path: root/README.md

# ted

A text editor.

<img src="ted.png">

To download installers for ted for Windows and Debian/Ubuntu, go to
the [releases](https://github.com/pommicket/ted/releases).

## Why?

There are a lot of text editors out there. ted doesn't do anything new.
Here are some benefits of ted:

- Starts up immediately.
- Doesn't lag for reasonably-sized files.
- VERY small - a full ted installation is &lt; 5 MB.

ted isn't incredibly complicated, but it does have some nice features you might not find
in other editors.

## Supported features

- Customization of (pretty much) all colors and keyboard commands.
- Basic text editing like copy+paste, undo+redo, etc.
- Multiple tabs, each with a different file
- Split screen
- Auto-indent
- Syntax highlighting for C, C++, CSS, Go, HTML, Java, JavaScript, LaTeX, Markdown, Python, Rust, and TypeScript.
- Find and replace (with regular expressions!)
- Run build command, go to errors
- Run any shell command
- Autocomplete
- Go to definition
- Go to line number
- Indent/dedent selection, comment/uncomment selection
- Keyboard macros

## Getting started with ted

After installing ted, you can just start using it like you would any other editor. The keyboard shortcuts
are mostly what you'd expect them to be (Ctrl+o for open, Ctrl+n for new, Ctrl+s for save, etc.).

### Tips

- Even if you don't want to change anything with ted, it's a good idea to look at the config file (see below) to 
check out all of the keyboard shortcuts!
- You can use Ctrl+f for "find", but if you want to search for something across multiple files, you can do
Ctrl+! (run shell command), then run `grep -n search_term *.py`, for example (on Windows, you will need to have
cygwin or something in your PATH for this to work). The `-n` ensures that
ted can jump to the results, just like jumping to build errors.
- ted uses PCRE for regular expressions. This means that when using find+replace, if you want to
replace with a captured group, you need to use `$1`, not (as you might expect) `\1`.

### Configuration

At any time, you can check out all the keyboard shortcuts, and add your own, by opening your ted.cfg file.
To do this, press Ctrl+Shift+p
to open the command palette, and select "open-config". There are several sections to this config file:

- `[core]` for core settings
- `[keyboard]` for keyboard shortcuts
- `[colors]` for colors
- `[extensions]` for which file extensions should be mapped to which programming languages

Comments begin with `#`, and all other lines are of the form `key = value`.
Strings can span multiple lines and can either be delimited with " or \`.

You can also include files with `%include` (note: the included file must start with a section header).

By default ted's settings will automatically update when you save the config file.

The `core` section's settings should be pretty familiar (font size, etc.) or should have comments on the previous line
explaining what they do.

Keyboard shortcuts are of the form `key combo = action`, where `action` is an argument (number or string),
followed by a command. The commands match the things in the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+p), but `:` is added to the beginning to make
it clear it's a command.
A list of key names can be found [here](https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL2/SDL_Keycode).

Colors are formatted like `#rgb`, `#rgba`, `#rrggbb` or `#rrggbbaa`, where r, g, b, and a are red, green,
blue, and alpha (transparency/opacity). You can use a [color picker](https://www.google.com/search?q=color+picker) to help you out. 
The extensions section is fairly self-explanatory.

You can set settings for specific programming languages like this:

```
[HTML.core]
# set tab width for HTML files to 2
tab-width = 2
```

To reset your ted configuration to the default settings, delete your ted.cfg file (`~/.local/share/ted/ted.cfg` on Linux,
`C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\ted\ted.cfg` on Windows) or move it somewhere else.

#### Themes

At the top of `ted.cfg` you will see a line which includes a theme.
To modify just one color in the theme, you can do something like

```
%include themes/classic.ted.cfg

[colors]
# replace background color with solid red!
bg = #f00
```

but you can also change to a different theme. Currently `classic`,
`classic-light`, and `extradark` are available.

No matter what you should include a built-in theme (even if you
replace every single color), because more colors may be added to ted in the future,
and you will want them to be set to something reasonable.

### Keyboard macros

To record a macro, press Ctrl+F1/2/3/etc. While recording a macro,
you won't be able to click or drag (this is to make sure your macro works consistently).
Then press Ctrl+F*n* again to stop recording. You can execute the macro with Shift+F*n*.

Currently macros are always lost when ted is closed. The ability to save macros will probably
be added eventually.

### IDE-like features

If you are working in a compiled language, like C, you can press F4 to compile your code. The default is to run `make` in
the current directory or one of its parents, depending on where `Makefile` is. On Windows, if `make.bat` exists, it will be run.
If a `Cargo.toml` file exists in this directory or one of its parents, F4 will run `cargo build`. You can set the default build command
in the `[core]` section of the config file.

You can press Ctrl+\[ and Ctrl+\] to navigate between build errors.

### ctags vs LSP

`ted` has support for two separate systems for IDE features. `ctags`
is very lightweight (a ctags installation is just 1.6 MB), and allows
for go-to-definition and limited autocompletion. This has very low CPU usage,
and will work just fine on very large projects (for large projects I would
recommend increasing `tags-max-depth` and turning `regenerate-tags-if-not-found` off).

LSP servers have lots of features but use lots of CPU and memory,
and may take longer to come up with completions/find definitions, especially
for large projects. However the LSP server runs in a separate thread, so it will not slow down
the ordinary text editing features of `ted` (unless the server starts
using 100% of all CPU cores, which is unlikely).

I would recommend trying out an LSP server if you're unsure about which one to use.

## LSP support

ted has support for [LSP servers](https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/)!

All the functionality listed below is only available if the server supports it.

You can Ctrl+Click on an identifier to go to its definition, or Ctrl+Shift+Click to go
to its declaration, or Ctrl+Alt+Click to go to its type's definition.

You can also press Ctrl+D to get a searchable list of all functions/types where you can select one to go to
its definition. 

Press Ctrl+space to autocomplete. If there is only one possible completion, it will be selected automatically.
Otherwise, you'll get a popup showing all possible completions. You can press tab to select a completion (or click on it), and press
Ctrl+space/Ctrl+shift+space to cycle between suggestions.

When there is only one possible completion and the autocomplete window isn't open, a "phantom completion" will appear in gray text.
Press tab to use it or continue typing if it isn't what you want. (This can be turned off in the settings if you don't like it.)

Hover over an identifier and press F1 to see its type and documentation ("hover information").

While your cursor is over an identifier, you can press F2 to highlight where it is used
("document highlights"). If you turn on `highlight-auto` in the settings, the highlights
will appear even if you don't press F2.

Press Ctrl+U to see usages of the identifier under the cursor. You can use Ctrl+\[ and Ctrl+\]
to navigate between them, just like build errors.

If these features aren't working properly and you don't know why, try running ted in a terminal (non-Windows) or a debugger (Windows)
so you can see the stderr output from the server, or turn on the `lsp-log` setting and inspect ted's log (which is called `log.txt`
and is in the same directory as your local `ted.cfg`).

If an LSP server crashes or is having difficulty, you can run the `lsp-reset` command (via the command palette)
to reset all running LSP servers.

You can integrate any LSP server with ted by setting the `lsp` option in the `[core.<language>]` section of `ted.cfg`
to the command which starts the server. Some defaults will already be there, and are listed below. Make
sure you install the LSP server(s) you want and put the executables in your PATH (or change the `lsp` variable
to use the absolute path if not). You can also set configuration options with the `lsp-configuration` option.
Make sure the configuration you provide is valid JSON.

### C/C++

[clangd](https://clangd.llvm.org/installation)
is enabled by default. On Debian/Ubuntu you can install it with:

```bash
sudo apt install clangd-15  # replace 15 with the highest number you can get
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/clangd-15 /usr/bin/clangd
```

On Windows it can be downloaded [from here](https://github.com/clangd/clangd/releases).

For "go to definition" and "find usages" to work properly, you may need to
create [a compile\_commands.json file](https://clangd.llvm.org/installation#compile_commandsjson).

### Go

The Go team's `go-pls` is enabled by default. You can download it
[here](https://github.com/golang/tools/tree/master/gopls).


### Java

Eclipse's `jdtls` is enabled by default.
You can download it [here](download.eclipse.org/jdtls/milestones/?d).

### JavaScript/TypeScript

`typescript-language-server` is enabled by default.
You can download it by following
[the instructions here](https://github.com/typescript-language-server/typescript-language-server).

### LaTeX

`texlab` is enabled by default. You can download it
[here](https://github.com/latex-lsp/texlab).

### Python
`python-lsp-server` is enabled by default.
You can download it [here](https://github.com/python-lsp/python-lsp-server).

### Rust

`rust-analyzer` is enabled by default. You can download it
by following [the instructions here](https://rust-analyzer.github.io/manual.html#rust-analyzer-language-server-binary).
On Linux you can install it with:

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer/releases/latest/download/rust-analyzer-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.gz | gunzip -c - > ~/.local/bin/rust-analyzer
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/rust-analyzer
```

(Assuming `~/.local/bin` is in your PATH.)

## Tags (lightweight LSP alternative)

If an LSP is too much for you, you can also use [ctags](https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags)
for autocompletion and jump to definition. You can press Ctrl+T
at any time to generate or re-generate tags.
Ctrl+Click (go to definition), Ctrl+D (see all definitions), and autocomplete are all supported.
Autocomplete will just complete to stuff in the tags file, so it won't complete local
variable names for example.

## Building from source

First, you will need PCRE2: https://github.com/PhilipHazel/pcre2/releases.
Unzip it, put pcre2-10.X in the same folder as ted, and rename it to pcre2.

To install `ted` from source on Linux, you will also need:

- A C compiler
- The SDL2 development libraries
- cmake (for PCRE2)
- imagemagick convert (for creating the .deb installer)

These can be installed on Ubuntu/Debian with:

```bash
sudo apt install clang libsdl2-dev cmake imagemagick
```

Then run `make -j8 release` to build or `sudo make install -j8` to build and install.
You can also run `make -j8 ted.deb` to build the .deb installer.

On Windows (64-bit), you will need to install Microsoft Visual Studio, then find and add vcvarsall.bat to your PATH.
Next you will need the SDL2 VC development libraries: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php  
Extract the zip, copy SDL2-2.x.y into the ted directory, and rename it to SDL2. Also copy SDL2\\lib\\x64\\SDL2.dll
to the ted directory.
Then run `make.bat release`.

To build the .msi file, you will need Visual Studio 2022, as well as the
[Visual Studio Installer Projects extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=VisualStudioClient.MicrosoftVisualStudio2022InstallerProjects).
Then, open windows\_installer\\ted\\ted.sln, and build.

## Version history

<table>
<tr><th>Version</th> <th>Description</th> <th>Date</th></tr>
<tr><td>0.0</td> <td>Very basic editor</td> <td>2021 Jan 31</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.1</td> <td>Syntax highlighting</td> <td>2021 Feb 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.2</td> <td>Line numbers, check if file changed by another program</td> <td>2021 Feb 5</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.3</td> <td>Find+replace, highlight matching parentheses, indent/dedent selection</td> <td>2021 Feb 11</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.3a</td> <td>Find+replace bug fixes, view-only mode</td> <td>2021 Feb 14</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.4</td> <td>:build</td> <td>2021 Feb 18</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.5</td> <td>Go to definition</td> <td>2021 Feb 22</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.5a</td> <td>Several bugfixes, go to line</td> <td>2021 Feb 23</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.6</td> <td>Split-screen</td> <td>2021 Feb 28</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.7</td> <td>Restore session, command selector, :shell, big bug fixes</td> <td>2021 Mar 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>0.8</td> <td>Autocomplete</td> <td>2021 Mar 4</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.0</td> <td>Bugfixes, small additional features, installers</td> <td>2021 Apr 20</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.0r1</td> <td>Windows-specific bugfixes, update to new version of PCRE2</td> <td>2022 Jan 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.0r2</td> <td>Various bugfixes involving closing tabs and windows</td> <td>2022 Mar 26</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.0r3</td> <td>Better TeX syntax highlighting, move to cursor on backspace/delete</td> <td>2022 Jul 7</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.1</td> <td>Minor fixes, syntax highlighting for JavaScript, Java, and Go</td> <td>2022 Jul 22</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.2</td> <td>Bug fixes, per-language settings</td> <td>2022 Jul 29</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.2r1</td> <td>Mouse X1/X2 bug fix, support for X1/X2 commands.</td> <td>2022 Aug 19</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.2r2</td> <td>Shift+PgUp/PgDown, many rust-related fixes.</td> <td>2022 Sep 30</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.3</td> <td>Custom background shader, some bugfixes.</td> <td>2022 Nov 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.3r1</td> <td>Fixed rust, python syntax highlighting.</td> <td>2022 Nov 4</td></tr>
<tr><td>1.3r2</td> <td>Fixed high CPU usage on some devices.</td> <td>2022 Dec 7</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.0</td> <td>LSP support and a bunch of other things.</td> <td>2023 Jan 11</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.1</td> <td>Better interaction between path+language specific settings, themes, and other things.</td> <td>2023 Mar 7</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.2</td> <td>Keyboard macros</td> <td>2023 Mar 23</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.2r1</td> <td>Minor bug fixes</td> <td>2023 Mar 27</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.3</td> <td>`:matching-bracket`, various minor improvements</td> <td>2023 May 11</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.3.1</td> <td>Bugfixes, better undo chaining, highlight TODOs in comments.</td> <td>2023 May 22</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.3.2</td> <td>Misc bugfixes</td> <td>2023 Jun 17</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.3.3</td> <td>JS highlighting improvments, fix TODO highlighting for single-line comments</td> <td>2023 Jul 6</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.3.4</td> <td>Unicode bugfix, `:copy-path`</td> <td>2023 Jul 14</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.4</td> <td>Font overhaul — allow multiple fonts, and variable-width fonts.</td> <td>2023 Jul 19</td></tr>
<tr><td>2.4.1</td> <td>JSX highlighting fix, Windows DPI awareness</td> <td>2023 Jul 20</td></tr>
</table>

## License

ted is in the public domain (see `LICENSE.txt`).

## Reporting bugs

You can report a bug by sending an email to `pommicket at pommicket.com`.

If ted is crashing on startup try doing these things as temporary fixes:

- Delete `~/.local/share/ted/session.txt` or `C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\ted\session.txt`
- Reset your ted configuration by moving `ted.cfg` somewhere else.