# Isocline: a portable readline alternative.
Isocline is a pure C library that can be used as an alternative to the GNU readline library (latest release v1.0.9, 2022-01-15).
- Small: less than 8k lines and can be compiled as a single C file without
any dependencies or configuration (e.g. `gcc -c src/isocline.c`).
- Portable: works on Unix, Windows, and macOS, and uses a minimal
subset of ANSI escape sequences.
- Features: extensive multi-line editing mode (`shift-tab`), (24-bit) color, history, completion, unicode,
undo/redo, incremental history search, inline hints, syntax highlighting, brace matching,
closing brace insertion, auto indentation, graceful fallback, support for custom allocators, etc.
- License: MIT.
- Comes with a Haskell binding ([`System.Console.Isocline`][hdoc].
Enjoy,
Daan
# Demo
Shows in order: unicode, syntax highlighting, brace matching, jump to matching brace, auto indent, multiline editing, 24-bit colors, inline hinting, filename completion, and incremental history search.
(screen capture was made with [termtosvg] by Nicolas Bedos)
# Usage
Include the isocline header in your C or C++ source:
```C
#include
```
and call `ic_readline` to get user input with rich editing abilities:
```C
char* input;
while( (input = ic_readline("prompt")) != NULL ) { // ctrl+d/c or errors return NULL
printf("you typed:\n%s\n", input); // use the input
free(input);
}
```
See the [example] for a full example with completion, syntax highligting, history, etc.
# Run the Example
You can compile and run the [example] as:
```
$ gcc -o example -Iinclude test/example.c src/isocline.c
$ ./example
```
or, the Haskell [example][HaskellExample]:
```
$ ghc -ihaskell test/Example.hs src/isocline.c
$ ./test/Example
```
# Editing with Isocline
Isocline tries to be as compatible as possible with standard [GNU Readline] key bindings.
### Overview:
```apl
home/ctrl-a cursor end/ctrl-e
┌─────────────────┼───────────────┐ (navigate)
│ ctrl-left │ ctrl-right │
│ ┌───────┼──────┐ │ ctrl-r : search history
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ tab : complete word
prompt> it is the quintessential language shift-tab: insert new line
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ esc : delete input, done
│ └──────────────┘ │ ctrl-z : undo
│ alt-backsp alt-d │
└─────────────────────────────────┘ (delete)
ctrl-u ctrl-k
```
Note: on macOS, the meta (alt) key is not directly available in most terminals.
Terminal/iTerm2 users can activate the meta key through
`Terminal` → `Preferences` → `Settings` → `Use option as meta key`.
### Key Bindings
These are also shown when pressing `F1` on a Isocline prompt. We use `^` as a shorthand for `ctrl-`:
| Navigation | |
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `left`,`^b` | go one character to the left |
| `right`,`^f ` | go one character to the right |
| `up ` | go one row up, or back in the history |
| `down ` | go one row down, or forward in the history |
| `^left ` | go to the start of the previous word |
| `^right ` | go to the end the current word |
| `home`,`^a ` | go to the start of the current line |
| `end`,`^e ` | go to the end of the current line |
| `pgup`,`^home ` | go to the start of the current input |
| `pgdn`,`^end ` | go to the end of the current input |
| `alt-m ` | jump to matching brace |
| `^p ` | go back in the history |
| `^n ` | go forward in the history |
| `^r`,`^s ` | search the history starting with the current word |
| Deletion | |
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `del`,`^d ` | delete the current character |
| `backsp`,`^h ` | delete the previous character |
| `^w ` | delete to preceding white space |
| `alt-backsp ` | delete to the start of the current word |
| `alt-d ` | delete to the end of the current word |
| `^u ` | delete to the start of the current line |
| `^k ` | delete to the end of the current line |
| `esc ` | delete the current input, or done with empty input |
| Editing | |
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `enter ` | accept current input |
| `^enter`,`^j`,`shift-tab` | create a new line for multi-line input |
| `^l ` | clear screen |
| `^t ` | swap with previous character (move character backward) |
| `^z`,`^_ ` | undo |
| `^y ` | redo |
| `tab ` | try to complete the current input |
| Completion menu | |
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `enter`,`left` | use the currently selected completion |
| `1` - `9` | use completion N from the menu |
| `tab, down ` | select the next completion |
| `shift-tab, up` | select the previous completion |
| `esc ` | exit menu without completing |
| `pgdn`,`^enter`,`^j` | show all further possible completions |
| Incremental history search | |
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| `enter ` | use the currently found history entry |
| `backsp`,`^z ` | go back to the previous match (undo) |
| `tab`,`^r`,`up` | find the next match |
| `shift-tab`,`^s`,`down` | find an earlier match |
| `esc ` | exit search |
# Build the Library
### Build as a Single Source
Copy the sources (in `include` and `src`) into your project, or add the library as a [submodule]:
```
$ git submodule add https://github.com/daanx/isocline
```
and add `isocline/src/isocline.c` to your build rules -- no configuration is needed.
### Build with CMake
Clone the repository and run cmake to build a static library (`.a`/`.lib`):
```
$ git clone https://github.com/daanx/isocline
$ cd isocline
$ mkdir -p build/release
$ cd build/release
$ cmake ../..
$ cmake --build .
```
This builds a static library `libisocline.a` (or `isocline.lib` on Windows)
and the example program:
```
$ ./example
```
### Build the Haskell Library
See the Haskell [readme][Haskell] for instructions to build and use the Haskell library.
# API Reference
* See the [C API reference][docapi] and the [example] for example usage of history, completion, etc.
* See the [Haskell API reference][hdoc] on Hackage and the Haskell [example][HaskellExample].
# Motivation
Isocline was created for use in the [Koka] interactive compiler.
This required: pure C (no dependency on a C++ runtime or other libraries),
portable (across Linux, macOS, and Windows), unicode support,
a BSD-style license, and good functionality for completion and multi-line editing.
Some other excellent libraries that we considered:
[GNU readline],
[editline](https://github.com/troglobit/editline),
[linenoise](https://github.com/antirez/linenoise),
[replxx](https://github.com/AmokHuginnsson/replxx), and
[Haskeline](https://github.com/judah/haskeline).
# Formatted Output
Isocline also exposes functions for rich terminal output
as `ic_print` (and `ic_println` and `ic_printf`).
Inspired by the (Python) [Rich][RichBBcode] library,
this supports a form of [bbcode]'s to format the output:
```c
ic_println( "[b]bold [red]and red[/red][/b]" );
```
Each print automatically closes any open tags that were
not yet closed. Also, you can use a general close
tag as `[/]` to close the innermost tag, so the
following print is equivalent to the earlier one:
```c
ic_println( "[b]bold [red]and red[/]" );
```
There can be multiple styles in one tag
(where the first name is used for the closing tag):
```c
ic_println( "[u #FFD700]underlined gold[/]" );
```
Sometimes, you need to display arbitrary messages
that may contain sequences that you would not like
to be interpreted as bbcode tags. One way to do
this is the `[!`_tag_`]` which ignores formatting
up to a close tag of the form `[/`_tag_`]`.
```c
ic_printf( "[red]red? [!pre]%s[/pre].\n", "[blue]not blue!" );
```
Predefined styles include `b` (bold),
`u` (underline), `i` (italic), and `r` (reverse video), but
you can (re)define any style yourself as:
```c
ic_style_def("warning", "crimson u");
```
and use them like any builtin style or property:
```c
ic_println( "[warning]this is a warning![/]" );
```
which is great for adding themes to your application.
Each `ic_print` function always closes any unclosed tags automatically.
To open a style persistently, use `ic_style_open` with a matching
`ic_style_close` which scopes over any `ic_print` statements in between.
```c
ic_style_open("warning");
ic_println("[b]crimson underlined and bold[/]");
ic_style_close();
```
# Advanced
## BBCode Format
An open tag can have multiple white space separated
entries that are
either a _style name_, or a primitive _property_[`=`_value_].
### Styles
Isocline provides the following builtin styles as property shorthands:
`b` (bold), `u` (underline), `i` (italic), `r` (reverse video),
and some builtin styles for syntax highlighting:
`keyword`, `control` (control-flow keywords), `string`,
`comment`, `number`, `type`, `constant`.
Predefined styles used by Isocline itself are:
- `ic-prompt`: prompt style, e.g. `ic_style_def("ic-prompt", "yellow on blue")`.
- `ic-info`: information (like the numbers in a completion menu).
- `ic-diminish`: dim text (used for example in history search).
- `ic-emphasis`: emphasized text (also used in history search).
- `ic-hint`: color of an inline hint.
- `ic-error`: error color (like an unmatched brace).
- `ic-bracematch`: color of matching parenthesis.
### Properties
Boolean properties are by default `on`:
- `bold` [`=`(`on`|`off`)]
- `italic` [`=`(`on`|`off`)]
- `underline` [`=`(`on`|`off`)]
- `reverse` [`=`(`on`|`off`)]
Color properties can be assigned a _color_:
- `color=`_color_
- `bgcolor=`_color_
- _color_: equivalent to `color=`_color_.
- `on` _color_: equivalent to `bgcolor=`_color_.
A color value can be specified in many ways:
- any standard HTML [color name][htmlcolors].
- any of the 16 standard ANSI [color names][ansicolors] by prefixing `ansi-`
(like `ansi-black` or `ansi-maroon`).
The actual color value of these depend on the a terminal theme.
- `#`_rrggbb_ or `#`_rgb_ for a specific 24-bit color.
- `ansi-color=`_idx_: where 0 <= _idx_ <= 256 specifies an entry in the
standard ANSI 256 [color palette][ansicolor256], where 256 is used for the ANSI
default color.
## Environment Variables
- `NO_COLOR`: if present no colors are displayed.
- `CLICOLOR=1`: if set, the `LSCOLORS` or `LS_COLORS` environment variables are used to colorize
filename completions.
- `COLORTERM=`(`truecolor`|`256color`|`16color`|`8color`|`monochrome`): enable a certain color palette, see the next section.
- `TERM`: used on some systems to determine the color
## Colors
Isocline supports 24-bit colors and any RGB colors are automatically
mapped to a reduced palette on older terminals if these do not
support true color. Detection of full color support
is not always possible to do automatically and you can
set the `COLORTERM` environment variable expicitly to force Isocline to use
a specific palette:
- `COLORTERM=truecolor`: use 24-bit colors.
- `COLORTERM=256color`: use the ANSI 256 color palette.
- `COLORTERM=16color` : use the regular ANSI 16 color
palette (8 normal and 8 bright colors).
- `COLORTERM=8color`: use bold for bright colors.
- `COLORTERM=monochrome`: use no color.
The above screenshots are made with the
[`test_colors.c`](https://github.com/daanx/isocline/blob/main/test/test_colors.c) program. You can test your own
terminal as:
```
$ gcc -o test_colors -Iinclude test/test_colors.c src/isocline.c
$ ./test_colors
$ COLORTERM=truecolor ./test_colors
$ COLORTERM=16color ./test_colors
```
## ANSI Escape Sequences
Isocline uses just few ANSI escape sequences that are widely
supported:
- `ESC[`_n_`A`, `ESC[`_n_`B`, `ESC[`_n_`C`, and `ESC[`_n_`D`,
for moving the cursor _n_ places up, down, right, and left.
- `ESC[K` to clear the line from the cursor.
- `ESC[`_n_`m` for colors, with _n_ one of: 0 (reset), 1,22 (bold), 3,23 (italic),
4,24 (underline), 7,27 (reverse), 30-37,40-47,90-97,100-107 (color),
and 39,49 (select default color).
- `ESC[38;5;`_n_`m`, `ESC[48;5;`_n_`m`, `ESC[38;2;`_r_`;`_g_`;`_b_`m`, `ESC[48;2;`_r_`;`_g_`;`_b_`m`:
on terminals that support it, select
entry _n_ from the
256 color ANSI palette (used with `XTERM=xterm-256color` for example), or directly specify
any 24-bit _rgb_ color (used with `COLORTERM=truecolor`) for the foreground or background.
On Windows the above functionality is implemented using the Windows console API
(except if running in the new Windows Terminal which supports these escape
sequences natively).
## Async and Threads
Isocline is _not_ thread-safe and `ic_readline`_xxx_ and `ic_print`_xxx_ should
be used from one thread only.
The best way to use `ic_readline` asynchronously is
to run it in a (blocking) dedicated thread and deliver
results from there to the async event loop. Isocline has the
```C
bool ic_async_stop(void)
```
function that is thread-safe and can deliver an
asynchronous event to Isocline that unblocks a current
`ic_readline` and makes it behave as if the user pressed
`ctrl-c` (which returns NULL from the read line call).
## Color Mapping
To map full RGB colors to an ANSI 256 or 16-color palette
Isocline finds a palette color with the minimal "color distance" to
the original color. There are various
ways of calculating this: one way is to take the euclidean distance
in the sRGB space (_simple-rgb_), a slightly better way is to
take a weighted distance where the weight distribution is adjusted
according to how big the red component is ([redmean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference),
denoted as _delta-rgb_ in the figure),
this is used by Isocline),
and finally, we can first translate into a perceptually uniform color space
(CIElab) and calculate the distance there using the [CIEDE2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference)
algorithm (_ciede2000_). Here are these three methods compared on
some colors:
Each top row is the true 24-bit RGB color. Surprisingly,
the sophisticated CIEDE2000 distance seems less good here compared to the
simpler methods (as in the upper left block for example)
(perhaps because this algorithm was created to find close
perceptual colors in images where lightness differences may be given
less weight?). CIEDE2000 also leads to more "outliers", for example as seen
in column 5. Given these results, Isocline uses _redmean_ for
color mapping. We also add a gray correction that makes it less
likely to substitute a color for a gray value (and the other way
around).
## Possible Future Extensions
- Vi key bindings.
- kill buffer.
- make the `ic_print`_xxx_ functions thread-safe.
- extended low-level terminal functions.
- status and progress bars.
- prompt variants: confirm, etc.
- ...
Contact me if you are interested in doing any of these :-)
# Releases
* `2022-01-15`: v1.0.9: fix missing `ic_completion_arg` (issue #6),
fix null ptr check in ic_print (issue #7), fix crash when using /dev/null as both input and output.
* `2021-09-05`: v1.0.5: use our own wcwidth for consistency;
thanks to Hans-Georg Breunig for helping with testing on NetBSD.
* `2021-08-28`: v1.0.4: fix color query on Ubuntu/Gnome
* `2021-08-27`: v1.0.3: fix duplicates in completions
* `2021-08-23`: v1.0.2: fix windows eol wrapping
* `2021-08-21`: v1.0.1: fix line-buffering
* `2021-08-20`: v1.0.0: initial release
[GNU readline]: https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html
[koka]: http://www.koka-lang.org
[submodule]: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules
[Haskell]: https://github.com/daanx/isocline/tree/main/haskell
[HaskellExample]: https://github.com/daanx/isocline/blob/main/test/Example.hs
[example]: https://github.com/daanx/isocline/blob/main/test/example.c
[termtosvg]: https://github.com/nbedos/termtosvg
[Rich]: https://github.com/willmcgugan/rich
[RichBBcode]: https://rich.readthedocs.io/en/latest/markup.html
[bbcode]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBCode
[htmlcolors]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#HTML_color_names
[ansicolors]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#Basic_colors
[ansicolor256]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#8-bit
[docapi]: https://daanx.github.io/isocline
[hdoc]: https://hackage.haskell.org/package/isocline/docs/System-Console-Isocline.html