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https://github.com/adsr/mle

flexible terminal-based text editor (C)
https://github.com/adsr/mle

c console editor hacktoberfest terminal text text-editor

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flexible terminal-based text editor (C)

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README 

        
# mle



mle is a small, flexible, terminal-based text editor written in C.



Runs on Linux, Windows (Cygwin or WSL), FreeBSD, macOS, and more.



[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/adsr/mle.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/adsr/mle)



### Demos



[![asciicast](https://i.imgur.com/PZocaOT.png)](https://asciinema.org/a/162536)



* [AceJump-like movement](https://i.imgur.com/atS11HX.gif)

* [Large file benchmark](http://i.imgur.com/VGGMmGg.gif)

* [Older demos](http://imgur.com/a/ZBmmQ)



### Aims



* Keep codebase small and hackable

* Minimize build-time and run-time dependencies

* Favor simplicity over correctness

* Make extensible and configurable

* Use shell commands to enhance functionality (e.g., grep, tree)



### Features



* Small codebase (~12k SLOC)

* Full UTF-8 support

* Syntax highlighting

* Stackable key maps (modes)

* Extensible via [Lua](https://www.lua.org)

* Scriptable rc file

* Key macros

* Window splitting

* Regex search and replace

* Large file support

* Incremental search

* Linear undo and redo

* Multiple cursors

* Auto indent

* Headless mode

* Navigation via [ctags](https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags)

* Movement via [less](https://www.gnu.org/software/less/)

* Fuzzy file search via [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf)

* File browsing via [tree](http://mama.indstate.edu/users/ice/tree/)

* File grep via [grep](https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/)

* String manip via [perl](https://www.perl.org/)



### Building



    $ sudo apt install git build-essential # install git, make, gcc, libc-dev

    $

    $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/adsr/mle.git

    $ cd mle

    $ make mle_vendor=1



To build a completely static binary, try `make mle_vendor=1 mle_static=1`.



You can also run plain `make` to link against system libraries instead of

`vendor/`. Note this requires the following packages to be installed:



    uthash-dev

    liblua5.4-dev

    libpcre2-dev



To install to `/usr/local/bin`:



    $ make install



To install to a custom directory, supply `prefix`, e.g.:



    $ make install prefix=/usr # /usr/bin/mle



### Installing from a repo



mle may be available to install via your system's package manager.



    # apt install mle   # Ubuntu and Debian-based distros

    # dnf install mle   # CentOS, RHEL, Fedora-based distros

    # pkg install mle   # FreeBSD

    # yay -S mle        # Arch (via AUR)

    # snap install mle  # all major Linux distros

    # nix-env -i mle    # NixOS (via nixpkgs)

    # apk add mle       # Alpine

    # xbps-install mle  # Void

    # brew install mle  # macOS (Homebrew)

    # port install mle  # macOS (MacPorts)

    # setup-x86.exe -q -P mle # Cygwin



[![Packaging status](https://repology.org/badge/vertical-allrepos/mle.svg)](https://repology.org/project/mle/versions)



### Basic usage



    $ mle               # Open blank buffer

    $ mle one.c         # Edit one.c

    $ mle one.c:100     # Edit one.c at line 100

    $ mle one.c two.c   # Edit one.c and two.c

    $ mle -h            # Show command line help



The default key bindings are intuitive. Input text as normal, use directional

keys to move around, use `Ctrl-S` to save, `Ctrl-O` to open, `Ctrl-X` to exit.



Press `F2` for full help.



### Advanced usage: mlerc



mle is customized via command line options. Run `mle -h` to view all cli

options.



To set default options, make an rc file named `~/.mlerc` (or `/etc/mlerc`). The

contents of the rc file are any number of cli options separated by newlines.

Lines that begin with a semi-colon are interpretted as comments.



If `~/.mlerc` is executable, mle executes it and interprets the resulting stdout

as described above. For example, consider the following snippet from an

executable `~/.mlerc` bash(1) script:



    # Define 'test' kmap

    echo '-Ktest,,1'



    # M-q: replace grep with git grep if `.git` exists

    if [ -d ".git" ]; then

      echo '-kcmd_grep,M-q,git grep --color=never -P -i -I -n %s 2>/dev/null'

    fi



    # Set default kmap

    echo '-n test'



This overrides the built-in grep command with `git grep` if `.git` exists in

the current working directory.



### Shell command integration



The following programs will enable or enhance certain features of mle if they

exist in `PATH`.



* [bash](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) (tab completion)

* [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) (fuzzy file search)

* [grep](https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/) (file grep)

* [less](https://www.gnu.org/software/less/) (less integration)

* [perl](https://www.perl.org/) (perl 1-liners)

* [readtags](https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags) (ctags integration)

* [tree](http://mama.indstate.edu/users/ice/tree/) (file browsing)



Arbitrary shell commands can also be run via `cmd_shell` (`M-e` by default). If

any text is selected, it is sent to stdin of the command. Any resulting stdout

is inserted into the text buffer.



### Advanced usage: Headless mode



mle provides support for non-interactive editing which may be useful for using

the editor as a regular command line tool. In headless mode, mle reads stdin

into a buffer, applies a startup macro if specified, and then writes the buffer

contents to stdout. For example:



    $ echo -n hello | mle -M 'test C-e space w o r l d enter' -p test

    hello world



If stdin is a pipe, mle goes into headless mode automatically. Headless mode can

be explicitly enabled or disabled with the `-H` option.



If stdin is a pipe and headless mode is disabled via `-H0`, mle reads stdin into

a new buffer and then runs as normal in interactive mode.



### Advanced usage: Scripting



mle is extensible via the [Lua](https://www.lua.org) programming language.

Scripts are loaded via the `-x` cli option. Commands registered by scripts can

be mapped to keys as normal via `-k`. See `uscript.lua` for a simple example.



There is also a `wren` branch with [Wren](http://wren.io) scripting support.

That work is on pause.



### Forks



* [eon](https://github.com/tomas/eon) - mouse support and Notepad-like

  selections

* [turbo-mle](https://github.com/magiblot/turbo-mle) - Turbo Vision port



### Acknowledgments



mle makes extensive use of the following libraries.



* [uthash](https://troydhanson.github.io/uthash) for hash maps and linked lists

* [termbox2](https://github.com/termbox/termbox2) for TUI

* [PCRE2](http://www.pcre.org/) for syntax highlighting and search