newtrodit.man

$NEWTRODIT_MANUAL # Newtrodit manual must begin with this line (manual magic number)
What is Newtrodit?

 Newtrodit is a console-based text editor. As Windows doesn't include a console text editor, 
 Newtrodit is probably your best choice. The editor is designed to be minimalistic and easy to use.
 Even if it's keyboard-based, the keybindings are easy to remember due to the fact that they're
 similar to other applications.
 The main goal is having a noticeable efficiency increase when working.

 Command line usage

 newtrodit [switches] [file1] [file2] [file3]...

      --convertnull, -n       Converts null characters to spaces.
      --converttab, -t        Converts tabs to spaces.
      --devmode, -d           Enables developer mode.
      --fontcolor, -f         Changes the font color.
      --help, -h              Opens this Newtrodit help manual.
      --lfunix, -n            Changes the line ending to UNIX (LF).
      --lfwin, -w             Changes the line ending to Windows (CRLF).
      --line, -l              Displays line number.
      --menucolor, -c [color] Changes Newtrodit's menus color.
      --mouse, -m             Enables mouse support.
      --syntax, -s [file]     Enables syntax highlighting.
      --version, -v           Shows Newtrodit's version.

 Unlike previous versions, switches can go at any position, before or after file/files.
 If a file is named exactly like a switch, add the prefix './' before the name to avoid Newtrodit interpreting
 it as a switch. Files are loaded in order, but the last file is the one that will be shown for edition.
 
 Usage inside application

 Navigation


 Newtrodit offers navigation features which ease the file editing process.
 To move between lines and columns, you may use arrow keys. To go to the beginning of a line,
 use End and Home; to jump pages, PageUp and PageDown.
 The current cursor position is displayed at bottom left part of the screen,
 where Ln means line and Col means column. The percentages indicate the
 position of the cursor inside the file.
 
 Navigation inside the manual

 Ctrl-X    = Go back to Newtrodit
 Alt-F4    = Exit Newtrodit
 PageUp    = Go to the previous page
 PageDown  = Go to the next page
 Up        = Go to the previous line
 Down      = Go to the next line

 Control keybindings

 Ctrl-C        = Copy line to clipboard
 Ctrl-D        = Show line content (requires developer mode)
 Ctrl-E        = Toggle syntax highlighting
 Ctrl-F        = Find string
 Ctrl-G        = Go to a line
 Ctrl-H        = Replace string
 Ctrl-I        = Show information about the currently edited file
 Ctrl-L        = Toggle line count
 Ctrl-M        = Toggle mouse support
 Ctrl-N        = Open a new tab
 Ctrl-O        = Open a file
 Ctrl-P        = Open command palette
 Ctrl-Q        = Exit Newtrodit
 Ctrl-R        = Reload the currently edited file from disk
 Ctrl-S        = Save file
 Ctrl-V        = Paste line
 Ctrl-W        = Close current file
 Ctrl-X        = Cut line

 Ctrl-Shift-A      = Toggle automatic syntax highlighting rules loading
 Ctrl-Shift-C      = Compare files
 Ctrl-Shift-D      = Toggle dev mode
 Ctrl-Shift-E      = Load a syntax highlighting scheme
 Ctrl-Shift-F      = Find string (case insensitive)
 Ctrl-Shift-G      = Go to a column
 Ctrl-Shift-H      = Same as F1 (opens help)
 Ctrl-Shift-K      = Toggles old keybindings (see later)
 Ctrl-Shift-L      = Locate files. See the advanced section for more information.
 Ctrl-Shift-N      = Toggle null character to spaces conversion
 Ctrl-Shift-Q      = Count lines of code and size of all currently open files
 Ctrl-Shift-R      = Reload the settings
 Ctrl-Shift-S      = Save file as
 Ctrl-Shift-T      = Toggle tab to spaces conversion

 Alt keybindings

 Alt-End     = Go to the last first non-blank space
 Alt-Home    = Go to the beginning of the first non-blank space
 
 Ctrl-Alt-L      = Convert current line to lowercase
 Ctrl-Alt-N      = Create a new empty file and save it (same as 'Ctrl-N' and 'Ctrl-S')
 Ctrl-Alt-R      = Encode/decode line using ROT13 algorithm
 Ctrl-Alt-U      = Convert current line to uppercase

 Function keys keybindings

 F1        = Shows help (manual)
 F2        = Renames current file (can also be used to move)
 F3        = Next find occurrence (can only be used after 'Ctrl-F')
 F5        = Runs a macro, if a macro hasn't been defined yet, it will run the current file
 F6        = Adds current date and time
 F9        = Compiles current file with the specified compiler (default compiler is 'gcc')
 F10       = Opens containing directory in Windows Explorer

 Ctrl-F1       = About Newtrodit
 Ctrl-F4       = Close current file (same as Ctrl-W)
 
 Shift-F5      = Defines a macro for the current instance (use 'macro' in settings to set a permanent macro)
 Shift-F10     = Opens a terminal instance in current directory

 Alt-F4      = Same as Ctrl-X (exits Newtrodit)

 Advanced keybindings

  Locate files (Ctrl-Shift-L)
  
   The function will search for a file only in the current directory.
   Additionally, you can use wildcards to perform an advanced search.
   Newtrodit will automatically detect if you are using wildcards and it will change the search path accordingly.
   
   The asterisk (*) can be used to replace any word of any length.
   The question mark (?) can be used to replace character of always length 1.

   The function will search for the first matches, displaying the date and time in the
   YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm:ss format. File size is shown in bytes.
    
   Example
  
    'hello' would match for example a file called 'myhello.txt' and 'hello.txt'
    'hello*' won't match 'myhello.txt', but '*hello*' will.
    'hello.???' will only match files with the name 'hello' and a 3 character extension.

     This wildcards have the same behavior as cmd.exe DIR command ones.

     Known issue: Correct file size displaying is limited to 4 GB due to 32-bit integer limitations.

  Command palette (Ctrl-P)

   The command palette allows you to use commands in a Vim-like style instead of keybindings.
   For instance, some functions have multiple ways of being called, either via keybindings or
   via commands.

   Position changing commands

   - :n = Go to line number n (Ctrl-G)
   - ,n = Go to column number n (Ctrl-Shift-G)
   - 0  = Go to the first character of the line (Home)
   - Ctrl-  = Go to the first non-whitespace character of the line (Alt-Home)
   - $$  = Go to the last character of the line (End)

   Other commands

   - ?file = Opens filename 'file' (Ctrl-O)
   - !file = Saves filename 'file' (Ctrl-S)
  
 Dialogs
 
 Newtrodit's dialogs (prompts), like Save and Open dialog, are customized which allow them to
 have the features that Newtrodit has. Insertion, deletion, Home and End are supported.
 
 To exit a dialog, simply press Enter when the prompt is empty or ESC at any time.

 Settings

 Newtrodit can be customizable as you like it by changing some settings.

 Settings file must be located in the same directory as Newtrodit with the name 'newtrodit.config'.
 It's a simple text file with one line per setting, with an INI-like syntax.

 Comments are allowed in the settings file with the ';' (semicolon) character.
 
 List of settings types

   String       = Stores a string of text.
   Integer      = Stores an integer, which may have a defined range.
   Boolean      = This setting type stores a boolean value (either 1 or 0).

   In case that a boolean or an integer setting is not a valid value, 0 will be used by default.

 List of all settings

  Boolean settings

  - autosyntax      = Toggle automatic loading of syntax highlighting for supported file types. Boolean type.
  - converttab      = Toggle tab conversion from tabs to spaces. Boolean type.
  - convertnull     = Toggle null character conversion to spaces. Boolean type.
  - curinsert       = Toggle cursor size change in insert mode. Boolean type.
  - devmode         = Toggle developer mode. Boolean type.
  - findinsensitive = Toggle default case insensitive setting. Boolean type.
  - linecount       = Toggle line count. Boolean type.
  - linehighlight   = Toggle current line highlighting. Requires linecount to be enabled. Boolean type.
  - mouse           = Toggle mouse support. Boolean type.
  - oldkeybindings  = Toggle old keybindings usage. Boolean type.
  - sigsegv         = Toggle SIGSEGV handler. Boolean type.
  - syntax          = Toggle syntax highlighting. Boolean type.
  - wholeword       = Toggle whole word matching.

  Integer settings

  - codepage        = Console codepage. Integer type
  - cursize         = Console cursor size. Integer type.
  - fontcolor       = Font color. Integer type. The range of the integer is betwen 0 and 255.
  - linecountwide   = Line count width. Integer type.
  - menucolor       = Menu color. Integer type. The range of the integer is betwen 0 and 255.
  - tabwide         = Tab width. Integer type.
  - xsize           = X size of the window (columns). Integer type.
  - ysize           = Y size of the window (lines). Integer type.

  String settings

  - macro           = Macro to set. See the Macro section for further information.
  - manfile         = Name of the manual file. String type.
  - newline         = New line, which will be added to the end of each line. String type.

 WARNING: Incorrectly configuring settings can cause unexpected behavior and major issues.

 Example of a settings file:

  ; Sample settings file for Newtrodit

  ; Character conversion settings 
 
  converttab=true

  ; Internal settings 
 
  codepage=437
  manfile=newtrodit.man

  ; Editing-related settings 

  linecount=true
  autosyntax=true
  oldkeybindings=false
  linehighlight=false
  linecountwide=3
  mouse=true
  syntax=true
  tabwide=4

 Multiple tabs

 The big new feature introduced in Newtrodit 0.6 are tabs. With this feature, you can open up to
 $T files in the same Newtrodit window, by pressing Ctrl-N. Tabs can be inserted or closed in any
 position, and it will shift the other tabs accordingly.
  
 You can switch between tabs by pressing Ctrl-TAB (forward) and Ctrl-Shift-TAB (backward), or
 by using the @n command in the command palette (Ctrl-P), where n is the file index.
 
 All settings are shared between tabs (e.g: disabling line count will disable it for all open files)

 To close a tab, use Ctrl-W or either Ctrl-F4

 Code autocompletion

 Newtrodit includes a simple but functional code autocompletion module to increase your productivity.
 Autocompletion is limited to the word immediately to the left of the cursor. The algorithm treats only
 the word preceding the cursor for autocompletion. The rest of the line is not taken into account.
 
 The matching algorithm takes three different factors including length difference, word matching
 at the beginning and character matching at the middle. The result that gets the highest "score"
 is the autocompletion proposition, even though the matching should be high, otherwise nothing will happen.
 Autocompletion can be triggered by pressing the Tab key.

 Keep in mind that only the keywords on the syntax highlighting scheme are filled. No variables,
 functions, or anything that require context analysis is checked.

 Log file

 Newtrodit keeps track of actions that could help in debugging a problem (loaded settings, exceptions...) into
 a file called 'newtrodit.log'.

 Note that only debugging information is written and no personal information or file content is ever saved.

Syntax highlighting

 Newtrodit has some syntax highlighting rules to color the code you're writing and to make it
 easier to read. 

 Syntax highlighting format is similar to the settings format (INI-like), but with some special keywords.
 Each line must start with a keyword followed by an equal sign and the color of the keyword.

 Here's a list of all special keywords:
  $$NEWTRODIT_SYNTAX = This must be the first line of the file to indicate the syntax
                      highlighting format used is the one used by Newtrodit.
                                  
  $$LANGUAGE           = This keyword indicates the language of the code.
  $$COMMENT            = This keyword the comment string.
  $$COMMENT_COLOR      = Comments color.
  $$QUOTE_COLOR        = String color.
  $$DEFAULT_COLOR      = Code that isn't highlighting will be colored in this color.
  $$NUMBER_COLOR       = Every number written will be colored in this color.
  $$SEPARATORS         = Code separator characters. (e.g. ',.()+-/*=~[];{}<> ')
  $$CAPITAL            = Enable capital words syntax highlighting. Use '0' to disable and '1' to enable.
  $$CAPITAL_COLOR      = Color for the highlighted capital words. Requires $$CAPITAL to be set to '1'.
  $$CAPITAL_MIN        = Minimum length for capital words to be highlighted. Requires $$CAPITAL to be set to '1'.

 Old keybindings

 Some keybindings can be changed using the oldkeybindings setting.
 Here's a list of the replaced keybindings:

 Ctrl-X --> Ctrl-Q (Quit Newtrodit)
 Ctrl-K --> Ctrl-X (Cut line)

 If oldkeybindings is enabled, both Ctrl-X and Ctrl-Q map to the same action (Quit Newtrodit)
 
 Developer mode

 Developer mode is a setting made for users who want to use test/debug features on Newtrodit.
 Features of developer mode:
  - Displaying line content (Ctrl-D)
  - Displaying old and new console size (F12)

 To toggle developer mode, press 'Ctrl-Shift-D'

 Configuration priority

  The setting that applies last has the highest priority.

  For example, writing 2 lines with the same setting will result in the second line
  being written with the second setting, ignoring the first one.

  Priority order (lowest to highest):
  - Newtrodit default settings
  - Settings file
  - Command line arguments
  - Inside application setting changing
  - Syntax highlighting (for colors scheme)

  Even if a color scheme has been defined in command line arguments, syntax highlighting will override
  the colored keywords.

 Crashes

 As all programs, Newtrodit isn't perfect. If you find a bug, please report it on:
 $G/issues

 Most common crash causes are:
  - Not enough memory available
  - Invalid settings file
  - Invalid or too large syntax highlighting scheme
  - Memory allocation error
  - Buffer overflow

 There are also more rare crashes, such as:
  - Memory/stack corruption
  - External program interferences (e.g. external programs that write memory to Newtrodit)
  
 If you find a crash, please report it with all the information on the crash screen.

 Internal working

 At the moment, Newtrodit has a buffer of $X x $Y. The maximum number of lines is
 $Y, with a buffer increment of $I, while line length depends on the memory available on the system.
 
 This is due to the fact that the buffer is a 2D array of characters. This is one of the main 
 issues that Newtrodit has to deal with and we're working on it.

 It has been coded in C to have maximum performance. At the moment, the Linux fork is being developped
 by Zackery Smith, called Newtrodit-LCL (Linux Compatibility Layer).

 Some more specific internal working behaviors:
  - New lines while reading a file are added when a '\n' character is found, 
    and not when a custom new line string is found.


 The source code of Newtrodit is composed by:

 dialog.h           : Dialogs
 globals.h          : Global variables
 manual.c           : Manual
 newtrodit.c        : Main source file
 newtrodit_core.h   : All core functions
   ~ win32/newtrodit_core_win.h
   ~ linux/newtrodit_core_linux.h
 newtrodit_func.c   : Main functions
   ~ win32/newtrodit_func_win.c
   ~ linux/newtrodit_func_linux.c
 newtrodit_gui.c    : GUI loading
 newtrodit_shared.c : Shared functions between Windows and Linux
 
 newtrodit_syntax.h : Syntax highlighting

 License
 
 Newtrodit is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.0.
 See https://www.gnu.org/licenses for more details.

 About Newtrodit
 
 Newtrodit is a free open-source program created by anic17 with some contributions by other members.
 Started working on it at the ending of 2020, it's now another way to code in Windows.

 Here's a list of people who contributed and helped in the creation of this project:
   - Karanveer Chouhan (TheKvc)   : Helped in lots of things.
   - Teddy Astie (TSnake41)       : Issue solving.
   - Teoman Deniz (TeomanDeniz)   : Feedback and testing.
   - Tim Greller (timlg07)        : Issue solving.
   - Mathieu (Illegal-Services)   : Lots of feedback and testing.
   - Zackery Smith (ZackeryRSmith): Helped a lot while developing Newtrodit, creator of the Linux port 

 I would like to give special thanks to ZackeryRSmith, who helped a lot to Newtrodit development, and
 specially by making Newtrodit-LCL, the Linux port of Newtrodit.

 Newtrodit $V
 Build date [$B]

 Feel free to contribute here: $G