Insert Text with Clippings

A clipping lets you easily insert pre-defined bits of text into a document. A clipping can be any length of text, and it can contain placeholders that are swapped out with the corresponding value when you insert the clipping.

Let me give you a real-world example. When I type Web links for a certain publication, I need to not only type the correct HTML for the link, but also include the attribute for opening the link in a new blank window, like this:

<a href="link goes here" target="_blank">text for link</a>

To add these Web links rapidly, I created a clipping with three placeholders. It looks like this:

<a href="#CLIPBOARD#" target="_blank">#SELECT#</a>#INSERTION#

Now, suppose that I want to type a Web link to the Bare Bones Software Web site at http://www.barebones.com/. I copy the URL so that it is stored in my Clipboard, I type and select Bare Bones Software, and I trigger the clipping. BBEdit puts this into my document: