Multi editing using Notepad++

[Prince Patni]

Read the full blog here :
https://princepatni.com/blog/tech/coding-tricks-using-multi-editing-in-notepad-to-do-your-tasks-faster/

[Alan Kilborn]

@Prince-Patni

The info on multi-editing, although not incorrect, for me is a bit “meh”. You still have to click each spot you want a new caret to appear; how hard is it to paste the desired text right after doing that and dispense with all of the “type it and watch it appear in n places” visual magic? More often than not, I already have the text in the clipboard…

I have yet to see a great use for multi-editing as it is implemented in Notepad++. Maybe someone can convince me that it really is a great feature (by providing an example showing why).

[PeterJones]

@Alan-Kilborn said:

convince me … by providing an example

Convince you? Likely not. But I occasionally use the feature when I have a if/elseif/elseif… block (or select block, or similar) where I want to add the same thing in similar places, but haven’t yet typed it the first time to get it into the clipboard.

It’s not a killer/must-have feature for me (because I could very easily type it the once, then use copy/paste to replicate to the other locations), but after learning the feature existed, I do occasionally use it.

[dinkumoil]

@Alan-Kilborn

You are right, the way multi-editing is implemented currently is not very useful - to much hassle to place the cursor at multiple locations and you could easily miss one location.

But with the new Scintilla commands SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT and SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH we got the missing features to enjoy the power of multi-editing. If you are sure you want to overtype all occurences of a certain string send SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH. If you know that the string only occurs in a few locations near by the cursor (e.g. an if..else...endif block) send SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT multiple times. Of course a scripting plugin is needed to be able to send these commands to Scintilla.

In this comment @dail posted some Lua code to emulate SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT in Notepad++ versions prior to v7.7 (which introduced the Scintilla version necessary for the two commands mentioned above). I was able to modify it to create an emulator for SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH as well (maybe I found that code somewhere, too), here are the two functions:

npp.AddShortcut("Selection Add Next", "", function()
  -- From SciTEBase.cxx
  local flags = SCFIND_WHOLEWORD -- can use 0

  editor:SetTargetRange(0, editor.TextLength)
  editor.SearchFlags = flags

  -- From Editor.cxx
  if editor.SelectionEmpty or not editor.MultipleSelection then
    local startWord = editor:WordStartPosition(editor.CurrentPos, true)
    local endWord   = editor:WordEndPosition(startWord, true)

    editor:SetSelection(startWord, endWord)
  else
    local i = editor.MainSelection
    local s = editor:textrange(editor.SelectionNStart[i], editor.SelectionNEnd[i])
    local searchRanges = {{editor.SelectionNEnd[i], editor.TargetEnd}, {editor.TargetStart, editor.SelectionNStart[i]}}

    for _, range in pairs(searchRanges) do
      editor:SetTargetRange(range[1], range[2])

      if editor:SearchInTarget(s) ~= -1 then
        editor:AddSelection(editor.TargetStart, editor.TargetEnd)

        -- To scroll main selection in sight
        editor:ScrollRange(editor.TargetStart, editor.TargetEnd)

        break
      end
    end
  end

  -- To turn on Notepad++ multi select markers
  editor:LineScroll(0, 1)
  editor:LineScroll(0, -1)
end)


npp.AddShortcut("Selection Add All", "", function()
  local flags     = SCFIND_WHOLEWORD -- can use 0
  local startWord = -1
  local endWord   = -1
  local s         = ""

  editor.SearchFlags = flags

  if editor.SelectionEmpty or not editor.MultipleSelection then
    startWord = editor:WordStartPosition(editor.CurrentPos, true)
    endWord   = editor:WordEndPosition(startWord, true)

    editor:SetSelection(startWord, endWord)
  else
    local i   = editor.MainSelection

    startWord = editor.SelectionNStart[i]
    endWord   = editor.SelectionNEnd[i]
  end

  s = editor:textrange(startWord, endWord)

  while true do
    editor:SetTargetRange(0, editor.TextLength)

    local i            = editor.MainSelection
    local searchRanges = {{editor.SelectionNEnd[i], editor.TargetEnd}, {editor.TargetStart, editor.SelectionNStart[i]}}
    local itemFound    = false

    for _, range in pairs(searchRanges) do
      editor:SetTargetRange(range[1], range[2])

      if editor:SearchInTarget(s) ~= -1 then
        editor:AddSelection(editor.TargetStart, editor.TargetEnd)
        itemFound = true
        break
      end
    end

    if editor.TargetStart == startWord and
       editor.TargetEnd   == endWord   or
       not itemFound                   then
      break
    end
  end

  -- To turn on Notepad++ multi select markers
  editor:LineScroll(0, 1)
  editor:LineScroll(0, -1)
end)