-# 
+<img alt="micro logo" src="./assets/micro-logo-drop.svg" width="500px"/>
[](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro)
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-[](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
+[](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases)
[](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/LICENSE)
-[](https://build.snapcraft.io/user/zyedidia/micro)
+[](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
+[](https://snapcraft.io/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.
-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](https://micro-editor.github.io).
+
You can also check out the website for Micro at https://micro-editor.github.io.
-# 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, there are still some bugs that need to be worked out
-* Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua)
- * Micro has a built-in plugin manager to automatically install, remove, and update all your plugins
-* Persistent undo
-* Automatic linting and error notifications
-* Syntax highlighting (for over [90 languages](runtime/syntax)!)
-* Colorscheme support
- * By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
-* True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` env variable to 1 to enable it)
-* Snippets
- * The snippet plugin can be installed with `> plugin install snippets`
-* 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...
-
-Although not yet implemented, I hope to add more features such as autocompletion ([#174](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues/174)) or a tree view ([#249](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues/249)) in the future.
-
-# Installation
+## Table of Contents
+
+- [Features](#features)
+- [Installation](#installation)
+ - [Prebuilt binaries](#pre-built-binaries)
+ - [Package Managers](#package-managers)
+ - [Building from source](#building-from-source)
+ - [Fully static binary](#fully-static-binary)
+ - [macOS terminal](#macos-terminal)
+ - [Linux clipboard support](#linux-clipboard-support)
+ - [Colors and syntax highlighting](#colors-and-syntax-highlighting)
+ - [Cygwin, Mingw, Plan9](#cygwin-mingw-plan9)
+- [Usage](#usage)
+- [Documentation and Help](#documentation-and-help)
+- [Contributing](#contributing)
+
+- - -
+
+## 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).
-### Prebuilt binaries
-
-All you need to install micro is one file, the binary itself. It's as simple as that!
+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.
-Download the binary from the [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases) page.
+A desktop entry file and man page can be found in the [assets/packaging](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/assets/packaging) directory.
-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.
+### Pre-built binaries
-If you'd like to see more information after installing micro, run `micro -version`.
+Pre-built binaries are distributed with [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases).
-### Installation script
+To uninstall micro, simply remove the binary, and the configuration directory at `~/.config/micro`.
-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)).
+#### Quick-install script
-Then you can easily install micro:
-
- $ 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. From there, you can move it to a directory on your path of your choosing (e.g. `sudo mv micro /usr/bin`). See its [GitHub repository](https://github.com/benweissmann/getmic.ro) for more information.
-### Package managers
+#### Eget
-You can install micro using Homebrew on Mac:
+With [Eget](https://github.com/zyedidia/eget) installed, you can easily get a pre-built binary:
```
-brew install micro
+eget zyedidia/micro
```
-On Windows, you can install micro through [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/) or [Scoop](https://github.com/lukesampson/scoop):
+Use `--tag VERSION` to download a specific tagged version.
```
-choco install micro
+eget --tag nightly zyedidia/micro # download the nightly version (compiled every day at midnight UTC)
+eget --tag v2.0.8 zyedidia/micro # download version 2.0.8 rather than the latest release
```
-or
+You can install `micro` by adding `--to /usr/local/bin` to the `eget` command, or move the binary manually to a directory on your `$PATH` after the download completes.
+
+See [Eget](https://github.com/zyedidia/eget) for more information.
+
+### Package managers
+
+You can install micro using Homebrew on Mac:
```
-scoop install micro
+brew install micro
```
+**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
```
-On OpenBSD, micro is available in the ports tree. It is also available as a binary package.
-
-```
-pkg_add -v micro
-```
+Micro is also available through other package managers on Linux such dnf, AUR, Nix, and package managers
+for other operating systems. These packages are not guaranteed to be up-to-date.
+
+<!-- * `apt install micro` (Ubuntu 20.04 `focal`, and Debian `unstable | testing | buster-backports`). At the moment, this package (2.0.1-1) is outdated and has a known bug where debug mode is enabled. -->
+
+* Linux: Available in distro-specific package managers.
+ * `dnf install micro` (Fedora).
+ * `apt install micro` (Ubuntu and Debian).
+ * `pacman -S micro` (Arch Linux).
+ * `emerge app-editors/micro` (Gentoo).
+ * `eopkg install micro` (Solus).
+ * `pacstall -I micro` (Pacstall).
+ * 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`
+* macOS with [MacPorts](https://www.macports.org):
+ * `sudo port install micro`
+
+**Note for Linux desktop environments:**
+
+For interfacing with the local system clipboard, the following tools need to be installed:
+* For X11 `xclip` or `xsel`
+* For [Wayland](https://wayland.freedesktop.org/) `wl-clipboard`
+
+Without these tools installed, micro will use an internal clipboard for copy and paste, but it won't be accessible to external applications.
### Building from source
If your operating system does not have a binary release, but does run Go, you can build from source.
-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 recommend setting it to `~/go` if you don't have one).
+Make sure that you have Go version 1.16 or greater and Go modules are enabled.
```
-go get -d github.com/zyedidia/micro/cmd/micro
-cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/zyedidia/micro
-make install
+git clone https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
+cd micro
+make build
+sudo mv micro /usr/local/bin # optional
```
-The binary will then be installed to `$GOPATH/bin` (or your `$GOBIN`).
+The binary will be placed in the current directory and can be moved to
+anywhere you like (for example `/usr/local/bin`).
-Please make sure that when you are working with micro's code, you are working on your `GOPATH`.
+The command `make install` will install the binary to `$GOPATH/bin` or `$GOBIN`.
-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.
+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 (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
-### Linux clipboard support
+```
+CGO_ENABLED=0 make build
+```
-On Linux, clipboard support requires the 'xclip' or 'xsel' commands to be installed.
+### macOS terminal
-For Ubuntu:
+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.
-```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 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>.
### 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 color. 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.
+
+### Cygwin, Mingw, Plan9
-### Plan9, Cygwin
+Cygwin, Mingw, and Plan9 are unfortunately not officially supported. In Cygwin and Mingw, micro will often work when run using
+the `winpty` utility:
-Please note that micro uses the amazing [tcell library](https://github.com/gdamore/tcell), but this
+```
+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
+ip a | micro
```
You can move the cursor around with the arrow keys and mouse.
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
+There is also an unofficial Discord, which you can join at https://discord.gg/nhWR6armnR.
+
+## Contributing
If you find any bugs, please report them! I am also happy to accept pull requests from anyone.
You can use the [GitHub issue tracker](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues)
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).
+For a more informal setting to discuss the editor, you can join the [Gitter chat](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro) or the [Discord](https://discord.gg/nhWR6armnR). You can also use the [Discussions](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/discussions) section on Github for a forum-like setting or for Q&A.
+
+Sometimes I am unresponsive, and I apologize! If that happens, please ping me.
projects / micro.git / blobdiff