1MCEDIT(1) GNU Midnight Commander MCEDIT(1)
2
6 mcedit - Internal file editor of GNU Midnight Commander.
7
9 mcedit [-bcCdfhstVx?] [+lineno] [file1] [file2] ...
10 mcedit [-bcCdfhstVx?] file1:lineno[:] file2:lineno[:] ...
12
14 mcedit is a link to mc, the main GNU Midnight Commander executable. Ex‐
15 ecuting GNU Midnight Commander under this name runs the internal editor
16 and opens files specified on the command line. The editor is based on
17 the terminal version of cooledit - standalone editor for X Window Sys‐
18 tem.
19
21 +lineno
22 Go to the line specified by number (do not put a space between
23 the + sign and the number). Several line numbers are allowed but
24 only the last one will be used, and it will be applied to the
25 first file only.
26 -b Force black and white display.
28 -c Force ANSI color mode on terminals that don't seem to have color
30 support.
31 -C <keyword>=<fgcolor>,<bgcolor>,<attributes>:<keyword>= ...
33 Specify a different color set. See the Colors section in mc(1)
34 for more information.
35 -d Disable mouse support.
37 -f Display the compiled-in search path for GNU Midnight Commander
39 data files.
40 -t Force using termcap database instead of terminfo. This option
42 is only applicable if GNU Midnight Commander was compiled with
43 S-Lang library with terminfo support.
44 -V Display the version of the program.
46 -x Force xterm mode. Used when running on xterm-capable terminals
48 (two screen modes, and able to send mouse escape sequences).
49
51 The internal file editor is a full-featured windowed editor. It can
52 edit several files at the same time. Maximum size of each file is 64
53 megabytes. It is possible to edit binary files. The features it pres‐
54 ently supports are: block copy, move, delete, cut, paste; key for key
55 undo; pull-down menus; file insertion; macro commands; regular expres‐
56 sion search and replace; shift-arrow text highlighting (if supported by
57 the terminal); insert-overwrite toggle; autoindent; tunable tab size;
58 syntax highlighting for various file types; and an option to pipe text
59 blocks through shell commands like indent and ispell.
60 Each file is opened in its own window in full-screen mode. Window con‐
62 trol in mcedit is similar to the window control in other multi-window
63 program: double click on window title maximizes the window to
64 full-screen or restores window size and position; left-click on window
65 title and mouse drag moves the window in editor area; left-click on
66 low-right frame corner and mouse drag resizes the window. These actions
67 can be made using "Window" menu.
68
70 The editor is easy to use and can be used without learning. The
71 pull-down menu is invoked by pressing F9. You can learn other keys
72 from the menu and from the button bar labels.
73 In addition to that, Shift combined with arrows does text highlighting
75 (if supported by the terminal): Ctrl-Ins copies to the file
76 ~/.cache/mc/mcedit/mcedit.clip, Shift-Ins pastes from
77 ~/.cache/mc/mcedit/mcedit.clip, Shift-Del cuts to
78 ~/.cache/mc/mcedit/mcedit.clip, and Ctrl-Del deletes highlighted text.
79 Mouse highlighting also works on some terminals. To use the standard
80 mouse support provided by your terminal, hold the Shift key. Please
81 note that the mouse support in the terminal doesn't share the clipboard
82 with mcedit.
83 The completion key (usually Meta-Tab or Escape Tab) completes the word
85 under the cursor using the words used in the file.
86
88 To define a macro, press Ctrl-R and then type out the keys you want to
89 be executed. Press Ctrl-R again when finished. The macro can be as‐
90 signed to any key by pressing that key. The macro is executed when you
91 press the assigned key.
92 The macro commands are stored in section [editor] it the file ~/.lo‐
94 cal/share/mc/mc.macros.
95 External scripts (filters) can be assigned into the any hotkey by edit
97 mc.macros like following:
98 [editor]
100 ctrl-W=ExecuteScript:25;
101 This means that ctrl-W hotkey initiates the ExecuteScript(25) action,
103 then editor handler translates this into execution of ~/.lo‐
104 cal/share/mc/mcedit/macros.d/macro.25.sh shell script.
105 External scripts are stored in ~/.local/share/mc/mcedit/macros.d/ di‐
107 rectory and must be named as macro.XXXX.sh where XXXX is the number
108 from 0 to 9999. See Edit Menu File for more detail about format of the
109 script.
110 Following macro definition and directives can be used:
112 #silent
114 If this directive is set, then script starts without interactive
115 subshell.
116 %c The cursor column position number.
118 %i The indent of blank space, equal the cursor column.
120 %y The syntax type of current file.
122 %b The block file name.
124 %f The current file name.
126 %n Only the current file name without extension.
128 %x The extension of current file name.
130 %d The current directory name.
132 %F The current file in the unselected panel.
134 %D The directory name of the unselected panel.
136 %t The currently tagged files.
138 %T The tagged files in the unselected panel.
140 %u and %U
142 Similar to the %t and %T macros, but in addition the files are
143 untagged. You can use this macro only once per menu file entry
144 or extension file entry, because next time there will be no
145 tagged files.
146 %s and %S
148 The selected files: The tagged files if there are any. Otherwise
149 the current file.
150 Feel free to edit this files, if you need. Here is a sample external
152 script:
153 l comment selection
155 TMPFILE=`mktemp ${MC_TMPDIR:-/tmp}/up.XXXXXX` || exit 1
156 echo #if 0 > $TMPFILE
157 cat %b >> $TMPFILE
158 echo #endif >> $TMPFILE
159 cat $TMPFILE > %b
160 rm -f $TMPFILE
161 If some keys don't work, you can use Learn Keys in the Options menu.
163
165 mcedit can be used for navigation through code with tags files created
166 by etags or ctags commands. If there is no TAGS file code navigation
167 will not work. For example, in case of exuberant-ctags for C language
168 command will be:
169 ctags -e --language-force=C -R ./
171 Meta-Enter shows list box to select item under cursor (cursor should
173 stand at the end of the word).
174 Meta-Minus where minus is symbol "-" goes to previous function in navi‐
176 gation list (like browser's Back button).
177 Meta-Equal where equal is symbol "=" goes to next function in naviga‐
179 tion list (like browser's Forward button).
180
182 mcedit supports syntax highlighting. This means that keywords and con‐
183 texts (like C comments, string constants, etc) are highlighted in dif‐
184 ferent colors. The following section explains the format of the file
185 ~/.local/share/mc/syntax/Syntax. If this file is missing, system-wide
186 /usr/share/mc/syntax/Syntax is used. The file ~/.local/share/mc/syn‐
187 tax/Syntax is rescanned on opening of every new editor file. The file
188 contains rules for highlighting, each of which is given on a separate
189 line, and define which keywords will be highlighted with what color.
190 The file is divided into sections, each beginning with a line with the
192 file command. The sections are normally put into separate files using
193 the include command.
194 The file command has three arguments. The first argument is a regular
196 expression that is applied to the file name to determine if the follow‐
197 ing section applies to the file. The second argument is the descrip‐
198 tion of the file type. It is used in cooledit; future versions of
199 mcedit may use it as well. The third optional argument is a regular
200 expression to match the first line of text of the file. The rules in
201 the following section apply if either the file name or the first line
202 of text matches.
203 A section ends with the start of another section. Each section is di‐
205 vided into contexts, and each context contains rules. A context is a
206 scope within the text that a particular set of rules belongs to. For
207 instance, the text within a C style comment (i.e. between /* and */)
208 has its own color. This is a context, although it has no further rules
209 inside it because there is probably nothing that we want highlighted
210 within a C comment.
211 A trivial C programming section might look like this:
213 file .\*\\.c C\sProgram\sFile (#include|/\\\*)
215 wholechars abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_
217 # default colors
219 define comment brown
220 context default
221 keyword whole if yellow
222 keyword whole else yellow
223 keyword whole for yellow
224 keyword whole while yellow
225 keyword whole do yellow
226 keyword whole switch yellow
227 keyword whole case yellow
228 keyword whole static yellow
229 keyword whole extern yellow
230 keyword { brightcyan
231 keyword } brightcyan
232 keyword '*' green
233 # C comments
235 context /\* \*/ comment
236 # C preprocessor directives
238 context linestart # \n red
239 keyword \\\n brightred
240 # C string constants
242 context " " green
243 keyword %d brightgreen
244 keyword %s brightgreen
245 keyword %c brightgreen
246 keyword \\" brightgreen
247 Each context starts with a line of the form:
249 context [exclusive] [whole|wholeright|wholeleft] [linestart] delim
251 [linestart] delim [foreground] [background] [attributes]
252 The first context is an exception. It must start with the command
254 context default [foreground] [background] [attributes]
256 otherwise mcedit will report an error. The linestart option specifies
258 that delim must start at the beginning of a line. The whole option
259 tells that delim must be a whole word. To specify that a word must be‐
260 gin on the word boundary only on the left side, you can use the
261 wholeleft option, and similarly a word that must end on the word bound‐
262 ary is specified by wholeright.
263 The set of characters that constitute a whole word can be changed at
265 any point in the file with the wholechars command. The left and right
266 set of characters can be set separately with
267 wholechars [left|right] characters
269 The exclusive option causes the text between the delimiters to be high‐
271 lighted, but not the delimiters themselves.
272 Each rule is a line of the form:
274 keyword [whole|wholeright|wholeleft] [linestart] string foreground
276 [background] [attributes]
277 Context or keyword strings are interpreted, so that you can include
279 tabs and spaces with the sequences \t and \s. Newlines and backslashes
280 are specified with \n and \\ respectively. Since whitespace is used as
281 a separator, it may not be used as is. Also, \* must be used to spec‐
282 ify an asterisk. The * itself is a wildcard that matches any length of
283 characters. For example,
284 keyword '*' green
286 colors all C single character constants green. You also could use
288 keyword "*" green
290 to color string constants, but the matched string would not be allowed
292 to span across multiple newlines. The wildcard may be used within con‐
293 text delimiters as well, but you cannot have a wildcard as the last or
294 first character.
295 Important to note is the line
297 keyword \\\n brightgreen
299 This line defines a keyword containing the backslash and newline char‐
301 acters. Since the keywords are matched before the context delimiters,
302 this keyword prevents the context from ending at the end of the lines
303 that end in a backslash, thus allowing C preprocessor directive to con‐
304 tinue across multiple lines.
305 The possible colors are: black, gray, red, brightred, green, bright‐
307 green, brown, yellow, blue, brightblue, magenta, brightmagenta, cyan,
308 brightcyan, lightgray and white. The special keyword "default" means
309 the terminal's default. Another special keyword "base" means mc's main
310 colors, it is useful as a placeholder if you want to specify attributes
311 without modifying the background color. When 256 colors are available,
312 they can be specified either as color16 to color255, or as rgb000 to
313 rgb555 and gray0 to gray23.
314 If the syntax file is shared with cooledit, it is possible to specify
316 different colors for mcedit and cooledit by separating them with a
317 slash, e.g.
318 keyword #include red/Orange
320 mcedit uses the color before the slash. See cooledit(1) for supported
322 cooledit colors.
323 Attributes can be any of bold, italic, underline, reverse and blink,
325 appended by a plus sign if more than one are desired.
326 Comments may be put on a separate line starting with the hash sign (#).
328 If you are describing case insensitive language you need to use casein‐
330 sensitive directive. It should be specified at the beginning of syntax
331 file.
332 Because of the simplicity of the implementation, there are a few intri‐
334 cacies that will not be dealt with correctly but these are a minor ir‐
335 ritation. On the whole, a broad spectrum of quite complicated situa‐
336 tions are handled with these simple rules. It is a good idea to take a
337 look at the syntax file to see some of the nifty tricks you can do with
338 a little imagination. If you cannot get by with the rules I have
339 coded, and you think you have a rule that would be useful, please email
340 me with your request. However, do not ask for regular expression sup‐
341 port, because this is flatly impossible.
342 A useful hint is to work with as much as possible with the things you
344 can do rather than try to do things that this implementation cannot
345 deal with. Also remember that the aim of syntax highlighting is to
346 make programming less prone to error, not to make code look pretty.
347 The syntax highlighting can be toggled using Ctrl-s shortcut.
349
351 The default colors may be changed by appending to the MC_COLOR_TABLE
352 environment variable. Foreground and background colors pairs may be
353 specified for example with:
354 MC_COLOR_TABLE="$MC_COLOR_TABLE:\
356 editnormal=lightgray,black:\
357 editbold=yellow,black:\
358 editmarked=black,cyan"
359
361 Most options can be set from Options dialog box. See the Options menu.
362 The following options are defined in ~/.config/mc/ini and have obvious
363 counterparts in the dialog box. You can modify them to change the edi‐
364 tor behavior, by editing the file. Unless specified, a 1 sets the op‐
365 tion to on, and a 0 sets it to off, as usual.
366 use_internal_edit
368 This option is ignored when invoking mcedit.
369 editor_tab_spacing
371 Interpret the tab character as being of this length. Default is
372 8. You should avoid using other than 8 since most other editors
373 and text viewers assume a tab spacing of 8. Use edi‐
374 tor_fake_half_tabs to simulate a smaller tab spacing.
375 editor_fill_tabs_with_spaces
377 Never insert a tab character. Rather insert spaces (ascii 32) to
378 fill to the desired tab size.
379 editor_return_does_auto_indent
381 Pressing return will tab across to match the indentation of the
382 first line above that has text on it.
383 editor_backspace_through_tabs
385 Make a single backspace delete all the space to the left margin
386 if there is no text between the cursor and the left margin.
387 editor_fake_half_tabs
389 This will emulate a half tab for those who want to program with
390 a tab spacing of 4, but do not want the tab size changed from 8
391 (so that the code will be formatted the same when displayed by
392 other programs). When editing between text and the left margin,
393 moving and tabbing will be as though a tab space were 4, while
394 actually using spaces and normal tabs for an optimal fill. When
395 editing anywhere else, a normal tab is inserted.
396 editor_option_save_mode
398 Possible values 0, 1 and 2. The save mode (see the options menu
399 also) allows you to change the method of saving a file. Quick
400 save (0) saves the file immediately, truncating the disk file to
401 zero length (i.e. erasing it) and then writing the editor con‐
402 tents to the file. This method is fast, but dangerous, since a
403 system error during a file save will leave the file only par‐
404 tially written, possibly rendering the data irretrievable. When
405 saving, the safe save (1) option enables creation of a temporary
406 file into which the file contents are first written. In the
407 event of a problem, the original file is untouched. When the
408 temporary file is successfully written, it is renamed to the
409 name of the original file, thus replacing it. The safest method
410 is create backups (2): a backup file is created before any
411 changes are made. You can specify your own backup file exten‐
412 sion in the dialog. Note that saving twice will replace your
413 backup as well as your original file.
414 editor_word_wrap_line_length
416 Line length to wrap at. Default is 72.
417 editor_backup_extension
419 Symbol to add to name of backup files. Default is "~".
420 editor_line_state
422 Show state line of editor. Currently it shows current line num‐
423 ber (in the future it might show things like folding, break‐
424 points, etc.). M-n toggles this option.
425 editor_visible_spaces
427 Toggle "show visible trailing spaces". If editor_visible_spa‐
428 ces=1, they are shown as '.'
429 editor_visible_tabs
431 Toggle "show visible tabs". If editor_visible_tabs=1, tabs are
432 shown as '<---->'
433 editor_persistent_selections
435 Do not remove block selection after cursor movement.
436 editor_drop_selection_on_copy
438 Reset selection after copy to clipboard.
439 editor_cursor_beyond_eol
441 Allow moving cursor beyond the end of line.
442 editor_cursor_after_inserted_block
444 Allow moving cursor after inserted block.
445 editor_syntax_highlighting
447 enable syntax highlighting.
448 editor_edit_confirm_save
450 Show confirmation dialog on save.
451 editor_option_typewriter_wrap
453 to be described
454 editor_option_auto_para_formatting
456 to be described
457 editor_option_save_position
459 Save file position on exit.
460 source_codepage
462 Symbol representation of codepage name for file (i.e. CP1251, ~
463 - default).
464 editor_group_undo
466 Combine UNDO actions for several of the same type of action (in‐
467 serting/overwriting, deleting, navigating, typing)
468 editor_wordcompletion_collect_entire_file
470 Search autocomplete candidates in entire file (1) or just from
471 beginning of file to cursor position (0).
472 editor_wordcompletion_collect_all_files
474 Search autocomplete candidates from all loaded files (1, de‐
475 fault), not only from the currently edited one (0).
476 spell_language
478 Spelling language (en, en-variant_0, ru, etc) installed with as‐
479 pell package (a full list can be obtained using 'aspell' util‐
480 ity). Use spell_language = NONE to disable aspell support. De‐
481 fault value is 'en'. Option must be located in the [Misc] sec‐
482 tion.
483 editor_stop_format_chars
485 Set of characters to stop paragraph formatting. If one of those
486 characters is found in the beginning of line, that line and all
487 following lines of paragraph will be untouched. Default value is
488 "-+*\,.;:&>".
489 editor_state_full_filename
491 Show full path name in the status line. If disabled (default),
492 only base name of the file is shown.
493
495 The editor also displays non-us characters (160+). When editing binary
496 files, you should set display bits to 7 bits in Midnight Commander's
497 options menu to keep the spacing clean.
498
500 /usr/share/mc/help/mc.hlp
501 The help file for the program.
503 /usr/share/mc/mc.ini
505 The default system-wide setup for GNU Midnight Commander, used
507 only if the user's own ~/.config/mc/ini file is missing.
508 /usr/share/mc/mc.lib
510 Global settings for Midnight Commander. Settings in this file
512 affect all users, whether they have ~/.config/mc/ini or not.
513 /usr/share/mc/syntax/*
515 The default system-wide syntax files for mcedit, used only if
517 the corresponding user's own file in ~/.local/share/mc/syntax/
518 is missing.
519 ~/.config/mc/ini
521 User's own setup. If this file is present then the setup is
523 loaded from here instead of the system-wide setup file.
524 ~/.local/share/mc/mcedit/
526 User's own directory where block commands are processed and
528 saved and user's own syntax files are located.
529
531 This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
532 License as published by the Free Software Foundation. See the built-in
533 help of Midnight Commander for details on the License and the lack of
534 warranty.
535
537 The latest version of this program can be found at http://ftp.mid‐
538 night-commander.org/.
539
541 cooledit(1), mc(1), gpm(1), terminfo(1), scanf(3).
542
544 Paul Sheer (psheer@obsidian.co.za) is the original author of Midnight
545 Commander's internal editor.
546
548 Bugs should be reported to https://www.midnight-commander.org/.
549MC Version 4.8.30 August 2023 MCEDIT(1)