Command reference

editdesk [target] [options]

Editdesk starts a server on this computer, prints its address and opens it in the default browser. Press Ctrl+C to stop it.

Targets

Target	What opens	Where edits are saved
none	The current folder	Files in the current folder
page.html	That page. Its folder is served, so its stylesheets and images load	Files in the page’s folder
folder	The folder’s index.html, or a list of its HTML pages	Files in that folder
http://localhost:3000	A development server running on this computer	Files in the current folder
https://example.com	A live site	Nowhere. Edits are collected in a change list

A page that loads files from outside its own folder needs --root set to a folder that contains them all.

Options

Option	What it does	Default
--root <folder>	Sets the folder whose files may be read and edited. The target file must be inside it	The folder served, or the current folder for a URL
--port <number>	Sets the port to listen on	Any free port
--no-open	Does not open the browser	The browser opens
-v, --version	Prints the version
-h, --help	Prints the help

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Help or version was printed
1	The port given with --port is in use
2	The command line could not be understood. The message says why

Where an edit is saved

Editdesk tries two ways, in this order.

1. The page’s own HTML file. Used when the page is an .html or .htm file on disk and the text on screen matches the file. The edited range of the file is rewritten. A <br> tag with no attributes counts as part of the text, so it can be added and removed.
2. A search of the source files. Used for everything else: pages rendered by a development server, and text a script put on the page. Editdesk searches the root folder for the old text and rewrites the match.

The search accepts the spellings a character can have in source code. Don't on screen matches Don\'t, Don't and Don't. Line breaks and indentation between words are ignored.

What the search does with a match depends on the code around it.

The match is	Editdesk	New text is written as
All of a quoted string, "…", '…' or `…`, in a .js, .jsx, .ts, .tsx, .mjs, .cjs, .json, .mdx, .vue, .svelte or .astro file	Saves	The string’s quote character, backslashes and newlines are escaped. In a template string, ${ is escaped
All of a quoted attribute value, such as label="…", in one of those files	Saves	&, <, >, {, }, backticks, backslashes and both quote characters become entities
All the text between two tags	Saves	&, < and > become entities. In every file except .html and .htm, {, }, backticks and backslashes become entities too, so a script or template engine cannot read them as code
Words in a .md, .markdown or .txt file	Saves	As typed, except <, which becomes &lt;
Part of something longer, a quoted string in any other kind of file, or an attribute value in an HTML file	Asks first	As typed. Refused when the new text contains anything other than letters, numbers, spaces and . , ! ? ; : ( ) - – — ’ … % / @ # + * =. In .yaml and .yml files only letters, numbers, spaces and . , ! ? ( ) – — ’ … are accepted
Inside a longer word or a code identifier	Ignores the match

A new line is written as \n in a string, 
 in an attribute value, <br /> between tags (<br> in .html and .htm files) and <br> in Markdown. The search finds all of these spellings. In a string or an attribute value, a new line is saved only when the page shows line breaks in that text. The editing guide has the rule.

When the text matches in one place, Editdesk saves there. When it matches in several, Editdesk asks which one.

Files that are searched

Files with these extensions, up to 1 MB each: .html .htm .js .jsx .mjs .cjs .ts .tsx .vue .svelte .astro .md .markdown .mdx .txt .json .yaml .yml .njk .liquid .hbs .ejs .erb .php .twig

A file that cannot be read is skipped. These folders are never searched or written: node_modules, dist, build, out, coverage, vendor, test-results, and any folder whose name starts with a dot.

Text that cannot be edited

Text	Why
The page title, and text in script, style, template, noscript, textarea, select, iframe, object, svg and math elements	It is not copy on the page, or the browser cannot edit it in place
Text built while the page runs, such as Hello ${name}, plurals and numbers	It is not written in the source as it appears on screen
Text loaded from a database or an API	It is not in the source files
Text in an HTML file that the browser moves when it repairs invalid markup, such as loose text inside a table	Its position in the file is not certain

Files and encoding

Files are read and written as UTF-8. A file is replaced in one step and keeps its permissions, so a development server never reads a half-written file.