Be a BBExpert

For over 25 years, BBEdit has been the go-to code and text editor among power users. One reason it’s such a hit? Unparalleled customisability. BBEdit lets you tweak how it looks and works in innumerable ways.

But BBEdit doesn’t make every setting visible in the Preferences window. To avoid overwhelming users with endless options, some are activated via Terminal commands. Many are niche, set-it-and-forget-it options, but they can seriously streamline your day-to-day writing and coding.

To activate these settings, open the Terminal app, enter the appropriate command-line command, then press Return. Or use BBEdit’s built-in Unix Worksheet: choose Window > Unix Worksheet, enter the command and press Control-Return.

These settings have become so popular with power users that the latest version of BBEdit includes an Expert Settings pane in its settings window. Visit this pane to browse or search for hidden settings; if you find one you want to change, press Command-C to copy the appropriate command to the clipboard for pasting in Terminal. (To see a full list, click Expert Preferences Help.)

Here are a few expert settings to start with.

What it does: BBEdit’s text-auto-complete feature suggests words it thinks you might be trying to enter whenever there’s a pause in your typing. This command triggers auto-complete immediately whenever you press the Tab key. (You can revert to the default setting by running the same command but replacing YES with NO.)
What to enter: defaults write com.barebones.bbedit UseTabKeyAsCompletionTrigger -bool YES

What it does: Changes the default coding language for new documents. Just replace <language name> with any language shown under BBEdit Preferences > Languages > Installed Languages (for example, Markdown, CSS or C++).
What to enter: defaults write com.barebones.bbedit DefaultLanguageNameForNewDocuments -string "<language name>"

What it does: Keeps the very handy Live Search field visible at the top of every new document window, so you don’t have to choose Search > Live Search each time you want to use it.
What to enter: defaults write com.barebones.bbedit Editor_AlwaysOpenQuickFind -bool YES

What it does: BBEdit’s View > Previous Document and View > Next Document commands let you quickly navigate among open documents in the current window using your keyboard. By default, “previous” and “next” refer to the order in which the documents were opened, but this command lets you navigate based on the order they appear in BBEdit’s sidebar.
What to enter: defaults write com.barebones.bbedit SurfNextPreviousInDisplayOrder -bool YES

What it does: By default, double-clicking one of the delimiters around text (such as parentheses) selects only that text. Enter this command if you want a double-click to also select the delimiters themselves.
What to enter: defaults write com.barebones.bbedit BalanceIncludesDelimiters -bool YES