The KWrite Handbook

This is used to eliminate or reverse the most recent user action or operation.

This will reverse the most recent change (if any) made using Undo

This command deletes the current selection and places it on the clipboard. The clipboard is a feature of KDE that works invisibly to provide a way to transfer data between applications.

This copies the currently selected text to the clipboard so that it may be pasted elsewhere. The clipboard is a feature of KDE that works invisibly to provide a way to transfer data between applications.

This will insert the contents of the clipboard at the cursor position. The clipboard is feature of KDE that works invisibly to provide a way to transfer data between applications.

This will select the entire document. This could be very useful for copying the entire file to another application.

This opens the goto line dialogue box which is used to have the cursor jump to a particular line (specified by number) in the document. The line number may be entered directly into the text box or graphically by clicking on the up or down arrow spin controls at the side of the text box. The little up arrow will increase the line number and the down arrow decrease it. There is also a slide control to the right of the text box which allows the user to move the goto point in the document in an analogue manner.

This opens the find dialogue which is used to specify the Text to Find in the document. There is small text box for entering the search pattern which also doubles as a dropdown box. Clicking on the dropdown arrow at the side of the box makes available other recent search patterns. Other parameters are included to make the search more efficient. Selecting Case Sensitive will limit finds to entries that match the case (upper or lower) of each of the characters in the search pattern. Find Backwards directs the search to proceed in an upwardly direction. The Selected Text option keeps the search within currently selected text. Checking Whole Words Only prevents the search from stopping on words that contain the searched for pattern. The Search from Cursor option begins the search from the current position of the cursor within the document rather than from the beginning.

This repeats the last find operation, if any, without calling the find dialogue box.

This repeats the last find operation, if any, without calling the find dialogue box, and searching backwards instead of forwards through the document.

This command opens the replace dialogue box. The replace dialogue is almost identical to the above-mentioned find dialogue. In addition to the features in the find dialogue it contains a Replace With: text entry/dropdown box. Using this dialogue the user can specify both the text to be found and text with which to replace it. The additional Prompt On Replace option allows the user to have KWrite ask for confirmation before each replacement.

This command will remove all the markers from the document as well as the list of markers which is appended at the bottom of this menu item.

This initiates the spell checking program - a program designed to help the user catch and correct any spelling errors. Clicking on this entry will start the checker and bring up the speller dialogue box through which the user can control the process. There are four settings lined up vertically in the centre of the dialogue with their corresponding labels just to the left. Starting at the top they are:

On the right side of the dialogue box are 5 buttons that allow the user to control the spell check process. They are:

Three more buttons are located horizontally along the bottom of the spell check dialogue. They are:

When checked, this displays a moveable toolbar containing buttons used to initiate frequently used commands. When unchecked the toolbar is hidden.

When checked, this displays a small bar at the bottom of the editor containing information about the status of the current document. When unchecked the statusbar is hidden.

When selected, this displays in the title bar the path (its location in the file system) of the current document. When unchecked the path is hidden.

This menu item opens a dialogue whereby several different settings may be adjusted.

This command opens a dialogue box whereby the key bindings may be changed. A display window at the top of the dialogue box shows the list of commands (actions) that can have keyboard shortcuts. Below the display are three radio buttons. The user may choose between No Key, Default Key, and Custom Key. (Note that a set of radio buttons only allows the selection of one of the offered items - in the way that buttons on a car radio only offer the selection of one preset station. Also, the Default Key selection is only available for those commands that actually have a 'default' shortcut.) Selecting the Custom Key option activates the three check boxes and key button at the bottom of the dialogue. The user may then select a key combination for the command in question by means of the check boxes and key button. For example, with the About KDE command selected in the display window, the user could select Ctrl and Alt, click on the key button, and then press the K key on the keyboard. This would mean that anytime he or she held down the Ctrl and Alt buttons and pressed K (while using KWrite) the About KDE display box would be called.

This will open the dialogue whereby the toolbar configuration may be changed. The user can choose which shortcut buttons should appear on the toolbar. A display window on the left lists the commands available to placed on the toolbar. A display on the right lists those commands already on the toolbar. A set of four arrow buttons between the two displays manipulates the selections. The right pointing arrow places any command selected in the left pane onto the right pane, i.e., it is added to the toolbar. The left arrow does just the opposite, removing any action selected in the right window from the toolbar. The up and down pointing arrows change the position of an action selected in the right window which changes the position of its button in the toolbar.

Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KWrite help pages. (this document).

Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KWrite will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.

Opens the Bug report dialogue where you can report a bug or request a “wishlist” feature.

This will display version and author information.

This displays the KDE version and other basic information.

This causes new lines to begin with the same indentation level as the previous line.

This replaces tabs with the number of spaces selected in the Tab Width window in the Edit section of the preferences dialogue.

This allows the backspace key to be used to indent.

This allows the tab key to be used to indent.

Indentations of more than the selected number of spaces will not be shortened.

Word wrap is a feature that causes the editor to automatically start a new line of text and move (wrap) the cursor to the beginning of that new line. KWrite will automatically start a new line of text when the current line reaches the length specified by the Wrap Words At: option.

If the Word Wrap option is selected this entry determines the length (in characters) at which the editor will automatically start a new line.

KWrite will replace any tabs with the number of spaces indicated in the Tab Width: entry.

If the Replace Tabs By Spaces option is selected this entry determines the number of spaces with which the editor will automatically replace tabs.

KWrite will automatically eliminate extra spaces at the ends of lines of text.

When the user types a left bracket ([, (, or {) KWrite automatically enters the right bracket (}, ), or ]) to the right of the cursor.

The editor will display a symbol to indicate the presence of a tab in the text.

This option changes the behaviour of the cursor when the user presses the Page Up or Page Down key. If unselected the text cursor will maintain its relative position within the visible text in KWrite as new text becomes visible as a result of the operation. So if the cursor is in the middle of the visible text when the operation occurs it will remain there (except when one reaches the beginning or end.) With this option selected, the first key press will cause the cursor to move to either the top or bottom of the visible text as a new page of text is displayed.

When this option is chosen, moving the cursor with the arrow keys off the end of a line (to the right) causes it to jump down to the beginning of the next line. Likewise when the cursor is moved past the beginning of a line (to the left) it jumps up to the end of the preceding line. When this option is not selected, moving the cursor right past the end of a line merely causes it to continue horizontally in the same line and trying to move it left past the beginning does nothing.

When this option is chosen, clicking with the mouse past the end of a line of text will place the insert cursor at the end of the text, and not in the place you clicked. This avoids accidentally adding an empty space in the middle of text, and is the default behaviour of most editors.

Here the user may specify the number of steps KWrite will retain in memory for purposes of undoing entries and actions. This means that the higher the number of steps set the more memory KWrite will use for this. Setting this entry to 10 would mean that the user would be be able reverse the last ten operations, i.e. click the undo button 10 times and obtain results.

Selecting this option allows the spell checker to register as 'correct' combinations of root words with suffixes or prefixes even if the particular combination is not listed in its dictionary data base of words.

Selecting this will cause the spell checker to register as 'misspelled' two or more correctly spelled words that are 'run-together', i.e., that do not have spaces separating them.

Depending on the user's installation one or more different language spelling dictionaries may be available. This drop down box allows the user to choose which language the spell checker should use.

There are different coding systems used to associate particular codes with particular characters and symbols. If the user knows which code he or she is using this drop down box allows this code to be specified so that the spell checker can do its job correctly.

Since KWrite does not contain its own spell checker, an external one must be chosen. This is where the user may specify which spell check program to use.