Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/orbitalquark/textadept

Textadept is a fast, minimalist, and remarkably extensible cross-platform text editor for programmers.
https://github.com/orbitalquark/textadept

cross-platform curses editor gtk lua qt scintilla terminal text-editor textadept

Last synced: about 2 months ago
JSON representation

Textadept is a fast, minimalist, and remarkably extensible cross-platform text editor for programmers.

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
# Textadept



Textadept is a fast, minimalist, and remarkably extensible cross-platform text editor for

programmers. Written in a combination of C, C++, and [Lua][] and relentlessly optimized for

speed and minimalism for more than 12 years, Textadept is an ideal editor for programmers who

want endless extensibility without sacrificing speed and disk space, and without succumbing to

code bloat and a superabundance of features. The application has both a graphical user interface

(GUI) version that runs in a desktop environment, and a terminal version that runs within a

terminal emulator.



![Linux](https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/images/linux.png)

![macOS](https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/images/macosx.png)

![Windows](https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/images/win32.png)

![Terminal](https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/images/ncurses.png)



[Lua]: https://lua.org



## Features



- Fast and minimalist.

- Cross platform, and with a terminal version, too.

- Self-contained executable -- no installation necessary.

- Support for over 100 programming languages.

- Unlimited split views.

- Can be entirely keyboard driven.

- Powerful snippets and key commands.

- Code autocompletion and documentation lookup.

- Remarkably extensible, with a heavily documented Application Programming Interface (API).



![Textadept](https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/images/splitviews.png)



## Requirements



In its bid for minimalism, Textadept depends on very little to run. On Windows and macOS,

it has no external dependencies. On Linux, the GUI version depends only on either [Qt][] or

[GTK][] (cross-platform GUI toolkits), and the terminal version depends only on a wide-character

implementation of curses like [ncurses][](w). Lua and any other third-party dependencies are

compiled into the application itself.



[Qt]: https://www.qt.io/

[GTK]: https://gtk.org

[ncurses]: https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html



## Download



Textadept releases can be found [here][1]. Select the appropriate package for your platform. A

comprehensive list of changes between releases can be found [here][2]. You can also download

a separate set of modules that provide extra features and functionality to the core application.



[1]: https://github.com/orbitalquark/textadept/releases

[2]: https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/changelog.html



## Installation and Usage



Textadept comes with a comprehensive [user manual][] in its *docs/* directory. It covers all

of Textadept's main features, including installation, usage, configuration, theming, scripting,

and compilation.



Since nearly every aspect of Textadept can be scripted using Lua, the editor's API is heavily

documented. This [API documentation][] is also located in *docs/*. It serves as the ultimate

resource when it comes to scripting the application.



[user manual]: https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/manual.html

[API documentation]: https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/api.html



## Compile



Textadept can be built on Windows, macOS, or Linux using [CMake][]. CMake will automatically

detect which platforms you can compile Textadept for (e.g. Qt, GTK, and/or Curses) and build

for them. On Windows and macOS you can then use CMake to create a self-contained application

to run from anywhere. On Linux you can either use CMake to install Textadept, or place compiled

binaries into Textadept's root directory and run it from there.



General Requirements:



- [CMake][] 3.16+

- A C and C++ compiler, such as:

	- [GNU C compiler][] (*gcc*) 7.1+

	- [Microsoft Visual Studio][] 2019+

	- [Clang][] 13+

- A UI toolkit (at least one of the following):

	- [Qt][] 5 or Qt 6 development libraries for the GUI version

	- [GTK][] 3 development libraries for the GUI version (GTK 2.24 is also supported)

	- [ncurses][](w) development libraries (wide character support) for the terminal version



Basic procedure:



1. Configure CMake to build Textadept by pointing it to Textadept's source directory (where

  *CMakeLists.txt* is) and specifying a binary directory to compile to.

2. Build Textadept.

3. Either copy the built Textadept binaries to Textadept's directory or use CMake to install it.



For example:



	cmake -S . -B build_dir -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo \

		-D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=build_dir/install

	cmake --build build_dir -j # compiled binaries are in build_dir/

	cmake --install build_dir # self-contained installation is in build_dir/install/



CMake boolean variables that affect the build:



- `NIGHTLY`: Whether or not to build Textadept with bleeding-edge dependencies (i.e. the nightly

  version). Defaults to off.

- `QT`: Unless off, builds the Qt version of Textadept. The default is auto-detected.

- `GTK3`: Unless off, builds the Gtk 3 version of Textadept. The default is auto-detected.

- `GTK2`: Unless off, builds the Gtk 2 version of Textadept. The default is auto-detected.

- `CURSES`: Unless off, builds the Curses (terminal) version of Textadept. The default is

  auto-detected.



For more information on compiling Textadept, please see the [manual][].



[CMake]: https://cmake.org

[GNU C compiler]: https://gcc.gnu.org

[Microsoft Visual Studio]: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/

[Clang]: https://clang.llvm.org/

[Qt]: https://www.qt.io

[GTK]: https://gtk.org

[ncurses]: https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html

[manual]: https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/manual.html#compiling



## Contribute



Textadept is [open source][]. Feel free to discuss features, report bugs, and submit patches. You

can also contact me personally (orbitalquark att triplequasar.com).



[open source]: https://github.com/orbitalquark/textadept