-# ![Micro](./assets/logo.png)
+<img alt="micro logo" src="./assets/micro-logo.svg" width="500px"/>
[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro)
[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/zyedidia/micro)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/zyedidia/micro)
-[![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)
+[![Release](https://img.shields.io/github/release/zyedidia/micro.svg?label=Release)](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases)
[![MIT License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/LICENSE)
+[![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)
[![Snap Status](https://build.snapcraft.io/badge/zyedidia/micro.svg)](https://build.snapcraft.io/user/zyedidia/micro)
-Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities
-of modern terminals. It comes as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies, and you can download and use it right now.
+**micro** is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the capabilities
+of modern terminals. It comes as a single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies; you can download and use it right now!
-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
-enjoyable to use full time, whether you work in the terminal because you prefer it (like me), or because you need to (over ssh).
+As its name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use.
+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.
Here is a picture of micro editing its source code.
![Screenshot](./assets/micro-solarized.png)
-To see more screenshots of micro, showcasing all of the default colorschemes, see [here](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/screenshots.html).
+To see more screenshots of micro, showcasing some of the default color schemes, see [here](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/screenshots.html).
You can also check out the website for Micro at https://micro-editor.github.io.
-# Table of Contents
+## Table of Contents
+
- [Features](#features)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Prebuilt binaries](#prebuilt-binaries)
- [Package Managers](#package-managers)
- [Building from source](#building-from-source)
- - [MacOS terminal](#macos-terminal)
+ - [Fully static binary](#fully-static-binary)
+ - [macOS terminal](#macos-terminal)
- [Linux clipboard support](#linux-clipboard-support)
- [Colors and syntax highlighting](#colors-and-syntax-highlighting)
- [Plan9, Cygwin, Mingw](#plan9-cygwin-mingw)
- - -
-# Features
-
-* Easy to use and to install
-* No dependencies or external files are needed -- just the binary you can download further down the page
-* Multiple cursors
-* Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
- * Keybindings can be rebound to your liking
-* Sane defaults
- * You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure)
-* Splits and tabs
-* Nano-like menu to help you remember the keybindings
-* Extremely good mouse support
- * This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line
-* Cross platform (It should work on all the platforms Go runs on)
- * Note that while Windows is supported Mingw/Cygwin is not (see below)
-* Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua)
-* Persistent undo
-* Automatic linting and error notifications
-* Syntax highlighting (for over [120 languages](runtime/syntax)!)
-* Colorscheme support
- * By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
-* True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` environment variable to 1 to enable it)
-* Copy and paste with the system clipboard
-* Small and simple
-* Easily configurable
-* Macros
-* Common editor things such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, softwrap...
-
-# Installation
+## Features
+
+- Easy to use and install.
+- No dependencies or external files are needed — just the binary you can download further down the page.
+- Multiple cursors.
+- Common keybindings (<kbd>Ctrl-s</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl-c</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl-v</kbd>, <kbd>Ctrl-z</kbd>, …).
+ - Keybindings can be rebound to your liking.
+- Sane defaults.
+ - You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure).
+- Splits and tabs.
+- nano-like menu to help you remember the keybindings.
+- Extremely good mouse support.
+ - This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line.
+- Cross-platform (it should work on all the platforms Go runs on).
+ - Note that while Windows is supported Mingw/Cygwin is not (see below).
+- Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua).
+ - micro has a built-in plugin manager to automatically install, remove, and update plugins.
+- Built-in diff gutter.
+- Simple autocompletion.
+- Persistent undo.
+- Automatic linting and error notifications.
+- Syntax highlighting for over [130 languages](runtime/syntax).
+- Color scheme support.
+ - By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
+- True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` environment variable to 1 to enable it).
+- Copy and paste with the system clipboard.
+- Small and simple.
+- Easily configurable.
+- Macros.
+- Common editor features such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, soft wrapping, …
+
+## Installation
To install micro, you can download a [prebuilt binary](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases), or you can build it from source.
If you want more information about ways to install micro, see this [wiki page](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/wiki/Installing-Micro).
+Use `micro -version` to get the version information after installing. It is only guaranteed that you are installing the most recent
+stable version if you install from the prebuilt binaries, Homebrew, or Snap.
+
### Prebuilt binaries
All you need to install micro is one file, the binary itself. It's as simple as that!
Download the binary from the [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases) page.
-On that page you'll see the nightly release, which contains binaries for micro which are built every night,
-and you'll see all the stable releases with the corresponding binaries.
-
-If you'd like to see more information after installing micro, run `micro -version`.
-
### Installation script
-There is a great script which can install micro for you by downloading the latest prebuilt binary. You can find it at https://getmic.ro (the github repo for it is [here](https://github.com/benweissmann/getmic.ro)).
+There is a script which can install micro for you by downloading the latest prebuilt binary. You can find it at <https://getmic.ro>.
-Then you can easily install micro:
+You can easily install micro by running
- $ curl https://getmic.ro | bash
-
-The script will install the micro binary to the current directory.
+```bash
+curl https://getmic.ro | bash
+```
-See the [Github page](https://github.com/benweissmann/getmic.ro) for more information.
+The script will place the micro binary in the current directory. See its [GitHub repository](https://github.com/benweissmann/getmic.ro) for more information.
### Package managers
brew install micro
```
-On Debian Linux, you can install micro through [snap](https://snapcraft.io/docs/core/install)
+**Note for Mac:** All micro keybindings use the control or alt (option) key, not the command
+key. By default, macOS terminals do not forward alt key events. To fix this, please see
+the section on [macOS terminals](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro#macos-terminal) further below.
+
+On Linux, you can install micro through [snap](https://snapcraft.io/docs/core/install)
```
snap install micro --classic
```
-Homebrew and snap are the two "officially" maintained package manager distributions of micro.
-
-Micro is also available through other package managers on Linux such as AUR, Nix, and package managers
-for other operating systems:
-
-* Windows: [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org) and [Scoop](https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop)
- * `choco install micro`
- * `scoop install micro`
-* OpenBSD: Available in the ports tree and also available as a binary package
- * `pkd_add -v micro`
+**Note for Linux:** for interfacing with the local system clipboard, `xclip` or `xsel`
+must be installed. Please see the section on [Linux clipboard support](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro#linux-clipboard-support)
+further below.
+
+Micro is also available through other package managers on Linux such as apt, dnf, AUR, Nix, and package managers
+for other operating systems. These packages are not guaranteed to be up-to-date.
+
+* Linux: Available in distro-specific package managers.
+ * `apt install micro` (Ubuntu 20.04 `focal`, and Debian `unstable | testing | buster-backports`).
+ * `dnf install micro` (Fedora).
+ * `yay -S micro` (Arch Linux).
+ * See [wiki](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/wiki/Installing-Micro) for details about CRUX, Termux.
+* Windows: [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org) and [Scoop](https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop).
+ * `choco install micro`.
+ * `scoop install micro`.
+* OpenBSD: Available in the ports tree and also available as a binary package.
+ * `pkd_add -v micro`.
+* NetBSD, macOS, Linux, Illumos, etc. with [pkgsrc](http://www.pkgsrc.org/)-current:
+ * `pkg_add micro`
### Building from source
The command `make install` will install the binary to `$GOPATH/bin` or `$GOBIN`.
You can install directly with `go get` (`go get github.com/zyedidia/micro/cmd/micro`) but this isn't
-recommended because it doesn't build micro with version information, and doesn't disable debug mode.
+recommended because it doesn't build micro with version information (necessary for the plugin manager),
+and doesn't disable debug mode.
-### MacOS terminal
+### Fully static binary
-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. For best keybinding behavior, choose `xterm defaults` under `Preferences->Profiles->Keys->Load Preset`. The newest versions also support true color.
+By default, the micro binary will dynamically link with core system libraries (this is generally
+recommended for security and portability). However, there is a fully static prebuilt binary that
+is provided for amd64 as `linux-static.tar.gz`, and to build a fully static binary from source, run
+
+```
+CGO_ENABLED=0 make build
+```
+
+### macOS terminal
+
+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->Presets...`, and select `Esc+` for `Left Option Key` in the same menu. The newest versions also support true color.
If you still insist on using the default Mac terminal, be sure to set `Use Option key as Meta key` under
`Preferences->Profiles->Keyboard` to use <kbd>option</kbd> as <kbd>alt</kbd>.
### Linux clipboard support
-On Linux, clipboard support requires the 'xclip' or 'xsel' commands to be installed.
+On Linux, clipboard support requires:
-For Ubuntu:
+- On X11, the `xclip` or `xsel` commands (for Ubuntu: `sudo apt install xclip`)
+- On Wayland, the `wl-clipboard` command
-```sh
-sudo apt-get install xclip
-```
-
-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.
+If you don't have these commands, micro will use an internal clipboard for copy and paste, but it won't work with external applications.
### Colors and syntax highlighting
If you open micro and it doesn't seem like syntax highlighting is working, this is probably because
-you are using a terminal which does not support 256 colors. Try changing the colorscheme to `simple`
-by pressing CtrlE in micro and typing `set colorscheme simple`.
+you are using a terminal which does not support 256 color mode. Try changing the color scheme to `simple`
+by pressing <kbd>Ctrl-e</kbd> in micro and typing `set colorscheme simple`.
If you are using the default Ubuntu terminal, to enable 256 make sure your `TERM` variable is set
to `xterm-256color`.
Many of the Windows terminals don't support more than 16 colors, which means
-that micro's default colorscheme won't look very good. You can either set
-the colorscheme to `simple`, or download a better terminal emulator, like
-mintty.
+that micro's default color scheme won't look very good. You can either set
+the color scheme to `simple`, or download and configure a better terminal emulator
+than the Windows default.
-### Plan9, Cygwin, Mingw
+### Cygwin, Mingw, Plan9
-These platforms are unfortunately not supported.
+Cygwin, Mingw, and Plan9 are unfortunately not officially supported. In Cygwin and Mingw, micro will often work when run using
+the `winpty` utility:
+
+```
+winpty micro.exe ...
+```
Micro uses the amazing [tcell library](https://github.com/gdamore/tcell), but this
means that micro is restricted to the platforms tcell supports. As a result, micro does not support
-Plan9, and Cygwin (although this may change in the future). Micro also doesn't support NaCl (but NaCl is deprecated anyways).
+Plan9, and Cygwin (although this may change in the future). Micro also doesn't support NaCl (which is deprecated anyway).
-# Usage
+## Usage
-Once you have built the editor, simply start it by running `micro path/to/file.txt` or simply `micro` to open an empty buffer.
+Once you have built the editor, start it by running `micro path/to/file.txt` or `micro` to open an empty buffer.
-Micro also supports creating buffers from `stdin`:
+micro also supports creating buffers from `stdin`:
```sh
ifconfig | micro
will select text. You can also double click to enable word selection, and triple
click to enable line selection.
-# Documentation and Help
+## Documentation and Help
-Micro has a built-in help system which you can access by pressing `Ctrl-E` and typing `help`. Additionally, you can
+micro has a built-in help system which you can access by pressing <kbd>Ctrl-e</kbd> and typing `help`. Additionally, you can
view the help files here:
-* [main help](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/help.md)
-* [keybindings](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/keybindings.md)
-* [commands](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/commands.md)
-* [colors](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/colors.md)
-* [options](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/options.md)
-* [plugins](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/plugins.md)
+- [main help](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/help.md)
+- [keybindings](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/keybindings.md)
+- [commands](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/commands.md)
+- [colors](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/colors.md)
+- [options](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/options.md)
+- [plugins](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/plugins.md)
I also recommend reading the [tutorial](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/runtime/help/tutorial.md) for
a brief introduction to the more powerful configuration features micro offers.
-# Contributing
+## Contributing
If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone.
to report bugs, ask questions, or suggest new features.
For a more informal setting to discuss the editor, you can join the [Gitter chat](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro).
+
+Sometimes I am unresponsive, and I apologize! If that happens, please ping me.