Is there a .katerc?

Question

Just as .vimrc and .bashrc and .gimprc, is there a .katerc?

If so, how do you use it?

Answer 1

There's no .katerc file like .vimrc or .bashrc, but there's a .kateconfig. From the Kate docs:

KatePart variables is katepart's implementation of document variables, similar to Emacs and vi modelines. In katepart, the lines have the following format: kate: VARIABLENAME VALUE; [ VARIABLENAME VALUE; ... ] The lines can of course be in a comment, if the file is in a format with comments. Variable names are single words (no whitespace), and anything up to the next semicolon is the value. The semicolon is required.

Here is an example variable line, forcing indentation settings for a C++, java or javascript file:

// kate: replace-tabs on; indent-width 4; indent-mode cstyle;

Note: Only the first and last 10 lines are searched for variable lines.

Additionally, document variables can be placed in a file called .kateconfig in any directory, and the configured settings will be applied as if the modelines were entered on every file in the directory and its subdirectories, as far down as the configured search depth. Document variables in .kateconfig use the same syntax as in modelines.

There are variables to support almost all configurations in katepart, and additionally plugins can use variables, in which case it should be documented in the plugin's documentation.

It's not clear how Kate stores global configuration, but since the documentation doesn't mention it, I'd say it's not supposed to be edited outside of Kate.