Build Your Own Text Editor
For a hands-on project for learning systems programming, the strongest matches are antirez/kilo (Kilo is the minimal C terminal text editor that), snaptoken/kilo-tutorial (The kilo-tutorial repository is the canonical step-by-step guide for) and shikijs/shiki (Shiki is a syntax highlighting engine that generates styled). prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit is also worth a look. Each is ranked by relevance to your query, popularity and recent activity.
Explore open-source projects and tutorials for creating functional text editors from scratch using various languages.
Build Your Own Text Editor
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- antirez/kilo
antirez/kilo
8,767View on GitHubKilo is a small-scale text editor implemented in C to demonstrate low-level systems programming. It provides a command line interface for modifying and saving text files directly within a terminal. The editor includes built-in string search and navigation capabilities to locate text within a file. It also applies colors to source code based on language patterns to provide syntax highlighting.
Kilo is the minimal C terminal text editor that inspired the "Build Your Own Text Editor" tutorial — it implements the core features (file I/O, syntax highlighting, search) but does not include undo/redo or incremental search, so it's a genuine fit with a narrower feature set.
CC - snaptoken/kilo-tutorial
snaptoken/kilo-tutorial
This project is an educational resource designed to teach low-level software development through the incremental construction of a functional terminal-based text editor. It provides a step-by-step curriculum that guides users through the process of building an interactive application from scratch using C and standard terminal input handling. The tutorial distinguishes itself by utilizing an incremental implementation pattern, where each functional milestone builds upon previous code to ensure a manageable learning curve. To support this process, the project includes a command-line utility tha
The kilo-tutorial repository is the canonical step-by-step guide for building a minimal terminal-based text editor in C, covering syntax highlighting, incremental search, and file I/O—exactly the learning resource you're looking for, though it omits undo/redo.
Terminal Text EditorsEditor Construction TutorialsIn-Memory Text Buffers - shikijs/shiki
shikijs/shiki
12,946View on GitHubShiki is a syntax highlighting engine that generates color-coded HTML or ANSI output from source code. It functions as a static code highlighter, utilizing standard grammar definitions to parse text and apply accurate visual styling for documentation and terminal displays. The engine distinguishes itself by using a TextMate grammar parser to interpret text patterns, ensuring that code displays match the visual appearance of professional editors. It operates through an isomorphic runtime that supports both browser and server environments, utilizing WebAssembly for consistent execution and pre-
Shiki is a syntax highlighting engine that generates styled code output, not a terminal-based text editor — it is a building block that could be used for syntax highlighting in such an editor, but does not implement the core editor functionality, file I/O, search, undo/redo, or the step-by-step tutorial structure the visitor is looking for.
TypeScriptCode Highlighting - prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit
prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit
10,498View on GitHubThis project is a Python terminal user interface library and toolkit designed for building interactive command-line applications. It provides a terminal input manager and a widget toolkit for rendering dashboards, menus, and editors within a terminal emulator. The library enables the creation of full-screen terminal interfaces and interactive shells. It distinguishes itself with advanced input handling, including lexer-based syntax highlighting for visual feedback on code structure and support for industry-standard keyboard navigation modes such as Emacs and Vi. The capability surface covers
This is a Python TUI library for building interactive terminal applications, not a minimal terminal-based text editor implementation in C like the "Build Your Own Text Editor" tutorial; it provides building blocks (syntax highlighting, incremental search) but is a toolkit, not the self-contained editor you're looking for.
PythonIncremental Search
