This plugin was an answer to the lack of proper multiple cursor support in
Emacs+evil. It allows you to select and edit matches interactively, integrating
iedit-mode
into evil-mode with an attempt at sensible defaults.
Since then, evil-mc has matured, and now that I use both I've found they can coexist, filling different niches, complimenting evil's built-in column/line-wise editing operations.
Thanks to syl20bnr for his evil-iedit-state plugin, which this plugin was heavily inspired by.
The package is available on MELPA.
M-x package-install RET evil-multiedit
Then load it up with the default keybinds:
(require 'evil-multiedit)
(evil-multiedit-default-keybinds)
This package comes pre-configured with Doom Emacs, in its :editor multiple-cursors
module. Enable this
module
and you're good to go!
Evil-multiedit does not automatically bind any keys. Call
(evil-multiedit-default-keybinds)
to bind my recommended configuration:
;; Highlights all matches of the selection in the buffer.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map "R" 'evil-multiedit-match-all)
;; Match the word under cursor (i.e. make it an edit region). Consecutive presses will
;; incrementally add the next unmatched match.
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-next)
;; Match selected region.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-next)
;; Insert marker at point
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-marker-here)
;; Same as M-d but in reverse.
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "M-D") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "M-D") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev)
;; OPTIONAL: If you prefer to grab symbols rather than words, use
;; `evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next` (or prev).
;; Restore the last group of multiedit regions.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-M-D") 'evil-multiedit-restore)
;; RET will toggle the region under the cursor
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "RET") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)
;; ...and in visual mode, RET will disable all fields outside the selected region
(define-key evil-motion-state-map (kbd "RET") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)
;; For moving between edit regions
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "C-n") 'evil-multiedit-next)
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "C-p") 'evil-multiedit-prev)
(define-key evil-multiedit-insert-state-map (kbd "C-n") 'evil-multiedit-next)
(define-key evil-multiedit-insert-state-map (kbd "C-p") 'evil-multiedit-prev)
;; Ex command that allows you to invoke evil-multiedit with a regular expression, e.g.
(evil-ex-define-cmd "ie[dit]" 'evil-multiedit-ex-match)
Once regions are highlighted, changes are mirrored across them all.
Many evil-mode motions/operators will have slightly different behavior while evil-multiedit is active or the cursor is in an iedit region:
D
: clear the regionC
: clear to end-of-region and go into insert modeA
: go into insert mode at end-of-regionI
: go into insert mode at start-of-regionV
: select the regionP
: replace the iedit region with the contents of the clipboard$
: go to end-of-region0
/^
: go to start-of-regiongg
/G
: go to the first/last region
To disable these, set evil-multiedit-dwim-motion-keys
to nil
before loading
evil-multiedit.
NOTE: No need to bind a key for evil-multiedit-abort
, pressing ESC
in normal mode will invoke it.
:iedit [REGEXP]
is available for invoking multiedit from the ex command line.
evil-multiedit-restore
: Restore the last evil-multiedit session.evil-multiedit-match-all
: Create iedit regions of all matches of the current selection (or symbol at point) as multiedit regions.evil-multiedit-match-and-next
:evil-multiedit-match-and-prev
evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next
evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-prev
evil-multiedit-toggle-marker-here
evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region
evil-multiedit-next
evil-multiedit-prev
evil-multiedit-abort
evil-multiedit-ex-match
evil-multiedit-dwim-motion-keys
(default:t
): If non-nil, evil's motion keys behave differently when the point is inside a multiedit region. Must be set before evil-multiedit is loaded.evil-multiedit-ignore-indent-and-trailing
(default:t
): If non-nil, skip over indentation and trailing whitespace in iedit matches.evil-multiedit-scope
(defaultnil
): How far evil-multiedit should look for incremental matches (doesn't affectevil-multiedit-match-all
orevil-multiedit-ex-match
). Accepts anything thatbounds-of-thing-at-point
accepts, such as'defun
,'sexp
,'email
or the default,'buffer
.evil-multiedit-smart-match-boundaries
(defaultt
): If non-nil, multiedit will treat matches as atoms when invoked from normal mode. E.g.evil-multiedit-match
will not matchevil-multiedit-match-all
i
will only matchi
and not every individual i inignition
.- NOTE: If evil-multiedit is invoked from visual mode, this is ignored.
evil-multiedit-store-in-search-history
(defaultnil
): If non-nil, highlighted occurrences are stored inregexp-search-ring
, so that after exiting ieditevil-search-next
andevil-search-previous
(usually n and N) use the last occurrence as if it were the last string in the search history.evil-multiedit-follow-matches
(defaultnil
): If non-nil, the cursor will jump to each additional match, rather than remain in its original position.
How the two plugins mingle is entirely personal preference. I often reach for evil-mc for more complex operations and evil-multiedit for simpler ones.
My strategy is to bind evil-multiedit to M-d/M-D, and evil-mc to a bunch of keys prefixed with gz:
;; evil-multiedit
(evil-define-key 'normal 'global
(kbd "M-d") #'evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next
(kbd "M-D") #'evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-prev)
(evil-define-key 'visual 'global
"R" #'evil-multiedit-match-all
(kbd "M-d") #'evil-multiedit-match-and-next
(kbd "M-D") #'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev)
(evil-define-key '(visual normal) 'global
(kbd "C-M-d") #'evil-multiedit-restore)
(with-eval-after-load 'evil-mutliedit
(evil-define-key 'multiedit 'global
(kbd "M-d") #'evil-multiedit-match-and-next
(kbd "M-S-d") #'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev
(kbd "RET") #'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)
(evil-define-key '(multiedit multiedit-insert) 'global
(kbd "C-n") #'evil-multiedit-next
(kbd "C-p") #'evil-multiedit-prev))
;; evil-mc
(evil-define-key '(normal visual) 'global
"gzm" #'evil-mc-make-all-cursors
"gzu" #'evil-mc-undo-all-cursors
"gzz" #'+evil/mc-toggle-cursors
"gzc" #'+evil/mc-make-cursor-here
"gzn" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-next-cursor
"gzp" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-prev-cursor
"gzN" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-last-cursor
"gzP" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-first-cursor)
(with-eval-after-load 'evil-mc
(evil-define-key '(normal visual) evil-mc-key-map
(kbd "C-n") #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-next-cursor
(kbd "C-N") #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-last-cursor
(kbd "C-p") #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-prev-cursor
(kbd "C-P") #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-first-cursor))
NOTE: These are the default keybindings on Doom Emacs. Doom users don't need to bind these.