<chapter id="fundamentals">
<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author><personname><firstname></firstname></personname></author>
<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
</authorgroup>
</chapterinfo>
<title>The Fundamentals</title>

<para>
If you have ever used a text editor, you will have no problem using
&kate;. In the next two sections, <link linkend="starting-kate">Starting
&kate; </link> and in <link linkend="working-with-kate">Working with
&kate;</link>, we'll show you everything you need to get up and running
quickly.
</para>

<sect1 id="starting-kate">
<title>Starting &kate;</title>

<para>
You can start &kate; from the &kmenu; or from the
command line.
</para>

<sect2 id="starting-from-the-menu">
<title>From the Menu</title>
<para>
Open the &kde; program menu by clicking on the
big <guiicon>K</guiicon> icon on the toolbar at the bottom left of your
screen. This will raise a menu. Move your
cursor up the menu to the <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Advanced Text Editor &kate;</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="starting-from-the-command-line">
<title>From the Command Line</title>

<para>
You can start &kate; by typing its name on the command line. If you give
it a file name, as in the example below, it will open or create that
file.
</para>

<informalexample>
<screen>
<prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>kate</command> <option><replaceable>myfile.txt</replaceable></option></userinput>
</screen>
</informalexample>

<para>
If you have an active connection, and permission, you can take advantage
of &kde;'s network transparency to open files on the internet.
</para>

<informalexample>
<screen>
<prompt>%</prompt><userinput><command>kate</command> <option><replaceable>ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/README</replaceable></option></userinput>
</screen>
</informalexample>

<sect3 id="command-line-options">
<title>Command Line Options</title>
<para>&kate; accepts following command line options:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--help</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This lists the most basic options available at the command line.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--help-qt</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This lists the options available for changing the way &kate; interacts
with &Qt;.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command> <option>--help-kde</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This lists the options available for changing the way &kate; interacts
with &kde;.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-s</option> <option>--start</option> <parameter>name</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Starts kate with the session <parameter>name</parameter>. The session is created
if it does not exist already. If a &kate; instance running the specified session
exists, the specified files are loaded in that instance. When used with the
<option>--use</option> option, an instance running this session will be used as
well.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-u</option> <option>--use</option> <parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Causes &kate; to use an existing instance if there is one.  This is now the
default behavior, but this option remains for compatibility.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-p</option> <option>--pid</option> <parameter>PID</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Only reuses an instance with the specified PID (Process ID). Used with the
<option>--use</option> option.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-e</option> <option>--encoding</option> <parameter>encoding</parameter>
<parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Uses the specified encoding for the document.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-l</option> <option>--line</option> <parameter>line</parameter>
<parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Navigates to the specified line after opening the document.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-c</option> <option>--column</option> <parameter>column</parameter>
<parameter>URL</parameter></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Navigates to the specified column after opening the document.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-i</option> <option>--stdin</option></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Reads the document content from STDIN. This
is similar to the common option <option>-</option> used in many command line
programs, and allows you to pipe command output into &kate;.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--startanon</option></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Start &kate; with a new anonymous session, implies
<option>-n</option>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-n</option> <option>--new</option></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Force start of a new &kate; instance (is ignored if <option>start</option> is
used and another &kate; instance already has the given session opened), forced
if no parameters and no URLs are given at all.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-b</option> <option>--block</option></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>If using an already running &kate; instance, block until it exits, if URLs
given to open.</para>
<para>
You can use &kate; with this option as editor for typing in commit messages for version
control systems like <application>Git</application> or <application>Subversion</application>.
These systems expect to block the editor till you have entered your
message, because they then open the temporary file, which would be empty
if kate immediately returned to the caller.
</para>
<para>This option is also needed with KIO (&kde; Input/Output), if you open a remote file (which has been
downloaded to a temporary) and should be reuploaded, after you saved it.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--tempfile</option></userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Since &kate; 2.5.1 this standard &kde; option is supported.
When used, the specified files are treated as temporary files and
deleted (if they are local files and you have sufficient permissions) when
closed, unless they are modified since they were opened.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--help-all</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This lists all of the command line options.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--author</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Lists &kate;'s authors in the terminal window.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>-v</option> <option>--version</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Lists version information for &Qt;, &kde;, and &kate;.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><userinput><command>kate</command>
<option>--license</option></userinput></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Shows license information.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="drag-and-drop">
<title>Drag and Drop</title>
<para>
&kate; uses the &kde; Drag and Drop protocol. Files may be dragged and
dropped onto &kate; from the Desktop, the filemanager &dolphin; or some remote ftp
site opened in one of &dolphin;'s windows.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="working-with-kate">
<title>Working with &kate;</title>
<para>
<link linkend="quick-start">Quick Start</link> will show you how to
toggle four simple options that will let you configure some of &kate;'s
more powerful features right away. <link linkend="keystroke-commands">
Shortcuts</link> lays out some of the default keystroke
shortcuts for those who can't or don't want to use a mouse.
</para>

<sect2 id="quick-start">
<title>Quick Start</title>

<para>
This section will describe some of the items on the
<guimenu>View</guimenu> menu so that you can quickly configure
&kate; to work the way you want it.
</para>

<para> When you start &kate; for the first time you'll see two windows
with white backgrounds. Above the two windows is a toolbar with the
usual labeled icons. And above that, a menubar.
</para>

<para>
The left-hand window is a side bar. It combines the <guilabel>Documents</guilabel>
and <guilabel>Filesystem Browser</guilabel> windows. Switch between the two by clicking on the tabs
to the left of the window. </para>

<para>
If you've started &kate; with a file, the right-hand window will show
the file you are editing and the <guilabel>Documents</guilabel> on the side bar will show the
name of the file. Use the <guilabel>Filesystem Browser</guilabel> window to open files.
</para>

<para> <!-- Show Sidebars Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F-->
You can toggle the Documents and Filesystem Browser window on and off in
<menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guisubmenu>Tool Views</guisubmenu></menuchoice>
menu. This menu offers you your first glimpse into &kate;'s power and
flexibility.  In this section we'll look at three items:
</para>

<variablelist>

<!--changed in 4.2 ???
contextmenu Behaviour with Make Persistent, + Move To with Right / Top / Left Sidebar
this is in mdi.docbook
-->
<varlistentry>
<term>
<menuchoice>
<guimenuitem>Show Documents</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Toggles the Documents on and off. If the Documents/Filesystem Browser window is
not open, &kate; launches the side bar as a separate, undocked,
window. To dock the window grab the two thin parallel lines above the
tabs by clicking on them with your &LMB; and holding the button
down. Drag the window into &kate;'s editing window and release the
&LMB; when you have positioned the Documents/Filesystem Browser window as you
prefer.
</para>

<tip>
<para>
If you have grabbed the two parallel lines successfully your mouse
pointer will turn into two crossed arrows as you drag.
</para>
</tip>

</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Show
Filesystem Browser</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Toggles the Filesystem Browser on and off. This menu item is the same as
<guimenuitem>Show Documents</guimenuitem> with one difference.  Toggling
it on launches the window with the Filesystem Browser on top.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Show
Terminal</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Toggles a terminal emulator on and off at the bottom of &kate;'s
window. In other words, it gives you a command line within the
application.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="keystroke-commands">
<title>Shortcuts</title>

<para>
Many of &kate;'s keystroke commands (shortcuts) are configurable by
way of the <link linkend="settings">Settings</link> menu.  By default
&kate; honors the following key bindings.
</para>

<!-- Ctrl+T Transpose Characters
Meta+Ctrl+V ii input mode
-->

<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="2">
<tbody>

<row><entry><para><keycap>Insert</keycap></para></entry>
<entry><para>
Toggle between Insert and Overwrite mode. When in insert mode the editor
will add any typed characters to the text and push any previously typed
data to the right of the text cursor. Overwrite mode causes the entry of
each character to eliminate the current character.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo><keycap>Left Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Move the cursor one character to the left </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo><keycap>Right Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor one character to the right </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Up Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor up one line  </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Down Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor down one line </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Page Up</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor up one page  </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Page Down</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Move the cursor down one page  </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Backspace;</keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Delete the character to the left of the cursor </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Home</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor to the beginning of the line </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>End</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Move the cursor to the end of the line </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Delete</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Delete the character to the right of the cursor (or any selected
text)</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;&Enter;</keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Insert newline including leading characters of the current line which are not letters or numbers.
It is useful &eg; to write comments in the code: At the end of the line <quote>// some text</quote> press
this shortcut and the next line starts already with <quote>// </quote>. So you do not have to enter the comment
characters at the beginning of each new line with comments.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>Left Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Mark text one character to the left </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>Right Arrow</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Mark text one character to the right </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Help</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="whats-this">What's this?</link></para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>F</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="find"> Find</link></para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul"><keycap>F3</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="find-again"> Find again</link></para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>B</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Set a Bookmark</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>C</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Copy the marked text to the clipboard. </para></entry>
</row>

<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> <link linkend="new">New</link> document</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>P</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="print">Print</link> </para></entry>
</row>
<row>

<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Q</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Quit - close active copy of editor </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>R</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="replace"> Replace</link></para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>S</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Save your file.</para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>V</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para> Paste.</para></entry>
</row>

<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>X</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para>Delete the marked text and copy it to the clipboard. </para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>Z</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="undo">Undo</link></para></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><para><keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;&Shift;<keycap>Z</keycap></keycombo></para></entry>
<entry><para><link linkend="redo">Redo</link></para></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="fundamentals-using-sessions">
<title>Using Sessions</title>

<para>Sessions is how &kate; lets you keep more than one list of files and
GUI configuration around. You can have as many named sessions as you want,
and you can use unnamed or anonymous sessions for files you want to use only
once. Currently &kate; can save the list of open files, and the general window
configuration in the session, future versions of &kate; may add more features
that can be saved in sessions. With the introduction of sessions, &kate; also
allows you to open any number of instances of the application instead of just
one as it used to do as the default behavior.</para>

<para>Sessions are supported in three areas:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><link linkend="command-line-options"><emphasis>Command line
options</emphasis></link> that lets you select and start sessions when launching
kate from the command line.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="sessions-menu"><emphasis>The Sessions
menu</emphasis></link> that lets you switch, save, start and manage your
sessions</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><link linkend="config-dialog-sessions"><emphasis>Configuration
options</emphasis></link> that lets you decide how sessions generally should
behave.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</para>

<para>When starting a new session, the GUI configuration of <guilabel>Default
Session</guilabel> is loaded. To save window configuration in the default
session, you need to enable saving window configuration in the sessions
configuration page of the configuration dialog and then load the default
session, set up the window as desired and save the session again.</para>

<para>When a named session is loaded, &kate; will display the session name at
the start of the window title, which then have the form
&quot;<replaceable>Session Name</replaceable>: <replaceable>Document name or
&URL;</replaceable> - &kate;&quot;</para>

<para>When opening files on the command line with <option>--start
<replaceable>name</replaceable></option> or if a session is selected using the
session chooser, the specified session is loaded prior to the files specified
on the command line. To open files from the commandline in a new, unnamed
session, configure kate to start a new session as default in the session page of
the configuration dialog or use <option>--start</option> with an empty string:
<replaceable>''</replaceable>.</para>

<para>Since &kate; 2.5.1 the <acronym>PID</acronym> of the current instance is
exported to the environment variable <envar>KATE_PID</envar>. When opening files
from the built in terminal Kate will automatically select the current instance
if nothing else is indicated on the command line.</para>

<sect2 id="old-behavior">
<title>Restoring old style &kate; behavior</title>

<para>When you get used to using sessions you will hopefully see that they
provide a very simple and efficient tool for working in different areas.
However, if you prefer the old &kate; behavior (one instance opens all files),
you can easily achieve that by following this simple strategy:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Make kate always start with the <option>--use</option>
parameter by adding that to the command in the application preferences,
and additionally using a shell alias.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Configure &kate; to load the last used session at startup.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Configure &kate; to save the file list when closing a session.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Load the default session once</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="fundamentals-getting-help">

<title>Getting Help</title>

<sect2>

<title>With &kate;</title>
<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term>This manual</term>

<listitem>
<para>Offers detailed documentation on all menu commands,
configuration options, tools, dialogs, plugins &etc; as well as
descriptions of of the &kate; window, the editor and various concepts
used in the application.</para>

<para>Press <keycap>F1</keycap> or use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>&kate; Handbook</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu topic to view this
manual.</para></listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="whats-this">
<term>What's This Help</term>
<listitem>
<para>What's This help offers immediate help with single elements of
graphical windows, such as buttons or other window areas.</para>

<para>We strive to provide What's This help for any elements for which
it makes sense. It is available throughout the configuration dialog,
and in many other dialogs as well.</para>

<para>To employ What's This help, press
<keycombo action="simul">&Shift;<keycap>F1</keycap></keycombo> or use the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu><guimenuitem>What's
This</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item to enable What's This
mode. The cursor will turn into an arrow with a question mark, and you
can now click any element in the window to read the What's This help
for that element, if it is available.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Help Buttons in Dialogs</term>
<listitem>
<para>Some dialogs have a <guibutton>Help</guibutton> Button. Pressing
it will start the &khelpcenter; and open the relevant
documentation.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>With Your Text Files</title>

<para>&kate; does not (yet!) provide any means for reading document
related documentation. Depending on the file you are editing, you may
find the <link linkend="kate-mdi-tools-konsole">Built in
Terminal Emulator</link> helpful for viewing related &UNIX; manual pages or
info documentation, or you can use &konqueror;.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Articles on &kate;</title>

<para>&kate;'s homepage provides some <ulink url="http://kate-editor.org/featured-articles">
Articles and Howtos</ulink> with further information beyond the scope of this handbook.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

</chapter>
