DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / dte / dte.1.en
DTE(1) General Commands Manual DTE(1)

dte - A small and flexible text editor

dte [-hBHKRV] [-c command] [-t ctag] [-r rcfile] [-b rcname] [[+line] file]...

Run command, after reading the rc file and opening any file arguments. See dterc(5) for available commands.
Jump to source location of ctag. Requires tags file generated by ctags(1).
Read configuration from rcfile instead of ~/.dte/rc.
Load file as a dte-syntax(5) file and exit. Any errors encountered are printed to stderr(3) and the exit status is set appropriately.
Dump the contents of the built-in rc or syntax file named rcname and exit.
Print a list of all built-in config names that can be used with the -b option and exit.
Don't load history files at startup or save history files on exit (see FILES section below). History features will work as usual but will be in-memory only and not persisted to the filesystem.
Don't read the rc file.
Start in a special mode that continuously reads input and prints the name and numeric code of each pressed key.
Display the help summary and exit.
Display the version number and exit.

Here are some of the default key bindings. M-x is Alt+x, ^V (or C-V) is Ctrl+v and S-left is Shift+left.

Move cursor and select characters
Move cursor and select whole words
Move cursor and select whole lines
^C
Copy current line or selection
^X
Cut current line or selection
^V
Paste
^Z
Undo
^Y
Redo
Enter command mode
^F
Enter search mode
Search next
Search previous
^T
Open new tab
Activate Nth tab
^W
Close tab
^S
Save file
^Q
Quit

Command mode allows you to run various editor commands by using a language similar to Unix shell. The next and prev commands switch to the next/previous file. The open, save and quit commands should be self-explanatory. For a full list of available commands, see dterc(5).

The default key bindings for command mode are:

Browse previous command history.
Auto-complete current command or argument
^A
Go to beginning of command line
^B
Move left
^C
Exit command mode
^D
Delete
^E
Go to end of command line
^F
Move right
^K
Delete to end of command line
^U
Delete to beginning of command line
^W
Erase word
Exit command mode

Search mode allows you to enter an extended regular expression to search in the current buffer.

The key bindings for search mode are mostly the same as in command mode, plus these additional keys:

Toggle case sensitive search option.
Reverse search direction.

User configuration directory. Defaults to $HOME/.dte if not set.
Force dte to use terminfo(5) database, even for terminals with built-in support. Enabled if set.
Identifier used to determine which terminfo(5) entry or built-in terminal support to use.

$DTE_HOME/rc
Your personal configuration file. See dterc(5) for a full list of available commands and options or run "dte -b rc" to see the built-in, default config.
$DTE_HOME/syntax/*
Your personal syntax files. These override the syntax files that come with the program. See dte-syntax(5) for more information or run "dte -b syntax/dte" for a basic example.
$DTE_HOME/file-locks
Records open files to protect you from accidentally editing files opened in another process. Used only if the lock-files option is enabled.
$DTE_HOME/file-history
History of edited files and cursor positions. Used only if the file-history option is enabled.
$DTE_HOME/command-history
History of dterc(5) commands used while in command mode.
$DTE_HOME/search-history
History of search patterns used while in search mode.

dterc(5), dte-syntax(5)

Craig Barnes <cr@igbarn.es>
Timo Hirvonen <tihirvon@gmail.com>

November 2017