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https://github.com/hellerve/e

A dead simple editor
https://github.com/hellerve/e

c editor lua posix

Last synced: 10 days ago
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A dead simple editor

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README 

        
# e



Braindead editor. Feels like Vim, only simpler. Inspired by

[kilo](https://github.com/antirez/kilo), of course, and a large

swath of the code is similar.



It can be scripted through Lua.



[![asciicast](https://asciinema.org/a/e164s5tnu3okht44go6uhyju4.png)](https://asciinema.org/a/e164s5tnu3okht44go6uhyju4)



## Features



- Scripting through intuitive Lua interface

- Incremental search (and replace)

- Multiple modi (similar to Vim)

- Mnemonic movement (feels like Vim, just different enough for you to be frustrated)

- Limitless Undo (until memory runs out)

- Extensible syntax highlighting

- No global state in the library part (just in `main.c`)

- Can be used as a library

- Ships with syntax highlighting for

  - C/C++ (stable)

  - Python (experimental)

  - JavaScript (experimental)

  - Go (experimental)

  - Haskell (experimental)

  - Carp (experimental)

  - Markdown (unfinished)



## Installation



```sh

git clone https://github.com/hellerve/e

cd e

make install # install_lua for Lua support

```



If there are any problems—particularly with Lua—, please refer to the

[Troubleshooting](https://github.com/hellerve/e/wiki/Troubleshooting) page on

the wiki.



## Usage



There are two major modes, `init` and `edit`. `edit` mode works like a normal

text editor would. `init` mode enables the user to navigate and do meta work,

such as saving the file, searching, and replacing.



### init mode mnemonics



Use `wasd` or the arrow keys for movement. Editing (backspace, etc.) works normally.



- `n`: insert a line below the cursor and start editing (*n*ext)

- `p`: insert a line above the cursor and start editing (*p*revious)

- `b`: jump to the *b*eginning of the line and start editing

- `t`: jump to the end of the line and start editing (*t*erminus)

- `h`: *h*ide a line (delete it) and add it to the system clipboard (clipboard only on Windows and OS X)

- `c`: *c*opy a line to the system clipboard (only on Windows and OS X)

- `v`: *v*iew (i.e. paste) the contents of the system clipboard (only on Windows and OS X)

- `/`: incremental highlighted search

- `r`: search and replace first occurrence

- `R`: search and replace all occurrences

- Space: quick save (might be prompted for a file name)



In meta mode (reachable by pressing the colon character `:`), there are

the following commands:



- `s`: save and quit (might be prompted for a file name)

- `q`: exit (will abort if the file has unsaved content)

- `!`: force exit

- Number `n`: jump to line `n`



### Writing syntax files



By default, `e` creates a directory called `.estx` in the user's home

directory (the location is overridable by providing `STXDIR` to `make install`).

There, `e` will search for syntax files on startup. Their grammar is very

minimal, see the C file below:



```

displayname: c

extensions: .*\.cpp$

            .*\.hpp$

            .*\.c$

            .*\.h$

comment|no_sep: //.*$

keyword: (restrict|switch|if|while|for|break|continue|return|else|try|catch|else|struct|union|class|typedef|static|enum|case|asm|default|delete|do|explicit|export|extern|inline|namespace|new|public|private|protected|sizeof|template|this|typedef|typeid|typename|using|virtual|friend|goto)

type: (auto|bool|char|const|double|float|inline|int|mutable|register|short|unsigned|volatile|void|int8_t|int16_t|int32_t|int64_t|uint8_t|uint16_t|uint32_t|uint64_t|size_t|ssize_t|time_t)

comment|no_sep: /\*.*\*/

comment|no_sep: /\*.*

                 .*\*/

pragma: \s*#(include|pragma|define|undef) .*$

predefined: (NULL|stdout|stderr)

pragma: \s*#(ifdef|ifndef|if) .*$

pragma: \s*#(endif)

string|no_sep: "([^\\\"]|\\.)*"

string|no_sep: '([^\\\']|\\.)'

number: [+-]?([0-9]+([.][0-9]*)?|[.][0-9]+)[fl]?

```



`displayname` is the string displayed at the bottom of `e`. `extensions`

is a list of regexes to match the filenames. Highlighting keys are `comment`,

`keyword`, `type`, `pragma`, `string`, `number`, and `predefined`. By appending

`|no_sep`, the user signals to `e` that no separator is needed, i.e. highlighting

works even if the matched string is part of a longer word. The values are regexes.



If you provide a second regex (must by divided by a newline), `e` assumes that everything

between the two matches should be colored (useful for e.g. multiline comments).



### Scripting through Lua



The editor has scripting capabilities in Lua. Thus far I've only documented them

in [a blog post](http://blog.veitheller.de/Editing_Revisited.html), but this

post should give you a good overview of how to write Lua scripts for `e`. There

is also an example [`.erc`](https://github.com/hellerve/e/blob/master/.erc)

file in the repository that you can look at for inspiration.



That's it!



### Tabs vs. Spaces



I personally always use spaces for indentation, thus `e` does the same. It will

always convert all of the tabs in your file to spaces automatically for you, and

I understand if that bit of behavior is undesired by some. It is very much by

design, though, and probably won’t change.



----



Have fun!