# Micro help text 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. ### 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. Micro also supports creating buffers from stdin: ``` $ ifconfig | micro ``` You can move the cursor around with the arrow keys and mouse. ### Keybindings These are the default keybindings, along with their actions. * Ctrl-q: Quit * Ctrl-e: Execute a command * Ctrl-g: Toggle help text * Ctrl-b: Run a shell command * Ctrl-s: Save * Ctrl-o: Open file * Ctrl-z: Undo * Ctrl-y: Redo * Ctrl-f: Find * Ctrl-n: Find next * Ctrl-p: Find previous * Ctrl-a: Select all * Ctrl-c: Copy * Ctrl-x: Cut * Ctrl-k: Cut line * Ctrl-d: Duplicate line * Ctrl-v: Paste * PageUp: Page up * PageDown: Page down * Home: Go to beginning of line * End: Go to end of line * Ctrl-r: Toggle line numbers You can use the alt keys + arrows to move word by word. Ctrl left and right move the cursor to the start and end of the line, and ctrl up and down move the cursor the start and end of the buffer. You can hold shift with all of these movement actions to select while moving. The bindings may be rebound using the `~/.config/micro/bindings.json` file. Each key is bound to an action. For example, to bind `Ctrl-y` to undo and `Ctrl-z` to redo, you could put the following in the `bindings.json` file. ```json { "CtrlY": "Undo", "CtrlZ": "Redo" } ``` Here are the defaults: ```json { "Up": "CursorUp", "Down": "CursorDown", "Right": "CursorRight", "Left": "CursorLeft", "ShiftUp": "SelectUp", "ShiftDown": "SelectDown", "ShiftLeft": "SelectLeft", "ShiftRight": "SelectRight", "AltLeft": "WordLeft", "AltRight": "WordRight", "AltShiftRight": "SelectWordRight", "AltShiftLeft": "SelectWordLeft", "CtrlLeft": "StartOfLine", "CtrlRight": "EndOfLine", "CtrlShiftLeft": "SelectToStartOfLine", "CtrlShiftRight": "SelectToEndOfLine", "CtrlUp": "CursorStart", "CtrlDown": "CursorEnd", "CtrlShiftUp": "SelectToStart", "CtrlShiftDown": "SelectToEnd", "Enter": "InsertEnter", "Space": "InsertSpace", "Backspace": "Backspace", "Backspace2": "Backspace", "Tab": "InsertTab", "CtrlO": "OpenFile", "CtrlS": "Save", "CtrlF": "Find", "CtrlN": "FindNext", "CtrlP": "FindPrevious", "CtrlZ": "Undo", "CtrlY": "Redo", "CtrlC": "Copy", "CtrlX": "Cut", "CtrlK": "CutLine", "CtrlD": "DuplicateLine", "CtrlV": "Paste", "CtrlA": "SelectAll", "Home": "Start", "End": "End", "PgUp": "PageUp", "PgDn": "PageDown", "CtrlG": "ToggleHelp", "CtrlR": "ToggleRuler", "CtrlL": "JumpLine", "Delete": "Delete", "Esc": "ClearStatus", "CtrlB": "ShellMode", "CtrlQ": "Quit", "CtrlE": "CommandMode", // Emacs-style keybindings "Alt-f": "WordRight", "Alt-b": "WordLeft", "Alt-a": "StartOfLine", "Alt-e": "EndOfLine", "Alt-p": "CursorUp", "Alt-n": "CursorDown", } ``` ### Possible commands You can execute an editor command by pressing `Ctrl-e` followed by the command. Here are the possible commands that you can use. * `quit`: Quits micro. * `save`: Saves the current buffer. * `replace "search" "value" flags`: This will replace `search` with `value`. The `flags` are optional. At this point, there is only one flag: `c`, which enables `check` mode which asks if you'd like to perform the replacement each time Note that `search` must be a valid regex. If one of the arguments does not have any spaces in it, you may omit the quotes. * `set option value`: sets the option to value. Please see the next section for a list of options you can set. * `run sh-command`: runs the given shell command in the background. The command's output will be displayed in one line when it finishes running. * `bind key action`: creates a keybinding from key to action. See the sections on keybindings above for more info about what keys and actions are available. ### Options Micro stores all of the user configuration in its configuration directory. Micro uses the `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/micro` as the configuration directory. As per the XDG spec, if `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is not set, `~/.config/micro` is used as the config directory. Here are the options that you can set: * `colorscheme`: loads the colorscheme stored in $(configDir)/colorschemes/`option`.micro default value: `default` Note that the default colorschemes (default, solarized, and solarized-tc) are not located in configDir, because they are embedded in the micro binary The colorscheme can be selected from all the files in the ~/.config/micro/colorschemes/ directory. Micro comes by default with three colorschemes: * default: this is the default colorscheme. * solarized: this is the solarized colorscheme (used in the screenshot). You should have the solarized color palette in your terminal to use it. * solarized-tc: this is the solarized colorscheme for true color, just make sure your terminal supports true color before using it and that the MICRO_TRUECOLOR environment variable is set to 1 before starting micro. * `tabsize`: sets the tab size to `option` default value: `4` * `indentchar`: sets the indentation character default value: ` ` * `ignorecase`: perform case-insensitive searches default value: `off` * `syntax`: turns syntax on or off default value: `on` * `tabstospaces`: use spaces instead of tabs default value: `off` * `autoindent`: when creating a new line use the same indentation as the previous line default value: `on` * `ruler`: display line numbers default value: `on` * `statusline`: display the status line at the bottom of the screen default value: `on` * `savecursor`: remember where the cursor was last time the file was opened and put it there when you open the file again default value: `off` * `saveundo`: when this option is on, undo is saved even after you close a file so if you close and reopen a file, you can keep undoing default value: `off` * `scrollmargin`: amount of lines you would like to see above and below the cursor default value: `3` * `scrollspeed`: amount of lines to scroll for one scroll event default value: `2` --- Default plugin options: * `linter`: lint languages on save (supported languages are C, D, Go, Java, Javascript, Lua). Provided by the `linter` plugin. default value: `on` * `goimports`: Run goimports on save. Provided by the `go` plugin. default value: `off` * `gofmt`: Run gofmt on save. Provided by the `go` plugin. default value: `on` Any option you set in the editor will be saved to the file ~/.config/micro/settings.json so, in effect, your configuration file will be created for you. If you'd like to take your configuration with you to another machine, simply copy the settings.json to the other machine.