# jEdit 2.6 User's Guide

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## Chapter 4. Advanced Features

# The jEdit Command Line

The so-called "jEdit command line" (has nothing to do with your operating system's command line) will be instantly familiar to users of Emacs, VIM, and many other editors. The command line allows commands to be repeated and arbitrary editor actions to be invoked. In addition, the register and quick search commands (see the section called Registers and the section called Quick Search in Chapter 7) use it to prompt for input.

To activate the command line, either invoke Utilities>jEdit Command Line (keyboard equivalent: Control-Enter), or simply click the mouse in the command line field at the bottom of the view.

To repeat a command once the command line is active, type a number using the digit keys (0-9), followed by a keystroke or menu item selection. For example, to insert the "#" character 10 times, you would press Control-Enter 1 0 #. To paste the clipboard contents three times, press Control-Enter 3 Control-V.

To invoke an arbitrary action, start typing its name, instead of a repeat count. Completion popups will appear while your are entering a name; press Enter to invoke the action currently selected in the popup, and press Up or Down to navigate the popup. Currently, no complete documentation about jEdit's actions exists, but the two most useful are:

- open-file: prompts for a path name and opens it in the editor

- vfs-browser: prompts for a path name and opens it in the VFS browser

> Tip: jEdit's macro system also relies on editor actions; if you take a look at the source to a macro, you will see names similar to those that appear in command line completion popups. For this reason, the command line comes in handy when writing macros by hand.

Figure 4-8. The command line

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