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Emacs text editor

klojerklojer8k downloads

Partial emulation of Emacs text editor.

Add to Obsidian
  • Overview
  • Scorecard
  • Updates18

This plugin adds a few commands to use Obsidian with Emacs-like keybindings.

Purpose of the project

What is this plugin:

  1. Basic imitation of Emacs commands to make text editing for Emacs users more smooth

What isn't this plugin:

  1. Implementation of complete GNU Emacs functionality and integration elisp into Obsidian
  2. Exact reproducing behavior of GNU Emacs commands

How to install

Run:

export OBSIDIAN_PLUGINS_DIR=/path/to/obsidian/vault/.obsidian/plugins
make install

How to uninstall

export OBSIDIAN_PLUGINS_DIR=/path/to/obsidian/vault/.obsidian/plugins
make uninstall

Example of keybindings configuration

Hotkey Obisdian command Description
Ctrl + b Backward char Move cursor one character backward
Alt + Backspace Backward kill word Delete one word backward
Alt + Shift + [ Backward paragraph Move cursor one paragraph backward
Alt + b Backward word Move cursor one word backward
Alt + Shift + , Beginning of buffer Move to the beginning of a buffer
Ctrl + d Delete char Delete the following char
Alt + Shift + . End of buffer Move to the end of a buffer
Ctrl + f Forward char Move cursor one character forward
Alt + Shift + ] Forward paragraph Move cursor one paragraph forward
Alt + f Forward word Move cursor one word forward
Ctrl + g Keyboard quit Signal a ‘quit’ condition (works only for selection)
Ctrl + k Kill line Kill the rest of the current line
Ctrl + w Kill region Cut a selected region
Alt + w Kill ring save Copy a selected region
Alt + d Kill word Delete chars until end of a word
Ctrl + a Move beginning of line Move cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl + e Move end of line Move cursor to end of line
Ctrl + n Next line Move cursor to next line
Ctrl + p Previous line Move cursor to previous line
Ctrl + l Recenter Scroll window to center current line
Ctrl + Shift + - Redo Redo
Ctrl + Space Set mark command Mark the beginning of a selection
(not configured) Mark whole buffer Select the entire buffer and set mark at the beginning
Ctrl + / Undo Undo
Ctrl + y Yank Paste (Yank) a cut or copied a region
(not configured) Transpose chars Swap the two characters around the cursor
(not configured) Upcase word Make entire next word uppercase, advance cursor
(not configured) Downcase word Make entire next word lowercase, advance cursor
(not configured) Capitalize word Capitalize next word or rest of current word, advance cursor
(not configured) Upcase region Make entire selected region uppercase
(not configured) Downcase region Make entire selected region lowercase
(not configured) Capitalize region Capitalize each word in selected region
Alt + u Upcase dwim Uppercase selection if selection exists, else word
Alt + l Downcase dwim Lowercase selection if selection exists, else word
Alt + c Capitalize dwim Capitalize selection if selection exists, else word
Alt + x Open command palette Open command palette

Key Repeat

When enabled in Settings → Community plugins → Emacs text editor, the following additional hotkeys will repeat when held down, as in emacs:

  • Character movement: Ctrl+F, Ctrl+B
  • Line movement: Ctrl+N, Ctrl+P
  • Word movement: Alt+F, Alt+B
  • Character, Word Deletion: Ctrl+D, Alt+D

In the Settings, you can also adjust the initial repeat delay or interval, or use quick presets (Slow/Medium/Fast). This repeat mechanism works around Obsidian API limitations which prevent changing ctrl or alt key repeats. It is separate from your OS keyboard repeat controls; changing repeat timing here affects only Obsidian hotkey behavior.

Known issues

  1. Move to beginning of line command (Ctrl + a) conflicts with select all action. Solution: Use Home/End + Shift.
  2. Conflicts with existing hotkeys. Solution: use additional plugin for custom bindings, for example https://github.com/tgrosinger/leader-hotkeys-obsidian
  3. Absent support of "kill-ring". Solution: use plugin https://github.com/Karakaz/obsidian-paste-from-history with Alt + y keybinding
  4. Absent support of scroll-up/scroll-down commands. Solution is not found
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About
Add Emacs-style keybindings and commands to Obsidian's editor for familiar navigation and editing. Use common Emacs actions—cursor movement, word/line killing and yanking, undo/redo, and region marking—to edit Markdown with Emacs-like behavior.
EditingHotkeysCommands
Details
Current version
0.10.0
Last updated
Last month
Created
3 years ago
Updates
18 releases
Downloads
8k
Compatible with
Obsidian 0.15.0+
Platforms
Desktop, Mobile
License
GPL-3.0
Report bugRequest featureReport plugin
Author
klojerklojer
GitHubklojer
  1. Community
  2. Plugins
  3. Editing
  4. Emacs text editor

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