Managing cursor

The current cursor position is very important for building an expression. At any point, a cursor can have one of the following states:

  • In a spot before or after any token

  • Inside the direct entry field (see direct entry)

  • No cursor, a token is selected

  • No cursor, no token is selected

Cursor before or after a token

The cursor is placed before or after a token if you click in a pink spot.



Once you click in an available spot, the cursor is available there. You can perform the following operations:

  1. Delete the Left token or special operator by clicking the Backspace button or key.

  2. Delete the Right token or special operator by clicking the Delete button or key.

  3. Move to the next/previous available spot by clicking the Right/Left key.

  4. Insert a token at the cursor position. In this case, the cursor moves to the spot after the inserted token.

  5. Start typing with any non-special symbol or space. See direct entry.

Direct entry

You are able to type on the keyboard at the cursor position while the cursor is outside of a token.

  • If you type any special operator, it has the same effect as clicking the special operator button. The cursor remains outside of any token.

  • In all other cases, after a first letter an input field is created, allowing to type and edit a string.


  • The input field goes on top of the existing expression. Once the field is converted into a token, the layout of the expression is recalculated.


  • Once you press Enter or change the focus from the input field, a new token is created and the cursor is placed after it.


No cursor, token is selected

If you click directly on a token, the token is selected.


  • If the token is a direct entry, it converts into the input field as shown in the direct entry.

  • The token appears in bold.

  • If the token is collapsed, it is expanded.

No cursor, no token is selected

If you click into the empty space of the editor (inside the Expression panel):

  • Current selected token is unselected and collapsed

  • Direct entry field goes away

Use Tab key

You can click Tab or Alt+Tab to move between the available cursor positions in the order of the token and subtokens.