# \[space-lua\] Toggle / Rotate Header Level h1-h6-On/Off
**URL:** https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320
**Category:** Tricks & Techniques
**Created:** [October 2, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320 "2025-10-02T17:29:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr.Red](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/Mr.Red)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/1 "2025-10-02T17:29:08Z")
I was having a “productive conversation” with ChatGPT today and after a couple of back and forth, together we cooked up these two little handy Shortcut-Commands:
## First one is to toggle h1-h6 level headers with one convenient combo-keypress (Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-6):
```auto
-- function to toggle a specific header level
local function toggleHeader(level)
local line = editor.getCurrentLine()
-- handle empty line
if not line or not line.text then
editor.insertAtCursor(string.rep("#", level) .. " ")
return
end
local s, from, to = line.text, line.from, line.to
local prefix, rest = s:match("^(#+)%s+(.*)")
local currentLevel = prefix and #prefix or 0
local newLine
if currentLevel == level then
newLine = rest or s -- remove header
else
newLine = string.rep("#", level) .. " " .. (rest or s) -- set header to desired level
end
editor.replaceRange(from, to, newLine)
editor.moveCursor(from + #newLine, false)
end
-- register commands Ctrl-1 → Ctrl-6
for lvl = 1, 6 do
command.define {
name = "Header: Toggle Level - h" .. lvl,
key = "Ctrl-" .. lvl,
run = function() toggleHeader(lvl) end
}
end
```
## The second one to rotate header level between [h1-h2-h3-h4-h6-off] using Ctrl-Shift-Tab:
```auto
command.define {
name = "Header: Rotate level",
key = "Ctrl-Shift-Tab",
run = function()
local line = editor.getCurrentLine()
-- If the line is completely empty (or nil), insert "# " at cursor
if not line or not line.text then
local cursor = editor.getCursor() or 0
editor.insertAtCursor("# ")
return
end
-- Normal case
local s, from, to = line.text, line.from, line.to
local hashes, rest = s:match("^(#+)%s+(.*)")
local level = hashes and #hashes or 0
local newLine = level < 6 and string.rep("#", level + 1) .. " " .. (rest or s) or (rest or s)
editor.replaceRange(from, to, newLine)
editor.moveCursor(from + #newLine, false)
end
}
```
Feel free to modify the Shortcut keys to your liking, also i am not a coder or a developer so you can also comment and/or improve the script itself, and also leave some feedback if you think it´s useful for you or not 😉
---
### Author:  [@zef](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/zef)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/2 "2025-10-02T18:56:37Z")
Interesting. Are you aware that the /h1 - /h4 slash commands _update_ your current line to the desired level? This is what I always use.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Red](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/Mr.Red)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/3 "2025-10-02T19:07:05Z")
yes but that’s a couple of keypresses more:
“Space” + “/” + “h” + “1” + “Enter” - 5x keypresses (both hands used)
vs.
“Ctrl” + “1” - 1x ComboKey press (one hand)
And also the /slash command doesn’t turn the current header level off unless you manually delete the “######” in front of the header(and that could be a lot of keypresses 😛 )
I was going for a quicker shortcut and not necessarily a “missing feature”.
BTW, is there a way to attach a shortcut key to a /slash command like in v1 ? That is what I was trying to mimic with my two commands. If there was a way to assign Shortcut Keys to /slash commands too, that would be awesome. (I didn’t find anything in the docs)
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Red](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/Mr.Red)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/4 "2025-10-03T13:32:18Z")
Here is an updated version of the Header: Toggle Level commands.
This is derived from the “built-in” /h1-/h5 slash commands and added the part to handle the toggling off. More straightforward and still retains all the functions.
```auto
-- function to toggle a specific header level
local function toggleHeader(level)
local line = editor.getCurrentLine()
local text = line.textWithCursor
-- Detect current header level
local currentLevel = string.match(text, "^(#+)%s*")
currentLevel = currentLevel and #currentLevel or 0
local cleanText = string.gsub(text, "^#+%s*", "")
-- Toggle: remove if same, otherwise set new level
if currentLevel == level then
editor.replaceRange(line.from, line.to, cleanText, true)
else
editor.replaceRange(line.from, line.to, string.rep("#", level) .. " " .. cleanText, true)
end
end
-- register commands Ctrl-1 → Ctrl-6
for lvl = 1, 6 do
command.define {
name = "Header: Toggle Level " .. lvl,
key = "Ctrl-" .. lvl,
run = function() toggleHeader(lvl) end
}
end
```
---
### Author:  [@malys](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/malys)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/5 "2025-10-07T11:58:12Z")
Very productive. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@ChenZhu-Xie](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/ChenZhu-Xie)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2025, 9:49am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/6 "2025-11-18T09:49:48Z")
did some clean up for @Mr.Red
now behaves correctly with cursor inside the `###... ` structure.
```auto
-- function to toggle a specific header level
local function toggleHead(level)
local line = editor.getCurrentLine()
local text = line.text
local currentLevel = string.match(text, "^(#+)%s*")
currentLevel = currentLevel and #currentLevel or 0
local textC = line.textWithCursor
local posC = string.find(textC, "|^|", 1, true)
local lineHead
if posC > currentLevel + 1 then
local bodyTextC = string.gsub(textC, "^#+%s*", "")
if currentLevel == level then
lineHead = bodyTextC
else
lineHead = string.rep("#", level) .. " " .. bodyTextC
end
else
local bodyText = string.gsub(text, "^#+%s*", "")
if currentLevel == level then
lineHead = "|^|" .. bodyText
else
lineHead = string.rep("#", level) .. " |^|" .. bodyText
end
end
editor.replaceRange(line.from, line.to, lineHead, true)
end
-- register commands Ctrl-1 → Ctrl-6
for lvl = 1, 6 do
command.define {
name = "Header: Toggle Level " .. lvl,
key = "Ctrl-" .. lvl,
run = function()
toggleHead(lvl)
end
}
end
```
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Red](https://community.silverbullet.md/u/Mr.Red)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2025, 7:59am UTC](https://community.silverbullet.md/t/space-lua-toggle-rotate-header-level-h1-h6-on-off/3320/7 "2025-11-19T07:59:42Z")
thanks, just updated my library with your fixes. 👍