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Scopes

Description

Scopes are groups in which a particular Kakoune object can have different values depending on the group the value was declared in.

These scoped objects are:

Names and hierarchy

Scopes are named as follows:

window

context linked to the window displaying a buffer.

In Kakoune, the concept of a *window* must not be confused with
the concept of a window at the OS level.
In other terms, a window is *not* a client (like a terminal or GUI)
but one of many 'views' into a buffer.
There is a N:1 relationship between windows and buffers; once a
window is linked to a buffer, the window's buffer never changes.
Windows store a set of selections and the scroll position.
buffer

context linked directly to the buffer

global

global context linked to the instance of Kakoune

The following order of priority applies to the above scopes:

window ]> buffer ]> global

The above priority line implies that objects can have individual values that will be resolved first in the window scope (highest priority), then in the buffer scope, and finally in the global scope (lowest priority).

Normally, the buffer scope keyword means the scope associated with the currently active buffer, but it’s possible to specify any existing buffer by adding an = and the value of %val{buffile} for that buffer (See :doc expansions value-expansions). For example, to set the indentwidth option for the /etc/fstab buffer::

set-option buffer=/etc/fstab indentwidth 8

The set-option and unset-option commands also accept current as a valid scope name. It refers to the narrowest scope the option is set in.

Uses

The scope paradigm is very useful as it allows the user to customize the behavior of the editor without modifying the configuration globally, as is the case with other editors who only have a single global scope by default.

Examples:

filetype

A single buffer opened in two separate windows can have different filetypes declared in the window scope with 'set-option'. (See :doc options)

status line

All the buffers of the current session can have the same information displayed in the status line, except for a specific buffer (the 'modelinefmt' option can be declared in the global scope, and customized in the buffer scope with 'set-option'. (See :doc options)

Execution context

Some commands work in a specific context that might exclude one or several scopes altogether, consequently ignoring some values of a given object.

Example: the window scope is never considered when resolving the values of options when writing a buffer (e.g. 'BOM', 'eolformat').