evil-multiedit

This plugin was an answer to the lack of proper multiple cursor support in Emacs+evil. It allows you to select and edit matches interactively, integrating iedit-mode into evil-mode with an attempt at sensible defaults.

Since then, evil-mc has matured, and now that I use both I've found they can coexist, filling different niches, complimenting evil's built-in column/line-wise editing operations.

Thanks to syl20bnr for his evil-iedit-state plugin, which this plugin was heavily inspired by.

Installation

The package is available on MELPA.

M-x package-install RET evil-multiedit

Then load it up:

(require 'evil-multiedit)

Usage

Evil-multiedit does not automatically bind any keys. Call (evil-multiedit-default-keybinds) to bind my recommended configuration:

;; Highlights all matches of the selection in the buffer.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map "R" 'evil-multiedit-match-all)

;; Match the word under cursor (i.e. make it an edit region). Consecutive presses will
;; incrementally add the next unmatched match.
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-next)
;; Match selected region.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-and-next)
;; Insert marker at point
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "M-d") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-marker-here)

;; Same as M-d but in reverse.
(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "M-D") 'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "M-D") 'evil-multiedit-and-prev)

;; OPTIONAL: If you prefer to grab symbols rather than words, use
;; `evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next` (or prev).

;; Restore the last group of multiedit regions.
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-M-D") 'evil-multiedit-restore)

;; RET will toggle the region under the cursor
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "RET") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)

;; ...and in visual mode, RET will disable all fields outside the selected region
(define-key evil-motion-state-map (kbd "RET") 'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)

;; For moving between edit regions
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "C-n") 'evil-multiedit-next)
(define-key evil-multiedit-state-map (kbd "C-p") 'evil-multiedit-prev)
(define-key evil-multiedit-insert-state-map (kbd "C-n") 'evil-multiedit-next)
(define-key evil-multiedit-insert-state-map (kbd "C-p") 'evil-multiedit-prev)

;; Ex command that allows you to invoke evil-multiedit with a regular expression, e.g.
(evil-ex-define-cmd "ie[dit]" 'evil-multiedit-ex-match)

Once regions are highlighted, changes are mirrored across them all.

Many evil-mode motions/operators will have slightly different behavior while evil-multiedit is active or the cursor is in an iedit region:

• D: clear the region
• C: clear to end-of-region and go into insert mode
• A: go into insert mode at end-of-region
• I: go into insert mode at start-of-region
• V: select the region
• $: go to end-of-region
• 0/^: go to start-of-region
• gg/G: go to the first/last region

To disable these, set evil-multiedit-dwim-motion-keys to nil before loading evil-multiedit.

NOTE: No need to bind a key for evil-multiedit-abort, pressing ESC in normal mode will invoke it.

Ex Command

:iedit [REGEXP] is available for invoking multiedit from the ex command line.

Commands

• evil-multiedit-restore
• evil-multiedit-match-all
• evil-multiedit-match-and-next
• evil-multiedit-match-and-prev
• evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next
• evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-prev
• evil-multiedit-toggle-marker-here
• evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region
• evil-multiedit-next
• evil-multiedit-prev
• evil-multiedit-abort
• evil-multiedit-ex-match

Options

• evil-multiedit-dwim-motion-keys (default: t): If non-nil, evil's motion keys behave differently when the point is inside a multiedit region. Must be set before evil-multiedit is loaded.
• evil-multiedit-ignore-indent-and-trailing (default: t): If non-nil, skip over indentation and trailing whitespace when matching whitespace.
• evil-multiedit-scope (default nil): How far evil-multiedit should look for incremental matches (doesn't affect evil-multiedit-match-all or evil-multiedit-ex-match). Accepts anything that bounds-of-thing-at-point accepts, such as 'defun, 'sexp, 'email or the default, 'buffer.
• evil-multiedit-smart-match-boundaries (default t): If non-nil, multiedit will try to be smart about match boundaries when invoked from normal mode. E.g.
  • 'evil-multiedit-match' will not match 'evil-multiedit-match-all'
  • 'i' will only match 'i' and not every individual i in 'ignition'.
  • NOTE: If evil-multiedit is invoked from visual mode, this is ignored.
• evil-multiedit-store-in-search-history (default nil): If non-nil, highlighted occurrences are stored in regexp-search-ring, so that after exiting iedit evil-search-next and evil-search-previous (usually n and N) use the last occurrence as if it were the last string in the search history.
• evil-multiedit-follow-matches (default nil): If non-nil, the cursor will jump to each additional match, rather than remain in its original position.

Co-existing with evil-mc

How the two plugins mingle is entirely personal preference. Mine is to bind evil-multiedit to M-d/M-D, and evil-mc to a bunch of keys prefixed with gz:

;; evil-multiedit
:v  "R"     #'evil-multiedit-match-all
:n  "M-d"   #'evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-next
:n  "M-D"   #'evil-multiedit-match-symbol-and-prev
:v  "M-d"   #'evil-multiedit-match-and-next
:v  "M-D"   #'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev
:nv "C-M-d" #'evil-multiedit-restore
(:after evil-multiedit
  (:map evil-multiedit-state-map
    "M-d" #'evil-multiedit-match-and-next
    "M-D" #'evil-multiedit-match-and-prev
    "RET" #'evil-multiedit-toggle-or-restrict-region)
  (:map (evil-multiedit-state-map evil-multiedit-insert-state-map)
    "C-n" #'evil-multiedit-next
    "C-p" #'evil-multiedit-prev))

;; evil-mc
(:prefix "gz"
  :nv "m" #'evil-mc-make-all-cursors
  :nv "u" #'evil-mc-undo-all-cursors
  :nv "z" #'+evil/mc-toggle-cursors
  :nv "c" #'+evil/mc-make-cursor-here
  :nv "n" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-next-cursor
  :nv "p" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-prev-cursor
  :nv "N" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-last-cursor
  :nv "P" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-first-cursor)
(:after evil-mc
  :map evil-mc-key-map
  :nv "C-n" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-next-cursor
  :nv "C-N" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-last-cursor
  :nv "C-p" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-prev-cursor
  :nv "C-P" #'evil-mc-make-and-goto-first-cursor)

You can find my evil-mc/evil-multiedit config in my emacs.d.