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https://github.com/martanne/vis

A vi-like editor based on Plan 9's structural regular expressions
https://github.com/martanne/vis

c console-application lua modal-editing structural-regex text-editor

Last synced: 13 days ago
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A vi-like editor based on Plan 9's structural regular expressions

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README 

        
# Vis - Combining Modal Editing with Structural Regular Expressions



[![Development discussion](https://img.shields.io/badge/email-~martanne%2Fdevel-black?logo=sourcehut)](https://lists.sr.ht/~martanne/devel)

[![builds.sr.ht status](https://builds.sr.ht/~martanne/vis/commits.svg)](https://builds.sr.ht/~martanne/vis/commits?)

[![Coverity Scan Build Status](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/3939/badge.svg)](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/3939)

[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/martanne/vis/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/martanne/vis)

[![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/vis/badge/?version=master)](http://vis.readthedocs.io/en/master/?badge=master)

[![#vis-editor on libera](https://img.shields.io/badge/IRC-%23vis--editor-blue?logo=libera.chat)](ircs://irc.libera.chat:6697/vis-editor)



Vis aims to be a modern, legacy-free, simple yet efficient editor,

combining the strengths of both vi(m) and sam.



It extends vi's modal editing with built-in support for multiple

cursors/selections and combines it with [sam's](http://sam.cat-v.org/)

[structural regular expression](http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/structural_regexps/)

based [command language](http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/sam_lang_tutorial/).



A universal editor, it has decent Unicode support and should cope with arbitrary

files, including large, binary or single-line ones.



Efficient syntax highlighting is provided using

[Parsing Expression Grammars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing_expression_grammar),

which can be conveniently expressed using [Lua](http://www.lua.org/)

in the form of [LPeg](http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/lpeg/).



The editor core is written in a reasonable amount of clean (your mileage

may vary), modern and legacy-free C code, enabling it to run in

resource-constrained environments. The implementation should be easy to hack on

and encourages experimentation. There is also a Lua API for in-process

extensions.



Vis strives to be *simple* and focuses on its core task: efficient text

management. Clipboard and digraph handling as well as a fuzzy file open

dialog are all provided by independent utilities. There exist plans to use

a client/server architecture, delegating window management to your windowing

system or favorite terminal multiplexer.



The intention is *not* to be bug-for-bug compatible with vi(m). Instead,  

we aim to provide more powerful editing features based on an elegant design

and clean implementation.



[![vis demo](https://asciinema.org/a/41361.png)](https://asciinema.org/a/41361)



Build instructions

------------------



In order to build vis you will need a

[C99](http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf)

compiler, a [POSIX.1-2008](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/)

compatible environment as well as:



 * [libtermkey](http://www.leonerd.org.uk/code/libtermkey/)

 * [curses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curses_(programming_library)) (recommended)

 * [Lua](http://www.lua.org/) >= 5.2 (optional)

 * [LPeg](http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/lpeg/) >= 0.12

   (optional runtime dependency required for syntax highlighting)

 * [TRE](http://laurikari.net/tre/) (optional for more memory efficient regex search)



Assuming these dependencies are met, execute:



    $ ./configure && make && sudo make install



By default the `configure` script will try to auto detect support for

Lua using `pkg-config(1)`. See `configure --help` for a list of supported

options. You can also manually tweak the generated `config.mk` file.



Or simply use one of the

[distribution provided packages](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Distribution-Packages).



Documentation

-------------



End user documentation can be found in the

[`vis(1)` manual page](http://martanne.github.io/vis/man/vis.1.html)

and the [Wiki](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki). Read the

[FAQ](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/FAQ) for common questions.

Learn about some differences compared to

[`sam(1)`](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Differences-from-Sam) and

[`vim(1)`](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Differences-from-Vi(m)),

respectively.



[C API](https://vis.readthedocs.io/) as well as [Lua API](http://martanne.github.io/vis/doc/)

documentation is also available.



Non Goals

---------



  Some features which will *not* be implemented:



   - tabs / multiple workspaces / advanced window management

   - file and directory browser

   - support for file archives (tar, zip, ...)

   - support for network protocols (ftp, http, ssh ...)

   - encryption

   - compression

   - GUIs (neither x11, motif, gtk, win32 ...) although the codebase

     should make it easy to add them

   - VimL

   - right-to-left text

   - ex mode, we have more elegant structural regexp

   - diff mode

   - vimgrep

   - internal spell checker

   - lots of compile time configurable features / `#ifdef` mess



How to help?

------------



There are plenty of ways to contribute, below are a few ideas:



 * Artwork

    - [Color Themes](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Themes)

    - [Name](https://github.com/martanne/vis/issues/338) +

      [Logo](https://github.com/martanne/vis/issues/328)

    - Homepage?

 * Documentation

    - [Manual Pages](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Developer-Overview#manual-pages)

    - Improve `:help` output

 * Lua

    - [API Documentation](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Developer-Overview#api-documentation)

      and Examples

    - [Unit Tests](https://github.com/martanne/vis-test/tree/master/lua)

    - [Plugin Development](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Plugins)

    - [API Design](https://github.com/martanne/vis/issues/292)

 * [Testing Infrastructure](https://github.com/martanne/vis-test)

 * [Distribution Packaging](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Distribution-Packages)

 * [Core Editor Design](https://github.com/martanne/vis/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Adesign)



Checkout the [Developer Overview](https://github.com/martanne/vis/wiki/Developer-Overview)

to get started and do not hesitate to ask question in the `#vis-editor`

IRC channel on libera ([join via your browser](https://web.libera.chat/#vis-editor)).