Cano (kay-no) is a VIM inspired modal-based text editor written in C using the ncurses library.
Icon made by LocalTexan
Cano has the following dependencies:
- Navigate to the Cano directory
cd path/to/cano- Make the generator script executable
chmod +x autogen.sh- Run the generator script
./autogen.shThe build files will be stored at path/to/cano/build.
- Compile cano
make -C build- Run cano
./build/canoNormal - For motions and deletion
Insert - For inserting text
Visual - For selecting text and performing actions on them
Search - For searching of text in the current buffer
Command - For executing commands
| Mode | Keybind | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Global | Ctrl + Q | Quit (regardless of mode) |
| Global | Esc | Enter Normal Mode |
| Normal | h | Move cursor left |
| Normal | j | Move cursor down |
| Normal | k | Move cursor up |
| Normal | l | Move cursor right |
| Normal | x | Delete character |
| Normal | g | Go to first line |
| Normal | G | Go to last line |
| Normal | 0 | Go to beginning of line |
| Normal | $ | Go to end of line |
| Normal | w | Go to next word |
| Normal | b | Go to last word |
| Normal | e | Go to end of next word |
| Normal | o | Create line below current |
| Normal | O | Create line above current |
| Normal | Ctrl + o | Create line below current without changing mode |
| Normal | % | Go to corresponding brace |
| Normal | i | Enter insert mode |
| Normal | I | Go to beginning of line |
| Normal | a | Insert mode on next char |
| Normal | A | Insert mode at end of line |
| Normal | v | Enter visual mode |
| Normal | V | Enter visual mode by line |
| Normal | u | Undo |
| Normal | U | Redo |
| Normal | / | Enter Search mode |
| Normal | n | Jump to next search |
| Normal | Ctrl + S | Save and exit |
| Normal | r | Replace current char with next char inputted |
| Normal | (n) + motion | Repeat next motion n times |
| Normal | (d) + motion | Delete characters of next motion n times |
| Normal | Ctrl + n | Open file explorer |
Visual mode works the same as Normal mode, except it works on the entire selection, instead of character by character.
| Keybind | Action |
|---|---|
| > | Indent current selection |
| < | Unindent current selection |
Search mode takes a string and finds it in the file. if prepended with 's/' then it will replace the first substring with the second.
Example: Using the following command
s/hello/goodbyeWill replace hello with goodbye.
| Command | Action |
|---|---|
| set-output | change output file |
| echo (v) | echo value (v) where v is either an ident or a literal |
| we | Write and exit |
| e | Write without exiting |
| set-var (var) (value) | Change a config variable |
| set-map (a) "(b)" | Map key a to any combination of keys b |
| let (n) (v) | Create variable (n) with value (v) |
| !(command) | Execute a shell command |
There are a couple special keys for the key remaps.
| Key |
|---|
| <space> |
| <esc> |
| <backspace> |
| <enter> |
| <ctrl-t> |
The config file is stored in ~/.config/cano/config.cano by default, or can be set at runtime like so:
./cano --config <config_file>The format of the file is the same as commands, it is line separated, which is important. Example:
set-var syntax 1
set-var indent 2 There is a secondary config file, which is for custom syntax highlighting. It is stored in the same folder as the regular config, but uses a different naming format. An example is ~/.config/cano/c.cyntax (spelled cyntax, with a c). The c can be replaced with whatever the file extension of your language is, such as go.cyntax for Golang. Here is an example of a cyntax file:
k,170,68,68,
auto,struct,break,else,switch,case,
enum,register,typedef,extern,return,
union,continue,for,signed,void,do,
if,static,while,default,goto,sizeof,
volatile,const,unsigned.
t,255,165,0,
double,size_t,int,
long,char,float,short.
w,128,160,255.There's a bit to unpack here, basically the single characters represent the type of the keywords: k - Keyword t - Type w - Word The type is then followed by the RGB values, all comma separated without spaces. After the RGB values, there is the actual keywords. End each type with a dot '.' as seen above, to indicate to Cano that the list is finished. The words are meant to be left blank, as it will highlight any words not found in the keywords above with the chosen RGB color. If you wish to only set the color, you can provide no keywords to any, and it will fill in the keywords with C keywords by default.
relative # toggle relative line numbers
auto-indent # toggle auto indentation on-off
syntax # toggle syntax highlighting on-off
indent # set indent
undo-size # size of undo history 
A package is provided within this AUR.
You can install it using your preferred aur helper:
For instance, if using yay, do the following:
yay -S cano-gitCano's build system recently changed, Nix installation is not supported for now.
You may build from source and install cano directly to /usr/local/bin. You must have a basic C compiler, autotools, pkg-config and the ncurses library installed (install shown below).
sudo apt install gcc autoconf automake libtool pkg-config make libncurses-dev
git clone https://github.com/CobbCoding1/Cano && cd Cano
chmod +x autogen.sh && ./autogen.sh
cd build
make
sudo make installThe official Cano installer and manager, currently in Beta. canoon