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How To Do X?

Quick cookbook-style answers to common tasks in Pragtical.

Files & Navigation​

Open a file quickly​

Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on macOS) to open the fuzzy file finder. Start typing the filename and press Enter.

Find files in my project​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Find File", then press Enter to search for files in your project

Switch between open files​

  • Ctrl+Tab - Cycle through recent files
  • Alt+1 through Alt+9 - Jump to specific tab
  • Middle-click on a tab to close it

Open the file tree​

Press Ctrl+\ to toggle the file tree sidebar.

Search & Replace​

Search in current file​

Ctrl+F - Find text, Ctrl+R - Find and replace

Search across entire project​

Ctrl+Shift+F - Opens project search with results in a new view

In the search dialog, click the regex button (or open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Toggle Regex", then press Enter)

Find next/previous match​

F3 - Find next Shift+F3 - Find previous

Editing​

Multiple cursors​

  • Hold Ctrl and click to add cursors
  • Ctrl+D - Select next occurrence of current word
  • Ctrl+Shift+L - Select all occurrences
  • Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down - Add cursor above/below

Comment/uncomment lines​

Ctrl+/ - Toggle line comments on selected lines

Indent/unindent​

  • Tab - Indent
  • Shift+Tab - Unindent

Duplicate line​

Ctrl+Shift+D - Duplicate current line

Delete line​

Ctrl+Shift+K - Delete current line

Move lines up/down​

Ctrl+Up/Down - Move selected lines

Align columns​

Select lines, then open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Tabularize", press Enter, and specify delimiter (e.g., = or ,)

Example:

name=John         →    name  = John
age=30            →    age   = 30
city=New York     →    city  = New York

Macros​

Record a macro​

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+; to start recording
  2. Perform your actions (typing, navigation, etc.)
  3. Press Ctrl+Shift+; again to stop

Play a macro​

Press Ctrl+; to replay the last recorded macro

Example: Record typing console.log() and placing cursor inside, then replay on multiple lines.

View & Layout​

Split view​

Right-click a tab → "Split Right/Left/Up/Down" or drag a tab to screen edge

Zoom in/out​

  • Ctrl+= - Zoom in
  • Ctrl+- - Zoom out
  • Ctrl+0 - Reset zoom

Toggle fullscreen​

F11 - Toggle fullscreen mode

View whitespace​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Draw Whitespace: Toggle", then press Enter

Show line guide​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, navigate to Settings → Plugins → Line Guide → Enable

Command Palette​

Open command palette​

Ctrl+Shift+P - Shows all available commands with fuzzy search

Tip: You can type partial command names. For example, "tof" finds "Toggle Fullscreen".

Settings & Customization​

Change theme​

Settings → Colors tab → Select theme

Change font​

Settings → Core → Editor → Code Font

Adjust font size​

Open Settings > Core > Editor > Code Font, select a font, and change its size. Use View > Zoom to scale the whole interface or only the code font.

Find or reset a setting​

Search Settings by its label, description, or configuration key. Core and plugin searches match all the words you enter. Use the option's Reset action to remove its saved GUI override.

Enable ligatures or color emoji​

See Font Ligatures for the optional programming ligatures checkbox. Color Emoji explains automatic system fallback and explicit fallback fonts.

Disable a plugin​

Use Settings > Plugins > Installed, or add to your init.lua and restart:

local config = require "core.config"
config.plugins.plugin_name = false

Change indentation​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, navigate to Settings → Core → Editor

  • Set "Indent Size" (default: 2)
  • Set "Indentation Type" (default: space)

Change key bindings​

Settings → Keybindings → Find command → Add/change binding

Keybindings​

Bind a key to a command​

Add to your init.lua:

local keymap = require "core.keymap"
keymap.add {
  ["ctrl+k"] = "doc:delete-to-end-of-line",
  ["f5"] = "core:restart"
}

Run several commands from one key​

A list of command names chooses the first eligible command, not a sequence. Register a wrapper when several actions must run:

local command = require "core.command"
local keymap = require "core.keymap"
command.add("core.docview", {
  ["user:select-word-and-find-next"] = function()
    command.perform("doc:select-word")
    command.perform("find-replace:select-add-next")
  end
})
keymap.add {
  ["ctrl+alt+d"] = "user:select-word-and-find-next"
}

Unbind a key​

local keymap = require "core.keymap"
keymap.unbind("ctrl+d", "doc:select-word")

Or unbind all commands from a key:

keymap.add({ ["ctrl+d"] = {} }, true)

Override a keybinding completely​

Pass true as second parameter to replace instead of adding:

keymap.add({
  ["ctrl+s"] = "my-plugin:custom-save"
}, true)  -- Replaces existing binding

Find what a key does​

Open command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and look for the keybinding shown on the right, or check Settings → Keybindings.

Workspace & Sessions​

Save workspace​

Your workspace (open files, layout) saves automatically per project. Use File > Sessions to revisit saved layouts; see Workspace Sessions.

Open recent project​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Open Recent Project", then press Enter

Add folder to current project​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Core: Add Directory", then press Enter

Change project directory​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Core: Change Project Folder", then press Enter

Advanced​

Jump to line​

Ctrl+G - Opens "Go to Line" dialog

Toggle case​

Select text → open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Uppercase/Lowercase", then press Enter

Trim trailing whitespace​

Disabled by default. To configure: Settings → Plugins → Trim Whitespace

Wrap long lines​

Press F10 or choose View > Word Wrap. Configure the wrap boundary and continuation indentation under Settings > Plugins > Line Wrapping. See Line Wrapping.

Center the cursor vertically​

Press Alt+V or run doc:center-cursor.

Diff view​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Diff View: Start Files Comparison", then press Enter to compare two files side-by-side

Getting Help​

View all keybindings​

Settings -> Keybindings

Check logs​

Open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Core: Open Log", then press Enter

Tips & Tricks​

Fuzzy matching works everywhere​

When searching files, commands, or autocomplete, you don't need to type the full name. "prse" matches "project_search".

Fuzzy matching in current doc​

Ctrl+G (go to line) also works to fuzzy match lines in the current doc.

Drag and drop​

Drag files from your file manager into Pragtical to open them.

Multiple projects​

Add multiple folders to work on several projects simultaneously: open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Core: Add Directory", then press Enter

Pattern exclusions​

Configure ignored files/folders in Settings or init.lua:

-- additions to the default ignored files and folders
local config = require "core.config"
table.insert(config.ignore_files, "^%.git/")
table.insert(config.ignore_files, "^node_modules/")

Quick color picker​

Place cursor on a color code (like #FF0000) → open command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P, type "Pick Color", then press Enter

Can't Find What You Need?​

Remember: Commands are the heart of Pragtical. Almost every action in the editor has an associated command. If you're looking for a feature, it probably exists as a command!

How to discover commands:

  • Open command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and browse or search - you'll find hundreds of available commands
  • Commands show their current keybindings (if any) on the right side
  • Many features don't have default keybindings but are available as commands
  • Plugin commands are prefixed with the plugin name (e.g., treeview:open)

Still stuck?

  • Ask in Discord!
  • Check the User Guide for detailed configuration
  • See Developer Guide for plugin development
  • Browse built-in plugins at data/plugins/ for examples
  • Visit the GitHub issues page for questions and feature requests