Helix
Hello, new friend.
Tutor
Also :tutor. Notes / cheatsheet:
- Modal: Normal mode and insert mode
- hjkl
- : enters Command mode, q/quit or discard with q!/quit!
- d delete character under cursor
- i enters Insert mode, Esc returns to Normal mode (status bar tells NOR/INS)
- :w/write , :wq write-quit (status bar [+] next to filename if unsaved changes)
- i was insert before selection, a (append) is after
- I/A to insert at start/end of line
- o/O to add a newline and insert below/above the cursor
- w select word
- d doesn’t delete character; deletes selection (cursor is a single character selection)
- more motions - w / move forward to before beginning of next word
- e / move forward to end of current word
- b / move backward to the beginning of current word
- e + b select word under cursor
- web has WEB counterparts which act on WORDS instead of words
- WORDS are only separated by whitespace
- c change command - shorthand for di / delete selection and enter insert mode
- number before motion repeats it that many times
- v to enter Select mode (ESC returns to Normal) - in select every movement extends the selection instead of replacing it
- commands also return to normal
- x selects line, x again to select next
- ; collapses selections to single characters; Alt-; flips the cursors.
- ; can be used to deselect without having to move the cursor.
- u to undo, U to redo
- y to yank (copy) the selection, p / P to paste the yanked text after / before the cursor
- delete and change copy altered text by default, Alt-d / Alt-c to bypass
- Space + y / p to yank / paste using system clipboard
- / to search (? backward), Enter to confirm, n / N next forward / backwards
- C duplicate cursor on next suitable line, , to remove first cursor, Alt-C duplicate above
- s to select matches in selection
- % to select whole file, so %sc is find-and-replace
- & to align “head” of the selections (keeping the other end, “anchor”, fixed)
- C can be number prefixed
- Alt-s to split selection(s) on newlines (aka insert cursors on lines elsewhere)
- S to split on a regex pattern
- f to select up to and including (find) character, t "till" it, F / T backwards
- r to replace selected characters with
- . to repeat last insertion, Alt-. to repeat last f / t selection
- R to replace selection with yanked text
- J join selected lines
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< indent unindent line
- Ctrl-a/x increment/decrement number under selection
- Registers are containers identified by characters for storing yanked text, most recent search term and macros.
- “ selects register
- Q to record macro, Q to stop, q to repeat (default register @)
- Most recent search with / is stored in register /
- n / N both use register /, and it can also be set without searching
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- copies primary selection into register /
- (shorthand for “/y”)
- n / N in Select mode (v) adds a new selection on each match
- “jumps” are big movements like searching or jumping to definition
- saved in jumplist; Ctrl-s to manually save current position in jumplist
- Ctrl-i/o “in”/”out” to move forward / backward in jumplist
- gw to jump to 2-char labels
- ) ( to cycle the primary amongst selections forward and backwards, Alt-, to deselect
- Alt ) ( to cycle contents of selection forward / backwards
- ~ to toggle case selection, ` to lowercase, Alt-` to up
- Ctrl-c to toggle comment
- m Match mode mm matching bracket pair mi match inside ma around (includes delimiter)
- ms surround
- md delete surrounding delimiter mr replace surrounding delimiter
- Ctrl-w Window menu
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- nv new empty buffer in a vertical split ns horizontal split
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- hjkl nav, w cycle in opening order
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- q close split, o close others
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- s / v to split the current buffer horizontally / vertically
- :vs (:vsplit) and :hs (:hsplit) commands to split a named file or buffer
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- Space f file viewer
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- Ctrl - v / h Open in split
Theme
Default theme (name default) is fine but dark. base16_terminal* themes use
the terminal’s 16 color palettes (:theme 16_ to see more adaptive themes).
Helix wiki has a partial
list of themes with screenshots. Live previewing is instant though:
Just the light ones:
Save choice in config (:config-open):
LSP and tree-sitter
The tree-sitter grammars are currently packaged separately.
https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/
Tree-sitter is a parser generator tool and an incremental parsing library. It can build a concrete syntax tree for a source file and efficiently update the syntax tree as the source file is edited. Aims:
- General enough to parse any programming language
- Fast enough to parse on every keystroke in a text editor
- Robust enough to provide useful results even in the presence of syntax errors
apk add helix-tree-sitter-vendor
Helix also has built in LSP (Language server protocol) support. Tree-sitter and LSP intersect, but
not completely. Loosely speaking, tree-sitter is more “syntactic”, and file level; LSP drives more “semantic” aspects
and works on a project level.
Their respective blurbs from the Helix home page:
-
“Tree-sitter produces error tolerant and robust syntax trees, which enables better syntax
higlighting, indent calculation and code navigation.”
-
“Language server support enables language specific auto completion, goto definition,
documentation, diagnostics and other IDE features with no additional configuration”.
Config
Config saved in ~/.config/helix/config.toml.