How does @selection argument to a kitten work?

[siddhpant]

On https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/kittens/custom/#passing-arguments-to-kittens, it is written:

The special argument @selection is replaced by the currently selected text in the active kitty window.

So I tried using ... kitten script.py @selection to pass the currently selected text to a kitten. But I get "@selection" instead of the selected text on args[1].

How to get the selection?

[kovidgoyal]

That only applies when you are running the kitten via a mapping. If you want to get the selection from the command line use kitten @ get-text --extent=selection

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On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 04:03:50AM -0800, Siddh Raman Pant wrote: On https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/kittens/custom/#passing-arguments-to-kittens, it is written: > The special argument ***@***.***` is replaced by the currently selected text in the active kitty window. So I tried using `... kitten script.py @selection` to pass the currently selected text to a kitten. But I get ***@***.***"` instead of the selected text on `args[1]`. How to get the selection? -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #8347 You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Message ID: ***@***.***>

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_____________________________________ Dr. Kovid Goyal https://www.kovidgoyal.net https://calibre-ebook.com

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[kovidgoyal]

You get @selection if there is no current selection. See line 1970 in boss.py

[kovidgoyal]

And I just tried it with the simple kitten:

def main(args):
    print(args)
    input()

and it works as expected.

[siddhpant]

So it won't be there in the args list in handle_result? That's where I'm trying to get the selection. I want to use in no_tui=True mode.

[kovidgoyal]

It's passed to args of main(). If you want to get the selection in handle_result you do it using kitty apis.

[siddhpant]

Please update the docs. Right above, it says These will be available as the args parameter in the main() and handle_result() functions. and makes no mention of this quirk.