manual/_manual/15_editing-and-arranging/03_what-regions-are-affected.html

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layout: default
title: What Regions Are Affected?
---                        


  
  
<p>
  This section explains the rules used to decide what regions are affected
  by editing operations. You don't really have to understand them - hopefully
  things will Just Work - but it may be useful to understand the rules some
  of the time.
</p>
<p>
  Ardour divides operations up into those that operate on a single point
  in time (Split being the obvious example) and those that operate on two 
  points (which can also be considered to be a range of sorts), Separate 
  is a good example of this.
</p>
<p> 
  Most operations will operate on the currently selected region(s), but if 
  no regions are selected, the region that the mouse is in will be used 
  instead. Single-point operations will generally pick a set of regions to 
  use based on the following rules:</p>
<ol>
  <li> If the edit point is `mouse':
    <ul>
     <li>if the mouse is over a selected region, or no region, use all selected regions.</li>
     <li>if the mouse is over an unselected region, use just that region.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li> For all other edit points
    <ul>
      <li>
        use the selected regions <strong>and</strong> those that are both
        under the edit position <strong>and</strong> on a selected track, 
        or on a track which is in the same active edit-enabled route group
        as a selected region.
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ol>
<p>The rationale here for the two different rules is that the mouse edit point is special in that its position indicates both a time and a track; the other edit points (Playhead,Marker) indicates only a time.</p>