Micro icon
Micro icon

Micro

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals.

Micro screenshot 1

Cost / License

  • Free
  • Open Source (MIT)

Application type

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • BSD
  • FreeBSD
  • OpenBSD
Micro screenshot 1
Micro screenshot 2
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Micro screenshot 3
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Features

Properties

  1.  User friendly
  2.  Intuitive Interface
  3.  Lightweight
  4.  Distraction-free
  5.  Privacy focused
  6.  Support for Themes
  7.  Customizable

Features

  1.  Terminal-based
  2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
  3.  Zero configuration
  4.  Syntax Highlighting
  5.  Works Offline
  6.  Plugin system
  7.  No registration required
  8.  Ad-free
  9.  Portable
  10.  No Tracking
  11.  Command line interface
  12.  Multiple Cursors
  13.  Color Palette
  14.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
  15.  Lua scripting

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Comments and Reviews

   
Top Positive Comment
Tired Rabbit
3

Just works, pretty much like a GUI text editors out of box (mouse support is really good), but lightweight, configurable and extensible like terminal ones You can use it with keyboard+mouse, just keyboard or touch+virtual keyboard setups

EDIT: Clipboard issue on Linux seems to be caused by having xsel, xclip and wl-clipboard installed at the same time and micro picking not the one DE is using. If you use Wayland (default on GNOME and SWAY, also default on some distributions with KDE) - leave only wl-clipboard as it's the one that system will use. If you are on X11 - leave xclip, if it doesn't work - remove xclip and try reinstalling xsel Also check that micro doesn't have "clipboard": "internal" in settings file, because "clipboard": "external" is default but you could have changed something

Top Negative Comment
ab1
-4

Terrible editor.

sheysson miller
0

combines the best of two worlds: unix-like simplicity and modern & friendly user-experience

Petr Sabanov
1

It's like nano, but more featured and convenient!

Leandro Pocai
0

Its fast, its simple, it has mouse support! love it

Review from a new or low-activity account — shown here, but not counted in the app rating.
Centaro
0

It would get 5 stars if it were compatible with doas.

Paul
0

A very good text and code editor. It's fast, lightweight, and very easy to use. It doesn't have an insert mode like vim, and it supports the mouse. It can be customized with a color theme and some plugins, and it's pretty powerful once you learn the commands and keybindings (that mostly use default shortcuts, so you won't be lost).

7 of 10 comments

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What is Micro?

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals. It comes as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies, and you can download and use it right now.

As the name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use in a pinch, but micro also aims to be enjoyable to use full time, whether you work in the terminal because you prefer it (like me), or because you need to (over ssh).

Features

  • Easy to Use: Micro's number one feature is being easy to install (it's just a static binary with no dependencies) and easy to use.
  • Highly Customizable: Use a simple JSON format to configure your options and rebind keys to your liking. If you need more power, you can use Lua to configure the editor further.
  • Colors and Highlighting: Micro supports over 75 languages and has 7 default colorschemes to choose from. Micro supports 16, 256, and truecolor themes. Syntax files and colorschemes are also very simple to make.
  • Multiple Cursors: Micro has support for Sublime-style multiple cursors, giving you lots of editing power directly in your terminal.
  • Plugin System: Micro supports a full-blown plugin system. Plugins are written in Lua and there is a plugin manager to automatically download and install your plugins for you.
  • Common Keybindings: Micro's keybindings are what you would expect from a simple-to-use editor. You can also rebind any of the bindings without problem in the bindings.json file.
  • Mouse Support: Micro has full support for the mouse. This means you can click and drag to select text, double click select by word, and triple click to select by line.
  • Terminal Emulator: Run a real interactive shell from within micro. You could open up a split with code on one side and bash on the other – all from within micro.

Micro information

AlternativeTo Categories

OS & Utilities, Development, Office & Productivity, Photos & Graphics

GitHub repository

  •  29,661 Stars
  •  1,382 Forks
  •  919 Open Issues
  •   Updated  
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Our users have written 10 comments and reviews about Micro, and it has gotten 91 likes

Micro was added to AlternativeTo by Benjamin Lupton on and this page was last updated .