eed - extensible editor

NOTE: text editors are not word processors.

Why are there more than a thousand text editors out there?
(Think I'm exaggerating? Check out http://www.texteditors.org.)

Why are so many people deeply dissatisfied with all existing text editors?

The most capable text editors like vi and emacs have a steep learning curve because their weirdly idiosyncratic interfaces were developed long before interface conventions eased the burden on users. Many of the most functional editors also tend to be enormous. I was shocked, on downloading emacs recently, to find that it is around 30MB! And that's without frivolous extras. (That's about a third the size of the entire Puppy Linux operating system including its text editors, wordprocessor, spreadsheet, video player, internet tools, and much more!) These high-level editors can require learning specialised macro languages too (emacs, for instance, uses lisp as its macro language).

At the other extreme we have tiny, minimal text editors like leafpad, mp and others. Unfortunately, the smaller they are, the less useful. At the lowest end they have only the barest functionality, with no easy way to add more.

Many existing text editors, whether they are giant, complex ones, or small, simplified ones, are pretty inflexible. If they don't have some kind of macro language, then extending them means either spending a lot of time delving deep into the source code to work out how they were created, or waiting for the next upgrade. Also, no matter how big and complex the program is, there will always be some more features missing, resulting in code bloat and feature-creep.

What seems to be missing more than anything else is re-use. You can't re-use the interface methods that you learned for all other programs, and you can't re-use existing programs within a text editor, or re-use the text editor from within other commands. People have somehow become accustomed to the idea that a text editor neccessarily stands outside everything else. But why should it?

So here is how to build the perfect text editor. Apply the old Unix philosophy: build a complex thing out of many small parts, each of which does just one job, but does it very well.

I've been building a series of small RoxApps that work under Linux's Rox file manager. (If you use a different file manager they might not work.) They sit on my desktop as a lot of small icons to give me many useful text editing functions. The neat thing is they can be used with any text editor, and even in dialog boxes, online chats, wikis, and blogs. You can download them here. (Please note that this isn't complete. It might never be. In a way, that's kinda the point.)

spell

sort

insert

s_r

edit

date

wrap

case

custom

head

centr

blkq

Here are some of my most commonly used text editing RoxApps.

I've also made some 16-pixel high icons in my quest for minimalist space-saving icons for my desktop:

spell

sort

insert

s_r

edit

date

wrap

case

custom

head

centr

blkq

When I pause the mouse over them a descriptive tooltip reminds me of what the icon does. Here is the tooltip for the "case" icon.

The tooltip for the "case" icon.

I've added menus to many of them so that they actually make more commands available. For example, here is the menu that displays when I right-click the "case" icon. Compare it with the tooltip above.

The menu for the "case" icon.

A RoxApp is actually a special kind of directory which acts as if it is a program. Clicking on its icon (often given by a hidden image file '.DirIcon' inside the directory) runs a shell script, named AppRun inside the directory (it doesn't have to be a shell script; it can be any kind of program). Many of my examples use the simple languages sed and awk that are available to all Linux distributions. (A number of my scripts require sed version 4.2.2, or more recent, because it introduces the -z option which views strings as terminated by a zero value byte, allowing newline characters to be seen and operated on as any other characters.) My examples usually pull selected text into the script via the shell command xclip -o then put the result back into the clipboard using xclip -selection c, which allows it to be pasted back with xdotool key ctrl+v to replace the original selection. For example, here is the code for the menu item highlighted by the mouse pointer in the menu screengrab above:

"up1st")
	# upper first letter each word, else lower
	xclip -o | sed 's/[[:alpha:]]*/\L\u&/g' | xclip  -selection c
	xdotool key ctrl+v
	;;

That's one item in the AppRun script which lays out all the choices to be selected from that icon's menu. The actual menu is set by the AppInfo.xml file (it also sets the tooltip).

All this is extremely easy to program and can be changed dynamically. For instance if I edit the tooltip in the AppInfo.xml for one of the icons, then the changes are displayed as soon as they're saved. (I've included an example RoxApp in the download which explains all this in greater detail. You can look inside a RoxApp by either holding the shift key down when you click it, or else by right-clicking it and choosing "App dir [name]" > "Look inside".)

As a group of icons on my desktop, I use eed with several different ordinary text editors. I also commonly use it in file-selection dialog boxes when saving a file, or when renaming files. Another place it comes in handy is when writing a comment or filling out a form on a website. Several of the commands are even useful in the terminal. The eed programs aren't restricted to being used any particular place; they form a general-purpose editing suite that can be used almost anywhere that you type in text.

If many small commands are used in this way, then when an additional command is wanted, it is simple to add it. If some are not needed then they're not loaded. The flexibility gained is extraordinary. We can use the eed commands within other scripts and use other scripts inside eed commands. Such an editor could even be used as a filter for other programs, configuring it differently for each purpose.

Many of my eed functions require xdotool and xclip and sed version 4.2.2. or greater, so you must install them for most of the functions to work. Most Linux distributions have access to those programs and may already have them installed. If not, just use your distribution's program installer, or else search on the net for them and compile and install them yourself.

If sed version 4.2.2 or later isn't available directly though your updating tool you can find the latest version of it at http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sed/.

The xclip tool is most likely already installed or easy to install, otherwise you can get it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/xclip/.

Control of the GUI from within scripts is made possible by xdotool which, if it isn't available through your software installer, can be downloaded from https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool.

Unix and Linux have, by my count, around 55 text editing commands already. Instead of duplicating their functions, why not use them and simply add more?

basic text commands

grep search a file for a pattern

sort sort lines of text files

uniq report or omit repeated lines

tsort topological sort

head output the first part of files

tail output the last part of files

tailf dynamically follow the growth of a log file

column columnate lists

line read one line (always prints a newline at the end)

rev reverse the character order in every line of a file

ul do underlining on a terminal

cut remove sections (columns) from each line of files

join output for each pair of input lines with identical join fields

paste merge lines of files (line1_file1\t line1_file2\n line2_file1\t line2_file2...)

split split a file into pieces

csplit split a file into sections determined by context lines

nl number lines of files

ptx produce a permuted index of file contents

hexdump ascii, decimal, hexadecimal, octal dump

od dump files in octal and other formats

basic text commands
grep	search a file for a pattern
sort	sort lines of text files
uniq	report or omit repeated lines
tsort	topological sort
head	output the first part of files
tail	output the last part of files
tailf	dynamically follow the growth of a log file
column	columnate lists
line	read one line (always prints a newline at the end)
rev	reverse the character order in every line of a file
ul	do underlining on a terminal
cut	remove sections (columns) from each line of files
join	output for each pair of input lines with identical join fields
paste	merge lines of files (line1_file1\t line1_file2\n line2_file1\t line2_file2...)
split	split a file into pieces
csplit	split a file into sections determined by context lines
nl	number lines of files
ptx	produce a permuted index of file contents
hexdump	ascii, decimal, hexadecimal, octal dump
od	dump files in octal and other formats

analytic commands

wc print newline, word, and byte counts for each file

aspell interactive spell checker (replacement for ispell)

ispell interactive spell checker

style analyses readability (length of words, sentences and paragraphs)

diction find doubled words and wordy or commonly misused phrases in sentences

analytic commands
wc	print newline, word, and byte counts for each file
aspell	interactive spell checker (replacement for ispell)
ispell	interactive spell checker
style	analyses readability (length of words, sentences and paragraphs)
diction	find doubled words and wordy or commonly misused phrases in sentences

primitive format and display for screen or paper

fold wrap each input line to fit in specified width

pr convert text files for printing (paginate or columnate)

fmt simple optimal text formatter

cat concatenate files and print on the standard output

tac concatenate and print files in reverse (last line first)

less display and navigate a text file (also search and bookmark lines)

lesskey lets you set the key commands that less uses

lessfile preprocess input for less (open tar, gz, doc, bz, deb, rpm, pdf, etc) to /tmp

lesspipe like lessfile but sends to standard output

more browse a file a screenful at a time (primitive version of less)

pg browse pagewise through text files

col filter reverse line feeds from input

colcrt filter nroff output for CRT previewing

primitive format and display for screen or paper
fold	wrap each input line to fit in specified width
pr	convert text files for printing (paginate or columnate)
fmt	simple optimal text formatter
cat	concatenate files and print on the standard output
tac	concatenate and print files in reverse (last line first)
less	display and navigate a text file (also search and bookmark lines)
lesskey	lets you set the key commands that less uses
lessfile	preprocess input for less (open tar, gz, doc, bz, deb, rpm, pdf, etc) to /tmp
lesspipe	like lessfile but sends to standard output
more	browse a file a screenful at a time (primitive version of less)
pg	browse pagewise through text files
col	filter reverse line feeds from input
colcrt	filter nroff output for CRT previewing

verify saved files

cksum write file cyclic redundancy checksums (CRC) and sizes

sum checksum and count the blocks in a file

md5sum compute and check MD5 message digest

sha1sum compute and check SHA1 message digest

verify saved files
cksum	write file cyclic redundancy checksums (CRC) and sizes
sum	checksum and count the blocks in a file
md5sum	compute and check MD5 message digest
sha1sum	compute and check SHA1 message digest

converters

tr Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters

recode converts files between character sets

iconv codeset conversion

unrtf converts RTF documents to html (default), plain text, ANSI, LaTeX, rtf

expand convert tabs to spaces

unexpand convert spaces to tabs

tidy validate, correct, and pretty-print HTML files

converters
tr	Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters
recode	converts files between character sets
iconv	codeset conversion
unrtf	converts RTF documents to html (default), plain text, ANSI, LaTeX, rtf
expand	convert tabs to spaces
unexpand	convert spaces to tabs
tidy	validate, correct, and pretty-print HTML files

compare

cmp compare two files

diff find differences between two files

comm compare two sorted files line by line

compare
cmp	compare two files
diff	find differences between two files
comm	compare two sorted files line by line

clipboard

xclip X-based commandline clipboard utility

autocutsel synchronise all clipboards

xcutsel

glipper GUI clipboard history manager

klipper

anamnesis simple python- and sqlite-based commandline clipboard history

xclipboard

xsel

xcut

clipboard
xclip	X-based commandline clipboard utility
autocutsel	synchronise all clipboards
xcutsel
glipper	GUI clipboard history manager
klipper
anamnesis	simple python- and sqlite-based commandline clipboard history
xclipboard
xsel
xcut

As well as the above discrete commands Linux usually comes with 2 text-oriented scripting languages (awk and sed) and often with python and perl, which are full-blown programming languages. Scripts written in these four languages make it relatively easy to add commands to eed.

text-oriented scripting languages:

awk pattern scanning and processing language

sed stream editor (stream-oriented text editor)

python scripting language

perl scripting language

text-oriented scripting languages:
awk	pattern scanning and processing language
sed	stream editor (stream-oriented text editor)
python	scripting language
perl	scripting language

The nosql project did a similar thing for databases. Instead of requiring a large, monolithic database program, nosql uses existing commands in Linux, plus a number of special-purpose ones written in C, awk, shell-script, or perl. Some of these would be useful for eed. They illustrate the simplicity of extending such a concept.

nosql tools:

addcolumn (awk) Create new empty columns of a table at right

addrow (awk) Append a new empty record to a table

awktable (c) Wrapper for 'awk' program to process a table

bsearch (c) Search a table for lines matching a specified key

column ---> getcolumn

compute (c) Compute an arbitrary expression using column names

constraint (awk) database schema and referential-integrity processor

csvtotable (c) Convert a CSV file into a table

ctime (sh) Turn column containing seconds since epoch into local time

depend ---> deptable

deptable (sh) Test for functional dependency betwen two columns

edittable (sh) Use an editor to edit or modify a table

envtotable (awk) Convert ENVIRONMENT into a one row table

filemode (c) Output octal file permissions of files named

filter ---> filtertable

filtertable (c) Run standard utilities against a table

formtable (perl) Print an arbitrary style report of a NoSQL table

frametable (sh) Beautifier for easier table editing

getcolumn (c) Pick columns by name, output columns in listed order

getrow (c) Select rows based on arbitrary AWK expressions

gregorian (awk) Translate selected date columns from Julian to calendar

index ---> indextable

indextable (perl) Generate table index files to be used by 'search'

islist (awk) Check whether an input file has a valid 'list' format

istable (awk) Check whether an input file has a valid table format.

itable (perl) Interactive front-end to NoSQL

jointable (c) Join of two tables on a common field

julian (awk) Translate selected date columns from calendar to Julian format

justify ---> prtable

keysearch (c) Fast search for rows that begin with a given string

ldaptolist (sh) Queries an OpenLDAP server and formats a NoSQL list

listtotable (awk) Take a file in 'list' format and makes it into a table

makeschema (sh) Build a database schema from a list of tables

maketable (awk) Build a valid table header from an xref file

muxtosql (awk) Unordered sequence of name/value pairs to SQL statements

muxtotable (awk) Unordered sequence of name/value pairs to NoSQL table

mysqltotable (sh) MySQL server query to NoSQL table

nblparser (awk) Experimental NoSQL Brokering Language (NBL) interpreter

nltable (awk) Inserts a unique record identifier into a table

nosql (sh) Main wrapper for all NoSQL commands

notcolumn ---> getcolumn to remove one or more columns

number ---> nltable

project ---> getcolumn

prtable (sh) Table formatter for character displays

psqltotable (sh) PostgreSQL server query to NoSQL table

random ---> rndtable

rdbtotable (awk) Convert an /rdb or RDB table into NoSQL format

rename ---> renamecol

renamecol (awk) Rename a column

repair ---> repairtable

repairtable (awk) Append empty data fields to rows to match table header

rmcolumn ---> getcolumn to remove one or more columns

rndtable (awk) Pick one or more table records at random

row ---> getrow

search ---> searchtable

searchtable (perl) Select rows on a multi-column key of a sorted/indexed table

seektable (c) Extract rows at selected offsets of indexed NoSQL table

select ---> getrow

setenv (sh) Set up the proper shell envoronment for NoSQL (if eval'd)

setnames (awk) Set new column names on the input table

slapd-bind (sh) Experimental OpenLDAP 'back_shell' BIND processor

slapd-search (sh) Experimental OpenLDAP 'back_shell' SEARCH processor

slapdtonbl (awk) Experimental OpenLDAP 'SEARCH' to NBL converter

sorttable (c) Sort a table by one or more columns

soundex (awk) Compute Knuth's soundex codes for selected columns

sqlitetotable (sh) Build a valid NoSQL table from a SQLite database table

subtotal (perl) Output subtotals of a table

summtable (perl) Show statistics about a NoSQL table

tablecat (awk) Concatenate multiple compatible tables

tabletocsv (awk) Convert a table into CSV format

tabletolist (awk) Convert a table into the corresponding 'list' format

tabletordb (awk) Convert a table into /rdb format

template ---> xreftable

tmptable (sh) NoSQL temporary table creator for pipelines

total ---> totaltable

totaltable (awk) Compute table totals

union ---> uniontable

uniontable (sh) Build the "Universal Table" of one or more tables

unique (awk) Make a table unique on the primary key field

unsorttable (c) Shuffle rows in a NoSQL table

update ---> updtable

updtable (awk) Insert/update/delete table rows using an edit table

userproc (sh) Applies local processing to query results

usleep (c) Command-line interface to usleep(3)

viewtable (perl) Visualize a table in a nice list-like format

widest (awk) print the max. width of each column in a table.

xreftable (awk) Build a table template file for the input table

nosql tools:
addcolumn	(awk) Create new empty columns of a table at right
addrow	(awk) Append a new empty record to a table
awktable	(c) Wrapper for 'awk' program to process a table
bsearch	(c) Search a table for lines matching a specified key
column	`--->` getcolumn
compute	(c) Compute an arbitrary expression using column names
constraint	(awk) database schema and referential-integrity processor
csvtotable	(c) Convert a CSV file into a table
ctime	(sh) Turn column containing seconds since epoch into local time
depend	`--->` deptable
deptable	(sh) Test for functional dependency betwen two columns
edittable	(sh) Use an editor to edit or modify a table
envtotable	(awk) Convert ENVIRONMENT into a one row table
filemode	(c) Output octal file permissions of files named
filter	`--->` filtertable
filtertable	(c) Run standard utilities against a table
formtable	(perl) Print an arbitrary style report of a NoSQL table
frametable	(sh) Beautifier for easier table editing
getcolumn	(c) Pick columns by name, output columns in listed order
getrow	(c) Select rows based on arbitrary AWK expressions
gregorian	(awk) Translate selected date columns from Julian to calendar
index	`--->` indextable
indextable	(perl) Generate table index files to be used by 'search'
islist	(awk) Check whether an input file has a valid 'list' format
istable	(awk) Check whether an input file has a valid table format.
itable	(perl) Interactive front-end to NoSQL
jointable	(c) Join of two tables on a common field
julian	(awk) Translate selected date columns from calendar to Julian format
justify	`--->` prtable
keysearch	(c) Fast search for rows that begin with a given string
ldaptolist	(sh) Queries an OpenLDAP server and formats a NoSQL list
listtotable	(awk) Take a file in 'list' format and makes it into a table
makeschema	(sh) Build a database schema from a list of tables
maketable	(awk) Build a valid table header from an xref file
muxtosql	(awk) Unordered sequence of name/value pairs to SQL statements
muxtotable	(awk) Unordered sequence of name/value pairs to NoSQL table
mysqltotable	(sh) MySQL server query to NoSQL table
nblparser	(awk) Experimental NoSQL Brokering Language (NBL) interpreter
nltable	(awk) Inserts a unique record identifier into a table
nosql	(sh) Main wrapper for all NoSQL commands
notcolumn	`--->` getcolumn to remove one or more columns
number	`--->` nltable
project	`--->` getcolumn
prtable	(sh) Table formatter for character displays
psqltotable	(sh) PostgreSQL server query to NoSQL table
random	`--->` rndtable
rdbtotable	(awk) Convert an /rdb or RDB table into NoSQL format
rename	`--->` renamecol
renamecol	(awk) Rename a column
repair	`--->` repairtable
repairtable	(awk) Append empty data fields to rows to match table header
rmcolumn	`--->` getcolumn to remove one or more columns
rndtable	(awk) Pick one or more table records at random
row	`--->` getrow
search	`--->` searchtable
searchtable	(perl) Select rows on a multi-column key of a sorted/indexed table
seektable	(c) Extract rows at selected offsets of indexed NoSQL table
select	`--->` getrow
setenv	(sh) Set up the proper shell envoronment for NoSQL (if eval'd)
setnames	(awk) Set new column names on the input table
slapd-bind	(sh) Experimental OpenLDAP 'back_shell' BIND processor
slapd-search	(sh) Experimental OpenLDAP 'back_shell' SEARCH processor
slapdtonbl	(awk) Experimental OpenLDAP 'SEARCH' to NBL converter
sorttable	(c) Sort a table by one or more columns
soundex	(awk) Compute Knuth's soundex codes for selected columns
sqlitetotable	(sh) Build a valid NoSQL table from a SQLite database table
subtotal	(perl) Output subtotals of a table
summtable	(perl) Show statistics about a NoSQL table
tablecat	(awk) Concatenate multiple compatible tables
tabletocsv	(awk) Convert a table into CSV format
tabletolist	(awk) Convert a table into the corresponding 'list' format
tabletordb	(awk) Convert a table into /rdb format
template	`--->` xreftable
tmptable	(sh) NoSQL temporary table creator for pipelines
total	`--->` totaltable
totaltable	(awk) Compute table totals
union	`--->` uniontable
uniontable	(sh) Build the "Universal Table" of one or more tables
unique	(awk) Make a table unique on the primary key field
unsorttable	(c) Shuffle rows in a NoSQL table
update	`--->` updtable
updtable	(awk) Insert/update/delete table rows using an edit table
userproc	(sh) Applies local processing to query results
usleep	(c) Command-line interface to usleep(3)
viewtable	(perl) Visualize a table in a nice list-like format
widest	(awk) print the max. width of each column in a table.
xreftable	(awk) Build a table template file for the input table

Here are some additional programs and scripts of use.

extras

wf word frequency

unwrap change newlines to spaces inside paragraphs

gtkdialog3
xmessage
gxmessage
yad
zenity file open/close dialogs, GUIs for many low-level commands

cal outputs a calendar

html-tag-lowercase makes all html tags lowercase

gres (Global Regular Expression Substitute) grep-like find and replace

searchreplace search-replace with GUI and regex.

extras
wf	word frequency
unwrap	change newlines to spaces inside paragraphs
gtkdialog3 xmessage gxmessage yad zenity	file open/close dialogs, GUIs for many low-level commands
cal	outputs a calendar
html-tag-lowercase	makes all html tags lowercase
gres	(Global Regular Expression Substitute) grep-like find and replace
searchreplace	search-replace with GUI and regex.

I don't have these yet. The most important is the first one: the main interactive window.

wanted

scr
Interactive screen display.

Should be able to add menus dynamically from a simple text config file.

Tabbed display would be useful.

Inbuilt toggling soft-wrap would simplify matters too.

Nice if it could toggle to display styles (fonts, style, color, size, align), making it wysiwyg html-capable.

find interactive find with GUI and regex.

wanted
scr	Interactive screen display. Should be able to add menus dynamically from a simple text config file. Tabbed display would be useful. Inbuilt toggling soft-wrap would simplify matters too. Nice if it could toggle to display styles (fonts, style, color, size, align), making it wysiwyg html-capable.
find	interactive find with GUI and regex.