Overview

microdired is an experiment that came about when I first saw nnn, which features vim-like keystrokes. It looks extremely interesting, but I thought to myself "what if we made an ed(1)-like file editor? what would that look like?" This started as a simple gist and grew into something fun to tinker with. Probably the most useful part of this program is the parser for ed(1)-like command languages: the parser parses:

• ranges
• globs
• commands
• arguments

into a simple data structure. I've thought about turning microdired into something like Holzmann's pico(1) but I have not gotten there just yet.

Language

The language that this ed(1)-alike parser consumes is as follows:

n,m(glob)cmd arg0 arg1 ... argN

• n,m: a start line, and optional completion line
• (glob): a Unix-shell glob-alike
• cmd: an actual command, like l or def
• argN: character string arguments

Commands:

• .: print the current working directory
• ..: go up to the parent directory
• /somedirectory: go to /somedirectory
• l/L: print directory with or without entry numbers
• p/P: pretty print directory with or without entry numbers
• c/C: create a file/directory
• f: print only files
• F: pretty print only files
• d: print only directories
• D: pretty print only directories
• e: invoke $EDITOR, falling back on internal ed(1)
• E: invoke internal ed(1)
• m: more, but built in
• M: mode, as in chmod
• t: test-like interface
• !: execute a unix shell