<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE language SYSTEM "klayout_doc.dtd">

<doc>

  <title>Copy And Paste Of Cells</title>
  <keyword name="Copy cells"/>
  <keyword name="Paste cells"/>

  <p>
  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.
  </p>

  <p>
  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:
  </p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <b>Shallow copy</b>: 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.
    </li>
    <li>
      <b>Deep copy</b>: 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.
    </li>
  </ul>    

  <p>
  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.
  </p>

  <p>
  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. 
  </p>

</doc>

