Languages, Find and the Status Bar

The Editor colors code with a grammar for each supported language. This page lists the languages, explains how a file's language is chosen and changed, and covers the status bar, Go to Line, and Find and Replace.

Supported languages#

TypeScript and JSX files are colored with the JavaScript grammar.

A file named only .bashrc, .zshrc or .profile has no extension, so its language comes from its contents, as below: it is Plain Text unless it starts with a #! line. Choose Shell from the status bar to color it.

How a file's language is chosen#

The file's extension decides first. When the extension says nothing — a Makefile, a script named deploy, a file with no extension — the Editor looks at the start of the file:

• A #! line names the language: Python, JavaScript (node, deno, bun), PHP, Swift or Shell. Any other interpreter is treated as Shell.
• <!DOCTYPE html> or <html means HTML. <?xml or another <!DOCTYPE means XML.
• A file that starts with { or [ and reads as valid JSON is JSON.

Anything else stays Plain Text. A new, unsaved document is Plain Text until you save it with an extension.

Change the language#

1. In the status bar at the bottom of the window, choose the language name.
2. Choose a language from the menu.

The file is colored again with the new grammar straight away. The choice applies while the document is open; it does not rename the file. Choosing Markdown or HTML also gives the file Show Preview; see Preview and viewers.

The status bar#

The status bar shows, from left to right:

• Line and Column of the cursor. Choose it to go to a line.
• The language.
• The file's line endings: LF, CRLF or CR. A file that mixes them shows Mixed with the most common one in brackets. The Editor keeps a file's line endings as they are when you save.
• Highlighting off — large file when a file is too large to color. Very large files (roughly two million characters or more) are shown as plain text so the Editor stays responsive.
• On Apple Vision Pro: the project and its folder, or the folder of a file opened on its own — what a Mac shows as the window's subtitle.
• Edited while there are unsaved changes.

On iPhone and iPad: a keyboard button at the end of the bar shows or hides the on-screen keyboard. The bar above the on-screen keyboard also has a button to hide it.

Go to a line#

1. Choose the Line, Column position in the status bar. On Mac you can also choose Text ▸ Go to Line… (⌥⌘L).
2. Type a line number and choose Go.

A number past the end of the file goes to the last line.

Find and replace#

On Mac: choose Text ▸ Find in Document… (⌥⌘F). On iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro: choose Find (the magnifying glass) in the toolbar, or press ⌘F with a keyboard; the same button closes it again. A find bar opens above the text.

1. Type in Find and press Return, or choose the next and previous arrows. The search wraps around the end of the document. The bar shows how many matches there are, for example 3 matches, or No matches.
2. Turn on Aa to match case, or .* to search with a regular expression. An invalid expression shows Invalid pattern. A regular expression that takes longer than a second is stopped, and the Editor says why; nested repeats such as (a+)+ are the usual cause.
3. To replace, type in Replace and choose All. The Editor reports how many matches it replaced, for example Replaced 3 matches. With a regular expression, $0 in Replace stands for the whole match and $1 for the first group.
4. Choose Done to close the bar.

Text size on Mac#

The Text menu also has Increase Text Size (⌘+), Decrease Text Size (⌘−) and Actual Size (⌘0). These change the Editor's default size for every window; in a window that keeps its own Text Size, they change that window's size. See Editor settings.