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https://github.com/reeflective/readline

Shell library with powerful and modern UI, large feature set, and `.inputrc` support
https://github.com/reeflective/readline

console go golang inputrc readline shell terminal vim vim-mode

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Shell library with powerful and modern UI, large feature set, and `.inputrc` support

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README 

        


  
 
 Readline 







  

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    License: BSD-3

  




This library is a modern, pure Go `readline` shell implementation, with full `.inputrc` and legacy

readline command/option support, and extended with various commands, options and tools commonly

found in modern shells. Its architecture and completion system is heavily inspired from Z-Shell.

It is used, between others, to power the [console](https://github.com/reeflective/console) library.



## Features



### Core



- Pure Go, almost-only standard library

- Cross-platform (Linux / MacOS / Windows)

- Full `.inputrc` support (all commands/options)

- Extensive test suite and almost full coverage of core code

- [Extended list](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Keymaps-&-Commands) of additional commands/options (edition/completion/history)

- Complete [multiline edition/movement support](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Multiline)

- Command-line edition in `$EDITOR`/`$VISUAL` support

- [Programmable API](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Programmable-Commands), with failure-safe access to core components

- Support for an [arbitrary number of history sources](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/History-Sources)



### Emacs / Standard



- Native Emacs commands

- Emacs-style [macro engine](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Macros#emacs) (not working across multiple calls)

- Keywords [switching](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Keymaps-&-Commands#modifying-text) (operators, booleans, hex/binary/digit) with iterations

- Command/mode cursor status indicator

- Complete undo/redo history

- Command status/arg/iterations hint display



### Vim



- Near-native Vim mode

- Vim [text objects](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Keymaps-&-Commands#text-objects) (code blocks, words/blank/shellwords)

- Extended surround select/change/add functionality, with highlighting

- Vim Visual/Operator pending mode & cursor styles indications

- Vim Insert and Replace (once/many)

- All Vim registers, with completion support

- [Vim-style](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Macros#vim) macro recording (`q`) and invocation (`@`)



### Interface



- Support for PS1/PS2/RPROMPT/transient/tooltip [prompts](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Prompts) (compatible with [oh-my-posh](https://github.com/JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh))

- Extended completion system, [keymap-based and configurable](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Keymaps-&-Commands#completion), easy to populate & use

- Multiple completion display styles, with color support.

- Completion & History incremental search system & highlighting (fuzzy-search).

- Automatic & context-aware suffix removal for efficient flags/path/list completion.

- Optional asynchronous autocomplete

- Builtin & programmable [syntax highlighting](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki/Syntax-Highlighting)



## Documentation



Readline is used by the [console library](https://github.com/reeflective/console) and its [example binary](https://github.com/reeflective/console/tree/main/example). To get a grasp of the

functionality provided by readline and its default configuration, install and start the binary.



The documentation is available on the [repository wiki](https://github.com/reeflective/readline/wiki), for both users and developers.



## Showcases



  - Emacs edition

 
(This extract is quite a pity, because its author is not using Emacs and does not know many of its shortcuts)





  - Vim edition




  - Undo/redo line history 




  - Keyword switching & selection 

 
Switching various keywords




 
Using regexp-based selection to grab parts of words (here, URL components)





  - Vim selection & movements (basic) 




  - Vim surround (selection and change) 

 
Selecting/adding/changing surround regions




 
Surround and change in shellwords, matching brackets, etc.





  - Vim registers (with completion) 




  - History movements/completion/use/search 

 
History movement, completion and some other other widgets





  - Completion 

 
Classic mode & incremental search mode




 
Suffix-autoremoval 





  - Prompts 




  - Logging 




  - Inputrc init file reload 




  - Multiline edition 




  - Macros 

 
Emacs




 
Vim





## Status



This library is now in a release status, as it has underwent several major rewrites and is now considered mostly

feature-complete, with a solid testing suite to ensure safe and smooth operation to the best extent possible.

New releases will be regularly pushed when bugs are found and corrected.



Additionally:



- Key dispatch/flushing, meta-key enable, etc might still contain some bugs/wrong behavior:

  30 years of legacy support for 3000 different terminal emulators cannot be done right by me alone.

- Please open a PR or an issue if you face any bug, and it will be promptly resolved.

- Don't hesitate proposing a new feature or a PR if you deem it to be useful to most users.



## Credits



- @kenshaw for his `.inputrc` parsing package, which brings much wider compatibility to this library.

- `chzyer/readline` for the Windows I/O code and everything related.

- Some of the Vim code is inspired or translated from [zsh-vi-mode](https://github.com/jeffreytse/zsh-vi-mode).

- [lmorg/readline](https://github.com/lmorg/readline), for the line tokenizers.