1 # [![micro logo](./assets/logo.png)](https://micro-editor.github.io)
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)
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6 [![MIT License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/LICENSE)
7 [![Snap Status](https://build.snapcraft.io/badge/zyedidia/micro.svg)](https://build.snapcraft.io/user/zyedidia/micro)
9 **micro** is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the capabilities
10 of modern terminals. It comes as a single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies; you can download and use it right now!
12 As its name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use.
13 It strives to be enjoyable as a full-time editor for people who prefer to work in a terminal, or those who regularly edit files over SSH.
15 Here is a picture of micro editing its source code.
17 ![Screenshot](./assets/micro-solarized.png)
19 To see more screenshots of micro, showcasing some of the default color schemes, see [here](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/screenshots.html).
21 You can also check out the website for Micro at https://micro-editor.github.io.
25 - [Features](#features)
26 - [Installation](#installation)
27 - [Prebuilt binaries](#prebuilt-binaries)
28 - [Package Managers](#package-managers)
29 - [Building from source](#building-from-source)
30 - [macOS terminal](#macos-terminal)
31 - [Linux clipboard support](#linux-clipboard-support)
32 - [Colors and syntax highlighting](#colors-and-syntax-highlighting)
33 - [Plan9, Cygwin, Mingw](#plan9-cygwin-mingw)
35 - [Documentation and Help](#documentation-and-help)
36 - [Contributing](#contributing)
42 * Easy to use and to install
43 * No dependencies or external files are needed -- just the binary you can download further down the page
45 * Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
46 * Keybindings can be rebound to your liking
48 * You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure)
50 * Nano-like menu to help you remember the keybindings
51 * Extremely good mouse support
52 * This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line
53 * Cross platform (It should work on all the platforms Go runs on)
54 * Note that while Windows is supported Mingw/Cygwin is not (see below)
55 * Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua)
57 * Automatic linting and error notifications
58 * Syntax highlighting (for over [120 languages](runtime/syntax)!)
60 * By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
61 * True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` environment variable to 1 to enable it)
62 * Copy and paste with the system clipboard (requires xclip/xsel on Linux)
63 * Built-in diff gutter
64 * Simple autocompletion
68 * Common editor things such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, softwrap...
74 - Easy to use and install.
75 - No dependencies or external files are needed — just the binary you can download further down the page.
77 - Common keybindings (<kbd>Ctrl+S</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl+C</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl+V</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl+Z</kbd>, …).
78 - Keybindings can be rebound to your liking.
80 - You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure).
82 - nano-like menu to help you remember the keybindings.
83 - Extremely good mouse support.
84 - This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line.
85 - Cross-platform (it should work on all the platforms Go runs on).
86 - Note that while Windows is supported Mingw/Cygwin is not (see below)
87 - Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua).
88 - micro has a built-in plugin manager to automatically install, remove, and update plugins.
89 - Built-in diff gutter
90 - Simple autocompletion
92 - Automatic linting and error notifications
93 - Syntax highlighting for over [130 languages](runtime/syntax).
94 - Color scheme support.
95 - By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
96 - True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` environment variable to 1 to enable it).
97 - Copy and paste with the system clipboard.
99 - Easily configurable.
101 - Common editor features such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, soft wrapping, …
105 To install micro, you can download a [prebuilt binary](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases), or you can build it from source.
107 If you want more information about ways to install micro, see this [wiki page](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/wiki/Installing-Micro).
109 ### Prebuilt binaries
111 All you need to install micro is one file, the binary itself. It's as simple as that!
113 Download the binary from the [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases) page.
115 On that page you'll see the nightly release, which contains binaries for micro which are built every night,
116 and you'll see all the stable releases with the corresponding binaries.
118 Running `micro -version` will give you the version information.
120 ### Installation script
122 There is a script which can install micro for you by downloading the latest prebuilt binary. You can find it at <https://getmic.ro>.
124 Then you can easily install micro:
127 curl https://getmic.ro | bash
130 The script will install the micro binary to the current directory. See its [GitHub repository](https://github.com/benweissmann/getmic.ro) for more information.
134 You can install micro using Homebrew on Mac:
140 On Debian Linux, you can install micro through [snap](https://snapcraft.io/docs/core/install)
143 snap install micro --classic
146 Homebrew and snap are the two "officially" maintained package manager distributions of micro.
148 Micro is also available through other package managers on Linux such as AUR, Nix, and package managers
149 for other operating systems:
151 * Windows: [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org) and [Scoop](https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop)
152 * `choco install micro`
153 * `scoop install micro`
154 * OpenBSD: Available in the ports tree and also available as a binary package
157 ### Building from source
159 If your operating system does not have a binary release, but does run Go, you can build from source.
161 Make sure that you have Go version 1.11 or greater and Go modules are enabled.
164 git clone https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
167 sudo mv micro /usr/local/bin # optional
170 The binary will be placed in the current directory and can be moved to
171 anywhere you like (for example `/usr/local/bin`).
173 The command `make install` will install the binary to `$GOPATH/bin` or `$GOBIN`.
175 You can install directly with `go get` (`go get github.com/zyedidia/micro/cmd/micro`) but this isn't
176 recommended because it doesn't build micro with version information (necessary for the plugin manager),
177 and doesn't disable debug mode.
181 If you are using macOS, you should consider using [iTerm2](http://iterm2.com/) instead of the default terminal (Terminal.app). The iTerm2 terminal has much better mouse support as well as better handling of key events. For best keybinding behavior, choose `xterm defaults` under `Preferences->Profiles->Keys->Load Preset`. The newest versions also support true color.
183 If you still insist on using the default Mac terminal, be sure to set `Use Option key as Meta key` under
184 `Preferences->Profiles->Keyboard` to use <kbd>option</kbd> as <kbd>alt</kbd>.
186 ### Linux clipboard support
188 On Linux, clipboard support requires the `xclip` or `xsel` commands to be installed.
193 sudo apt-get install xclip
196 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.
198 ### Colors and syntax highlighting
200 If you open micro and it doesn't seem like syntax highlighting is working, this is probably because
201 you are using a terminal which does not support 256 color mode. Try changing the color scheme to `simple`
202 by pressing <kbd>Ctrl+E</kbd> in micro and typing `set colorscheme simple`.
204 If you are using the default Ubuntu terminal, to enable 256 make sure your `TERM` variable is set
207 Many of the Windows terminals don't support more than 16 colors, which means
208 that micro's default color scheme won't look very good. You can either set
209 the color scheme to `simple`, or download and configure a better terminal emulator
210 than the Windows default.
212 ### Cygwin, Mingw, Plan9
214 Cygwin, Mingw, and Plan9 are unfortunately not officially supported. In Cygwin and Mingw, micro will often work when run using
215 the `winpty` utility:
221 Micro uses the amazing [tcell library](https://github.com/gdamore/tcell), but this
222 means that micro is restricted to the platforms tcell supports. As a result, micro does not support
223 Plan9, and Cygwin (although this may change in the future). Micro also doesn't support NaCl (which is deprecated anyway).
227 Once you have built the editor, start it by running `micro path/to/file.txt` or `micro` to open an empty buffer.
229 micro also supports creating buffers from `stdin`:
235 You can move the cursor around with the arrow keys and mouse.
237 You can also use the mouse to manipulate the text. Simply clicking and dragging
238 will select text. You can also double click to enable word selection, and triple
239 click to enable line selection.
241 ## Documentation and Help
243 micro has a built-in help system which you can access by pressing <kbd>Ctrl+E</kbd> and typing `help`. Additionally, you can
244 view the help files here:
246 - [main help](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/help.md)
247 - [keybindings](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/keybindings.md)
248 - [commands](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/commands.md)
249 - [colors](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/colors.md)
250 - [options](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/options.md)
251 - [plugins](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/plugins.md)
253 I also recommend reading the [tutorial](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/tutorial.md) for
254 a brief introduction to the more powerful configuration features micro offers.
258 If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone.
260 You can use the [GitHub issue tracker](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues)
261 to report bugs, ask questions, or suggest new features.
263 For a more informal setting to discuss the editor, you can join the [Gitter chat](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro).