Insert Characters (Tutorial)

To insert characters using a macro, use the Text Property. Modify our tutorial file as follows:

[JavaScript]

document.selection.Text = "EmEditor supports macros.";
document.selection.NewLine();
document.selection.Text = "\tEmEditor is a text editor.";

[VBScript]

document.selection.Text = "EmEditor supports macros."
document.selection.NewLine
document.selection.Text = Chr(9) & "EmEditor is a text editor."

TheNewLine Method added in the second line inserts a newline character at the cursor position. The code in the third line inserts a tab character at the beginning of the string. A tab character is represented by "\t" in JavaScript, and Chr(9) in VBScript. You can also use the VBScript constant, vbTab, for a tab character. The following tables list commonly used escape sequences in both scripting languages.

[JavaScript]

\b	\u0008	Backspace.
\t	\u0009	Horizontal Tab.
\n	\u000a	Newline character.
\f	\u000c	Form feed.
\r	\u000d	Carriage return.
\"	\u0022	Double quote.
\'	\u0027	Single quote.
\\	\u005c	Backslash.
\xXX		The Latin-1 character with the encoding specified by the two hexadecimal digits.
\uXXXX		The Unicode character with the encoding specified by the four hexadecimal digits.

Reference: JScript \ Special Characters (Microsoft MSDN Library)

[VBScript]

vbCr	Chr(13)	Carriage return.
vbCrLf	Chr(13) & Chr(10)	Carriage return + newline character combination.
vbFormFeed	Chr(12)	Form feed.
vbLf	Chr(10)	Newline character.
vbNewLine	Chr(13) & Chr(10) or Chr(10)	Platform-specific newline character. Equivalent to vbCrLf in Windows.
vbTab	Chr(9)	Horizontal tab.
vbVerticalTab	Chr(11)	Vertical tab.

Reference: VBScript \ String Constants (Microsoft MSDN Library)

Tips

Line-endings are terminated with a combination of a \r (CR) and a \n (LF). Use the CR and LF in distinct manners. For example, if you write:

document.selection.Text = "\n";

only carriage return (LF) is inserted, which is not a line-ending convention in Windows. When you press the RETURN key in EmEditor, EmEditor inserts whatever line-ending (CR only, LF only, or CR+LF) is used in that line. If you want the same behavior upon pressing the RETURN key, as in EmEditor, we recommend that you use the NewLine Method or the writeln Method.