Chameleon Text Logo

Chameleon Text is a robust and fast extension for VSCode designed for developers and data analysts who need powerful line-by-line text manipulation and mass transformation.

[!TIP] This extension is optimized for use with Chameleon Selection, which significantly enhances your ability to select lines for transformation.

Features

Contextual Execution: Operates exclusively on selected lines, or the entire document if no selection is made. Multiple cursors are fully supported.
Direct Execution: Commands are accessible via the VSCode Command Palette, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and the right-click context menu.
Real-Time Preview: Instantly see the results and highlighted lines in the editor as you type command arguments, adapting seamlessly to your current VSCode color theme.
Interactive Contextual Help: QuickPick selectors for predefined arguments and an integrated Help button (?) inside input boxes provide instant context and examples without leaving the editor.

Scripting System

Tired of repeating the same sequence of commands? Chameleon Text features a built-in scripting engine to execute multiple commands in a chain.

How to use scripts

Create a Script: You can create .chameleon files or use an Untitled tab and set the Language Mode to Chameleon.
- Tip: Use the Chameleon: New Script command to quickly create an Untitled script file!
Syntax: Write one command per line in the format: CommandName "argument1" "argument2".
- Use double quotes " for arguments. You can escape internal quotes with a backslash \".
- Add comments to your scripts by starting a line with #.
Run a Script: Use the Chameleon: Run Script command.
- If you are in a text document, it will prompt you to select an open script or a .chameleon file in your workspace to apply to the text.
- If you are currently in a script file, it will prompt you to select an open text file to apply the script to.

Script Example:

# Remove empty lines and duplicates
RemoveEmptyLines
Distinct

# Convert to title case
ToTitle

# Prepend a bullet point and add numbering
Prepend "- "
Enumerate "$i. "

# Replace using Regex (e.g. swap word order: 'Last, First' -> 'First Last')
Replace "/(\\w+),\\s*(\\w+)/g" "$2 $1"

Command Reference

The extension exposes the following commands in the VSCode Command Palette. When used in a script, use the Script Name and provide the necessary Arguments.

Filtering & Structure

Command Palette	Script Name	Arguments	Description
Chameleon: Distinct	`Distinct`	None	Removes duplicate lines, keeping only the first occurrence.
Chameleon: Remove Empty Lines	`RemoveEmptyLines`	None	Removes completely empty lines or lines with only whitespace.
Chameleon: Sort	`Sort`	`"direction"`	Sorts lines alphabetically (ascending by default).
Chameleon: Shuffle	`Shuffle`	None	Randomizes the order of the lines.
Chameleon: Join	`Join`	`"separator"`	Joins all affected lines into a single string using the separator.
Chameleon: Split	`Split`	`"separator"`	Splits each line into multiple lines using the separator.

Insertion & Replacement

Command Palette	Script Name	Arguments	Description
Chameleon: Prepend	`Prepend`	`"text"`	Adds text at the beginning of each line.
Chameleon: Append	`Append`	`"text"`	Adds text at the end of each line.
Chameleon: Format	`Format`	`"sep"`, `"pattern"`	Splits the line by separator and reconstructs it using placeholders (e.g., `$0`).
Chameleon: Replace	`Replace`	`"search"`, `"repl"`	Replaces text. Supports literal search or regex (using `/pattern/flags`). Allows `$1` capture groups and `\/` for forced literals.
Chameleon: Extract	`Extract`	`"regex"`	Extracts only the part of the line matching the regex.
Chameleon: Enumerate	`Enumerate`	`"format"`	Inserts a sequential number in each line (e.g., `$i.`).

Trimming & Padding

Command Palette	Script Name	Arguments	Description
Chameleon: Trim	`Trim`	None	Removes whitespace at the beginning and end of each line.
Chameleon: Normalize Whitespace	`NormalizeWhitespace`	None	Reduces multiple spaces to a single space.
Chameleon: Pad Left	`PadLeft`	`"length"`, `"char"`	Pads the left side of the line with a character until a specific length.
Chameleon: Pad Right	`PadRight`	`"length"`, `"char"`	Pads the right side of the line with a character until a specific length.
Chameleon: Remove First Chars	`RemoveFirstChars`	`"count"`	Removes the first N characters of each line.
Chameleon: Remove Last Chars	`RemoveLastChars`	`"count"`	Removes the last N characters of each line.
Chameleon: Remove First Words	`RemoveFirstWords`	`"count"`	Removes the first N words of each line.
Chameleon: Remove Last Words	`RemoveLastWords`	`"count"`	Removes the last N words of each line.

Casing

Command Palette	Script Name	Arguments	Description
Chameleon: To Lowercase	`ToLower`	None	Converts text to lowercase.
Chameleon: To Uppercase	`ToUpper`	None	Converts text to UPPERCASE.
Chameleon: To Title Case	`ToTitle`	None	Converts text to Title Case.
Chameleon: To Sentence Case	`ToSentence`	None	Converts text to Sentence case.
Chameleon: To camelCase	`ToCamel`	None	Converts text to camelCase.
Chameleon: To PascalCase	`ToPascal`	None	Converts text to PascalCase.
Chameleon: To snake_case	`ToSnake`	None	Converts text to snake_case.
Chameleon: To kebab-case	`ToKebab`	None	Converts text to kebab-case.

Encoding & Data Transformation

Command Palette	Script Name	Arguments	Description
Chameleon: Html Encode	`HtmlEncode`	None	Converts special characters to HTML entities.
Chameleon: Html Decode	`HtmlDecode`	None	Decodes HTML entities to original characters.
Chameleon: Json Stringify	`JsonStringify`	None	Escapes text to be valid inside a JSON string.
Chameleon: Json Parse	`JsonParse`	None	Parses a JSON string and extracts its text value.
Chameleon: Url Encode	`UrlEncode`	None	Encodes a string as a valid Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component.
Chameleon: Url Decode	`UrlDecode`	None	Decodes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) component.