-# Micro
+<img alt="micro logo" src="./assets/micro-logo-drop.svg" width="500px"/>
[](https://travis-ci.org/zyedidia/micro)
-[](http://goreportcard.com/report/zyedidia/micro)
-[](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
+[](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/zyedidia/micro)
+[](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases)
[](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/LICENSE)
+[](https://gitter.im/zyedidia/micro?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
+[](https://snapcraft.io/micro)
-> Micro is very much a work in progress
+**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!
-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.
+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.
-
-
-# Features
-
-* Easy to use
-* Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
-* Extremely good mouse support
-* Cross platform
-* Syntax highlighting (in over [75 languages](runtime/syntax)!)
-* Colorscheme support
-* True color support (set the `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` env variable to 1 to enable it)
-* Search and replace
-* Sane defaults
-* Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua)
-* Undo and redo
-* Unicode support
-* Copy and paste with the system clipboard
-* Small and simple
-* Easily configurable
-
-# Installation
-
-This section gives instructions for how to simply install micro using the prebuilt binaries, or building from source.
-
-You can also install micro with a few package managers (on OSX, Arch Linux, and CRUX).
-See the [wiki page](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/wiki/Installing-Micro) for details.
-
-### Prebuilt binaries
-
-To easily install micro on any of the operating systems listed below, just download the tar file,
-extract it, and run the binary inside. It's as simple as that!
-
-Micro has no released version, instead these binaries are compiled every night and you can find the
-commit it was compiled with by running `micro -version`.
-
-Nightly binaries:
-* [Mac OS X](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-osx.tar.gz)
-* [Linux 64](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-linux64.tar.gz)
-* [Linux 32](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-linux32.tar.gz)
-* [Linux Arm](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-linux-arm.tar.gz)
-* [FreeBSD 64](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-freebsd64.tar.gz)
-* [FreeBSD 32](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-freebsd32.tar.gz)
-* [OpenBSD 64](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-openbsd64.tar.gz)
-* [OpenBSD 32](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-openbsd32.tar.gz)
-* [NetBSD 64](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-netbsd64.tar.gz)
-* [NetBSD 32](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-netbsd32.tar.gz)
-* [Windows 64](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-win64.zip)
-* [Windows 32](http://zbyedidia.webfactional.com/micro/binaries/micro-win32.zip)
-
-To run the micro binary just run `./bin/micro` (you probably want to place the binary on your `$PATH` for ease of use).
+
+
+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.
+
+## 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).
+
+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.
+
+A desktop entry file and man page can be found in the [assets/packaging](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/tree/master/assets/packaging) directory.
+
+### Pre-built binaries
+
+Pre-built binaries are distributed with [releases](https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/releases).
+
+To uninstall micro, simply remove the binary, and the configuration directory at `~/.config/micro`.
+
+#### Quick-install script
+
+```bash
+curl https://getmic.ro | bash
+```
+
+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.
+
+#### Eget
+
+With [Eget](https://github.com/zyedidia/eget) installed, you can easily get a pre-built binary:
+
+```
+eget zyedidia/micro
+```
+
+Use `--tag VERSION` to download a specific tagged version.
+
+```
+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
+```
+
+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:
+
+```
+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
+```
+
+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).
+ * `pacman -S micro` (Arch Linux).
+ * `eopkg install micro` (Solus).
+ * 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
-Make sure that you have Go version 1.4 or greater.
+If your operating system does not have a binary release, but does run Go, you can build from source.
-```sh
-go get -u github.com/zyedidia/micro/...
+Make sure that you have Go version 1.16 or greater and Go modules are enabled.
+
+```
+git clone https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
+cd micro
+make build
+sudo mv micro /usr/local/bin # optional
```
-### Clipboard support
+The binary will be placed in the current directory and can be moved to
+anywhere you like (for example `/usr/local/bin`).
-On Linux, clipboard support requires 'xclip' or 'xsel' command to be installed.
+The command `make install` will install the binary to `$GOPATH/bin` or `$GOBIN`.
-For Ubuntu:
+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.
+
+### Fully static binary
+
+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
-```sh
-sudo apt-get install xclip
```
+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>.
+
+### Colors and syntax highlighting
-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 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 mode. Try changing the color scheme to `simple`
+by pressing <kbd>Ctrl-e</kbd> in micro and typing `set colorscheme simple`.
-# Usage
+If you are using the default Ubuntu terminal, to enable 256 make sure your `TERM` variable is set
+to `xterm-256color`.
-Once you have built the editor, simply start it by running `micro path/to/file.txt` or simply `micro` to open an empty buffer.
+Many of the Windows terminals don't support more than 16 colors, which means
+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.
-Micro also supports creating buffers from `stdin`:
+### Cygwin, Mingw, Plan9
+
+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 (which is deprecated anyway).
+
+## Usage
+
+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`:
```sh
-ifconfig | micro
+ip a | micro
```
You can move the cursor around with the arrow keys and mouse.
-You can also use the mouse to manipulate the text. Simply clicking and dragging will select text. You can also double click
-to enable word selection, and triple click to enable line selection.
+You can also use the mouse to manipulate the text. Simply clicking and dragging
+will select text. You can also double click to enable word selection, and triple
+click to enable line selection.
+
+## Documentation and Help
+
+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:
-You can run `$ micro -version` to get the version number. Since there is no release, this just gives you the
-commit hash. The version is unknown if you built with `go get`, instead use `make install` or `make` to get a binary
-with a version number defined.
+- [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)
-### Help text
+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.
-See the [help text](./runtime/help/help.md) for information about keybindings, editor commands, colorschemes and
-configuration options.
+There is also an unofficial Discord, which you can join at https://discord.gg/nhWR6armnR.
-# Contributing
+## 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) 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