Commands

Overview

This list of commands is a work in progress.

About Paths in Command Arguments

Some commands take paths as parameters. Among these, some support snippet-like syntax, while others don’t. A command of the first kind would take a parameter like $packages/SomeDir/SomeFile.ext whereas a command of the second kind would take a parameter like Packages/SomeDir/SomeFile.ext.

Generally, newer commands support the snippet-like syntax.

Commands expect UNIX-style paths if not otherwise noted, including on Windows (for example, /c/Program Files/Sublime Text 2/sublime_plugin.py).

Often, relative paths in arguments to commands are assumed to start at the Data directory.

Variables in Paths as Arguments

The same variables available to build systems are expanded in arguments to commands. See Build System Variables for more information.

Commands

Note

This list is incomplete.

build

Runs a build system.

  • variant [String]: Optional. The name of the variant to be run.
set_build_system

Changes the current build system.

  • file [String]: Path to the build system. If empty, Sublime Text tries to automatically find an appropriate build systems from specified selectors.
  • index [Int]: Used in the Tools | Build System menu but otherwise probably not useful.
new_build_system
Creates a new buffer and inserts a build system template.
toggle_save_all_on_build
Toggles whether all open files should be saved before starting the build.
run_macro_file

Runs a .sublime-macro file.

  • file [String]: Relative path to the macro file.
insert_snippet

Inserts a snippet from a string or .sublime-snippet file.

  • contents [String]: Snippet as a string to be inserted. Remember that backslashes \ have to be escaped, like in every other JSON string.
  • name [String]: Relative path to the .sublime-snippet file to be inserted.

See also

Snippets
Documentation on snippets and their variable features.
insert

Inserts a string.

  • characters [String]: String to be inserted.
append

Inserts a string at the end of the view.

XXX

  • characters [String]: String to be inserted.
  • force [Bool]:
  • scroll_to_end [Bool]:
move

Advances the caret by predefined units.

  • by [Enum]: Values: characters, words, word_ends, subwords, subword_ends, lines, pages, stops.
  • forward [Bool]: Whether to advance or reverse in the buffer.
  • word_begin [Bool]
  • empty_line [Bool]
  • punct_begin [Bool]
  • separators [Bool]
  • extend [Bool]: Whether to extend the selection. Defaults to false.
move_to

Advances the caret to predefined locations.

  • to [Enum]: Values: bol, eol, bof, eof, brackets.
  • extend [Bool]: Whether to extend the selection. Defaults to false.
open_file

Opens the specified file. Will dynamically open resource files from sublime-package archives as read-only if the specified override file does not exist.

  • file [String]: Absolute or relative path to the file to be opened. Relative paths will originate from the recently

    Expands snippet-like variables, such as $platform and $packages.

  • contents [String]: This string will be written to the new buffer if the file does not exist. accessed directory (e.g. the directory of the currently opened file).

open_dir

Opens the specified directory with the default file manager.

  • dir [String]: The directory to open.
edit_settings

Opens the default and user settings files in a new window.

  • base_file [String]: The path to the default setting file.
  • default [String]: Content of the user file if none exists.

New in version 3124.

open_file_settings
Opens the syntax-specific user settings file for the current syntax.
new_window
Opens a new window.
close_window
Closes the active window.
switch_file

Switches between two files with the same name and different extensions.

  • extensions [String]: Extensions (without leading dot) for which switching will be enabled.
close
Closes the active view.
close_file
Closes the active view and, under certain circumsances, the whole application. XXX Sounds kinda wrong.
exit
Exits the whole application with all open windows.
reopen_last_file
Reopens the last closed file.
save

Saves the active file.

  • encoding [String]: The file encoding to save as.
save_all
Saves all open files.
prompt_save_as
Prompts for a new file name and saves the active file.
save_project_as
Prompts for a new file name and saves the current project.
prompt_select_project
Opens a popup with recently accessed projects where you can fuzzy-search.
prompt_open_project
Prompts for a project file to open as a project.
close_project
Closes the current project.
prompt_add_folder
Prompts for a folder to add to the current project.
close_folder_list
Removes all folders from the current project.
refresh_folder_list
Reloads all folders in the current project and updates the side bar.
toggle_side_bar
Shows or hides the sidebar.
reveal_in_side_bar
Shows the selected file in the sidebar.
toggle_show_open_files
Shows ot hides the open files in the sidebar.
toggle_status_bar
Shows or hides the status bar.
toggle_full_screen
Toggles full screen mode on or off.
toggle_distraction_free
Toggles distraction free mode on or off.
toggle_tabs
Shows or hides the tab bar.
toggle_minimap
Shows or hides the minimap.
left_delete
Deletes the character right before the caret.
right_delete
Deletes the character right after the caret.
undo
Undoes the latest action.
redo
Reapplies the latest undone action.
redo_or_repeat
Performs the latest action again.
soft_undo
Undoes each action stepping through granular edits.
soft_redo
Redoes each action stepping through granular edits.
cut
Removes the selected text and sends it to the system clipboard. Put differently, it cuts.
copy
Sends the selected text to to the system clipboard.
paste

Inserts the clipboard contents after the caret.

  • clipboard [String]: May be selection. XXX what other values are allowed?
paste_and_indent
Inserts the clipboard contents after the caret and indents contextually.
select_lines

Adds a line to the current selection.

  • forward [Bool]: Whether to add the next or previous line. Defaults to true.
scroll_lines

Scrolls lines in the view.

amount [Float]: Positive values scroll lines down and negative values scroll lines up.

prev_view
Switches to the previous view.
next_view
Switches to the next view.
next_view_in_stack
Switches to the most recently active view.
prev_view_in_stack
Switches to the view that was active before the most recently active view.
select_all
Select the view’s content.
split_selection_into_lines
Splits the selection into multiple selections, one on each line.
single_selection
Collapses multiple selections into a single selection.
clear_fields
Breaks out of the active snippet field cycle.
hide_panel

Hides the active panel.

  • cancel [Bool]: Notifies the panel to restore the selection to what it was when the panel was opened. (Only incremental find panel.)
hide_overlay
Hides the active overlay. Show the overlay using the show_overlay command.
hide_auto_complete
Hides the auto complete list.
insert_best_completion
Inserts the best completion that can be inferred from the current context.
XXX Probably useless. XXX
  • default [String]: String to insert failing a best completion.
replace_completion_with_next_completion
XXX Useless for users. XXX
reindent
Corrects indentation of the selection with regular expressions set in the syntax’s preferences. The base indentation will be that of the line before the first selected line. Sometimes does not work as expected.
indent
Increments indentation of selection.
unindent
Unindents selection.
detect_indentation
Guesses the indentation from the current file.
next_field
Advances the caret to the text snippet field in the current snippet field cycle.
prev_field
Moves the caret to the previous snippet field in the current snippet field cycle.
commit_completion
Inserts into the buffer the item that’s currently selected in the auto complete list.
XXX Probably not useful for users. XXX
toggle_overwrite
Toggles overwriting on or off.
expand_selection

Extends the selection up to predefined limits.

  • to [Enum]: Values: bol, hardbol, eol, hardeol, bof, eof, brackets, line, tag, scope, indentation.
close_tag
Surrounds the current inner text with the appropiate tags.
toggle_record_macro
Starts or stops the macro recorder.
run_macro
Runs the macro stored in the macro buffer.
save_macro
Prompts for a file path to save the macro in the macro buffer to.
show_overlay

Shows the requested overlay. Use the hide_overlay command to hide it.

  • overlay [Enum]:
    The type of overlay to show. Possible values:
  • show_files [Bool]: If using the goto overlay, start by displaying files rather than an empty widget.
  • text [String]: The initial contents to put in the overlay.
show_panel

Shows a panel.

  • panel [Enum]: Values: incremental_find, find, replace, find_in_files, console or output.<panel_name>.
  • reverse [Bool]: Whether to search backwards in the buffer.
  • toggle [Bool]: Whether to hide the panel if it’s already visible.
find_next
Finds the next occurrence of the current search term.
find_prev
Finds the previous occurrence of the current search term.
find_under_expand
Adds a new selection based on the current selection or expands the selection to the current word.
find_under_expand_skip
Adds a new selection based on the current selection or expands the selection to the current word while removing the current selection.
find_under
Finds the next occurrence of the current selection or the current word.
find_under_prev
Finds the previous occurrence of the current selection or the current word.
find_all_under
Finds all occurrences of the current selection or the current word.
slurp_find_string
Copies the current selection or word into the “find” field of the find panel.
slurp_replace_string
Copies the current selection or word into the “replace” field of the find and replace panel.
next_result
Advance to the next captured result.
prev_result
Move to the previous captured result.
toggle_setting

Toggles the value of a boolean setting. This value is view-specific.

  • setting [String]: The name of the setting to be toggled.
set_setting

Set the value of a setting. This value is view-specific.

  • setting [String]: The name of the setting to changed.
  • value [*]: The value to set to.
set_line_ending

Changes the line endings of the current file.

  • type [Enum]: windows, unix, cr
next_misspelling
Advance to the next misspelling
prev_misspelling
Move to the previous misspelling.
swap_line_down
Swaps the current line with the line below.
swap_line_up
Swaps the current line with the line above.
toggle_comment

Comments or uncomments the active lines, if available.

  • block [Bool]: Whether to insert a block comment.
join_lines
Joins the current line with the next one.
duplicate_line
Duplicates the current line.
auto_complete
Opens the auto complete list.
replace_completion_with_auto_complete
XXX Useless for users. XXX
show_scope_name
Shows the name for the caret’s scope in the status bar.
exec

Runs an external process asynchronously. On Windows, GUIs are supressed.

exec is the default command used by build systems, thus it provides similar functionality. However, a few options in build systems are taken care of by Sublime Text internally so they list below only contains parameters accepted by this command.

  • cmd [[String]]
  • shell_cmd [String]: Shell command to use. If given overrides cmd and ignores shell.
  • file_regex [String]
  • line_regex [String]
  • working_dir [String]
  • encoding [String]
  • env [{String: String}]
  • quiet [Bool]: If True no runtime information is printed if the command fails or has a non-zero exit code.
  • kill [Bool]: If True will simply terminate the current build process. This is invoked via Build: Cancel command from the Command Palette.
  • update_phantoms_only [Bool]
  • hide_phantoms_only [Bool]
  • word_wrap [Bool]: Whether to word-wrap the output in the build panel
  • syntax [String]: Syntax file used to colour output.
  • path [String]
  • shell [Bool]

See also

Arbitrary Options for build systems
Detailed documentation on all other available options.
transpose

Makes selections or characters swap places.

With selection: The contents of the selected regions are circulated.
Without selection: Swaps adjacent characters and moves the caret forward by 1.
sort_lines

Sorts lines.

  • case_sensitive [Bool]: Whether the sort should be case sensitive.
sort_selection

Sorts lines in selection.

  • case_sensitive [Bool]: Whether the sort should be case sensitive.
permute_lines

XXX

  • operation [Enum]: reverse, unique, shuffle …?
permute_selection

XXX

  • operation [Enum]: reverse, unique, shuffle …?
set_layout
Changes the group layout of the current window. This command uses the same pattern as Window.set_layout(), see there for a list and explanation of parameters.
focus_group

Gives focus to the top-most file in the specified group.

  • group [Int]: The group index to focus. This is determined by the order of cells items from the current layout (see Window.set_layout()).
move_to_group

Moves the current file to the specified group.

  • group [Int]: The group index to focus. See focus_group command.
select_by_index

Focuses a certain tab in the current group.

  • index [Int]: The tab index to focus.
next_bookmark
Select the next bookmarked region.
prev_bookmark
Select the previous bookmarked region.
toggle_bookmark
Sets or unsets a bookmark for the active region(s). (Bookmarks can be accessed via the regions API using "bookmarks" as the key.)
select_bookmark

Selects a bookmarked region in the current file.

  • index [Int]
clear_bookmarks
Removes all bookmarks.
select_all_bookmarks
Selects all bookmarked regions.
wrap_lines

Wraps lines. By default, it wraps lines at the first ruler’s column.

  • width [Int]: Specifies the column at which lines should be wrapped.
upper_case
Makes the selection upper case.
lower_case
Makes the selection lower case.
title_case
Capitalizes the selection’s first character and turns the rest into lower case.
swap_case
Swaps the case of each character in the selection.
set_mark
Marks the position of each caret in the current file. If any marks have already been set in that file, they are removed.
select_to_mark

Selects the text between the current position of each one of the current carets and the marked position. Each caret is matched with each mark in order of occurrence, and is moved to the beginning of its selection.

If any number of selections overlap, they are joined and, of all the carets corresponding to each one of the joined selections, only the one occurring first in the file is preserved.

If the number of current carets is less or equal to the number of marks, the remaining marks in order are ignored. Conversely, if currently there are more carets than marks, the first relevant selections are produced. Of all extra marks, those contained in the selections are removed, and the rest of them are left where they are, without triggering a selection from their position.

delete_to_mark
Deletes the text that select_to_mark would select.
swap_with_mark
Marks all the current carets’ positions, removes those carets, and sets new carets at the previously marked positions, if any.
clear_bookmarks

If no name argument, or the name “bookmarks” is specified, it removes all bookmarks set in the current file, but not the marks. If the name “mark” is specified as an argument, it removes all marks set in the current file, but not the bookmarks.

  • name [String]: e.g. "mark", "bookmarks".
yank
XXX
show_at_center
Scrolls the view to show the selected line in the middle of the view and adjusts the horizontal scrolling if necessary.
increase_font_size
Increases the font size.
decrease_font_size
Decreases the font size.
reset_font_size

Resets the font size to the default

Note: This essentially removes the entry from your User settings, there might be other places where this has been “changed”.

fold
Folds the current selection and displays instead. Unfold arrows are added to the lines where a region has been folded.
unfold
Unfolds all folded regions in the selection or the current line if there is none.
fold_by_level

Scans the whole file and folds everything with an indentation level of level or higher. This does not unfold already folded regions if you first fold by level 2 and then by 3, for example. Sections with cursors are not folded.

  • level [Int]: The level of indentation that should be folded. 0 is equivalent to running unfold_all.
fold_tag_attributes
Folds all tag attributes in XML files, only leaving the tag’s name and the closing bracket visible.
unfold_all
Unfolds all folded regions.
context_menu
Shows the context menu.
open_recent_file

Opens a recently closed file.

  • index [Int]
open_recent_folder

Opens a recently closed folder.

  • index [Int]
open_recent_project

Opens a recently closed project.

  • index [Int]
clear_recent_files
Deletes records of recently accessed files and folders.
clear_recent_projects
Deletes records of recently accessed projects.
reopen

Reopens the current file.

  • encoding [String]: The file encoding the file should be reopened with.
clone_file
Clones the current view into the same tab group, both sharing the same buffer. That means you can drag one tab to another group and every update to one view will be visible in the other one too.
revert
Undoes all unsaved changes to the file.
expand_tabs

XXX

  • set_translate_tabs [Bool]
unexpand_tabs

XXX

  • set_translate_tabs [Bool]
new_plugin
Creates a new buffer and inserts a plugin template (a text command).
new_snippet
Creates a new buffer and inserts a snippet template.
open_url

Opens the specified url with the default browser.

  • url [String]
show_about_window
I think you know what this does.

Discovering Commands

There are several ways to discover a command’s name in order to use it as a key binding, in a macro, as a menu entry or in a plugin.

  • Browsing the default key bindings at Preferences | Key Bindings - Default. If you know the key binding whose command you want to inspect you can just search for it using the search panel. This, of course, also works in the opposite direction.

  • ``sublime.log_commands(True)``
    

    Running the above in the console will tell Sublime Text to print the command’s name in the console whenever a command is run. You can practically just enter this, do whatever is needed to run the command you want to inspect and then look at the console. It will also print the passed arguments so you can basically get all the information you need from it. When you are done, just run the function again with False as parameter.

  • Inspecting .sublime-menu files. If your command is run by a menu item, browse the default menu file at Packages/Default/Main.sublime-menu. You will find them quick enough once you take a look at it, or see the menu documentation.

  • Similar to menus you can do exactly the same with .sublime-command files. See Completions for some documentation on completion files.