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    • guy038G
      guy038
      last edited by guy038

      Hi, @bitagoras, and All,

      I found out a work-around to simulate the behavior of your animated gif picture !

      I suppose 3 hypotheses :

      • The Multi-Editing feature is enabled ( Settings > Preferences… > Editing > Multi-Editing settings )

      • The BetterMultiSelection plugin is installed and enabled

      • The Ctrl+ D shortcut is assigned to the Scintilla function SCI_SELECTION DUPLICATE ( and not to SCI_LINEDUPLICATE ! )


      So, assuming this sample test, below , in a new tab :

      var1, var2, object1, object2, object3, flag2, flag3
      
      • Place the cursor right before the string var1 ( without the Ctrl key pressed )

      • Holding down a Ctrl key, left click, right in front of all the other strings, in order to get a total of 7 cursors !

      Now :

      • Backspace * 2

      • Enter

      You should get a 7- lines selection, below :

      var1
      var2
      object1
      object2
      object3
      flag2
      flag3
      

      Note that the SP notation, below, represents a hit on the Space bar

      • Type obj.

      • Shift + End

      • Ctrl + D

      • Right

      • Type SP=SParg["

      • Shift + End

      • Ctrl + D

      • Right

      • Type "]SP#SPDefinitionSPofSP

      • Esc

      You obtain the following text :

      obj.var1 = arg["var1"] # Definition of var1
      obj.var2 = arg["var2"] # Definition of var2
      obj.object1 = arg["object1"] # Definition of object1
      obj.object2 = arg["object2"] # Definition of object2
      obj.object3 = arg["object3"] # Definition of object3
      obj.flag2 = arg["flag2"] # Definition of flag2
      obj.flag3 = arg["flag3"] # Definition of flag3
      

      Now, regarding the second block, we start, again, with the following text :

      var1, var2, object1, object2, object3, flag2, flag3
      
      • Place the cursor right before the string var1 ( without the Ctrl key pressed )

      • Holding down a Ctrl key, left click, right in front of all the other strings, in order to get a total of 7 cursors

      Then :

      • Backspace * 2

      • Enter

      Again , you’ll obtain the 7- lines selection, below :

      var1
      var2
      object1
      object2
      object3
      flag2
      flag3
      

      Now :

      • Tab

      • Type "

      • Shift + End

      • Ctrl + D

      • Right

      • Type ":SPobj.

      • End

      • Type ,

      • Esc

      And… you get the expected text, with a leading tabulation :

      	"var1": obj.var1,
      	"var2": obj.var2,
      	"object1": obj.object1,
      	"object2": obj.object2,
      	"object3": obj.object3,
      	"flag2": obj.flag2,
      	"flag3": obj.flag3,
      

      Cheers,

      guy038

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • cipher-1024C
        cipher-1024
        last edited by

        I don’t know HOW I missed @dali 's plugin for this long! I have to admit whenever I saw someone doing multiline work I was extremely jealous and tempted to try the VS Code waters. @guy038, what is your CTRL-D mapped to? CTRL-D is mapped to “Duplicate Current Line” for me. When I follow your instructions, I just get duplicate lines. If I try to copy and paste, the paste is just all of the selections globbed together. I can’t seem to duplicate just the selection (like it does in the gif on github). This is what I get when I follow your instructions:

        	"var1": obj.,
        	"var1
        	"var2": obj.,
        	"var2
        	"object1": obj.,
        	"object1
        	"object2": obj.,
        	"object2
        	"object3": obj.,
        	"object3
        	"flag2": obj.,
        	"flag2
        	"flag3": obj.,
        	"flag3
        
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • cipher-1024C
          cipher-1024
          last edited by cipher-1024

          Ohh you rascals! I went into the shortcut mapper and under the Scintilla commands tab there was an unassigned “SCI_SELECTIONDUPLICATE”. I assigned that to Ctrl + D et voila! (as Guy would say)!

          Christmas came early this year! Now I’m not the only kid on the block that can’t mulitedit! Thank you @dail and @guy038 for bringing this plugin to my attention!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • guy038G
            guy038
            last edited by guy038

            Hello, @cipher-1024, and All,

            Yes, as you found it out yourself, my Ctrl+D shortcut is assigned to the Scintilla function SCI_SELECTIONDUPLICATE ( and not to SCI_LINEDUPLICATE ! )

            So, I updated my previous post to add this statement to the hypotheses block !

            Cheers,

            guy038

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
            • cipher-1024C
              cipher-1024
              last edited by

              Thanks Guy. I must have changed the default ages ago because I don’t remember doing it. Also a big thank you again to @dail. Now I don’t have to be all like this.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • bitagorasB
                bitagoras
                last edited by

                For your information: The newest version of the plugin “BetterMultiSelection” is now capable to do copy and paste on multiple cursors (as I used it in the VSCode animation above).

                There is now only the one missing important feature to make multi editing as fast as in VSCode: the ctrl+D select function. Scintilla seems to support this feature as well, but it’s not available in Notepad++ for keyboard shortcut:

                SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT (in VSCode bound to ctrl-d)
                SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH (in VSCode bound to shift-ctrl-l)

                What ctrl-d does:
                It selects the next occurence of the current selection as added multiselection. You can use it to very quickly rename variables. In Notepad++ you have to use the mouse, which is much slower, or the replace function. In VSCode there is also a “skip next occurence” (ctrl-k) and “undo last selection” (ctrl-u) which makes it very versatile.

                EkopalypseE dinkumoilD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • EkopalypseE
                  Ekopalypse @bitagoras
                  last edited by Ekopalypse

                  @bitagoras said in Multi selection and multi edit:

                  SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT

                  Added this feature request.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                  • dinkumoilD
                    dinkumoil @bitagoras
                    last edited by dinkumoil

                    @bitagoras

                    About to one year ago we had a conversation about this topic here in the forum, have a look at this thread.

                    The essentials of the discussion:

                    1. You can already use these features using a scripting plugin.

                    In the following I provide the code for the NppExec plugin.

                    Command SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT (with the help of @Ekopalypse):

                    sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_WHOLEWORD
                    sci_sendmsg 2690  // SCI_TARGETWHOLEDOCUMENT
                    sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                    

                    Command SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH (generously provided by @Ekopalypse):

                    sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_WHOLEWORD
                    sci_sendmsg 2690  // SCI_TARGETWHOLEDOCUMENT
                    
                    sci_sendmsg SCI_GETSELECTIONEMPTY
                    
                    if $(MSG_RESULT) == 1 then
                      sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                     
                    sci_sendmsg 2689  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH
                    
                    1. As these commands are not supported in Notepad++ versions older than v7.7, it is possible to emulate them using a scripting plugin. In the following I provide the Lua code (can be used in conjunction with the LuaScript plugin) to do this:

                    Command SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT (provided by @dail):

                    -- =============================================================================
                    -- Add menu entry to select next occurence of word under or next to cursor or
                    -- already selected word
                    -- =============================================================================
                    
                    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)
                    

                    Command SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH (devolped by myself by extending above script):

                    -- =============================================================================
                    -- Add menu entry to select all occurences of word under or next to cursor or
                    -- already selected word
                    -- =============================================================================
                    
                    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)
                    
                    bitagorasB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                    • bitagorasB
                      bitagoras @dinkumoil
                      last edited by

                      @dinkumoil : Ok thank you, I was not aware. But I still would appreaciate if the two functions would be added to list of scintilla comands at the keyboard shortcuts. Should not be to difficult.

                      EkopalypseE 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • EkopalypseE
                        Ekopalypse @bitagoras
                        last edited by

                        @bitagoras
                        I just have updated the FR with my test.
                        A simple keyboard binding does not work but the solution is
                        similar easy.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • bitagorasB
                          bitagoras
                          last edited by

                          Here is my entire solution (copy from this Github Issue) with NppExec which gives Notepad++ all the multi editing functionality from VSCode. The only difference is that there are two different shortcuts each for addNext and for skip.

                          addNext (Ctrl-D):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg 2690  // SCI_TARGETWHOLEDOCUMENT
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS 0
                          sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                          

                          multiSelect_D

                          addNextWholeWord (Shift-Ctrl-D):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg 2690  // SCI_TARGETWHOLEDOCUMENT
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_WHOLEWORD
                          sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                          

                          multiSelect_DW

                          addEach (Shift-Ctrl-L):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg 2690  // SCI_TARGETWHOLEDOCUMENT
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_GETSELECTIONEMPTY
                          if $(MSG_RESULT) == 1 then
                            sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_WHOLEWORD
                          else
                            sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS 0
                          endif
                          sci_sendmsg 2689  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH
                          sci_sendmsg 2689  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDEACH
                          

                          multiSelect_EACH

                          undoAddNext (Ctrl-U):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_GETSELECTIONS
                          set n ~ $(MSG_RESULT) - 1
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_DROPSELECTIONN $(n)
                          

                          multiSelect_DU

                          skip (Alt-Ctrl-D):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_NONE
                          sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_GETSELECTIONS
                          set n ~ $(MSG_RESULT) - 2
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_DROPSELECTIONN $(n)
                          

                          multiSelect_DS

                          skipWholeWord (Alt-Shift-Ctrl-D):

                          NPP_CONSOLE 0
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_SETSEARCHFLAGS SCFIND_NONE
                          sci_sendmsg 2688  // SCI_MULTIPLESELECTADDNEXT
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_GETSELECTIONS
                          set n ~ $(MSG_RESULT) - 2
                          sci_sendmsg SCI_DROPSELECTIONN $(n)
                          
                          Don BhaiD bitagorasB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 6
                          • michaelfernandez98M
                            michaelfernandez98
                            last edited by

                            Hello
                            I’m new to this but I’m interested in having the functionality to select similar strings in a document and be able to do multiple editing
                            how can i add this functionality to notepad ++?

                            Alan KilbornA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Alan KilbornA
                              Alan Kilborn @michaelfernandez98
                              last edited by

                              @michaelfernandez98

                              Perhaps the simplest way would be to add the NppExec plugin to your Notepad++ and used the scripts by @bitagoras directly above?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • michaelfernandez98M
                                michaelfernandez98
                                last edited by

                                yes i was watching
                                I already installed the NppExec script to the notepad++
                                but now the problem is how do I add the scripts by @bitagoras to the notepad ++?

                                Alan KilbornA PeterJonesP 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Alan KilbornA
                                  Alan Kilborn @michaelfernandez98
                                  last edited by

                                  @michaelfernandez98

                                  It feels a bit like spoon-feeding, but…

                                  • Select Plugins from the N++ menus
                                  • Select NppExec
                                  • Select Execute (default key assignment is F6)
                                  • Paste in ONE of the short “scripts” above in the Execute… box that appears
                                  • Optionally (but recommended) test run it by pressing the OK button
                                  • Press F6 again; “script” from before was retained and shows in the box
                                  • Press Save… , give it a name (suggested above the “scripts” above), press OK
                                  • Assign a keycombo (again; suggested ones are above the “scripts” above)
                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                  • PeterJonesP
                                    PeterJones @michaelfernandez98
                                    last edited by PeterJones

                                    @michaelfernandez98 said:

                                    but now the problem is how do I add the scripts by @bitagoras to the notepad ++?

                                    @Alan-Kilborn replied:

                                    …
                                    Assign a keycombo (again; suggested ones are above the “scripts” above)

                                    If saving and naming a script wasn’t obvious, then assigning a keycombo is going to be less intuitive. Just saying. ;-)

                                    @michaelfernandez98,
                                    Once you have one or more scripts named and saved as Alan described, then go to Plugins > NppExec > Advanced Options. In the lower left, use the Associated Script pulldown to select the script; click Add/Modify button to add it to the list of Menu Items in the upper left; note whether or not ☑ Place in the Macros Submenu is enabled (you will need this later). Repeat as necessary for all of the above scripts. When you hit OK to apply those changes, a popup will tell you that you should restart Notepad++: save any open files, then restart Notepad++.

                                    After the restart, then either the Macros menu (if the checkbox was enabled) or the Plugins > NppExec submenu (if the checkbox was disabled) will list your new NppExec scripts.

                                    To assign a keycombo to each, go to Macros > Modify Shortcut/Delete Macro (or, equivalently, Settings > Shortcut Mapper), and go to the Plugin Commands tab. Filter by NppExec and scroll down until you see the new script names. Click on the script you want a keycombo for, hit Modify, and pick the appropriate combination of Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and the selected key. Repeat the Modify procedure for all the scripts that you want a keycombo for.

                                    Alan KilbornA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                    • Alan KilbornA
                                      Alan Kilborn @PeterJones
                                      last edited by

                                      @PeterJones

                                      Thanks for filling in those details Peter!
                                      As I was walking thru the steps on my setup, I didn’t do that part, so I’d forgotten that it was maybe not the most obvious thing.

                                      Is there a way to delete scripts that just isn’t obvious to me at the moment?
                                      For example, during my experimentation I named my script “junk”.
                                      Now I want to get rid of it, but don’t see a way to in the NppExec UI.
                                      Or do I have to resort to hand-editing the config file for the plugin?

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                      • PeterJonesP
                                        PeterJones
                                        last edited by

                                        @Alan-Kilborn said in Multi selection and multi edit:

                                        Now I want to get rid of it, but don’t see a way to in the NppExec UI.

                                        No obvious way, that’s for sure.

                                        The … > Advanced Options > Delete button removes it from the menu, but not from the saved scripts.

                                        Oh, right, there it is. F6, select junk, counter-intuitively hit Save…, then click the Delete button.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                        • michaelfernandez98M
                                          michaelfernandez98
                                          last edited by

                                          I could already install the plugin and assign the keycombo to it
                                          thanks @PeterJones @Alan-Kilborn
                                          They were very helpful

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                          • michaelfernandez98M
                                            michaelfernandez98
                                            last edited by

                                            sorry if my english is bad
                                            I speak Spanish

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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