TEXT(9)TEXT(9)NAMEtext - Create and manipulate text widgets
SYNOPSIStext pathName ?options?
STANDARD OPTIONS-background-pady-takefocus
-borderwidth -relief -xscrollcommand
-font-selectbackground-yscrollcommand
-foreground-selectborderwidth
-padx-selectforeground
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
-height dist
Specifies the desired height for the window.
-spacing1 dist
Requests additional space above each text line in the widget,
using any of the standard forms for screen distances. If a line
wraps, this option only applies to the first line on the dis‐
play. This option may be overriden with -spacing1 options in
tags.
-spacing2 dist
For lines that wrap (so that they cover more than one line on
the display) this option specifies additional space to provide
between the display lines that represent a single line of text.
The value may have any of the standard forms for screen dis‐
tances. This option may be overriden with -spacing2 options in
tags.
-spacing3 dist
Requests additional space below each text line in the widget,
using any of the standard forms for screen distances. If a line
wraps, this option only applies to the last line on the display.
This option may be overriden with -spacing3 options in tags.
-state state
Specifies one of two states for the text: normal or disabled.
If the text is disabled then characters may not be inserted or
deleted and no insertion cursor will be displayed, even if the
input focus is in the widget.
-tabs dist
Specifies a set of tab stops for the window. The option's value
consists of a list of dist values giving the positions of the
tab stops. Each dist may optionally be followed in the next
list element by one of the keywords left, right, center, or
numeric, which specifies how to justify text relative to the tab
stop. Left is the default; it causes the text following the tab
character to be positioned with its left edge at the tab posi‐
tion. Right means that the right edge of the text following the
tab character is positioned at the tab position, and center
means that the text is centered at the tab position. Numeric
means that the decimal point in the text is positioned at the
tab position; if there is no decimal point then the least sig‐
nificant digit of the number is positioned just to the left of
the tab position; if there is no number in the text then the
text is right-justified at the tab position. For example, -tabs
{2c left 4c 6c center} creates three tab stops at two-centimeter
intervals; the first two use left justification and the third
uses center justification. If the list of tab stops does not
have enough elements to cover all of the tabs in a text line,
then Tk extrapolates new tab stops using the spacing and align‐
ment from the last tab stop in the list. The value of the tabs
option may be overridden by -tabs options in tags. If no -tabs
option is specified, or if it is specified as an empty list,
then Tk uses default tabs spaced every eight (average size)
characters.
-width dist
Specifies the desired width for the window.
-wrap val
Specifies how to handle lines in the text that are too long to
be displayed in a single line of the text's window. The value
must be none or char or word. A wrap mode of none means that
each line of text appears as exactly one line on the screen;
extra characters that don't fit on the screen are not displayed.
In the other modes each line of text will be broken up into sev‐
eral screen lines if necessary to keep all the characters visi‐
ble. In char mode a screen line break may occur after any char‐
acter; in word mode a line break will only be made at word
boundaries.
DESCRIPTION
The text command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument)
and makes it into a text widget. Additional options, described above,
may be specified on the command line to configure aspects of the text
such as its default background colour and relief. The text command
returns the path name of the new window.
A text widget displays one or more lines of text and allows that text
to be edited. Text widgets support three different kinds of annota‐
tions on the text, called tags, marks, and embedded windows. Tags
allow different portions of the text to be displayed with different
fonts and colours. In addition, Tk commands can be associated with
tags so that scripts are invoked when particular actions such as key‐
strokes and mouse button presses occur in particular ranges of the
text. See TAGS below for more details.
The second form of annotation consists of marks, which are floating
markers in the text. Marks are used to keep track of various interest‐
ing positions in the text as it is edited. See MARKS below for more
details.
The third form of annotation allows arbitrary windows to be embedded in
a text widget. See EMBEDDED WINDOWS below for more details.
INDICES
Many of the widget commands for texts take one or more indices as argu‐
ments. An index is a string used to indicate a particular place within
a text, such as a place to insert characters or one endpoint of a range
of characters to delete. Indices have the syntax
base modifier modifier modifier ...
Where base gives a starting point and the modifiers adjust the index
from the starting point (e.g. move forward or backward one character).
Every index must contain a base, but the modifiers are optional.
The base for an index must have one of the following forms:
line.char Indicates char'th character on line line. Lines are num‐
bered from 1 for consistency with other UNIX programs that
use this numbering scheme. Within a line, characters are
numbered from 0. If char is end then it refers to the new‐
line character that ends the line.
@x,y Indicates the character that covers the pixel whose x and y
coordinates within the text's window are x and y.
end Indicates the end of the text (the character just after the
last newline).
mark Indicates the character just after the mark whose name is
mark.
tag.first Indicates the first character in the text that has been
tagged with tag. This form generates an error if no char‐
acters are currently tagged with tag.
tag.last Indicates the character just after the last one in the text
that has been tagged with tag. This form generates an
error if no characters are currently tagged with tag.
pathName Indicates the position of the embedded window whose name is
pathName. This form generates an error if there is no
embedded window by the given name.
If modifiers follow the base index, each one of them must have one of
the forms listed below.
+ count chars
Adjust the index forward by count characters, moving to later
lines in the text if necessary. If there are fewer than count
characters in the text after the current index, then set the
index to the last character in the text. Spaces on either side
of count are optional.
- count chars
Adjust the index backward by count characters, moving to earlier
lines in the text if necessary. If there are fewer than count
characters in the text before the current index, then set the
index to the first character in the text. Spaces on either side
of count are optional.
+ count lines
Adjust the index forward by count lines, retaining the same
character position within the line. If there are fewer than
count lines after the line containing the current index, then
set the index to refer to the same character position on the
last line of the text. Then, if the line is not long enough to
contain a character at the indicated character position, adjust
the character position to refer to the last character of the
line (the newline). Spaces on either side of count are
optional.
- count lines
Adjust the index backward by count lines, retaining the same
character position within the line. If there are fewer than
count lines before the line containing the current index, then
set the index to refer to the same character position on the
first line of the text. Then, if the line is not long enough to
contain a character at the indicated character position, adjust
the character position to refer to the last character of the
line (the newline). Spaces on either side of count are
optional.
linestart
Adjust the index to refer to the first character on the line.
lineend
Adjust the index to refer to the last character on the line (the
newline).
wordstart
Adjust the index to refer to the first character of the word
containing the current index. A word consists of any number of
adjacent characters that are letters, digits, or underscores, or
a single character that is not one of these.
wordend
Adjust the index to refer to the character just after the last
one of the word containing the current index. If the current
index refers to the last character of the text then it is not
modified.
If more than one modifier is present then they are applied in left-to-
right order. For example, the index ``end - 1 chars'' refers to the
next-to-last character in the text and the index ``insert wordstart - 1
c'' refers to the character just before the first one in the word con‐
taining the insertion cursor.
TAGS
The first form of annotation in text widgets is a tag. A tag is a tex‐
tual string that is associated with some of the characters in a text.
Tags may contain arbitrary characters, but it is probably best to avoid
using the the characters `` '' (space), +, or -: these characters have
special meaning in indices, so tags containing them can't be used as
indices. The tag name may not begin with a digit. There may be any
number of tags associated with characters in a text. Each tag may
refer to a single character, a range of characters, or several ranges
of characters. An individual character may have any number of tags
associated with it.
A priority order is defined among tags, and this order is used in
implementing some of the tag-related functions described below. When a
tag is defined (by associating it with characters or setting its dis‐
play options or binding commands to it), it is given a priority higher
than any existing tag. The priority order of tags may be redefined
using the ``pathName tag raise'' and ``pathName tag lower'' widget com‐
mands.
Tags serve three purposes in text widgets. First, they control the way
information is displayed on the screen. By default, characters are
displayed as determined by the background, font, and foreground options
for the text widget. However, display options may be associated with
individual tags using the ``pathName tag configure'' widget command.
If a character has been tagged, then the display options associated
with the tag override the default display style. The following options
are currently supported for tags:
-background colour
Color specifies the background colour to use for characters
associated with the tag.
-borderwidth dist
Dist specifies the width of a 3-D border to draw around the
background. This option is used in conjunction with the -relief
option to give a 3-D appearance to the background for charac‐
ters; it is ignored unless the -background option has been set
for the tag.
-font font
Font is the name of a font to use for drawing characters.
-foreground colour
Color specifies the colour to use when drawing text and other
foreground information such as underlines.
-justify justify
If the first character of a display line has a tag for which
this option has been specified, then justify determines how to
justify the line. It must be one of left, right, or center. If
a line wraps, then the justification for each line on the dis‐
play is determined by the first character of that display line.
-lmargin1 dist
If the first character of a text line has a tag for which this
option has been specified, then dist specifies how much the line
should be indented from the left edge of the window. Dist may
have any of the standard forms for screen distances. If a line
of text wraps, this option only applies to the first line on the
display; the -lmargin2 option controls the indentation for sub‐
sequent lines.
-lmargin2 dist
If the first character of a display line has a tag for which
this option has been specified, and if the display line is not
the first for its text line (i.e., the text line has wrapped),
then dist specifies how much the line should be indented from
the left edge of the window. Dist may have any of the standard
forms for screen distances. This option is only used when wrap‐
ping is enabled, and it only applies to the second and later
display lines for a text line.
-offset dist
Dist specifies an amount by which the text's baseline should be
offset vertically from the baseline of the overall line, in pix‐
els. For example, a positive offset can be used for super‐
scripts and a negative offset can be used for subscripts. Dist
may have any of the standard forms for screen distances.
-overstrike boolean
Specifies whether or not to draw a horizontal rule through the
middle of characters.
-relief relief
Relief specifies the 3-D relief to use for drawing backgrounds.
This option is used in conjunction with the -borderwidth option
to give a 3-D appearance to the background for characters; it is
ignored unless the -background option has been set for the tag.
-rmargin dist
If the first character of a display line has a tag for which
this option has been specified, then dist specifies how wide a
margin to leave between the end of the line and the right edge
of the window. This option is only used when wrapping is
enabled. If a text line wraps, the right margin for each line
on the display is determined by the first character of that dis‐
play line.
-spacing1 dist
Dist specifies how much additional space should be left above
each text line, using any of the standard forms for screen dis‐
tances. If a line wraps, this option only applies to the first
line on the display.
-spacing2 dist
For lines that wrap, this option specifies how much additional
space to leave between the display lines for a single text line.
Dist may have any of the standard forms for screen distances.
-spacing3 dist
Dist specifies how much additional space should be left below
each text line, using any of the standard forms for screen dis‐
tances. If a line wraps, this option only applies to the last
line on the display.
-tabs tabList
TabList specifies a set of tab stops in the same form as for the
-tabs option for the text widget. This option only applies to a
display line if it applies to the first character on that dis‐
play line. If this option is specified as an empty string, it
cancels the option, leaving it unspecified for the tag (the
default). If the option is specified as a non-empty string that
is an empty list, such as -tabs { }, then it requests default
8-character tabs as described for the tabs widget option.
-underline boolean
Boolean specifies whether or not to draw an underline underneath
characters.
-wrap mode
Mode specifies how to handle lines that are wider than the
text's window. It has the same legal values as the -wrap option
for the text widget: none, char, or word. If this tag option
is specified, it overrides the -wrap option for the text widget.
If a character has several tags associated with it, and if their dis‐
play options conflict, then the options of the highest priority tag are
used. If a particular display option hasn't been specified for a par‐
ticular tag, or if it is specified as an empty string, then that option
will never be used; the next-highest-priority tag's option will be
used instead. If no tag specifies a particular display option, then
the default style for the widget will be used.
The second purpose for tags is event bindings. You can associate bind‐
ings with a tag in much the same way you can associate bindings with a
widget class: whenever particular events occur on characters with the
given tag, a given Tk command will be executed. Tag bindings can be
used to give behaviours to ranges of characters; among other things,
this allows hypertext-like features to be implemented. For details,
see the description of the tag bind widget command below.
The third use for tags is in managing the selection. See THE SELECTION
below.
MARKS
The second form of annotation in text widgets is a mark. Marks are
used for remembering particular places in a text. They are something
like tags, in that they have names and they refer to places in the
file, but a mark isn't associated with particular characters. Instead,
a mark is associated with the gap between two characters. Only a sin‐
gle position may be associated with a mark at any given time. If the
characters around a mark are deleted the mark will still remain; it
will just have new neighbour characters. In contrast, if the charac‐
ters containing a tag are deleted then the tag will no longer have an
association with characters in the file. Marks may be manipulated with
the ``pathName mark'' widget command, and their current locations may
be determined by using the mark name as an index in widget commands.
Each mark also has a gravity, which is either left or right. The grav‐
ity for a mark specifies what happens to the mark when text is inserted
at the point of the mark. If a mark has left gravity, then the mark is
treated as if it were attached to the character on its left, so the
mark will remain to the left of any text inserted at the mark position.
If the mark has right gravity, new text inserted at the mark position
will appear to the right of the mark. The gravity for a mark defaults
to right.
The name space for marks is different from that for tags: the same
name may be used for both a mark and a tag, but they will refer to dif‐
ferent things.
Two marks have special significance. First, the mark insert is associ‐
ated with the insertion cursor, as described under THE INSERTION CURSOR
below. Second, the mark current is associated with the character clos‐
est to the mouse and is adjusted automatically to track the mouse posi‐
tion and any changes to the text in the widget (one exception: current
is not updated in response to mouse motions if a mouse button is down;
the update will be deferred until all mouse buttons have been
released). Neither of these special marks may be deleted.
EMBEDDED WINDOWS
The third form of annotation in text widgets is an embedded window.
Each embedded window annotation causes a window to be displayed at a
particular point in the text. There may be any number of embedded
windows in a text widget, and any widget may be used as an embedded
window. The embedded window's position on the screen will be updated
as the text is modified or scrolled. Each embedded window occupies one
character's worth of index space in the text widget, and it may be
referred to either by the name of its embedded window or by its posi‐
tion in the widget's index space. If the range of text containing the
embedded window is deleted and the window is a child of the text widget
then the window is destroyed.
When an embedded window is added to a text widget with the window cre‐
ate widget command, several configuration options may be associated
with it. These options may be modified later with the window config‐
ure widget command. The following options are currently supported:
-align where
If the window is not as tall as the line in which it is dis‐
played, this option determines where the window is displayed in
the line. Where must have one of the values top (align the top
of the window with the top of the line), center (center the win‐
dow within the range of the line), bottom (align the bottom of
the window with the bottom of the line's area), or baseline
(align the bottom of the window with the baseline of the line).
-padx dist
Dist specifies the amount of extra space to leave on each side
of the embedded window. It may have any of the usual forms
defined for a screen distance.
-pady dist
Dist specifies the amount of extra space to leave on the top and
on the bottom of the embedded window. It may have any of the
usual forms defined for a screen distance.
-stretch boolean
If the requested height of the embedded window is less than the
height of the line in which it is displayed, this option can be
used to specify whether the window should be stretched verti‐
cally to fill its line. If the -pady option has been specified
as well, then the requested padding will be retained even if the
window is stretched.
-window pathName
Specifies the name of a window to display in the annotation.
THE SELECTION
Selection support is implemented via tags. The sel tag is automati‐
cally defined when a text widget is created, and it may not be deleted
with the ``pathName tag delete'' widget command. Furthermore, the
selectbackground, selectborderwidth, and selectforeground options for
the text widget are tied to the background, borderwidth, and foreground
options for the sel tag: changes in either will automatically be
reflected in the other.
THE INSERTION CURSOR
The mark named insert has special significance in text widgets. It is
defined automatically when a text widget is created and it may not be
unset with the ``pathName mark unset'' widget command. The insert mark
represents the position of the insertion cursor, and the insertion cur‐
sor will automatically be drawn at this point whenever the text widget
has the input focus.
WIDGET COMMAND
The text command creates a new Tk command whose name is the same as the
path name of the text's window. This command may be used to invoke
various operations on the widget. It has the following general form:
pathName option ?arg arg ...?
PathName is the name of the command, which is the same as the text wid‐
get's path name. Option and the args determine the exact behaviour of
the command. The following commands are possible for text widgets:
pathName bbox index
Returns a list of four elements describing the screen area of
the character given by index. The first two elements of the
list give the x and y coordinates of the upper-left corner of
the area occupied by the character, and the last two elements
give the width and height of the area. If the character is only
partially visible on the screen, then the return value reflects
just the visible part. If the character is not visible on the
screen then the return value is an empty list.
pathName cget option
Returns the current value of the configuration option given by
option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the text
command.
pathName compare index1 op index2
Compares the indices given by index1 and index2 according to the
relational operator given by op, and returns 1 if the relation‐
ship is satisfied and 0 if it isn't. Op must be one of the
operators <, <=, ==, >=, >, or !=. If op is == then 1 is
returned if the two indices refer to the same character, if op
is < then 1 is returned if index1 refers to an earlier character
in the text than index2, and so on.
pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?
Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no
option is specified, returns a list of all of the available
options for pathName. If one or more option-value pairs are
specified, then the command modifies the given widget option(s)
to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an
empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the
text command.
pathName debug ?boolean?
If the value is a true one then internal consistency checks will
be turned on in the code associated with text widgets. If bool‐
ean has a false value then the debugging checks will be turned
off. In either case the command returns an empty string. If
boolean is not specified then the command returns on or off to
indicate whether or not debugging is turned on. There is a sin‐
gle debugging switch shared by all text widgets: turning debug‐
ging on or off in any widget turns it on or off for all widgets.
For widgets with large amounts of text, the consistency checks
may cause a noticeable slow-down.
pathName delete index1 ?index2?
Delete a range of characters from the text. If both index1 and
index2 are specified, then delete all the characters starting
with the one given by index1 and stopping just before index2
(i.e. the character at index2 is not deleted). If index2
doesn't specify a position later in the text than index1 then no
characters are deleted. If index2 isn't specified then the sin‐
gle character at index1 is deleted. It is not allowable to
delete characters in a way that would leave the text without a
newline as the last character. The command returns an empty
string.
pathName dlineinfo index
Returns a list with five elements describing the area occupied
by the display line containing index. The first two elements of
the list give the x and y coordinates of the upper-left corner
of the area occupied by the line, the third and fourth elements
give the width and height of the area, and the fifth element
gives the position of the baseline for the line, measured down
from the top of the area. All of this information is measured
in pixels. If the current wrap mode is none and the line
extends beyond the boundaries of the window, the area returned
reflects the entire area of the line, including the portions
that are out of the window. If the line is shorter than the
full width of the window then the area returned reflects just
the portion of the line that is occupied by characters and
embedded windows. If the display line containing index is not
visible on the screen then the return value is an empty list.
pathName get index1 ?index2?
Return a range of characters from the text. The return value
will be all the characters in the text starting with the one
whose index is index1 and ending just before the one whose index
is index2 (the character at index2 will not be returned). If
index2 is omitted then the single character at index1 is
returned. If there are no characters in the specified range
(e.g. index1 is past the end of the file or index2 is less than
or equal to index1) then an empty string is returned. If the
specified range contains embedded windows, no information about
them is included in the returned string.
pathName index index
Returns the position corresponding to index in the form
line.char where line is the line number and char is the charac‐
ter number. Index may have any of the forms described under
INDICES above.
pathName insert index chars ?tagList chars tagList ...?
Inserts all of the chars arguments just before the character at
index. If index refers to the end of the text (the character
after the last newline) then the new text is inserted just
before the last newline instead. If there is a single chars
argument and no tagList, then the new text will receive any tags
that are present on both the character before and the character
after the insertion point; if a tag is present on only one of
these characters then it will not be applied to the new text.
If tagList is specified then it consists of a list of tag names;
the new characters will receive all of the tags in this list and
no others, regardless of the tags present around the insertion
point. If multiple chars-tagList argument pairs are present,
they produce the same effect as if a separate insert widget com‐
mand had been issued for each pair, in order. The last tagList
argument may be omitted.
pathName mark option ?arg arg ...?
This command is used to manipulate marks. The exact behaviour
of the command depends on the option argument that follows the
mark argument. The following forms of the command are currently
supported:
pathName mark gravity markName ?direction?
If direction is not specified, returns left or right to
indicate which of its adjacent characters markName is
attached to. If direction is specified, it must be left
or right; the gravity of markName is set to the given
value.
pathName mark names
Returns a list whose elements are the names of all the
marks that are currently set.
pathName mark next index
Returns the name of the next mark at or after index. If
index is specified in numerical form, then the search for
the next mark begins at that index. If index is the name
of a mark, then the search for the next mark begins imme‐
diately after that mark. This can still return a mark at
the same position if there are multiple marks at the same
index. If a mark has been set to the special end index,
then it appears to be after end with respect to the mark
next operation. An empty string is returned if there are
no marks after index.
pathName mark previous index
Returns the name of the mark at or before index. If
index is specified in numerical form, then the search for
the previous mark begins with the character just before
that index. If index is the name of a mark, then the
search for the next mark begins immediately before that
mark. This can still return a mark at the same position
if there are multiple marks at the same index. An empty
string is returned if there are no marks before index.
pathName mark set markName index
Sets the mark named markName to a position just before
the character at index. If markName already exists, it
is moved from its old position; if it doesn't exist, a
new mark is created. This command returns an empty
string.
pathName mark unset markName ?markName markName ...?
Remove the mark corresponding to each of the markName
arguments. The removed marks will not be usable in
indices and will not be returned by future calls to
``pathName mark names''. This command returns an empty
string.
pathName scan option args
This command is used to implement scanning on texts. It has two
forms, depending on option:
pathName scan mark x y
Records x and y and the current view in the text window,
for use in conjunction with later scan dragto commands.
Typically this command is associated with a mouse button
press in the widget. It returns an empty string.
pathName scan dragto x y
This command computes the difference between its x and y
arguments and the x and y arguments to the last scan mark
command for the widget. It then adjusts the view by 10
times the difference in coordinates. This command is
typically associated with mouse motion events in the wid‐
get, to produce the effect of dragging the text at high
speed through the window. The return value is an empty
string.
pathName search ?switches? pattern index ?stopIndex?
Searches the text in pathName starting at index for a range of
characters that matches pattern. If a match is found, the index
of the first character in the match is returned as result; oth‐
erwise an empty string is returned. One or more of the follow‐
ing switches may be specified to control the search:
-backwards
The search will proceed backward through the text, find‐
ing the matching range closest to index whose first char‐
acter is before index.
-nocase
Ignore case differences between the pattern and the text.
-- This switch has no effect except to terminate the list of
switches: the next argument will be treated as pattern
even if it starts with -.
The matching range must be entirely within a single line of
text. If stopIndex is specified, the search stops at that
index: for forward searches, no match at or after stopIndex will
be considered; for backward searches, no match earlier in the
text than stopIndex will be considered. If stopIndex is omit‐
ted, the entire text will be searched: when the beginning or end
of the text is reached, the search continues at the other end
until the starting location is reached again; if stopIndex is
specified, no wrap-around will occur.
pathName see index
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character given by
index is completely visible. If index is already visible then
the command does nothing. If index is a short distance out of
view, the command adjusts the view just enough to make index
visible at the edge of the window. If index is far out of view,
then the command centers index in the window.
pathName tag option ?arg arg ...?
This command is used to manipulate tags. The exact behaviour of
the command depends on the option argument that follows the tag
argument. The following forms of the command are currently sup‐
ported:
pathName tag add tagName index1 ?index2 index1 index2 ...?
Associate the tag tagName with all of the characters
starting with index1 and ending just before index2 (the
character at index2 isn't tagged). A single command may
contain any number of index1-index2 pairs. If the last
index2 is omitted then the single character at index1 is
tagged. If there are no characters in the specified
range (e.g. index1 is past the end of the file or index2
is less than or equal to index1) then the command has no
effect.
pathName tag bind tagName ?sequence? ?script?
This command associates script with the tag given by tag‐
Name. Whenever the event sequence given by sequence
occurs for a character that has been tagged with tagName,
the script will be invoked. This widget command is simi‐
lar to the bind command except that it operates on char‐
acters in a text rather than entire widgets. See the
bind manual entry for complete details on the syntax of
sequence and the substitutions performed on script before
invoking it. If all arguments are specified then a new
binding is created, replacing any existing binding for
the same sequence and tagName (if the first character of
script is ``+'' then script augments an existing binding
rather than replacing it). In this case the return value
is an empty string.
The only events for which bindings may be specified are
those related to the mouse and keyboard, such as Enter,
Leave, ButtonPress, Motion, and KeyPress. Event bindings
for a text widget use the current mark described under
MARKS above. An Enter event triggers for a tag when the
tag first becomes present on the current character, and a
Leave event triggers for a tag when it ceases to be
present on the current character. Enter and Leave events
can happen either because the current mark moved or
because the character at that position changed. Note
that these events are different than Enter and Leave
events for windows. Mouse and keyboard events are
directed to the current character.
It is possible for the current character to have multiple
tags, and for each of them to have a binding for a par‐
ticular event sequence. When this occurs, one binding is
invoked for each tag, in order from lowest-priority to
highest priority. If there are multiple matching bind‐
ings for a single tag, then the most specific binding is
chosen (see the manual entry for the bind command for
details).
If bindings are created for the widget as a whole using
the bind command, then those bindings will supplement the
tag bindings. The tag bindings will be invoked first,
followed by bindings for the window as a whole.
pathName tag cget tagName option
This command returns the current value of the option
named option associated with the tag given by tagName.
Option may have any of the values accepted by the tag
configure widget command.
pathName tag configure tagName ?option? ?value? ?option value
...?
This command is similar to the configure widget command
except that it modifies options associated with the tag
given by tagName instead of modifying options for the
overall text widget. If one or more option-value pairs
are specified, then the command modifies the given
option(s) to have the given value(s) in tagName. See
TAGS above for details on the options available for tags.
pathName tag delete tagName ?tagName ...?
Deletes all tag information for each of the tagName argu‐
ments. The command removes the tags from all characters
in the file and also deletes any other information asso‐
ciated with the tags, such as bindings and display infor‐
mation. The command returns an empty string.
pathName tag lower tagName ?belowThis?
Changes the priority of tag tagName so that it is just
lower in priority than the tag whose name is belowThis.
If belowThis is omitted, then tagName's priority is
changed to make it lowest priority of all tags.
pathName tag names ?index?
Returns a list whose elements are the names of all the
tags that are active at the character position given by
index. If index is omitted, then the return value will
describe all of the tags that exist for the text (this
includes all tags that have been named in a ``pathName
tag'' widget command but haven't been deleted by a
``pathName tag delete'' widget command, even if no char‐
acters are currently marked with the tag). The list will
be sorted in order from highest priority to lowest prior‐
ity.
pathName tag nextrange tagName index1 ?index2?
This command searches the text for a range of characters
tagged with tagName where the first character of the
range is no earlier than the character at index1 and no
later than the character just before index2 (a range
starting at index2 will not be considered). If several
matching ranges exist, the first one is chosen. The com‐
mand's return value is a list containing two elements,
which are the index of the first character of the range
and the index of the character just after the last one in
the range. If no matching range is found then the return
value is an empty string. If index2 is not given then it
defaults to the end of the text.
pathName tag prevrange tagName index1 ?index2?
This command searches the text for a range of characters
tagged with tagName where the first character of the
range is before the character at index1 and no earlier
than the character at index2 (a range starting at index2
will be considered). If several matching ranges exist,
the one closest to index1 is chosen. The command's
return value is a list containing two elements, which are
the index of the first character of the range and the
index of the character just after the last one in the
range. If no matching range is found then the return
value is an empty string. If index2 is not given then it
defaults to the beginning of the text.
pathName tag raise tagName ?aboveThis?
Changes the priority of tag tagName so that it is just
higher in priority than the tag whose name is aboveThis.
If aboveThis is omitted, then tagName's priority is
changed to make it highest priority of all tags.
pathName tag ranges tagName
Returns a list describing all of the ranges of text that
have been tagged with tagName. The first two elements of
the list describe the first tagged range in the text, the
next two elements describe the second range, and so on.
The first element of each pair contains the index of the
first character of the range, and the second element of
the pair contains the index of the character just after
the last one in the range. If there are no characters
tagged with tag then an empty string is returned.
pathName tag remove tagName index1 ?index2 index1 index2 ...?
Remove the tag tagName from all of the characters start‐
ing at index1 and ending just before index2 (the charac‐
ter at index2 isn't affected). A single command may con‐
tain any number of index1-index2 pairs. If the last
index2 is omitted then the single character at index1 is
tagged. If there are no characters in the specified
range (e.g. index1 is past the end of the file or index2
is less than or equal to index1) then the command has no
effect. This command returns an empty string.
pathName window option ?arg arg ...?
This command is used to manipulate embedded windows. The behav‐
iour of the command depends on the option argument that follows
the window argument. The following forms of the command are
currently supported:
pathName window cget index option
Returns the value of a configuration option for an embed‐
ded window. Index identifies the embedded window, and
option specifies a particular configuration option, which
must be one of the ones listed in the section EMBEDDED
WINDOWS.
pathName window configure index ?option value ...?
Query or modify the configuration options for an embedded
window. If one or more option-value pairs are specified,
then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the
given value(s). See EMBEDDED WINDOWS for information on
the options that are supported.
pathName window create index ?option value ...?
This command creates a new window annotation, which will
appear in the text at the position given by index. Any
number of option-value pairs may be specified to config‐
ure the annotation. See EMBEDDED WINDOWS for information
on the options that are supported. Returns an empty
string.
pathName window names
Returns a list whose elements are the names of all win‐
dows currently embedded in window.
pathName xview option args
This command is used to query and change the horizontal position
of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the fol‐
lowing forms:
pathName xview
Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is
a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe
the portion of the document's horizontal span that is
visible in the window. For example, if the first element
is .2 and the second element is .6, 20% of the text is
off-screen to the left, the middle 40% is visible in the
window, and 40% of the text is off-screen to the right.
The fractions refer only to the lines that are actually
visible in the window: if the lines in the window are
all very short, so that they are entirely visible, the
returned fractions will be 0 and 1, even if there are
other lines in the text that are much wider than the win‐
dow. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via
the -xscrollcommand option.
pathName xview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the
horizontal span of the text is off-screen to the left.
Fraction is a fraction between 0 and 1.
pathName xview scroll number what
This command shifts the view in the window left or right
according to number and what. Number must be an integer.
What must be either units or pages. If what is units,
the view adjusts left or right by number average-width
characters on the display; if it is pages then the view
adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then
characters farther to the left become visible; if it is
positive then characters farther to the right become vis‐
ible.
pathName yview ?args?
This command is used to query and change the vertical position
of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the fol‐
lowing forms:
pathName yview
Returns a list containing two elements, both of which are
real fractions between 0 and 1. The first element gives
the position of the first character in the top line in
the window, relative to the text as a whole (0.5 means it
is halfway through the text, for example). The second
element gives the position of the character just after
the last one in the bottom line of the window, relative
to the text as a whole. These are the same values passed
to scrollbars via the -yscrollcommand option.
pathName yview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character
given by fraction appears on the top line of the window.
Fraction is a fraction between 0 and 1; 0 indicates the
first character in the text, 0.33 indicates the character
one-third the way through the text, and so on.
pathName yview scroll number what
This command adjust the view in the window up or down
according to number and what. Number must be an integer.
What must be either units or pages. If what is units,
the view adjusts up or down by number lines on the dis‐
play; if it is pages then the view adjusts by number
screenfuls. If number is negative then earlier positions
in the text become visible; if it is positive then later
positions in the text become visible.
pathName yview ?-pickplace? index
Changes the view in the widget's window to make index
visible. If the -pickplace option isn't specified then
index will appear at the top of the window. If -pick‐
place is specified then the widget chooses where index
appears in the window:
[1] If index is already visible somewhere in the win‐
dow then the command does nothing.
[2] If index is only a few lines off-screen above the
window then it will be positioned at the top of
the window.
[3] If index is only a few lines off-screen below the
window then it will be positioned at the bottom of
the window.
[4] Otherwise, index will be centered in the window.
The -pickplace option has been made obsolete by the see
widget command (see handles both x- and y-motion to make
a location visible, whereas -pickplace only handles
motion in y).
BINDINGS
Tk automatically creates bindings for texts that give them the follow‐
ing default behaviour. In the descriptions below, ``word'' refers to a
contiguous group of letters, digits, or ``_'' characters, or any single
character other than these.
[1] Clicking mouse button 1 positions the insertion cursor just
before the character underneath the mouse cursor, sets the input
focus to this widget, and clears any selection in the widget.
Dragging with mouse button 1 strokes out a selection between the
insertion cursor and the character under the mouse.
[2] Double-clicking with mouse button 1 selects the word under the
mouse and positions the insertion cursor at the beginning of the
word. Dragging after a double click is ignored.
[3] If any normal printing characters are typed, they are inserted
at the point of the insertion cursor, replacing the current
selection.
[4] If the mouse is dragged out of the widget while button 1 is
pressed, the entry will automatically scroll to make more text
visible (if there is more text off-screen on the side where the
mouse left the window).
[5] The Left and Right keys move the insertion cursor one character
to the left or right; they also clear any selection in the
text. Control-b and Control-f behave the same as Left and
Right, respectively.
[6] The Up and Down keys move the insertion cursor one line up or
down and clear any selection in the text. Control-p and Con‐
trol-n behave the same as Up and Down, respectively.
[7] The Page-up and Page-down keys move the view up or down one
screenful without moving the insertion cursor or adjusting the
selection. IControl-v behaves the same as Page-down.
[8] Home, Control-a and Control-< move the insertion cursor to the
beginning of its line and clear any selection in the widget.
[9] End, Control-e and Control-> move the insertion cursor to the
end of the line and clear any selection in the widget.
[10] The Delete key deletes the selection, if there is one in the
widget. If there is no selection, it deletes the character to
the right of the insertion cursor.
[11] Backspace and Control-h delete the selection, if there is one in
the widget. If there is no selection, they delete the character
to the left of the insertion cursor.
[12] Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insertion
cursor.
[13] Control-k deletes from the insertion cursor to the end of its
line; if the insertion cursor is already at the end of a line,
then Control-k deletes all of the next line.
[14] Control-o opens a new line by inserting a newline character in
front of the insertion cursor without moving the insertion cur‐
sor.
[15] Control-u deletes from the insertion cursor to the start of its
line; if the insertion cursor is already at the start of the
line, then the current line is joined with the previous one.
[16] Control-w deletes from the insertion cursor to the start of the
word that contains it; if the insertion cursor is at the start
of the line, then the current line is joined with the previous
one.
If the widget is disabled using the -state option, then its view can
still be adjusted and text can still be selected, but no insertion cur‐
sor will be displayed and no text modifications will take place.
The behaviour of texts can be changed by defining new bindings for
individual widgets.
BUGS
Tab alignment doesn't work correctly.
The -stretch option on embedded windows is not implemented.
SEE ALSOentry(9), options(9), types(9)TEXT(9)
