dte - A small, configurable text editor
dte [-HR] [-c command] [-t
ctag] [-r rcfile] [[+line] file]...
dte [-h|-B|-K|-V|-b
rcname|-s file]
- -c command
- Run command, after reading the rc file and opening any file
arguments. See dterc(5) for available commands.
- -t ctag
- Jump to source location of ctag. Requires tags file
generated by ctags(1).
- -r rcfile
- Read configuration from rcfile instead of ~/.dte/rc.
- -s file
- 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.
- -b rcname
- Dump the contents of the built-in rc or syntax file named rcname
and exit.
- -B
- Print a list of all built-in config names that can be used with the
-b option and exit.
- -H
- 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.
- -R
- Don't read the rc file.
- -K
- Start in a special mode that continuously reads input and prints the
symbolic name of each pressed key.
- -h
- Display the help summary and exit.
- -V
- Display the version number and exit.
There are 3 editor modes, each having a different set of key
bindings. Normal mode bindings can be customized by using the bind
command (see dterc(5)) or displayed using the show bind
command.
The key bindings listed below are in the same format as accepted
by the bind command. In particular, key combinations are represented
as follows:
• M-x is Alt+x
• C-V (or ^V) is Ctrl+v
• S-left is Shift+left
• C-M-S-left is Ctrl+Alt+Shift+left
Normal mode is the mode the editor starts in. Pressing basic keys
(i.e. without modifiers) simply inserts text into the buffer. There are also
various key combinations bound by default:
- S-up, S-down,
S-left, S-right
- Move cursor and select characters
- C-S-left,
C-S-right
- Move cursor and select whole words
- C-S-up,
C-S-down
- Move cursor and select whole lines
- ^C
- Copy current line or selection
- ^X
- Cut current line or selection
- ^V
- Paste
- ^Z
- Undo
- ^Y
- Redo
- M-x
- Enter command mode
- ^F
- Enter search mode
- F3
- Search next
- F4
- Search previous
- ^T
- Open new buffer
- M-1, M-2 ...
M-9
- Switch to buffer 1 (or 2, 3, 4, etc.)
- ^W
- Close current buffer
- ^S
- Save
- ^Q
- Quit
Command mode allows running various editor commands 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 key bindings for command mode are:
- up, down
- Browse previous command history.
- tab
- Auto-complete current command or argument
- ^A, home
- Go to beginning of command line
- ^B, left
- Move left
- ^C, ^G, Esc
- Exit command mode
- ^D, delete
- Delete
- ^E, end
- Go to end of command line
- ^F, right
- Move right
- ^K, M-delete
- Delete to end of command line
- ^U
- Delete to beginning of command line
- ^W, M-C-? (Alt+Backspace)
- Erase word
Search mode allows entering a 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:
- M-c
- Toggle case sensitive search option.
- M-r
- Reverse search direction.
- Enter
- Perform regex search.
- M-Enter
- Perform plain-text search (escapes the regex).
The following environment variables are inspected at startup:
- DTE_HOME
- User configuration directory. Defaults to $HOME/.dte if not
set.
- HOME
- User home directory. Used when expanding ~/ in filenames and also
to determine the default value for DTE_HOME.
- XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
- Directory used to store lock files. Defaults to $DTE_HOME if not
set.
- TERM
- Terminal identifier. Used to determine which terminal capabilities are
supported.
- COLORTERM
- Enables support for 24-bit terminal colors, if set to
truecolor.
- $DTE_HOME/rc
- User 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/*
- User 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-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.
- $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/dte-locks
- List of files currently open in a dte process (if the lock-files
option is enabled).
- 0
- Program exited normally.
- 64
- Command-line usage error (see "synopsis" above).
- 65
- Input data error (e.g. data specified by the -s option).
- 71
- Operating system error.
- 74
- Input/output error.
Note: the above exit codes are set by the editor itself, with
values in accordance with sysexits(3). The exit code may also be set
to values in the range 0..125 by the quit command.
Open /etc/passwd with cursor on line 3:
-
dte +3 /etc/passwd
Run several commands at startup:
-
dte -c 'set filetype sh; insert -m "#!/bin/sh\n"'
Read a buffer from standard input:
-
echo 'Hello, World!' | dte
Interactively filter a shell pipeline:
-
echo 'A B C D E F' | tr ' ' '\n' | dte | tac
It's advised to NOT run shell pipelines with multiple interactive
programs that try to control the terminal. For example:
-
echo 'Don't run this example!!' | dte | less
A shell will run these processes in parallel and both
dte(1) and less will then try to control the terminal at the
same time; clobbering the input/output of both.
Craig Barnes
Timo Hirvonen