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:
-
aliases (See
:doc commands) -
faces (See
:doc faces) -
highlighters (See
:doc highlighters) -
hooks (See
:doc hooks) -
keymaps (See
:doc mapping) -
options (See
:doc options)
Scopes are named as follows:
- window
-
context linked to the window displaying a buffer
- 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).
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.
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'. (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'. (See
:doc options)