1 # ![Micro](./assets/logo.png)
3 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro)
4 [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/zyedidia/micro)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/zyedidia/micro)
5 [![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro](https://badges.gitter.im/zyedidia/micro.svg)](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
6 [![MIT License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/LICENSE)
8 Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities
9 of modern terminals. It comes as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies, and you can download and use it right now.
11 As the name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use in a pinch, but micro also aims to be
12 enjoyable to use full time, whether you work in the terminal because you prefer it (like me), or because you need to (over ssh).
14 Here is a picture of micro editing its source code.
16 ![Screenshot](./assets/micro-solarized.png)
18 To see more screenshots of micro, showcasing all of the default colorschemes, see [here](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/screenshots.html).
20 You can also check out the website for Micro at https://micro-editor.github.io.
24 * Easy to use and to install
25 * No dependencies or external files are needed -- just the binary you can download further down the page
26 * Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
27 * Keybindings can be rebound to your liking
29 * You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure)
31 * Extremely good mouse support
32 * This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line
33 * Cross platform (It should work on all the platforms Go runs on)
34 * Note that while Windows is supported, there are still some bugs that need to be worked out
35 * Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua)
36 * Micro has a built-in plugin manager to automatically install, remove, and update all your plugins
38 * Automatic linting and error notifications
39 * Syntax highlighting (for over [90 languages](runtime/syntax)!)
41 * By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
42 * True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` env variable to 1 to enable it)
44 * The snippet plugin can be installed with `> plugin install snippets`
45 * Copy and paste with the system clipboard
49 * Common editor things such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, softwrap...
51 Although not yet implemented, I hope to add more features such as autocompletion ([#174](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues/174)), and multiple cursors ([#5](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues/5)) in the future.
55 To install micro, you can download a [prebuilt binary](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases), or you can build it from source.
57 If you want more information about ways to install micro, see this [wiki page](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/wiki/Installing-Micro).
61 All you need to install micro is one file, the binary itself. It's as simple as that!
63 Download the binary from the [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases) page.
65 On that page you'll see the nightly release, which contains binaries for micro which are built every night,
66 and you'll see all the stable releases with the corresponding binaries.
68 If you'd like to see more information after installing micro, run `micro -version`.
72 You can install micro using Homebrew on Mac:
78 On Windows, you can install micro through Chocolatey:
84 ### Building from source
86 If your operating system does not have a binary release, but does run Go, you can build from source.
88 Make sure that you have Go version 1.5 or greater (Go 1.4 will work if your version supports CGO) and that your `GOPATH` env variable is set (I recommand setting it to `~/go` if you don't have one).
91 go get -d github.com/zyedidia/micro
92 cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/zyedidia/micro
96 The binary will then be installed to `$GOPATH/bin` (or your `$GOBIN`).
98 You can install directly with `go get` (`go get -u github.com/zyedidia/micro/cmd/micro`) but this isn't recommended because it doesn't build micro with version information which is useful for the plugin manager.
102 If you are using MacOS, you should consider using [iTerm2](http://iterm2.com/) instead of the default Mac terminal. The iTerm2 terminal has much better mouse support as well as better handling of key events. The newest versions also support true color.
104 ### Linux clipboard support
106 On Linux, clipboard support requires the 'xclip' or 'xsel' commands to be installed.
111 sudo apt-get install xclip
114 If you don't have xclip or xsel, micro will use an internal clipboard for copy and paste, but it won't work with external applications.
116 ### Colors and syntax highlighting
118 If you open micro and it doesn't seem like syntax highlighting is working, this is probably because
119 you are using a terminal which does not support 256 color. Try changing the colorscheme to `simple`
120 by pressing CtrlE in micro and typing `set colorscheme simple`.
122 If you are using the default Ubuntu terminal, to enable 256 make sure your `TERM` variable is set
125 Many of the Windows terminals don't support more than 16 colors, which means
126 that micro's default colorscheme won't look very good. You can either set
127 the colorscheme to `simple`, or download a better terminal emulator, like
130 ### Plan9, NaCl, Cygwin
132 Please note that micro uses the amazing [tcell library](https://github.com/gdamore/tcell), but this
133 means that micro is restricted to the platforms tcell supports. As a result, micro does not support
134 Plan9, NaCl, and Cygwin (although this may change in the future).
138 Once you have built the editor, simply start it by running `micro path/to/file.txt` or simply `micro` to open an empty buffer.
140 Micro also supports creating buffers from `stdin`:
146 You can move the cursor around with the arrow keys and mouse.
148 You can also use the mouse to manipulate the text. Simply clicking and dragging
149 will select text. You can also double click to enable word selection, and triple
150 click to enable line selection.
152 # Documentation and Help
154 Micro has a built-in help system which you can access by pressing `Ctrl-E` and typing `help`. Additionally, you can
155 view the help files here:
157 * [main help](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/help.md)
158 * [keybindings](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/keybindings.md)
159 * [commands](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/commands.md)
160 * [colors](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/colors.md)
161 * [options](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/options.md)
162 * [plugins](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/plugins.md)
164 I also recommend reading the [tutorial](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/tutorial.md) for
165 a brief introduction to the more powerful configuration features micro offers.
169 If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone.
171 You can use the [GitHub issue tracker](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues)
172 to report bugs, ask questions, or suggest new features.
174 For a more informal setting to discuss the editor, you can join the [Gitter chat](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro).