⚠️ UPDATE (NOV 2023): This plugin is not maintained. Do not install it, use supported alternatives.

⚠️ CM6-based editor (default option in Obsidian >= v13.0.0) is not supported. Consider using Legacy editor.

Text Expander Plugin

The plugin replaces shortcuts of format {{<text>}} on Tab press. The replacement can be either static text or the result of execution of arbitrary commands.

⚠️ Currently, the plugin supports Windows only partially. See the Known Issues section.

Use Cases

• Shortcuts for static text templates: {{trigger}} -> Some template text
• For dynamic values: {{now}} -> 14:23, {{date}} -> 2021-01-15
• For python expressions: {{eval:2**10}} -> 1024, {{eval:len(open("<note_path>").readlines())}}, {{py:from numpy import*;print(linalg.inv(triu([1,2,3,4])))}}, ...
• For shell commands: {{shell:ls <vault_path>/attachments}}
• For custom tools: {{mytool:extract_all_lines_starting_with_(#tag)}} -> #tag Text\n#tag ...

Installation

Open Settings > Third-party plugins > Community Plugins > Browse, then search for Text Expander and click Install.

Settings

The shortcuts are defined as a JSON-list of entries, each containing three fields: regex (required), replacement (optional) and command (optional).

• regex field defines the trigger pattern. The entries are tried sequentially, until regex matches the input.
• replacement simply replaces the shortcut, if provided.
• command contains the command which is run in shell. The shortcut is replaced with its output.

Default Shortcuts

Below is the default configuration that can be changed in Settings > Plugin Options > Text Expander > Shortcuts:

[
    {
        "regex": "^trigger$",
        "replacement": "## Example replacement\n- [ ] ",
    },
    {
        "regex": "^now$",
        "command": "printf `date +%H:%M`",
    },
    {
        "regex": "^py:",
        "command": "echo <text> | cut -c 4- | python3"
    },
    {
        "regex": "^eval:",
        "command": "echo <text> | cut -c 6- | python3 -c 'print(eval(input()), end=\"\")'"
    },
    {
        "regex": "^shell:",
        "command": "echo <text> | cut -c 7- | sh"
    },
    {
        "regex": "^tool:",
        "command": "echo <text> | cut -c 6- | python3 <scripts_path>/tool.py"
    },
    {
        "regex": "^sympy:",
        "command": "echo <text> | cut -c 7- | python3 <scripts_path>/sympy_tool.py"
    }
]

Variables

With <variable_name> you can insert the value of a variable into the command field before it is executed. The following variables can be used:

• <text> The contents of brackets, with escaped single-quotes. Recommended in most cases.
• <text_raw> Same as <text>, but nothing is escaped.
• <vault_path> The absolute path of current vault.
• <inner_path> The directory of the current note in obsidian file explorer. E.g. inside <vault_path>/folder/folder2/note.md its value will be folder/folder2.
• <note_name> The filename of the current note, i.e. note.md in the example above.
• <note_path> The shortcut for <inner_path>/<note_name>.
• <scripts_path> The shortcut for <vault_path>/.obsidian/scripts.

Example flows

Example #1

• {{trigger}}Tab is entered
• ^trigger$ matches trigger -> the first shortcut is used
• replacement field of the first shortcut replaces {{trigger}}

Example #2

• {{now}}Tab
• ^trigger$ doesn't match now -> proceeding to the second shortcut
• ^now$ matches now -> the second shortcut is used
• command field is executed in the specified shell, then the output is used to replace {{now}}

Example #3

• {{sympy:latex(integrate(x, x))}}Tab
• Only the last shortcut's regex matches the input
• Variables are processed: echo <text> | cut -c 7- | python3 <scripts_path>/sympy_tool.py -> echo 'sympy:latex(integrate(x, x))' | cut -c 7- | python3 /path/to/vault/.obsidian/scripts/sympy_tool.py
• The command is executed: cut cuts the sympy: prefix and latex(integrate(x, x)) is passed as input to sympy_tool.py
• sympy_tool.py outputs \frac{x^{2}}{2}, which replaces the {{sympy:latex(integrate(x, x))}}

Custom Scripts

You can place any scripts to <vault_path>/.obsidian/scripts to use them in commands. The examples folder contains two sample scripts, enabling {{tool: and {{sympy: shortcuts.

Security

As the plugin is shell-powered, one can easily run destructive commands just by typing {{shell:rm -rf ...}}Tab. Think twice before pressing Tab when your cursor is on something like {{shell:...}}. I also strongly discourage using the {{shell:...}} pattern, which was added mostly for demonstration purposes, and recommend writing python scripts instead.

Future Work

• <cursor> placeholder, defining the cursor position after replacement. Example usage: {{texenv:cases}} -> \begin{cases}\n\t<cursor>\n\end{cases}. In case if multiple <cursor> placeholders are used in single shortcut, then Tab will switch the cursor position between them until all are visited.
• Special syntax (something like {*{<text>}}) for preview-time rendering instead of instant replacement.
• Static-only support for Windows.

Known Issues

• Long-running commands can cause issues. E.g. if you type {{shell:sleep 10 && echo 1}}Tab and before it finishes type {{now}}Tab, then {{now}} will be replaced with 1.
• Windows support is currently limited:
  • Shortcuts with replacement field are processed correctly
  • To use command field on Windows you need to have a WSL Subsystem installed and set Settings > Plugin Options > Text Expander > Shell executable to <your os name>.exe(ubuntu.exe for Ubuntu), also make sure any python packages you use are installed
  • or set Settings > Plugin Options > Text Expander > Shell executable to powershell and use Powershell syntax in your commands.

Credits

The project was inspired by the PoC text expander implementation. I also used certain ideas from the Run Snippets plugin.

Release Notes

1.1.0

• Added support for :now syntax. Use {{py: long command}} syntax for triggers containing whitespace characters and :trigger for short triggers without whitespace
• Shell executable is now automatically respawned on "Shell executable" value change

1.0.1

• Fixed errors caused by incorrect "Shell executable" value