command line scripts are located in the same folder as indentation scripts. So as a first step, create a new *.js file called myutils.js in the local home folder $XDG_DATA_HOME/katepart5/script/commands. Therein, the environment variable XDG_DATA_HOME typically expands to either ~/.local or ~/.local/share.

On Windows® these files are located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\katepart5\script\commands. %USERPROFILE% usually expands to C:\\Users\\user.

The Command Line Script Header

The header of each command line script is embedded in JSON at the beginning of the script as follows:

var katescript = {
    "author": "Example Name <example.name@some.address.org>",
    "license": "LGPLv2+",
    "revision": 1,
    "kate-version": "5.1",
    "functions": ["sort", "moveLinesDown"],
    "actions": [
        {   "function": "sort",
            "name": "Sort Selected Text",
            "category": "Editing",
            "interactive": "false"
        },
        {   "function": "moveLinesDown",
            "name": "Move Lines Down",
            "category": "Editing",
            "shortcut": "Ctrl+Shift+Down",
            "interactive": "false"
        }
    ]
}; // kate-script-header, must be at the start of the file without comments

Each entry is explained in detail now:

  • author [optional]: The author's name and contact information.

  • license [optional]: Short form of the license, such as BSD License or LGPLv2.

  • revision [required]: The revision of the script. This number should be increased whenever the script is modified.

  • kate-version [required]: Minimum required KatePart version.

  • functions [required]: JSON array of commands in the script.

  • actions [optional]: JSON Array of JSON objects that defines the actions that appear in the application menu. Detailed information is provided in the section Binding Shortcuts.

Since the value of functions is a JSON array, a single script is able to contain an arbitrary number of command line commands. Each function is available through KatePart's built-in command line.

The Script Source Code

All functions specified in the header have to be implemented in the script. For instance, the script file from the example above needs to implement the two functions sort and moveLinesDown. All functions have the following syntax:

// required katepart js libraries, e.g. range.js if you use Range
require ("range.js");

function <name>(arg1, arg2, ...)
{
    // ... implementation, see also: Scripting API
}

Arguments in the command line are passed to the function as arg1, arg2, etc. In order to provide documentation for each command, simply implement the 'help' function as follows:

function help(cmd)
{
    if (cmd == "sort") {
        return i18n("Sort the selected text.");
    } else if (cmd == "...") {
        // ...
    }
}

Executing help sort in the command line then calls this help function with the argument cmd set to the given command, i.e. cmd == "sort". KatePart then presents the returned text as documentation to the user. Make sure to translate the strings.

Developing a command line script requires reloading the scripts to see whether the changes behave appropriately. Instead of restarting the application, simply switch to the command line and invoke the command reload-scripts.

Binding Shortcuts

In order to make the scripts accessible in the application menu and assign shortcuts, the script needs to provide an appropriate script header. In the above example, both functions sort and moveLinesDown appear in the menu due to the following part in the script header:

var katescript = {
    ...
    "actions": [
        {   "function": "sort",
            "name": "Sort Selected Text",
            "icon": "",
            "category": "Editing",
            "interactive": "false"
        },
        {   "function": "moveLinesDown",
            "name": "Move Lines Down",
            "icon": "",
            "category": "Editing",
            "shortcut": "Ctrl+Shift+Down",
            "interactive": "false"
        }
    ]
};

The fields for one action are as follows:

  • function [required]: The function that should appear in the menu ToolsScripts.

  • name [required]: The text appears in the script menu.

  • icon [optional]: The icon appears next to the text in the menu. All KDE icon names can be used here.

  • category [optional]: If a category is specified, the script appears in a submenu.

  • shortcut [optional]: The shortcut given here is the default shortcut. Example: Ctrl+Alt+t. See the Qt™ documentation for further details.

  • interactive [optional]: If the script needs user input in the command line, set this to true.

If you develop useful scripts please consider contributing to the KatePart Project by contacting the mailing list.

Scripting API

The scripting API presented here is available to all scripts, i.e. indentation scripts and command line commands. The Cursor and Range classes are provided by library files in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/katepart5/libraries. If you want to use them in your script, which needs to use some of the Document or View functions, please include the necessary library by using:

// required katepart js libraries, e.g. range.js if you use Range
require ("range.js");

To extend the standard scripting API with your own functions and prototypes simply create a new file in KDE's local configuration folder $XDG_DATA_HOME/katepart5/libraries and include it into your script using:

require ("myscriptnamehere.js");

On Windows® these files are located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\katepart5\libraries. %USERPROFILE% usually expands to C:\\Users\\user.

To extend existing prototypes like Cursor or Range, the recommended way is to not modify the global *.js files. Instead, change the Cursor prototype in JavaScript after the cursor.js is included into your script via require.

Cursors and Ranges

As KatePart is a text editor, all the scripting API is based on cursors and ranges whenever possible. A Cursor is a simple (line, column) tuple representing a text position in the document. A Range spans text from a starting cursor position to an ending cursor position. The API is explained in detail in the next sections.

The Cursor Prototype
Cursor();

Constructor. Returns a Cursor at position (0, 0).

Example: var cursor = new Cursor();

Cursor(int line, int column);

Constructor. Returns a Cursor at position (line, column).

Example: var cursor = new Cursor(3, 42);

Cursor(Cursor other);

Copy constructor. Returns a copy of the cursor other.

Example: var copy = new Cursor(other);

Cursor Cursor.clone();

Returns a clone of the cursor.

Example: var clone = cursor.clone();

Cursor.setPosition(int line, int column);

Sets the cursor position to line and column.

Since: KDE 4.11

bool Cursor.isValid();

Check whether the cursor is valid. The cursor is invalid, if line and/or column are set to -1.

Example: var valid = cursor.isValid();

Cursor Cursor.invalid();

Returns a new invalid cursor located at (-1, -1).

Example: var invalidCursor = cursor.invalid();

int Cursor.compareTo(Cursor other);

Compares this cursor to the cursor other. Returns

  • -1, if this cursor is located before the cursor other,

  • 0, if both cursors equal and

  • +1, if this cursor is located after the cursor other.

bool Cursor.equals(Cursor other);

Returns true, if this cursor and the cursor other are equal, otherwise false.

String Cursor.toString();

Returns the cursor as a string of the form Cursor(line, column).

The Range Prototype
Range();

Constructor. Calling new Range() returns a Range at (0, 0) - (0, 0).

Range(Cursor start, Cursor end);

Constructor. Calling new Range(start, end) returns the Range (start, end).

Range(int startLine, int startColumn, int endLine, int endColumn);

Constructor. Calling new Range(startLine, startColumn, endLine, endColumn) returns the Range from (startLine, startColumn) to (endLine, endColumn).

Range(Range other);

Copy constructor. Returns a copy of Range other.

Range Range.clone();

Returns a clone of the range.

Example: var clone = range.clone();

bool Range.isEmpty();

Returns true, if the start and end cursors are equal.

Example: var empty = range.isEmpty();

Since: KDE 4.11

bool Range.isValid();

Returns true, if both start and end cursor are valid, otherwise false.

Example: var valid = range.isValid();

Range Range.invalid();

Returns the Range from (-1, -1) to (-1, -1).

bool Range.contains(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if this range contains the cursor position, otherwise false.

bool Range.contains(Range other);

Returns true, if this range contains the Range other, otherwise false.

bool Range.containsColumn(int column);

Returns true, if column is in the half open interval [start.column, end.column), otherwise false.

bool Range.containsLine(int line);

Returns true, if line is in the half open interval [start.line, end.line), otherwise false.

bool Range.overlaps(Range other);

Returns true, if this range and the range other share a common region, otherwise false.

bool Range.overlapsLine(int line);

Returns true, if line is in the interval [start.line, end.line], otherwise false.

bool Range.overlapsColumn(int column);

Returns true, if column is in the interval [start.column, end.column], otherwise false.

bool Range.onSingleLine();

Returns true, if the range starts and ends at the same line, i.e. if Range.start.line == Range.end.line.

Since: KDE 4.9

bool Range.equals(Range other);

Returns true, if this range and the Range other are equal, otherwise false.

String Range.toString();

Returns the range as a string of the form Range(Cursor(line, column), Cursor(line, column)).

Global Functions

This section lists all global functions.

Reading & Including Files
String read(String file);

Will search the given file relative to the katepart5/script/files directory and return its content as a string.

void require(String file);

Will search the given file relative to the katepart5/script/libraries directory and evaluate it. require is internally guarded against multiple inclusions of the same file.

Since: KDE 4.10

Debugging
void debug(String text);

Prints text to stdout in the console launching the application.

Translation

In order to support full localization, there are several functions to translate strings in scripts, namely i18n, i18nc, i18np and i18ncp. These functions behave exactly like KDE's translation functions.

The translation functions translate the wrapped strings through KDE's translation system to the language used in the application. Strings in scripts being developed in the official KatePart sources are automatically extracted and translatable. In other words, as a KatePart developer you do not have to bother with message extraction and translation. It should be noted though, that the translation only works inside the KDE infrastructure, i.e., new strings in 3rd-party scripts developed outside of KDE are not translated. Therefore, please consider contributing your scripts to Kate such that proper translation is possible.

void i18n(String text, arg1, ...);

Translates text into the language used by the application. The arguments arg1, ..., are optional and used to replace the placeholders %1, %2, etc.

void i18nc(String context, String text, arg1, ...);

Translates text into the language used by the application. Additionally, the string context is visible to translators so they can provide a better translation. The arguments arg1, ..., are optional and used to replace the placeholders %1, %2, etc.

void i18np(String singular, String plural, int number, arg1, ...);

Translates either singular or plural into the language used by the application, depending on the given number. The arguments arg1, ..., are optional and used to replace the placeholders %1, %2, etc.

void i18ncp(String context, String singular, String plural, int number, arg1, ...);

Translates either singular or plural into the language used by the application, depending on the given number. Additionally, the string context is visible to translators so they can provide a better translation. The arguments arg1, ..., are optional and used to replace the placeholders %1, %2, etc.

The View API

Whenever a script is being executed, there is a global variable view representing the current active editor view. The following is a list of all available View functions.

void view.copy()

Copy the selection if there is one, otherwise the current line if the option [ ] Copy/Cut the current line if no selection is set.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.79

void view.cut()

Cut the selection if there is one, otherwise the current line if the option [ ] Copy/Cut the current line if no selection is set.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.79

void view.paste()

Paste the clipboard content.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.79

Cursor view.cursorPosition()

Returns the current cursor position in the view.

void view.setCursorPosition(int line, int column);
void view.setCursorPosition(Cursor cursor);

Set the current cursor position to either (line, column) or to the given cursor.

Cursor view.virtualCursorPosition();

Returns the virtual cursor position with each tab counting the corresponding amount of spaces depending on the current tab width.

void view.setVirtualCursorPosition(int line, int column);
void view.setVirtualCursorPosition(Cursor cursor);

Set the current virtual cursor position to (line, column) or to the given cursor.

String view.selectedText();

Returns the selected text. If no text is selected, the returned string is empty.

bool view.hasSelection();

Returns true, if the view has selected text, otherwise false.

Range view.selection();

Returns the selected text range. The returned range is invalid if there is no selected text.

void view.setSelection(Range range);

Set the selected text to the given range.

void view.removeSelectedText();

Remove the selected text. If the view does not have any selected text, this does nothing.

void view.selectAll();

Selects the entire text in the document.

void view.clearSelection();

Clears the text selection without removing the text.

void view.setBlockSelection(bool on);

Set block selection mode on or off.

bool view.blockSelection();

Returns true, if block selection mode is on, otherwise false.

void view.align(Range range);

Properly re-indent lines within range according to current indentation settings.

void view.alignOn(Range range, String pattern = "");

Aligns lines in range on the column given by the regular expression pattern. With an empty pattern it will align on the first non-blank character by default. If the pattern has a capture it will indent on the captured match.

Examples:

view.alignOn(document.documentRange(), '-'); will insert spaces before the first - of each lines to align them all on the same column.

view.alignOn(document.documentRange(), ':\\s+(.)'); will insert spaces before the first non-blank character that occurs after a colon to align them all on the same column.

object view.executeCommand(String command,
                           String args,
                           Range range);

Executes the command line command command with the optional arguments args and the optional range. The returned object has a boolean property object.ok that indicates whether execution of the command was successful. In case of an error, the string object.status contains an error message.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.50

Range view.searchText(Range range,
                      String pattern,
                      bool backwards = false);

Search for the first occurrence of pattern in range and returns the matched range. Search is performed backwards if the optional boolean parameter backwards is set to true.

The returned range is invalid (see Range.isValid()) if pattern is not found in range.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.97

The Document API

Whenever a script is being executed, there is a global variable document representing the current active document. The following is a list of all available Document functions.

String document.fileName();

Returns the document's filename or an empty string for unsaved text buffers.

String document.url();

Returns the document's full URL or an empty string for unsaved text buffers.

String document.mimeType();

Returns the document's MIME type or the MIME type application/octet-stream if no appropriate MIME type could be found.

String document.encoding();

Returns the currently used encoding to save the file.

String document.highlightingMode();

Returns the global highlighting mode used for the whole document.

String document.highlightingModeAt(Cursor pos);

Returns the highlighting mode used at the given position in the document.

Array document.embeddedHighlightingModes();

Returns an array of highlighting modes embedded in this document.

bool document.isModified();

Returns true, if the document has unsaved changes (modified), otherwise false.

String document.text();

Returns the entire content of the document in a single text string. Newlines are marked with the newline character \n.

String document.text(int fromLine, int fromColumn, int toLine, int toColumn);
String document.text(Cursor from, Cursor to);
String document.text(Range range);

Returns the text in the given range. It is recommended to use the cursor and range based version for better readability of the source code.

String document.line(int line);

Returns the given text line as string. The string is empty if the requested line is out of range.

String document.wordAt(int line, int column);
String document.wordAt(Cursor cursor);

Returns the word at the given cursor position.

Range document.wordRangeAt(int line, int column);
Range document.wordRangeAt(Cursor cursor);

Return the range of the word at the given cursor position. The returned range is invalid (see Range.isValid()), if the text position is after the end of a line. If there is no word at the given cursor, an empty range is returned.

Since: KDE 4.9

String document.charAt(int line, int column);
String document.charAt(Cursor cursor);

Returns the character at the given cursor position.

String document.firstChar(int line);

Returns the first character in the given line that is not a whitespace. The first character is at column 0. If the line is empty or only contains whitespace characters, the returned string is empty.

String document.lastChar(int line);

Returns the last character in the given line that is not a whitespace. If the line is empty or only contains whitespace characters, the returned string is empty.

bool document.isSpace(int line, int column);
bool document.isSpace(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the character at the given cursor position is a whitespace, otherwise false.

bool document.matchesAt(int line, int column, String text);
bool document.matchesAt(Cursor cursor, String text);

Returns true, if the given text matches at the corresponding cursor position, otherwise false.

bool document.startsWith(int line, String text, bool skipWhiteSpaces);

Returns true, if the line starts with text, otherwise false. The argument skipWhiteSpaces controls whether leading whitespaces are ignored.

bool document.endsWith(int line, String text, bool skipWhiteSpaces);

Returns true, if the line ends with text, otherwise false. The argument skipWhiteSpaces controls whether trailing whitespaces are ignored.

bool document.setText(String text);

Sets the entire document text.

bool document.clear();

Removes the entire text in the document.

bool document.truncate(int line, int column);
bool document.truncate(Cursor cursor);

Truncate the given line at the given column or cursor position. Returns true on success, or false if the given line is not part of the document range.

bool document.insertText(int line, int column, String text);
bool document.insertText(Cursor cursor, String text);

Inserts the text at the given cursor position. Returns true on success, or false, if the document is in read-only mode.

bool document.removeText(int fromLine, int fromColumn, int toLine, int toColumn);
bool document.removeText(Cursor from, Cursor to);
bool document.removeText(Range range);

Removes the text in the given range. Returns true on success, or false, if the document is in read-only mode.

bool document.insertLine(int line, String text);

Inserts text in the given line. Returns true on success, or false, if the document is in read-only mode or the line is not in the document range.

bool document.removeLine(int line);

Removes the given text line. Returns true on success, or false, if the document is in read-only mode or the line is not in the document range.

bool document.wrapLine(int line, int column);
bool document.wrapLine(Cursor cursor);

Wraps the line at the given cursor position. Returns true on success, otherwise false, e.g. if line < 0.

Since: KDE 4.9

void document.joinLines(int startLine, int endLine);

Joins the lines from startLine to endLine. Two succeeding text lines are always separated with a single space.

int document.lines();

Returns the number of lines in the document.

bool document.isLineModified(int line);

Returns true, if line currently contains unsaved data.

Since: KDE 5.0

bool document.isLineSaved(int line);

Returns true, if line was changed, but the document was saved. Hence, the line currently does not contain any unsaved data.

Since: KDE 5.0

bool document.isLineTouched(int line);

Returns true, if line currently contains unsaved data or was changed before.

Since: KDE 5.0

bool document.findTouchedLine(int startLine, bool down);

Search for the next touched line starting at line. The search is performed either upwards or downwards depending on the search direction specified in down.

Since: KDE 5.0

int document.length();

Returns the number of characters in the document.

int document.lineLength(int line);

Returns the line's length.

void document.editBegin();

Starts an edit group for undo/redo grouping. Make sure to always call editEnd() as often as you call editBegin(). Calling editBegin() internally uses a reference counter, i.e., this call can be nested.

void document.editEnd();

Ends an edit group. The last call of editEnd() (i.e. the one for the first call of editBegin()) finishes the edit step.

int document.firstColumn(int line);

Returns the first non-whitespace column in the given line. If there are only whitespaces in the line, the return value is -1.

int document.lastColumn(int line);

Returns the last non-whitespace column in the given line. If there are only whitespaces in the line, the return value is -1.

int document.prevNonSpaceColumn(int line, int column);
int document.prevNonSpaceColumn(Cursor cursor);

Returns the column with a non-whitespace character starting at the given cursor position and searching backwards.

int document.nextNonSpaceColumn(int line, int column);
int document.nextNonSpaceColumn(Cursor cursor);

Returns the column with a non-whitespace character starting at the given cursor position and searching forwards.

int document.prevNonEmptyLine(int line);

Returns the next non-empty line containing non-whitespace characters searching backwards.

int document.nextNonEmptyLine(int line);

Returns the next non-empty line containing non-whitespace characters searching forwards.

bool document.isInWord(String character, int attribute);

Returns true, if the given character with the given attribute can be part of a word, otherwise false.

bool document.canBreakAt(String character, int attribute);

Returns true, if the given character with the given attribute is suited to wrap a line, otherwise false.

bool document.canComment(int startAttribute, int endAttribute);

Returns true, if a range starting and ending with the given attributes is suited to be commented out, otherwise false.

String document.commentMarker(int attribute);

Returns the comment marker for single line comments for a given attribute.

String document.commentStart(int attribute);

Returns the comment marker for the start of multi-line comments for a given attribute.

String document.commentEnd(int attribute);

Returns the comment marker for the end of multi-line comments for a given attribute.

Range document.documentRange();

Returns a range that encompasses the whole document.

Cursor documentEnd();

Returns a cursor positioned at the last column of the last line in the document.

bool isValidTextPosition(int line, int column);
bool isValidTextPosition(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the given cursor position is positioned at a valid text position. A text position is valid only if it locate at the start, in the middle, or the end of a valid line. Further, a text position is invalid if it is located in a Unicode surrogate.

Since: KDE 5.0

int document.attribute(int line, int column);
int document.attribute(Cursor cursor);

Returns the attribute at the given cursor position.

bool document.isAttribute(int line, int column, int attribute);
bool document.isAttribute(Cursor cursor, int attribute);

Returns true, if the attribute at the given cursor position equals attribute, otherwise false.

String document.attributeName(int line, int column);
String document.attributeName(Cursor cursor);

Returns the attribute name as human readable text. This is equal to the itemData name in the syntax highlighting files.

bool document.isAttributeName(int line, int column, String name);
bool document.isAttributeName(Cursor cursor, String name);

Returns true, if the attribute name at a certain cursor position matches the given name, otherwise false.

String document.variable(String key);

Returns the value of the requested document variable key. If the document variable does not exist, the return value is an empty string.

void document.setVariable(String key, String value);

Set the value of the requested document variable key.

See also: Kate document variables

Since: KDE 4.8

int document.firstVirtualColumn(int line);

Returns the virtual column of the first non-whitespace character in the given line or -1, if the line is empty or contains only whitespace characters.

int document.lastVirtualColumn(int line);

Returns the virtual column of the last non-whitespace character in the given line or -1, if the line is empty or contains only whitespace characters.

int document.toVirtualColumn(int line, int column);
int document.toVirtualColumn(Cursor cursor);
Cursor document.toVirtualCursor(Cursor cursor);

Converts the given real cursor position to a virtual cursor position, either returning an int or a Cursor object.

int document.fromVirtualColumn(int line, int virtualColumn);
int document.fromVirtualColumn(Cursor virtualCursor);
Cursor document.fromVirtualCursor(Cursor virtualCursor);

Converts the given virtual cursor position to a real cursor position, either returning an int or a Cursor object.

Cursor document.anchor(int line, int column, Char character);
Cursor document.anchor(Cursor cursor, Char character);

Searches backward for the given character starting from the given cursor. As an example, if '(' is passed as character, this function will return the position of the opening '('. This reference counting, i.e. other '(...)' are ignored.

Cursor document.rfind(int line, int column, String text, int attribute = -1);
Cursor document.rfind(Cursor cursor, String text, int attribute = -1);

Find searching backwards the given text with the appropriate attribute. The argument attribute is ignored if it is set to -1. The returned cursor is invalid, if the text could not be found.

int document.defStyleNum(int line, int column);
int document.defStyleNum(Cursor cursor);

Returns the default style used at the given cursor position.

bool document.isCode(int line, int column);
bool document.isCode(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute at the given cursor position is not equal to all of the following styles: dsComment, dsString, dsRegionMarker, dsChar, dsOthers.

bool document.isComment(int line, int column);
bool document.isComment(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute of the character at the cursor position is dsComment, otherwise false.

bool document.isString(int line, int column);
bool document.isString(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute of the character at the cursor position is dsString, otherwise false.

bool document.isRegionMarker(int line, int column);
bool document.isRegionMarker(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute of the character at the cursor position is dsRegionMarker, otherwise false.

bool document.isChar(int line, int column);
bool document.isChar(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute of the character at the cursor position is dsChar, otherwise false.

bool document.isOthers(int line, int column);
bool document.isOthers(Cursor cursor);

Returns true, if the attribute of the character at the cursor position is dsOthers, otherwise false.

void document.indent(Range range, int change);

Indents all lines in range by change tabs or change times tabSize spaces depending on the users preferences. The change parameter can be negative.

The Editor API

In addition to the document and view API, there is a general editor API that provides functions for general editor scripting functionality.

String editor.clipboardText();

Returns the text that currently is in the global clipboard.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.50

String editor.clipboardHistory();

The editor holds a clipboard history that contains up to 10 clipboard entries. This function returns all entries that currently are in the clipboard history.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.50

void editor.setClipboardText(String text);

Set the contents of the clipboard to text. The text will be added to the clipboard history.

Since: KDE Frameworks™ 5.50