jEdit stores settings, macros, and plugins as files inside the settings directory. In most cases, editing these files by hand is not necessary, since graphical tools and editor commands can do the job. However, being familiar with the structure of the settings directory still comes in handy in certain situations, for example when you want to copy jEdit settings between computers.
The location of the settings directory is system-specific; it is printed to the activity log (Utilities>Troubleshooting>Activity Log). For example:
[message] jEdit: Settings directory is /home/slava/.jedit
Specifying the -settings
switch on the command line
instructs jEdit to store settings in a directory other than the default.
For example, the following command will instruct jEdit to
store all settings
in the jedit
subdirectory of the C:
drive:
C:\jedit>
jedit -settings=C:\jedit
The -nosettings
switch will force jEdit to not look for
or create a settings directory; default settings will be used instead.
jEdit creates the following files and directories inside the settings directory; plugins may add more:
abbrevs
- a plain text file which
stores all defined abbreviations. See the section called “Abbreviations”.
activity.log
- a plain text file which
contains the full activity log. See Appendix B, The Activity Log.
history
- a plain text file which
stores history lists, used by history text fields and the
Edit>Paste Previous command.
See the section called “Transferring Text” and Appendix C, History Text Fields.
jars
- this directory contains
plugins. See Chapter 9, Installing and Using Plugins.
jars-cache
- this directory contains
plugin cache files which decrease the time to start jEdit. They are automatically updated when plugins are installed or updated.
killring.xml
- stores recently deleted text. See the section called “Transferring Text”.
macros
- this directory contains
macros. See Chapter 8, Using Macros.
modes
- this directory contains custom
edit modes. See Part II, “Writing Edit Modes”.
perspective.xml
- an XML file that stores the list of open buffers and views used to maintain editor state between sessions.
PluginManager.download
- this directory
is usually empty. It only contains files while the plugin manager is
downloading a plugin. For information about the plugin manager,
see Chapter 9, Installing and Using Plugins.
printspec
- a binary file that
stores printing settings when running under Java 2 version 1.4.
properties
- a plain text file that
stores the majority of jEdit's settings.
recent.xml
- an XML file which stores
the list of recently opened files. jEdit remembers the caret position and
character encoding of each recent file, and
automatically restores those values when one of the files is opened.
registers.xml
- an XML file that stores
register contents. See the section called “General Register Commands” for more information
about registers.
server
- a plain text file that only
exists while jEdit is running. The edit server's port number and
authorization key is stored here. See Chapter 2, Starting jEdit.
settings-backup
- this directory
contains numbered backups of all automatically-written settings files.