FAQ

Editing

The new completion method gets confused when variables (etc.) are prefixed with a character in some cases, but not others. Is there a way to improve this?

This article explains how (word) “units” are setup in 2.0. This is what completion uses. For example ‘:symbol’ is different than ‘symbol’, so one isn’t suggested when completing the other.

There is no way to “fix” this, other than to change what TextMate considers a unit. The source bundle has these settings, but they also affects word movement, double-click, etc.

Is is possible to have trailing whitespace removed when a file is saved?

There are currently two possible ways to do this (both of which use the semantic class system):

1. You can use callback.document.export, which will filter the document that’s saved to disk (but won’t update the copy inside TextMate)
2. The inverse is also possible: callback.document.will-save (which will update the copy in TextMate before saving)

Is it possible to disable soft wrap?

The View menu has a setting to toggle soft wrap. (It stores the setting for the “current file type”.)

Even with soft wrap disabled, there are settings in the Source bundle to enable indented soft wrap for comments in source files. These can be disabled by unchecking the “Enable this item” checkbox in the bundle editor.

Is it possible to disable auto-paired characters?

Currently, there’s no global setting for this. You can, however, create a new settings item to disables them:

1. Open Bundle Editor: Bundles → Edit Bundles… (⌃⌥⌘B)

2. Create a new bundle: File → New (⌘N) and select Bundle

3. Create a new setting in that bundle: File → New (⌘N) and select Setting

4. Set Scope Selector to * (matches everywhere)

5. Set the content to the following property list:

   {   
   	smartTypingPairs = ( );
   }
   

6. Save the new item: File → Save (⌘S).

In TextMate 1.x, a return between {} was treated specially, giving you an indented caret on a blank line. This no longer works in the alpha.

This is a complicated issue, explained best in this mailing list post.

Indentation isn’t behaving correctly in some languages. How can I correct this?

The indentation rules have been given a higher importance in TextMate 2. As a result, some language rules aren’t up-to-date with the new precedence. For bundle authors (and those that want to get their hands dirty) the guide to indentation rules is in the 1.x manual.

Of course, indentation rules make no sense in certain languages--Python’s indentation, for example, is based on whitespace, rather than other delimiters. For these languages, you can disable the auto-indentation entirely by adding a new settings item (scoped to the language) as follows:

{ disableIndentCorrections = :true; }

If you’d rather disable the indentations entirely, do the same thing without giving it a scope.

Projects

Where have the project files from 1.x gone?

Explicit project files aren’t currently supported. When you open a folder, the folder is treated as a project. I.e. the file chooser (⌘T) and folder search (⇧⌘F) default to the folder.

You can customize settings for a folder with a .tm_properties file.

Allan’s written a couple posts in a longer thread about this:

• On how project files no longer are needed.
• Some background on this choice.

How do I create a project with files/folders from different locations in the file system?

With the directory-centered focus, this is no longer directly possible. However, you can simply add symlinks to the various other directories and files.

Note: By default, Find in Folder does not follow symlinks. (See other FAQs on how to make it follow symlinks.)

Interface

Aliased/linked folders in the file browser aren’t expandable.

This is similar to how Finder treats links. There’s currently no way to have them expand inline.

Known Limitations

I cannot get my bundles to appear inside TextMate.

First: make sure you are placing them in the right location.

Second: make sure they’re on a drive that supports fs-events. (Generally, this means a local HFS+ drive.) However, there does seem to be a bug in HFS+ where fs-events fails to work after a user has synced folders with Dropbox.

I am seeing incorrect results after using a Replace All in Find in Folder.

Find in Folder currently expects all files to be UTF-8 encoded. If your files aren’t, you should avoid using this feature for now.

How do I get a web preview window that updates as I edit an HTML document?

The current plan is to generalize the update mechanism through the semantic class system, so it can be used in more cases. However, this isn’t yet implemented, and subject to change.

Will printing support be improved from 1.x?

If it’s not there and was there in 1.x, we most likely simply haven’t gotten around it yet. (Of course 2.0 will get a printing feature!)

Can rmate be used to open directories?

No — rmate simply sends a file back and forth. Opening a folder is way more complex.

Search

Is it possible to have Find in Folder follow symlinks?

Within the Find in Folder window, there’s a drop-down menu above the results. Enable “Follow Symbolic Links” in this menu.

This will not resolve aliases created with Finder.

Bundle Items

Using Duplicate Line with multiple carets produces an error.

Duplicate Line is implemented as a command. Currently, these aren’t supported (per se) for multiple carets.