multiple-cursors.el

An experiment in multiple cursors for emacs. Still very much in beta.

The basic concept works, but there are definitely some kinks to work out.

This extension is dependent on the mark-multiple library.

https://github.com/magnars/mark-multiple.el

Usage

I've set up my key-bindings like so:

;; Experimental multiple-cursors
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-c C-S-c") 'mc/add-multiple-cursors-to-region-lines)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-c C-e") 'mc/edit-ends-of-lines)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-c C-a") 'mc/edit-beginnings-of-lines)

To get out of multiple-cursors-mode, press C-g.

You can also switch to multiple-cursors-mode by pressing C-g when in mark-multiple-mode. This is symmetrical to how pressing C-g with an active region deactivates it. Press C-g again to remove extra cursors.

Combining with mark-multiple

Right now you can go from multiple marks to multiple cursors with C-g.

The other way around is a bit more tricky:

• What to do about overlapping marks?
• Expanding the marks should be possible, for instance using mark-word or expand-region
• Killing or copying needs to keep a kill-ring for each cursor.

So basically mark-multiple isn't ready for prime time as a full blown multiple marks library. For this to work as expected, I think parts of mark-multiple needs to be rewritten, and possibly integrated into multiple-cursors.

For now, mark-multiple is an excellent tool to place your cursors where you need them to be.

Contribute

There's plenty wrong with this implementation still. I'm actively trying things out, and also working on combining it with mark-multiple.el to get a more comprehensive tool.

Still, if you've got something to contribute, please do not hesitate to open an issue, and we can take a look together before you dive into the elisp. :-)

You'll find the repo at:

https://github.com/magnars/multiple-cursors.el

To fetch the test dependencies:

$ cd /path/to/multiple-cursors
$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

Run the tests with:

$ ./util/ecukes/ecukes features

License

Copyright (C) 2012 Magnar Sveen

Author: Magnar Sveen magnars@gmail.com Keywords: editing cursors

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.