NAME

       dte - A small, configurable text editor

SYNOPSIS

       dte [-HR] [-c command] [-t ctag] [-r rcfile] [[+line] file]...
       dte [-h|-B|-K|-V|-b rcname|-s file]

OPTIONS

       -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.

KEY BINDINGS

       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
       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
       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
       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).

ENVIRONMENT

       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.

FILES

       $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).

EXIT STATUS

       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.

EXAMPLES

       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

NOTES

       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.

SEE ALSO

       dterc(5), dte-syntax(5)

AUTHORS

       Craig Barnes
       Timo Hirvonen

                                          February 2021                                    DTE(1)