multiple-cursors.el

multiple-cursors.el Multiple cursors for Emacs. This is some pretty crazy functionality, so yes, there are kinks. Don't be afraid though, I've been using it since 2011 with great success and much merriment. Maintenance warning I use this package every day, and have been doing so for years. It just works. At least, it works for all my use cases. And if it breaks somehow, I fix it. However, it has become painfully clear to me that I don't have time to fix problems I don't have. It's been years since I could keep pace with the issues and pull requests. Whenever I try, I keep getting feedback that my fix isn't good enough by some standard I don't particularly care about. So, I have closed the issue tracker and the pull requests. I hope you can happily use this package, just like I do. If it doesn't work for you, then I'm sorry. Thankfully Emacs is infinitely malleable, you can probably fix it yourself. TLDR: I am still maintaining this package, but I am no longer crowdsourcing a list of issues. Installation I highly recommend installing multiple-cursors through package.el. It's available on MELPA, MELPA Stable and NonGNU ELPA (enabled by default from Emacs 28 onwards): M-x package-install multiple-cursors The package depends on the cl-lib package, so if you do not use package.el or have a recent Emacs, you would need to install that too: see GNU ELPA. Basic usage Start out with: (require 'multiple-cursors) Then you have to set up your keybindings - multiple-cursors doesn't presume to know how you'd like them laid out. Here are some examples: When you have an active region that spans multiple lines, the following will add a cursor to each line: (global-set-key (kbd "C-S-c C-S-c") 'mc/edit-lines) When you want to add multiple cursors not based on continuous lines, but based on keywords in the buffer, use: (global-set-key (kbd "C->") 'mc/mark-next-like-this) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<") 'mc/mark-previous-like-this) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-<") 'mc/mark-all-like-this) First mark the word, then add more cursors. To get out of multiple-cursors-mode, press <return> or C-g. The latter will first disable multiple regions before disabling multiple cursors. If you want to insert a newline in multiple-cursors-mode, use C-j. Video You can watch an intro to multiple-cursors at Emacs Rocks. Command overview Mark one more occurrence Command Description mc/mark-next-like-this Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer forwards that matches the current region. mc/mark-next-like-this-word Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer forwards that matches the current region, if no region is selected it selects the word at the point. mc/mark-next-like-this-symbol Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer forwards that matches the current region, if no region is selected it selects the symbol at the point. mc/mark-next-word-like-this Like mc/mark-next-like-this but only for whole words. mc/mark-next-symbol-like-this Like mc/mark-next-like-this but only for whole symbols. mc/mark-previous-like-this Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer backwards that matches the current region. mc/mark-previous-like-this-word Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer backwards that matches the current region, if no region is selected it selects the word at the point. mc/mark-previous-like-this-symbol Adds a cursor and region at the next part of the buffer backwards that matches the current region, if no region is selected it selects the symbol at the point. mc/mark-previous-word-like-this Like mc/mark-previous-like-this but only for whole words. mc/mark-previous-symbol-like-this Like mc/mark-previous-like-this but only for whole symbols. mc/mark-more-like-this-extended Use arrow keys to quickly mark/skip next/previous occurrences. mc/add-cursor-on-click Bind to a mouse event to add cursors by clicking. See tips-section. mc/mark-pop Set a cursor at the current point and move to the next (different) position on the mark stack. This allows for fine grained control over the placement of cursors. Juggle around with the current cursors Command Description mc/unmark-next-like-this Remove the cursor furthest down in the buffer. mc/unmark-previous-like-this Remove the cursor furthest up in the buffer. mc/skip-to-next-like-this Remove the cursor furthest down, marking the next occurrence down. mc/skip-to-previous-like-this Remove the cursor furthest up, marking the next occurrence up. Mark many occurrences Command Description mc/edit-lines Adds one cursor to each line in the current region. mc/edit-beginnings-of-lines Adds a cursor at the start of each line in the current region. mc/edit-ends-of-lines Adds a cursor at the end of each line in the current region. mc/mark-all-like-this Marks all parts of the buffer that matches the current region. mc/mark-all-words-like-this Like mc/mark-all-like-this but only for whole words. mc/mark-all-symbols-like-this Like mc/mark-all-like-this but only for whole symbols. mc/mark-all-in-region Prompts for a string to match in the region, adding cursors to all of them. mc/mark-all-like-this-in-defun Marks all parts of the current defun that matches the current region. mc/mark-all-words-like-this-in-defun Like mc/mark-all-like-this-in-defun but only for whole words. mc/mark-all-symbols-like-this-in-defun Like mc/mark-all-like-this-in-defun but only for whole symbols. mc/mark-all-dwim Tries to be smart about marking everything you want. Can be pressed multiple times. Special Command Description set-rectangular-region-anchor Think of this one as set-mark except you're marking a rectangular region. mc/mark-sgml-tag-pair Mark the current opening and closing tag. mc/insert-numbers Insert increasing numbers for each cursor, top to bottom. mc/insert-letters Insert increasing letters for each cursor, top to bottom. mc/sort-regions Sort the ma