Tuna

Text Mode

Sometimes what you have or what you want isn’t a file or an app but some text.

This is what Text Mode is for.

You type text or grab it from somewhere. Tuna treats that text as the subject.

Entering Text Mode

There are a few different ways to get there:

  • use your global Text Mode hotkey for a fresh empty text command
  • press . while Tuna is open to switch the focused pane into Text Mode and keep the current query
  • press ' while Tuna is open to edit the selected item’s best text value

That last case matters for files and apps.

If the selected item has a meaningful text value beyond its label, Tuna uses that.

For example, a file or app can enter Text Mode as its full path instead of just its display name.

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean input methods work in both the main Text Mode editor and text targets. While text is being composed, Return, Space, and arrow keys stay with the input method for candidate selection. After confirming the text, press Return again to run the command.

Good Uses

Text Mode is good for:

  • quick calculations
  • unit and currency conversions
  • changing text, like turning hello world into HeLlO wOrLd
  • copying or pasting the result
  • sending text to and from other items

It handles inline quick calculations.

Examples:

  • 2+2
  • 10 dkk in usd
  • 10pm UTC tomorrow
  • tomorrow
  • days until December 10
  • days since January 1
  • days between December 20 and January 5
  • time in Tokyo
  • 9am New York to London
  • sqrt(9)
  • sin(pi / 2)
  • log10(1000)

Math also supports a small set of text functions and constants.

Functions:

  • abs(x)
  • sqrt(x)
  • ln(x)
  • log(x)
  • log10(x)
  • exp(x)
  • sin(x)
  • cos(x)
  • tan(x)

Constants:

  • pi
  • e

Trig functions use radians.

Time queries accept IANA time-zone names, familiar abbreviations, and city names. Tuna recognizes unambiguous primary and ASCII names from GeoNames for cities with more than 100,000 residents, as well as representative cities from the system time-zone database. Unknown or ambiguous city names remain unresolved rather than being assigned a guessed time zone.

Date queries accept today, tomorrow, yesterday, weekdays, ISO dates, locale-ordered numeric dates, and English month names. Use days until <date>, days since <date>, days between <date> and <date>, or days from <date> to <date> for calendar-day differences. A month and day without a year means the next occurrence for until, the most recent occurrence for since, and the next ordered occurrence in a two-date range. Calculations use the Mac’s current calendar time zone.

Text First, Action Second

The nice part is that text does not have to be the end of the command.

You can:

  • copy the answer
  • paste it into the current app
  • transform it
  • send a shortcut with Send Keys
  • append it to a file
  • turn a file or folder path into an object with Resolve as path (see Finding Files)
  • send it to a Smart Link
  • create a new task in your todo app
  • etc

So Text Mode is not a calculator bolted onto a launcher. It is Tuna’s normal command model, just starting from text.

Relationship To Talk Mode

Talk Mode is an easy way to get text into Tuna via dictation.

If you often send text to the same website or search destination, see Smart Links.

If the text you are entering is actually a shortcut like cmd+f or esc, see Send Keys.