KLayout Documentation (Qt 5): Main Index » KLayout User Manual » Editing Functions » Basic Editing Operations » Copy And Paste Of Cells

Copy And Paste Of Cells

Whole cells can be copied to the clipboard as well. To copy a whole cell, select the cell in the hierarchy browser (make sure the focus is in that window) and choose "Copy" or "Cut" from the "Edit" menu. To paste such a cell into a target layout, choose "Paste" from the "Edit" menu.

Two copy modes are provided: deep and shallow copy. When "copy" or "cut" is chosen and the cell instantiates other cells, a dialog will been shown in which the mode can be selected:

• Shallow copy: In shallow mode, only the cell itself will be copied. No copies of the child cells will be created. If a cell copy is created, the cell will call the same cells than the original cell. If a cell is copied to another layout (in a different tab), the child cells will not be carried along and "ghost" cells will be created or existing cells with the same name will be used as child cells.
• Deep copy: In deep copy mode, the cell plus its child cells are copied. All cells will be carried along and when pasting the cell, copies of all children will be created as well.

When a cell is pasted into another layout and there is a "ghost cell" with that name, the pasted cell will replace the ghost cell. If there is a normal cell with that name, a new cell variant will be created and the name of the pasted cell will be changed by adding a suffix to create a unique name.

Copying a cell in deep copy mode from one layout to another provides a way to merge two layouts into one: simply copy the top cell of the first layout into the second one and instantiate both in a new top cell for example.