donkey 1.16.0 — f edits every match at once

A feature release. f edits every match in a selection at once, and a
V selection hands Emacs's own C-w, M-w and C-x r s its whole
lines.

f asks for a regexp, holds every match in what you selected, and
waits: i types before every match, a after it, c empties it and
types in its place, d deletes it, and w or a delimiter wraps it.
What you type appears at every match as you type it, in ordinary
INSERT state, and C-g ends it keeping what you wrote.

It is DONKEY's own take on multiple cursors, and it works by mirroring
rather than by cursors: the place you type in is copied into the others
after each command, so nothing intercepts a command while you write and
INSERT state stays Emacs's own.

Added

• f (donkey-split) — a key that rang the bell before. It
  changes nothing by itself: it selects every match and waits for a
  verb. A wrap leaves the split standing, so pairs nest and a verb can
  still follow — f ( [ a wraps twice and then types after — and
  the other verbs end it.
• What f searches is what you selected: the current line when
  nothing is, a v, V or % selection, the inside of an m v block
  (C-u f takes each row's whole line), or banked lines, with a v
  selection made after banking searched exactly as selected. There is
  no whole-buffer default; press % first. Opening the split spends
  the bank, as y and d do.
• Matches that differ — [0-9]+ over 1, 22 and 333 holds
  three different texts, and i and a then type at their edges, so
  nothing is replaced. Case is decided the way r r decides it: a
  regexp with no capital ignores case.
• DEL and C-d at an edge — Backspace just before a match, C-d
  just after it, and the indentation RET brings with it are repeated
  at every match. An edit anywhere else ends the split and says so.
• c and d put one kill on the ring: one copy when the matches
  agree, every match on a line of its own when they differ.
• The report — a split that ends says what it did, "Split: typed
  after 3 places", and the line stays in *Messages*.
• donkey-split-face colors the matches while a split is open.
• The tutor teaches the split in Lessons 14 and 15, by exercise:
  the verbs, a selection, banked lines alone and with part of a line
  selected, case, and the five regexp spellings Emacs does not share
  with other tools.

Changed — you will notice these

• C-w, M-w, C-x r s on a V selection take its whole lines,
  final newline included, as d and y do. C-w used to leave an
  empty line behind, and M-w copied the lines without their last
  newline, so the paste ran into the line it landed on. M-s o
  searches the same lines. Commands that read point and mark for
  themselves still see the selection stop before its last newline —
  M-x keep-lines leaves the last line out — and the README says how
  to hand them whole lines.

Fixed — you will notice these

• M in a daemon with two clients — a key on the second client
  ended a mark run armed on the first but left its keys armed there for
  good, so on that client its letters went on running mark commands in
  every state: typing wow in INSERT state left a single o. A run
  now keeps to the terminal it started on.

Under the hood

• Every match's edit goes through Emacs's change hooks as a typed edit
  does, so font-lock, the syntax cache and a language server see every
  match change, not only the one you typed in.
• A verb over many matches is one change: it happens at every match or
  at none, and what it reports reaches the kill ring only once it has.
• Only what changed is copied into the other matches, which keeps a key
  at a thousand matches to about a millisecond and a half, and the undo
  record to about a third of the size.

Upgrading

Nothing to do. f was a free key, so if you had bound it yourself your
binding still wins; DONKEY's startup report now names it — "f is ...
now, was donkey-split" — because the key is DONKEY's from this release.