SlickEdit® Core provides familiar operations for selecting, copying, moving, and operating on text, with enhanced capabilities to meet the needs of developers.
The available editing features depend on the current emulation. Different editors provide different capabilities, and SlickEdit Core attempts to match these features in each emulation. For example, the Brief emulation provides a brief_iselect_char command that will start an inclusive character selection. This is an operation familiar to Brief users that the other emulations don't necessarily provide. However, CUA is the default emulation mode for SlickEdit Core, so the operations described in this section are based on that mode. See Emulations for more information about emulation modes.
In addition to the basic and advanced editing features described in this section, SlickEdit Core provides many more text editing-related features that can be managed on a per-language basis. See topics in the Editing Features chapter for information.
Many editing operations are performed on selected text, so you need to know how selections work in SlickEdit Core in order to gain the power of its editing features. There are several types of selections, and some are handled differently than others regarding operations and features. In particular, SlickEdit Core handles line selections differently than most other editors. See Selections for more information.
Most text editing operations involve clipboards. Clipboards in SlickEdit Core are internal to the editor and separate from the system clipboard provided by the operating system. While most operating systems only allow one clipboard at a time, SlickEdit Core, by default, keeps a stack of the 50 most recently used clipboards. You can see a list of your clipboards by using the Clipboards view (Ctrl+Shift+V, Edit → List Clipboards or list_clipboards command). See Clipboards for more information.
By default, SlickEdit® Core starts in Insert mode, which means text that you type is inserted at the cursor. When the editor is in Replace mode, text is typed over the subsequent characters, essentially replacing text as you type. The Insert or Replace editing mode is indicated in the status line of the editor (Ins or Rep). To toggle the editing mode between Insert and Replace, click on the indicator, press the Insert key, or use the insert_toggle command. To change the default start mode, from the main menu, click Window → SlickEdit Preferences, expand Editing and click General, then change the value of the Start mode option.
The subsequent sections describe many editing commands. If a command you like to use isn't bound to a key or key sequence already, it's a good practice to give it a key binding for quicker keyboard access. See Creating Bindings for more information.
If you frequently use multiple text editing operations in succession, record the steps as a macro and bind it to a key to save time in the future. See Recording a Macro for more information.
All editing features are not necessarily documented here, nor are all commands documented for each feature. For example, in a subsequent section, common Cut operations are described, but more commands are also available. Usually these are emulation-specific. A good way to discover related commands is to type a portion of the command into the Search by command box on the Key Bindings option screen (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Keyboard → Key Bindings). For example, type "cut" in this box, and the list of Commands is filtered to show only those with that contain the text "cut". Now you can see that some additional Cut commands are append_next_cut and cut_level, two features of the GNU Emacs emulation.
Most applications let you select text and perform operations on the selected text, such as Cut, Copy, and Move. SlickEdit® Core offers three types of selections: character, line, and block. Each selection type provides different capabilities for different editing situations - and easy access.
Selected text is rendered with a shaded background. You can change the color of the shading by modifying the Background color of the Selection screen element (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Appearance → Colors). See Setting Colors for Screen Elements for more information.
There are three selection types in SlickEdit® Core: character, line, and block. The following table shows a summary of each type and some methods for creating the selection. Each type is explained in more detail below.
|
Selection Type |
Description |
Creation Methods |
|---|---|---|
|
Character selection |
This is created when one or more individual characters are selected. This is also known as a "char" selection. |
Use the mouse to drag or use the select_char command (F8 or Edit → Select → Char). See also Character Selections. |
|
Line selection |
This is created when one or more whole lines are selected as lines. You can select all of the characters on a line and still have a character selection. The selection type depends on how the selection was created. |
Triple-click within a line or use the select_line command (Ctrl+L or Edit → Select → Line). For multiple lines, drag in the left margin area of the edit window (when the mouse pointer changes to point right). See also Line Selections. |
|
Block selection |
This is created when columns of text are selected, also known as a "column selection". |
Right-click and drag or use the select_block command (Ctrl+B or Edit → Select → Block). See also Block Selections. |
Character selections (also called "char" selections) are used to select words, parts of a line, or a range of text between a starting location and an ending location. To create a character selection, use any of the following methods:
Use the mouse to click and drag.
Use the select_char command (F8 or Edit → Select → Char), then use the arrow keys to extend the selection, or use the mouse to click at the end of the selection.
Press and hold the Shift key with any navigation key. See Starting/Extending a Character Selection below for examples.
You can also create character selections on words:
To select the whole word under the cursor, double-click on the word or use the select_whole_word command (Edit → Select → Word).
To select from the cursor to the end of the current word or the next word, use the select_word command.
When viewing a list of clipboards, character selection types are indicated with the text "CHAR" (see Viewing and Inserting Clipboards for more information).
You can start or extend a character selection with Shift key shortcuts, described in the table below. For example, press Shift+Home to create a character selection from the cursor to the beginning of the line. Press Shift+End to create a selection from the cursor to the end of the line. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+Home to create a character selection from the cursor to the top of the file, or Ctrl+Shift+End to create a selection from the cursor to the end of the file.
Note that these shortcuts are based on the default CUA emulation.
|
Shortcut for Extending a Char Selection |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Shift+Right |
Start or extend selection to right. |
|
Shift+Left |
Start or extend selection to left. |
|
Shift+Up |
Start or extend selection up one line. |
|
Shift+Down |
Start or extend selection down one line. |
|
Shift+PgUp |
Start or extend selection up one page. |
|
Shift+PgDn |
Start or extend selection down one page. |
|
Ctrl+Shift+Home |
Start or extend selection to top of buffer. |
|
Ctrl+Shift+End |
Start or extend selection to bottom of buffer. |
A line selection is created when one or more complete lines are selected (partially selected lines are treated as character selections).
SlickEdit® Core treats line selections very differently from character selections. A line selection can only be inserted before or after another line of code. That's because a line of code is a meaningful unit of functionality in most languages, and it would never be inserted inside another line of code. Handling line selections in this manner makes it faster to copy and paste lines of code.
Line selections are pasted before or after the current line, depending on your Line insert style setting (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → General). Furthermore, line selections work with SmartPaste®, which reindents inserted lines according to the surrounding code. See Inserting Lines for more information.
To select a line, use one of the following methods:
Use the mouse to triple-click within a line, or to select multiple lines, drag in the left margin area of the edit window (when the mouse pointer changes to point right).
Use the select_line command (Ctrl+L or Edit → Select → Line). This selects the current line, or, you can use the arrow keys to extend the selection to include more lines (or click with the mouse on the last line of the selection).
The following operations are also treated as line selections:
To select the current code block (an entire block statement such as if, loop, switch, etc.), use the select_code_block command (Edit → Select → Code Block).
To select the current procedure/function, including the function heading, use the select_proc command (Edit → Select → Procedure).
To select the entire buffer, use the select_all command (Ctrl+A or Edit → Select → All).
When viewing a list of clipboards, line selection types are indicated with the text "LINE" (see Viewing and Inserting Clipboards for more information).
Block selections, also known as column selections, are used to process columns of text. To create a block selection, use any of the following methods:
Use the mouse to right-click and drag.
Use the select_block command (Ctrl+B or Edit → Select → Block), then use the arrow keys to extend the selection, or use the mouse to click at the end of the selection.
When viewing a list of clipboards, block selection types are indicated with the text "BLOCK" (see Viewing and Inserting Clipboards for more information).
Selections styles determine key behaviors for selections, like whether to extend the selection as the cursor moves or to deselect after a copy or paste operation. Selection features in SlickEdit® Core depend on the current selection style, which is set to match your emulation mode by default. However, note that the key bindings described in this section are based on the default emulation mode, CUA. If you are using a different emulation, see the emulation charts (located in the docs subdirectory of your installation directory) for a listing of selection keys.
To change the selection style, use the Selections option screen (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → Selections). See Selection Options for more information.
SlickEdit® Core provides a selection indicator, located in the status area of the editor, to indicate the type of selection and the number of characters or lines in a selection. This is useful to quickly determine the selection type you have made, and to measure the length of a word or string, or the number of lines in a function.
The selection indicator displays the following information based on your current selection:
When nothing is selected, the indicator is dimmed and displays the text "No Selection".
When the current selection is a character selection:
If the character selection is contained on one line, the indicator displays the number of columns selected. For example, if three characters are selected, the indicator displays "3 Cols".
Note
Because columns are "virtual", the number of columns displayed by the indicator is not necessarily the actual number of characters or bytes in the selection, if the selection includes tab characters, Unicode characters, or extends beyond the end of the line.
If the character selection spans more than one line, the indicator shows the number of lines, with a plus sign (+) to indicate if there are "extra" characters selected, or a minus sign (-) to indicate if there are fewer characters selected, depending on the start and end columns of the selection. For example, if the selection spans one entire line and part of the subsequent line, the indicator displays "1 Line+".
When the current selection is a line selection, the indicator displays the number of lines. For example, if two lines are selected, the indicator displays "2 Lines".
When the current selection is a block selection, the indicator displays the size of the block in the format Lines x Columns. For example, if the selected block is two lines long and three columns wide, the indicator displays "2x3 Block".
Tip
The selection indicator can be used to count the number of characters in any text block. This can be useful for database work or any type of task that involves checking the number of characters. Simply paste the text into SlickEdit Core and select it with one of the character selection methods, then look at the selection indicator to see the number of characters.
You can quickly cycle through the three selection types (character, line, and block) with the mouse. To do this, press and hold the left button while clicking with the right button to change the selection type. For example, if you have a character selection, click once to start a block selection, or twice to make a line selection.
You can also cycle through successively larger selections by using the select_toggle command or by clicking on the Selection Indicator in the editor's status area. For example, if you have a character selection, you can use select_toggle to extend the selection to include the entire word. Selections are cycled in the following order, starting with no selection:
Create empty character selection
Select current word
Select current line
Select current code block
Select larger code block
Select current function
Select entire file
Deselect
Except for empty character selections and line selections, the selections are locked so that the cursor remains stationary.
SlickEdit® Core provides many methods for manipulating selected text. The table below describes some of the most common selection operations. See Cut, Copy, Paste, and Move for more.
|
Selection Operation |
Description |
Usage |
|---|---|---|
|
Add Numbers in Selection |
Adds selected numbers and inserts result below the last line of the selection. Addition is performed for each adjacent line. If no operator exists between two adjacent numbers, addition is assumed. Works with character, line, and block selections. |
Use the add command. |
|
Automatically adds incrementing numbers to a selection of code. |
Use the enumerate command to auto-add numbers or use the gui_enumerate command (Edit → Other → Enumerate) to display the Enumerate Dialog, where you can specify options. | |
|
Align Block Selection Center |
Centers text in a block selection within the selected area. |
Use the align_selection_center command. |
|
Align Block Selection Left |
Aligns text in a block selection so that the first non-blank character of each line is flush against the left edge of the selection. |
Use the align_selection_left command. |
|
Align Block Selection Right |
Aligns text in a block selection so that the last non-blank character of each line is flush against the right edge of the selection. |
Use the align_selection_right command. |
|
Append Selection to Clipboard |
Appends selected text to the clipboard. |
Use the append_to_clipboard command ( Ctrl+Shift+C or Edit → Append to Clipboard ) |
|
Beautify Selection |
Beautifies the selected text according to the beautification settings for the current language. See Beautifying Code for more information. |
Use the beautify_selection command, or check the Restrict to selection box on the Beautifier dialog (Format → Beautify). |
|
Cancel Selection |
Cancels the selection. |
Use the deselect command or press Ctrl+U. |
|
Casing: Lowercase Selection |
Translates characters within a selection to lowercase letters. See Case and Capitalization of Text for more casing options. |
Use the lowcase_selection command (Ctrl+Shift+L or Edit → Other → Lowcase). |
|
Casing: Toggle Selection Casing |
Toggles the characters within a selection between lowercase and uppercase. |
Use the togglecase_selection command. |
|
Casing: Uppercase Selection |
Translates characters within a selection to lowercase letters. See Case and Capitalization of Text for more casing options. |
Use the upcase_selection command (Ctrl+Shift+U or Edit → Other → Upcase). |
|
Copy Selection by Dragging |
Drag/copies selected text. |
Press and hold Ctrl while clicking inside a selection and then dragging with the mouse to the desired location ( Ctrl+LButtonDn ). |
|
Copy Selection to Clipboard |
Copies selected text (or the entire line, if no selection) to the clipboard. You can also create a named clipboard with this operation (see Named Clipboards). |
Use the copy_to_clipboard command (Ctrl+C or Edit → Copy). |
|
Copy Selection to Cursor |
Copies selected text to the cursor location. Char and block selections are inserted before the character at the cursor, while lines are inserted at the location specified by the Line insert style setting (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → General). |
Use the copy_to_cursor command or press Ctrl+Shift while holding the right mouse button (Ctrl+Shift+RbuttonDn). |
|
Cut Selection |
Deletes a selection and copies it to the clipboard. |
Use the cut command (Ctrl+X or Edit → Cut). |
|
Delete and Append to Clipboard |
Deletes a selection and appends it to the clipboard. |
Use the append_cut command (Ctrl+Shift+X or Edit → Append Cut). |
|
Execute Selection |
Executes each line or sub-line of a selection as if entered on the command line. |
Use the execute_selection command or press Alt+=. |
|
Files: Append Selection to File |
Appends selected text to the specified file. |
Specify a file name with the append command, or use the gui_append_selection command to display a dialog where you can browse to pick the file. |
|
Files: Write Selection to File |
Writes selected text to the specified file. |
Specify a file name with the put command, or use the gui_write_selection command (File → Write Selection) to display a dialog where you can browse to pick the file. |
|
Fill Selection |
Fills a selection with the specified key character. |
Use the fill_selection command to be prompted on the command line for the key, or use the gui_fill_selection command (Edit → Fill) to display a dialog prompt. |
|
Hide Selection |
Hides all lines in a selection by collapsing as a Selective Display unit. |
Use the hide_selection command (Display → Hide Selection). Use the show_all command (Display → Show All) to redisplay lines. |
|
Indenting: Indent Selection |
Indents the selected text according to the Syntax Indent settings or by one tab stop, depending on the Indent with tabs setting on the Language-Specific Indent Options screen. One indent level is added for char and line selections, while one indent level starting from the left edge of the selection is used for block selections. |
Use the indent_selection command (Tab or Edit → Indent). |
|
Indenting: Unindent Selection |
Unindents the selected text according to the Syntax Indent settings or by one tab stop, depending on the Indent with tabs setting on the Language-Specific Indent Options screen. One indent level is removed from each line of char and line selections, while one indent level starting from the left edge of the selection is removed for block selections. |
Use the unindent_selection command (Shift+Tab or Edit → Unindent). |
|
List Clipboards |
Allows you to view and insert a clipboard. See Clipboards for more information. |
Use the list_clipboards command (Ctrl+Shift+V or Edit → List Clipboards. |
|
Move Selection by Dragging |
Drag/moves selected text. |
Press and hold the left mouse button while clicking on a selection and then dragging with the mouse to the new location. |
|
Overlay Block Selection |
Overlays a block selection at the current cursor location. |
Use the overlay_block_selection command (Edit → Other → Overlay Block). |
|
Overlay/Adjust Block Selection |
Overlays a block selection at the current cursor location, and fills the source selection with blanks. |
Use the adjust_block_selection command (Edit → Other → Adjust Block). |
|
Paste |
Inserts the most recent clipboard at the current cursor location. To insert another clipboard, see the List Clipboards operation or Clipboards. |
Use the paste command (Ctrl+V or Edit → Paste). |
|
Reflow Selection |
Reflows text within a selection according to the margin settings specified on the Word Wrap option screen (see Language-Specific Word Wrap Options). Block selections are wrapped within the columns of the block. Char selections are not supported for this operation. |
Use the reflow_selection command (Format → Format Selection). |
|
Reverse Selection |
Reverses the characters in a selection. |
Use the reverse_selection command. |
|
Shift Text in Selection Left |
Shifts text within a selection to the left by one column, maintaining relative indentation. This operation supports line and block selections. If a character selection is used, it is converted to a line selection. |
Use the shift_selection_left command (Shift+F7 or Edit → Other → M2 Left). |
|
Shift Text in Selection Right |
Shifts text within a selection to the right by one column, maintaining relative indentation. This operation supports line and block selections. If a character selection is used, it is converted to a line selection. |
Use the shift_selection_right command (Shift+F8 or Edit → Other → M2 Right). |
|
Sort Lines Within Selection |
Sorts lines in a selected area in ascending order. |
Use the sort_within_selection command or select the Sort within selection option on the Sort dialog (Format → Sort). |
|
Sort Selected Lines |
Sorts lines in a selected area in ascending order, by comparing only the first columns. |
Use the sort_on_selection command or select the Sort on selection option on the Sort dialog (Format → Sort). |
|
Spell Check Selection |
Checks the spelling of selected text according to the Spell Option settings. See Spell Checking for more information. |
Use the spell_check_selection command (Format → Spell Check → Check Selection). |
The main menu item Edit provides access to commonly used editing features. Keyboard shortcuts for each menu item (if available) are displayed by default on the menu itself, based on the current emulation.
Tip
Several editing operations affect words. You can change the characters that SlickEdit® Core uses to recognize words, on a per-language basis. To do this, use the Word chars option on the Language-Specific General Options screen (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Languages → [Language Category] → [Language] → General).
You can cut or delete any selected text, or individual words, lines, or entire code blocks. Cut operations copy the text to the clipboard before deleting. To remove selected text without copying it to the clipboard, press the Delete key.
The table below shows some common Cut operations.
|
Cut Operation |
Description |
Usage |
|---|---|---|
|
Cut |
Deletes the selection and copies it to the clipboard. |
Use the cut command (Ctrl+X or Edit → Cut). |
|
Append Cut |
Deletes the selection and appends it to the clipboard. |
Use the append_cut command (Ctrl+Shift+X or Edit → Append Cut). |
|
Cut Word |
Deletes text starting from the cursor to the end of the current word or next word, and copies it to the clipboard. Invoking this operation from the keyboard multiple times in succession creates one clipboard. See the Tip at the beginning of this section to change word recognition characters. |
Use the cut_word command (Ctrl +Shift +k or Edit → Delete → Word). |
|
Cut Line |
Deletes the current line and copies it to the clipboard. Invoking this operation from the keyboard multiple times in succession creates one clipboard. |
Use the cut_line command (Ctrl+Backspace or Edit → Delete → Line). |
|
Cut to End of Line |
Deletes text starting from the cursor to the end of the line, and copies it to the clipboard. Invoking this operation from the keyboard multiple times in succession creates one clipboard. |
Use the cut_end_line command (Ctrl+E or Edit → Delete → To End of Line). |
|
Cut Code Block |
Prompts to delete the current code block statement and copies the lines to the clipboard. |
Use the cut_code_block command or press Ctrl+Del. |
The table below shows some common Copy operations.
|
Copy Operation |
Description |
Usage |
|---|---|---|
|
Copy to Clipboard |
Copies the selected text (or the entire line, if no selection) to the clipboard. You can also create a named clipboard with this operation (see Named Clipboards). |
Use the copy_to_clipboard command (Ctrl+C or Edit → Copy). |
|
Copy Word |
Copies the word at the cursor to the clipboard. Invoking this operation from the keyboard multiple times in succession creates one clipboard. See the Tip at the beginning of this section to change word recognition characters. |
Use the copy_word command (Ctrl+K or Edit → Copy Word). |
|
Copy to Cursor |
Copies the selected text to the cursor location. Char and block selections are inserted before the character at the cursor, while lines are inserted at the location specified by the Line insert style setting (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → General). |
Use the copy_to_cursor command or press Ctrl+Shift while holding the right mouse button (Ctrl+Shift+RbuttonDn). |
|
Copy to System Clipboard |
Passes the selected text to the operating systems clipboard. |
Use the copy command. |
|
Copy Visible |
Copies the currently visible lines to the clipboard. Ignores lines hidden by Selective Display. |
Use the copy_selective_display command (Display → Copy Visible). |
When pasting text created from a character or block selection, the text is inserted before the character at the cursor. Line selections are inserted at the location specified by the Line insert style setting (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → General), and by default, indented according to your indent level settings. See Inserting Lines for more information.
The most recent clipboard item can be inserted at the cursor location with the paste command (Ctrl+V or Edit → Paste).
To insert another clipboard, use the Clipboards view (Edit → List Clipboards), or use the list_clipboards command to display the Select Text to Paste dialog. Both the view and dialog show a list of your clipboards and let you select the clipboard to insert. The only difference is that the view can be docked and contains a Preview area that shows the entire color-coded contents of the clipboard. See Clipboards for more information about these features.
You can also cycle through and paste clipboards with the paste_next_clipboard and paste_prev_clipboard commands. These commands cycle through the clipboard ring and paste the top item, while leaving the pasted text selected, so you can use the command again to see the next (or previous) clipboard text, if that wasn't the clipboard you wanted. For example, if you have three clipboards named 1, 2, and 3, invoking the paste_next_clipboard command inserts (yet leaves selected) clipboard 2 and moves it to the top of the ring. Invoke the command again to see/paste the next clipboard instead, and so on.
To move a text selection from one location to another, use the mouse to drag and drop it where you want. SlickEdit® Core allows this capability by default. To disable it, from the main menu, click Window → SlickEdit Preferences, expand Editing and click General, then set the Allow drag drop text option to False.
Use SlickEdit® Core clipboards to copy and move text in files, the SlickEdit Core command line, dialog text boxes, or any other application that supports text clipboards, such as a word processor. Clipboards in SlickEdit Core are internal to the editor and separate from the system clipboard provided by the operating system.
Common clipboard-related operations (cut, copy, paste, etc.) are available on the main Edit drop-down menu. The corresponding key binding for each item is also shown by default. See Cut, Copy, Paste, and Move for more information about basic editing operations.
When using a cut or copy operation, a clipboard is created. Pressing the same cut key multiple times in succession creates one clipboard. For example, the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+K is used to cut words (the binding for the cut_word command). If you press Ctrl+Shift+K three times to cut three words, one clipboard is created that you can insert with Ctrl+V (the paste command). This is true for Ctrl+Backspace (cut_line command) and Ctrl+E (cut_end_line command) as well.
Tip
If you are using the Brief emulation and want to place cut text on a clipboard, bind the commands cut_word, cut_end_line, and cut_line to the appropriate keys.
To insert the current clipboard into the buffer, from the main menu, select Edit → Paste, press Ctrl+V, or use the paste command.
In the case of multiple clipboards, there are two ways to view and insert: by using the Clipboards view, or by using the modal Select Text to Paste dialog. Both provide the same information, except the Clipboards view is dockable and contains a color-coded Preview area for previewing clipboard contents.
To display the Clipboards view, from the main menu, select Edit → List Clipboards, press Ctrl+Shift+V, or use the list_clipboards command.
To display the Select Text to Paste dialog, you can use either the old_list_clipboards command or the list_clipboards_modal command. These commands are identical.
With either method, double-click on a clipboard to insert it at the cursor location, or, select the clipboard to insert and press Enter or click OK.
Both the dialog and the view provide the same information:
Clipboard name/number - This is the number of the clipboard or the name, if using Named Clipboards. Clipboards are numbered with the most recent clipboard first, which always appears at the top of the list. You can use this value with the paste command to insert the specified clipboard. For example, type paste 2 on the command line to insert clipboard 2 at the cursor location.
Clipboard type - The clipboard type can be CHAR, LINE, or BLOCK. A CHAR type clipboard is inserted before the current character. A LINE type clipboard is inserted after the current line by default. If you want LINE type clipboards inserted before the current line, change the line insert style (Window → SlickEdit Preferences → Editing → General). A BLOCK type clipboard is inserted before the current character and pushes over all text intersecting with the block. No lines are inserted.
Line count - The number following the clipboard type indicates the number of complete or partial lines of text in the clipboard.
Clipboard contents/summary - This area shows all or a portion of the clipboard contents. If the contents exceed the viewing area, they are condensed.
The Clipboards view contains a Preview area that shows the selected clipboard's color-coded contents. You can copy text in the Preview to create a new clipboard. To see the entire contents of a condensed clipboard using the Select Text to Paste dialog, click the View button. The View Clipboard dialog opens showing the color-coded contents in an edit window. From here, you can copy all or part of the contents to the operating system clipboard.
The Clipboards view contains additional functionality:
You can filter the list of clipboards by text. By typing a string into the Filter text box, only clipboards whose contents contain that entered string will be shown. Clearing the filter will restore all clipboards.
To delete the selected clipboard item in the view, press Delete, or, right-click and select Delete from the context-menu. To delete all clipboards, select Clear All from the right-click context menu.
To make the selected clipboard active, select Set as Current Clipboard from the right-click context menu.
To save the clipboard to a file, select Save clipboard to file from the right-click context menu.
To change the view of the view, the View menu item on the right-click context menu:
Auto - When this is selected, the Clipboards view switches between Horizontal and Vertical views automatically as you resize it.
Horizontal - When this is selected, the clipboard list is displayed above the Preview area.
Vertical - When this is selected, the clipboard list and Preview area are displayed side-by-side.
You can create a named clipboard by simply typing the name after the copy_to_clipboard command. For example, create a selection, then, on the SlickEdit® Core command line, type: copy_to_clipboard a. A clipboard named "a" is created. Now, you can use the name with the paste command to insert the named clipboard without using the Select Text to Paste dialog or Clipboards view (for example, paste a). Note that named clipboards are limited to two characters, and that the cut command is not supported for this feature.
Only clipboards of one line can be inserted into the SlickEdit® Core command line or a text box. Both Ctrl+V and Ctrl+Shift+V key sequences can be used to insert clipboard text into these fields. The result of inserting a clipboard into a text box varies depending on the clipboard type.
SlickEdit® Core provides several ways to start a new line or split a line, as described in the table below.
|
Line Operation |
Description |
Usage |
|---|---|---|
|
Split Line at Cursor |
Splits the line at the cursor and appends enough blanks at the beginning of the new line to align it with the first non-blank character of the original line. |
Use the split_insert_line command or press Enter. |
|
No Split Insert Line (After) |
Inserts a blank line after the current line, aligning the cursor with the first non-blank character of the current line. The current line is not split. |
Use the nosplit_insert_line command or press Ctrl+Enter. |
|
No Split Insert Line (Before) |
Inserts a blank line before the current line, aligning the cursor with the first non-blank character of the current line. The current line is not split. |
Use the nosplit_insert_line_above command or press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. |
The table below shows some of the operations you can use to change the case and capitalization of characters and words.
|
Casing Operation |
Description |
Usage |
|---|---|---|
|
Lowercase Selection |
Translates characters within a selection to lowercase letters. |
Use the lowcase_selection command (Ctrl+Shift+L or Edit → Other → Lowcase). |
|
Lowercase Word |
Translates the current word to lowercase letters and places the cursor after it. See the Tip at the beginning of this section to change word recognition characters. |
Use the lowcase_word command. |
|
Uppercase Selection |
Translates characters within a selection to lowercase letters. |
Use the upcase_selection command (Ctrl+Shift+U or Edit → Other → Upcase). |
|
Uppercase Word |
Translates the current word to uppercase letters and places the cursor after it. See the Tip at the beginning of this section to change word recognition characters. |
Use the upcase_word command. |
|
Toggle Casing |
Toggles the case of letters within a selection. |
Use the togglecase_selection command. |
|
Uppercase Mode |
Toggles Uppercase mode on and off. Uppercase mode means that letters you type are automatically uppercased, so you don't need to press and hold Shift. Note that you can enable auto-caps on a language-specific basis with the Auto CAPS option (see Language-Specific General Options). |
Use the caps command. |
|
Capitalize Selection |
Capitalizes the first letter of each word in a selection. |
Use the cap_selection command (Ctrl+Shift+A or Edit → Other → Capitalize). |
|
Capitalize Word |
Capitalizes the first letter of the current word and places the cursor after the word. See the Tip at the beginning of this section to change word recognition characters. |
Use the cap_word command. |
Characters can be inserted at the cursor location in the current buffer. This is useful if you wish to insert non-ASCII characters (keys not on the keyboard). To insert a literal character, from the main menu, click Edit → Insert Literal, or use the insert_literal command. The Insert Literal dialog is displayed.
The text box to the right of the Character Code label displays the character. The spin box displays the decimal character code, hex character code, or ASCII character depending on which of those options is selected.
Block insert mode is useful when you need to edit a block of text instead of just copying or deleting it. Additionally, when in this mode, characters you type, as well as other edits (such as backspacing and deleting), apply to the entire block/column selection.
After a block selection is created, you can enter block insert mode by simply typing some characters to insert, or by entering the block_insert_mode command (Edit → Other → Block Insert Mode). If the block selection is more than one column wide, then the initial block selection will be deleted when you type the first character. This mode also supports use of the keys Tab, Shift+Tab, and Backspace.
To cancel out of block insert mode, press the Esc key.
The figure below shows an example of a block selection created by right-clicking and dragging to select a block. Notice the cursor position.
The figure below shows how the above example changes when you type "i" at the cursor while the block is selected.
The figure below shows how the original example changes when you type "int" at the cursor while the block is selected.
You can enable Hex view/edit mode on a per-document or language-specific basis:
To view the current binary or text file in a Hex mode, click Display → Hex or Display → Line Hex (or use the commands hex or linehex, respectively).
To enable Hex or Line Hex view on a language-specific basis, so that each file opened in that language is displayed in Hex mode, use the Language-Specific View Options.
If you close a file in Hex mode, the file will be displayed in Hex mode the next time it is opened. When the cursor is in hex data, the data can be overwritten or hex nibbles (characters 0 through F) can be inserted. When the cursor is in the text data, overwrite it if you want, or insert text characters the same as if editing a text file. All of the search and replace commands work while SlickEdit® Core is in Hex mode. Only character selections are displayed when in Hex mode.
See also Hex/Line Hex View for more information.
Hex mode key bindings override normal key bindings for the emulation. Most of the other emulation keys will perform the same operation. However, keys that are bound to the following commands perform hex cursor motion: top_of_buffer, bottom_of_buffer, page_up, page_down, begin_line, end_line, begin_line_text_toggle, cursor_left, and cursor_right.