VideosRectangular Selection

Duration: 02:15

This demonstration shows you how you can use the rectangular selection feature to edit column-like formatted text in Oxygen.

00:00:07When editing XML documents in Text mode, you can use the new rectangular selection feature

00:00:12to copy, cut, paste, or edit the content within the selection.

00:00:18This is useful for editing or copying content in a rectangular area that spans across consecutive

00:00:25lines, such as column-like formatted text.

00:00:29We will demonstrate how this works using a simple text example extracted from a command

00:00:34line interface.

00:00:47For example, we want to modify the date and time format. The easiest way to select a rectangular

00:00:53block of data (or column of data) is to hold down the Alt key (or Alt + Meta keys on Mac

00:00:59OS X) then click the point where you want to begin the selection and drag the mouse.

00:01:05Release the Alt key to end the selection.

00:01:09Everything you modify on a line inside the gray highlight is also modified on every other

00:01:15line of the selection, at the exact column position.

00:01:18In our example, first we want to get rid of the back slashes in favor of dashes...

00:01:23Also, we want to have a shorter format for the year.

00:01:27Once we're finished editing, we can press Enter or Esc to exit the rectangular selection's

00:01:34editing mode.

00:01:35Now we'll get rid of the file size column and we want to set a full file path to the

00:01:43listed files, so we want to paste the path prefix in front of the file names.

00:01:55Again, we press Enter to exit the editing mode and our modifications are complete.

00:02:02For more information about the rectangular selection shortcuts, please consult the oXygen UserGuide.

00:02:08And this concludes our demonstration. Thanks for watching.

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