Multi-Cursor Editing

Master multi-cursor editing in Fresh for simultaneous edits across multiple locations with VS Code-like workflows

Multi-cursor editing is one of Fresh’s most powerful features, allowing you to edit multiple locations simultaneously. It works exactly like VS Code or Sublime Text, but in your terminal.

What is Multi-Cursor Editing?

Multi-cursor editing lets you create multiple cursors in your document. Every action you perform — typing, deleting, moving, selecting — happens at all cursor positions simultaneously.

Creating Multiple Cursors

Add Cursor at Next Match

The most common multi-cursor workflow: select a word and add cursors at each occurrence.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+D	Add cursor at next occurrence of selection
Esc	Clear all secondary cursors

1. Select a word

   Position cursor on a word (like a variable name) — if nothing is selected, Ctrl+D automatically selects the word under the cursor

2. Add cursors at matches

   Press Ctrl+D repeatedly to add a cursor at each occurrence

3. Edit simultaneously

   Type, delete, or move — all cursors respond in sync

4. Clear cursors

   Press Esc to return to single cursor mode

No Selection Required: If you press Ctrl+D without a selection, Fresh automatically selects the word under the cursor first, then finds the next match.

Add Cursors Above/Below

Create a column of cursors for editing multiple consecutive lines:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Alt+↑	Add cursor on line above
Ctrl+Alt+↓	Add cursor on line below

1. Position initial cursor

   Place your cursor where you want to start

2. Add vertical cursors

   Press Ctrl+Alt+↓ repeatedly to add cursors on each line below (or Ctrl+Alt+↑ for above)

3. Edit all lines

   All cursors maintain the same column position as you type

Multi-Cursor Workflows

Rename a Variable

The classic use case — rename all occurrences of a variable:

Before

function calculate(value) {
  const result = value * 2;
  return result + value;
}

1. Select first occurrence

   Click on value or press Ctrl+D with cursor on it

2. Add all occurrences

   Press Ctrl+D two more times to select all three occurrences

3. Type new name

   Type price — all occurrences update simultaneously

Edit Multiple Lines at Once

Add the same text to multiple lines:

Before

apple
banana
cherry
date

1. Position at line start

   Move cursor to the beginning of apple

2. Add cursors below

   Press Ctrl+Alt+↓ three times to add cursors on each line

3. Type prefix

   Type const (with space)

4. Move to end

   Press End to move all cursors to line ends

5. Add suffix

   Type = '' then press ← and select each word with Ctrl+Shift+←, then type to fill in the quotes

Select and Replace

Use multi-cursor with selection to replace multiple occurrences with different text:

Before

console.log("test");
console.log("test");
console.log("test");

1. Create cursors

   Use Ctrl+D to select all three "test" strings

2. Delete selection

   The selected text is replaced when you start typing

3. Type first replacement

   Type "debug" — wait, they all get the same text!

4. Undo and use different approach

   For different replacements, undo and replace them one at a time, or use cursors on each line and navigate individually

Same Text Limitation: All cursors type the same text. For different text at each cursor, you’ll need to use search and replace or edit each occurrence separately.

Advanced Multi-Cursor Techniques

Working with Selections

When you create a cursor with Ctrl+D, Fresh preserves the selection:

1. Select text

   Select a word with Ctrl+W or manually with Shift+Arrow

2. Add cursor at next match

   Press Ctrl+D — the new cursor has the same selection

3. Extend selections

   Use Shift+→ to extend all selections simultaneously

4. Replace selections

   Type to replace all selected text at once

Column Editing with Multi-Cursor

Edit a vertical column of text:

Before

| Name    | Age |
| Alice   | 30  |
| Bob     | 25  |
| Charlie | 35  |

1. Position at end of first line

   Move cursor after Age |

2. Add cursors down

   Press Ctrl+Alt+↓ three times

3. Type new column

   Type ✓ | — appears on all lines

Multi-Cursor with Block Selection

You can combine block selection with multi-cursor:

1. Create block selection

   Use Alt+Shift+↓ and Alt+Shift+→ to select a rectangular region

2. Type or edit

   When you type, Fresh converts the block selection to multi-cursor automatically

3. Each line gets a cursor

   You now have one cursor per line in the block, ready for more editing

Multi-Cursor Behavior Details

Cursor Synchronization

All cursors maintain synchronized offsets:

What does synchronized mean?

When you create multiple cursors with Ctrl+D, Fresh ensures they all point to the same relative position within their selections. If the first cursor is at the start of its selection, all other cursors are also at the start of their selections.

This matters when you create selections with Shift+Left (backward selection) vs Shift+Right (forward selection) — Ctrl+D preserves the direction.

Movement with Multiple Cursors

All cursor movement commands work with multiple cursors:

Action	Behavior with Multiple Cursors
Arrow keys	All cursors move in sync
Home / End	All cursors jump to their respective line start/end
Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→	All cursors move by word
PgUp / PgDn	All cursors scroll together

Editing with Multiple Cursors

All editing operations work with multiple cursors:

• Typing: Characters appear at all cursor positions
• Backspace/Delete: Removes characters at all cursors
• Paste: Inserts clipboard content at all cursors
• Cut/Copy: Captures text from all selections

Undo Atomicity: All changes made with multiple cursors are treated as a single operation. One Ctrl+Z undoes all the simultaneous edits and restores all cursor positions.

Multi-Cursor Status Indicator

The status bar shows how many cursors are active:

Line 10, Col 5 | 3 cursors | UTF-8 | JavaScript

This helps you stay aware of multi-cursor mode.

Common Pitfalls and Solutions

Cursor positions are misaligned after Ctrl+D

Issue: When selecting with Shift+Left and then pressing Ctrl+D, cursors appear at different offsets (one at start, one at end).

Solution: This was a bug in earlier versions and has been fixed. Update to the latest version of Fresh. All cursors now maintain synchronized positions.

Can't create cursors on lines with different lengths

Issue: Using Ctrl+Alt+↓ on lines of varying lengths causes cursors to appear at different column positions.

Solution: This is expected behavior. Each cursor maintains the same column number from the original position. Shorter lines will have cursors at their end. Use End key to move all cursors to their respective line ends if needed.

Lost all my cursors by accident

Issue: Pressed Esc or clicked the mouse and lost all secondary cursors.

Solution: Use Ctrl+Z (undo) to restore your cursor state. Fresh’s undo system tracks cursor positions.

Want to skip one occurrence when using Ctrl+D

Issue: Pressing Ctrl+D adds cursors sequentially, but you want to skip one match.

Solution: Currently, you can’t skip matches with Ctrl+D. Instead, use search and replace, or manually place cursors with Ctrl+Alt+↓ and individual clicks.

Multi-Cursor vs Other Tools

When to Use Multi-Cursor

Use Multi-Cursor When

• Renaming a variable in a small scope
• Adding/removing the same text on multiple lines
• Formatting multiple similar lines
• Making the same edit in several places you can see

Use Other Tools When

• Renaming across many files → Use LSP rename
• Complex pattern matching → Use regex search/replace
• Different text at each location → Use search/replace or macros
• Project-wide changes → Use git grep and replace

Performance Notes

No Cursor Limit: Fresh handles hundreds of cursors efficiently. However, very large numbers of cursors (1000+) may slow down rendering on some terminals.

Multi-cursor editing works efficiently even in large files (multi-gigabyte). Fresh’s architecture ensures low latency regardless of file size.

Keyboard Reference

Quick reference for all multi-cursor shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+D	Add cursor at next occurrence of selection (or select word if no selection)
Ctrl+Alt+↑	Add cursor on line above
Ctrl+Alt+↓	Add cursor on line below
Esc	Clear all secondary cursors (return to single cursor)
Ctrl+Z	Undo all multi-cursor edits as one operation

Related Documentation

Editing Features

Learn about all editing capabilities

Search & Replace

Find and replace with regex

Block Selection

Rectangular selection mode