This section deals general usage of jEdit, including customisation.
1. Abbreviations | |
Q: | How can I create abbreviations “on the fly” as I type? |
A: | Type the form of abbreviation you wish to use, then
without pressing the |
Q: | How can I have abbreviations expanded automatically as I type? |
A: | Select Space bar expands abbrevs”. Here you can also add, modify and delete abbreviations on a global basis or for individual editing modes. > , then select the option pane. You will see a checkbox option for “ |
2. Clipboard features | |
Q: | Can I copy selections from more than one location in a document (or more than one document) and paste the aggregate text in one operation? |
A: | The |
3. File Attributes | |
| |
Q: | Does jEdit preserve file ownership and permissions when it saves files? |
A: | One reason this can be an issue is that by default, jEdit adopts the conservative approach of saving a file to a temporary name before renaming that file to the desired name. This procedure minimizes the risk of crashes causing loss of data, and works without reported problems on local file systems. However, when files are served remotely by FTP, Samba or other means, it may not be possible to preserve file attributes on the server because the newly created temporary file's owner may differ from the owner of the original file on the server. To avoid this problem, you can disable the two-step file saving routine. Select > , then under , clear the checkbox for . |
Q: | Why does jEdit ignore my choice for line separator characters when I save a file? |
A: | When jEdit saves an existing file, it uses the line separator already used by the file. The line separator designated in the buffer options or elsewhere is used only for new files. |
Q: | Can jEdit auto-detect character encodings when it opens a file? |
A: | Only Unicode can be detected when a file is loaded. For other encodings, you must specify the encoding when the file is loaded if you do not wish to use the default encoding for your operating system. There are a few features that can help you navigate through encoding issues. You can select the encoding you wish to use from in the menu of the File System Browser. You can also designate a default encoding in the pane of the Global Options dialog; if you do not, jEdit adopts your operating system's default encoding as its own default. You can change the encoding used to save an individual file by selecting > and changing the current buffer's properties. Finally, jEdit keeps track of the encodings used in the files named in the > drop-down list.These features allow you to minimize the attention given to character encodings, but you must still pay some attention if you do not want to use default settings. |
Q: | I'm using the iso-8859-1 character encoding. How do I type and save the Euro sign (“€”)? |
A: | You need to use instead the iso-8859-15 character set, which is a modification of iso-8859-1 that includes the Euro sign and some Finnish and French characters. The Euro sign represents character value 0xA4 in this 8-bit set. To open a file manually using this encoding, select > , and select from > before opening the file.There is a startup script in the
“Downloads” area of jEdit Community
named |
4. File Management | |
| |
Q: | How can I open files in jEdit using drag and drop? |
A: | Try installing the Drag and Drop plugin using the Plugin Manager feature. It works with most (but not all) combinations of operating systems and current Java runtime environments. |
Q: | How do I add and remove directories to the list of “favorites” in jEdit's File System Browser? |
A: | To add a directory to the list of favorites, navigate so that the directory is at the top of the tree displayed in the File System Browser window, click the button, and select from the resulting menu. To delete a directory from the favorites list, use the same menu to go to the favorites list. Right-click on the directory to be deleted and select . This operation will delete the directory from the list of favorites but will have no effect on the directory itself. |
Q: | How do I associate particular file types with jEdit so I can open them by double clicking their icons in Windows Explorer? |
A: | If you are using jEditLauncher, you associate the file
extension with The jEditLauncher package for Windows includes a custom context menu handler. It will provide menu items for using jEdit any time you right-click on a file icon in Windows Explorer or a Windows file menu. This feature does not interfere with any existing file associations. |
Q: | Can I restrict jEdit to opening and saving files in a single directory without changing file permissions? |
A: | The easiest way to get this kind of behavior is to use macros that open the Virtual File Browser to a specific, fixed directory, and then change the default keyboard shortcuts for opening and saving files to run these macros. |
Q: | On Windows, how can I change the name of my file from
|
A: | The Windows native file system deals with file names
in a case-insensitive manner, so
|
Q: | Can I recursively delete a directory's files in jEdit's File Browser? |
A: | No. The feature is being planned for inclusion in a future jEdit version. The fastest way to do this in the current jEdit version is to use the Console plugin and a native command. |
5. Formatting text | |
| |
Q: | How do I indent or unindent selections of text? |
A: | Using jEdit's default configuration, you can indent a
selection of text by pressing |
Q: | Is there a way to automatically view line numbers when a buffer is opened? |
A: | , and in the option pane select the check box. |
Q: | Does jEdit know smart quotes? In .tex files I would
like to use |
A: | While jEdit can display any character provided by a supported encoding set and enter any character supported by a keyboard driver, it does not have the ability to insert “smart quote” pairs automatically as some word processors do. This would require a BeanShell macro to modify quoted text. The Accents and CharacterMap plugins can also help you type international characters. You also have the option of using a TeX macro (or, in
LaTeX, a pair of environment tags) to have the standard
double quotation mark |
Q: | Does jEdit have a “soft” wrap text mode? |
A: | jEdit's 4.3's soft wrap mode, and especially its wrap to margin=0, is one of its many features that just works better than it does in most other editing environments. Soft Wrap with margin=0 was unavailable in jEdit 4.2, but users of 4.1 will remember it well. When you set SOFT WRAP with a margin=0, you don't need to use the horizontal scroller anymore. It's just as simple as that. jEdit wrap capability can be activated for a specific buffer, specific editing modes, or for all documents by default. In prior versions, both the text wrap feature and the hard” end of line characters. This “hard wrap” feature remains available as an option for buffers and editing modes. command insert “ |
Q: | The display of spaces as a character in the editor is annoying. How can I disable those small square boxes? |
A: | This is controlled by the WhiteSpace plugin. To change your settings to disable display of whitespace characters, select , then select . You can separately configure the display of spaces, tabs, and other whitespace characters. |
Q: | Does jEdit support i18n? |
A: | When editing text documents, jEdit supports any available encoding scheme, and can open files with a specified encoding other than the default encoding of your operating system using the > from the File System Browser.With respect to menu labels, message strings and other GUI elements, the jEdit project team currently does not have the resources to maintain multiple property sets in languages other than English, particularly since the development effort is continuing at a rapid pace. There has not been great demand for this in any event. This may be because jEdit is primarily a tool for programmers, and the use of English as a common first or second language is widespread in the global programming community. This decision may be reconsidered when the application has further matured and if more individuals express a willingness to be involved in translation work. |
Q: | When using soft wrap, why does it scroll per physical line and not screen line? |
A: | This will change in jEdit 4.2. |
6. Printing text | |
Q: | What can I do to improve printing performance? |
A: | Prior to release of version 1.4 of the Java Development Kit (JDK), printing has been one of the weak areas of the Java platform. If you are using JDK version 1.3, here are a few suggestions on improving printing performance. One simple way to improve printing is to use the
InfoViewer plugin to display and print a text file in your
favorite Web browser. You can also write a macro that saves
a buffer and then passes the buffer's file name (using the
method |
7. Compiling source code | |
Q: | How do I compile my Java source in JEdit? |
A: | There are a number of plugins that you can use to
compile Java source code. You can run a Java compiler on the
command line in the “System” shell of the
Console plugin. If you are using
the JCompiler plugin, you will have a
“JCompiler” shell in the
Console plugin, and you can run
the |
Q: | How do I create a new edit mode? |
A: | Take a look at the “Writing Edit Modes” section of the User's Guide. Basically, you have to write an XML file containing data on the mode's file extensions and buffer and syntax highlighting properties, then add information about the new mode file to a second XML file containing a catalog of modes. |
Q: | Does jEdit support DocBook tags? |
A: | The application contains editing modes for both SGML and XML. Using jEdit abbreviations, you can quickly insert commonly-typed tags with a couple of keystroke. There are a number of abbreviations in the XML and SGML modes that create pairs of DocBook tags on the fly. You can get validation, tree-browsing, auto-complete, and auto-closing tags with the XML plugin, a very advanced XML editing tool. With whe XInsert or Template plugin you can create multi-layered DocBook elements. There are other macros targeting DocBook available from the jEdit Community web site that you can use or adapt for your own purposes. |
8. Tips for Emacs users | |
For more emacs help, check out this site for more emacs macros. | |
Q: | Can I have an emacs style tab key (tab anywhere in a line re-indents it)? |
A: | Yes. You can do this by rebinding the tab key to Indent Selected Lines in the . |
Q: | How do I map Ctrl-E to go to the end of the line? |
A: | jEdit has it set up as a 2-key shortcut. In order to make Ctrl-E a one-key shortcut again, you first have to redefine all of the Ctrl-E prefix shortcuts to mean something else.
# emacs end of line end.shortcut2=C+e # Ctrl-Q twice to quit exit.shortcut=C+q C+q # C+q is our new C+e prefix #{{{ C+q C+X # Unused: f, h, q, y copy-append.shortcut=C+q C+a search-in-open-buffers.shortcut=C+q C+b range-comment.shortcut=C+q C+c search-in-directory.shortcut=C+q C+d replace-and-find-next.shortcut=C+q C+g ignore-case.shortcut=C+q C+i scroll-to-current-line.shortcut=C+q C+j line-comment.shortcut=C+q C+k select-line-range.shortcut=C+q C+l add-marker.shortcut=C+q C+m center-caret.shortcut=C+q C+n open-path.shortcut=C+q C+o vertical-paste.shortcut=C+q C+p replace-in-selection.shortcut=C+q C+r save-all.shortcut=C+q C+s toggle-line-numbers.shortcut=C+q C+t cut-append.shortcut=C+q C+u paste-previous.shortcut=C+q C+v close-all.shortcut=C+q C+w regexp.shortcut=C+q C+x paste-deleted.shortcut=C+q C+y redo.shortcut=C+q C+z #}}} #{{{ C+q C+non-alpha left-docking-area.shortcut=C+q C+LEFT top-docking-area.shortcut=C+q C+UP right-docking-area.shortcut=C+q C+RIGHT bottom-docking-area.shortcut=C+q C+DOWN prev-marker.shortcut=C+q C+COMMA next-marker.shortcut=C+q C+PERIOD prev-bracket.shortcut=C+q C+OPEN_BRACKET next-bracket.shortcut=C+q C+CLOSE_BRACKET close-docking-area.shortcut=C+q C+BACK_QUOTE #}}} #{{{ C+q X # Unused: b e g h j k m o q t y z add-explicit-fold.shortcut=C+q a collapse-all-folds.shortcut=C+q c delete-paragraph.shortcut=C+q d format-paragraph.shortcut=C+q f find-previous.shortcut=C+q g invert-selection.shortcut=C+q i select-line.shortcut=C+q l narrow-to-fold.shortcut=C+q n n narrow-to-selection.shortcut=C+q n s select-paragraph.shortcut=C+q p remove-trailing-ws.shortcut=C+q r select-fold.shortcut=C+q s insert-literal.shortcut=C+q v select-word.shortcut=C+q w parent-fold.shortcut=C+q u expand-all-folds.shortcut=C+q x #}}} |
Q: | What about ctrl-K? |
A: | Check out |
9. Other Settings and Options | |
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Q: | How can I change the font used for menu labels and other elements of jEdit's user interface? |
A: | Select Metal” look and feel you can also select the fonts used for various displayed items. > , then the option pane. When you select the “ |
Q: | I want to add a directory to the classpath. I did this
in the standalone BeanShell with ease by using the
|
A: | The implementation of BeanShell used in jEdit does not use BeanShell's class loader. The script method contained in loadJarClasses.bsh (found in the Downloads section of jEdit Community) should work if you know the path to a specific class file or class archive. |
Q: | Are there any hidden features? |
A: | Yes. You can access them by binding a shortcut to the action in question. You will find a complete list of available commands under the area in the . |