ratatui-textarea is a simple yet powerful text editor widget like <textarea> in HTML for ratatui (ratatui forked of [tui-textarea][]).
Multi-line text editor can be easily put as part of your ratatui application.
Features:
C-n/C-p/C-f/C-b, M-f/M-b, C-a/C-e, C-h/C-d, C-k, M-</M->, ...)C-k, C-j, ...Running cargo run --example in this repository can demonstrate usage of ratatui-textarea.
minimalsh
cargo run --example minimal
Minimal usage with crossterm support.
editorsh
cargo run --example editor --features search file.txt
Simple text editor to edit multiple files.
single_linesh
cargo run --example single_line
Single-line input form with float number validation.
splitsh
cargo run --example split
Two split textareas in a screen and switch them. An example for multiple textarea instances.
termionsh
cargo run --example termion --features=termion
Minimal usage with termion support.
variablesh
cargo run --example variable
Simple textarea with variable height following the number of lines.
modalsh
cargo run --example modal
Simple modal text editor like vi.
Add ratatui-textarea crate to dependencies in your Cargo.toml. This enables crossterm backend support by default.
toml
[dependencies]
ratatui = "*"
ratatui-textarea = "*"
If you need text search with regular expressions, enable search feature. It adds regex crate crate as
dependency.
toml
[dependencies]
ratatui = "*"
ratatui-textarea = { version = "*", features = ["search"] }
If you're using ratatui with termion, enable termion feature instead of crossterm feature.
toml
[dependencies]
ratatui = { version = "*", default-features = false, features = ["termion"] }
ratatui-textarea = { version = "*", default-features = false, features = ["termion"] }
In addition to above dependencies, you also need to install crossterm or termion to initialize your application and to receive key inputs. See crossterm or termion documentation for more details.
```rust,ignore use ratatui_textarea::TextArea; use crossterm::event::{Event, read};
let mut term = ratatui::Terminal::new(...);
// Create an empty TextArea instance which manages the editor state
let mut textarea = TextArea::default();
// Event loop
loop {
term.draw(|f| {
// Get ratatui::layout::Rect where the editor should be rendered
let rect = ...;
// TextArea::widget builds a widget to render the editor with ratatui
let widget = textarea.widget();
// Render the widget in terminal screen
f.render_widget(widget, rect);
})?;
if let Event::Key(key) = read()? {
// Your own key mapping to break the event loop
if key.code == KeyCode::Esc {
break;
}
// `TextArea::input` can directly handle key events from backends and update the editor state
textarea.input(key);
}
}
// Get text lines as &[String]
println!("Lines: {:?}", textarea.lines());
```
TextArea is an instance to manage the editor state. By default, it disables line numbers and highlights cursor line
with underline.
TextArea::widget() builds a widget to render the current state of the editor. Create the widget and render it on each
tick of event loop.
TextArea::input() receives inputs from ratatui backends. The method can take key events from backends such as
crossterm::event::KeyEvent or termion::event::Key directly if the features are enabled. The method handles default
key mappings as well.
Default key mappings are as follows:
| Mappings | Description |
|----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Ctrl+H, Backspace | Delete one character before cursor |
| Ctrl+D, Delete | Delete one character next to cursor |
| Ctrl+M, Enter | Insert newline |
| Ctrl+K | Delete from cursor until the end of line |
| Ctrl+J | Delete from cursor until the head of line |
| Ctrl+W, Alt+H, Alt+Backspace | Delete one word before cursor |
| Alt+D, Alt+Delete | Delete one word next to cursor |
| Ctrl+U | Undo |
| Ctrl+R | Redo |
| Ctrl+Y | Paste yanked text |
| Ctrl+F, → | Move cursor forward by one character |
| Ctrl+B, ← | Move cursor backward by one character |
| Ctrl+P, ↑ | Move cursor up by one line |
| Ctrl+N, ↓ | Move cursor down by one line |
| Alt+F, Ctrl+→ | Move cursor forward by word |
| Atl+B, Ctrl+← | Move cursor backward by word |
| Alt+], Alt+P, Ctrl+↑ | Move cursor up by paragraph |
| Alt+[, Alt+N, Ctrl+↓ | Move cursor down by paragraph |
| Ctrl+E, End, Ctrl+Alt+F, Ctrl+Alt+→ | Move cursor to the end of line |
| Ctrl+A, Home, Ctrl+Alt+B, Ctrl+Alt+← | Move cursor to the head of line |
| Alt+<, Ctrl+Alt+P, Ctrl+Alt+↑ | Move cursor to top of lines |
| Alt+>, Ctrl+Alt+N, Ctrl+Alt+↓ | Move cursor to bottom of lines |
| Ctrl+V, PageDown | Scroll down by page |
| Alt+V, PageUp | Scroll up by page |
Deleting multiple characters at once saves the deleted text to yank buffer. It can be pasted with Ctrl+Y later.
If you don't want to use default key mappings, see the 'Advanced Usage' section.
TextArea instance with textTextArea implements Default trait to create an editor instance with an empty text.
rust,ignore
let mut textarea = TextArea::default();
TextArea::new() creates an editor instance with text lines passed as Vec<String>.
rust,ignore
let mut lines: Vec<String> = ...;
let mut textarea = TextArea::new(lines);
TextArea implements From<impl Iterator<Item=impl Into<String>>>. TextArea::from() can create an editor instance
from any iterators whose elements can be converted to String.
``rust,ignore
// CreateTextAreafrom from[&str]`
let mut textarea = TextArea::from([
"this is first line",
"this is second line",
"this is third line",
]);
// Create TextArea from String
let mut text: String = ...;
let mut textarea = TextARea::from(text.lines());
```
TextArea also implements FromIterator<impl Into<String>>. Iterator::collect() can collect strings as an editor
instance. This allows to create TextArea reading lines from file efficiently using io::BufReader.
rust,ignore
let file = fs::File::open(path)?;
let mut textarea: TextArea = io::BufReader::new(file).lines().collect::<io::Result<_>>()?;
TextAreaTextArea::lines() returns text lines as &[String]. It borrows text contents temporarily.
rust,ignore
let text: String = textarea.lines().join("\n");
TextArea::into_lines() moves TextArea instance into text lines as Vec<String>. This can retrieve the text contents
without any copy.
rust,ignore
let lines: Vec<String> = textarea.into_lines();
Note that TextArea always contains at least one line. For example, an empty text means one empty line. This is because
any text file must end with newline.
rust,ignore
let textarea = TextArea::default();
assert_eq!(textarea.into_lines(), [""]);
By default, TextArea does now show line numbers. To enable, set a style for rendering line numbers by
TextArea::set_line_number_style(). For example, the following renders line numbers in dark gray background
color.
```rust,ignore use ratatui::style::{Style, Color};
let style = Style::default().bg(Color::DarkGray); textarea.setlinenumber_style(style); ```
By default, TextArea renders the line at cursor with underline so that users can easily notice where the current line
is. To change the style of cursor line, use TextArea::set_cursor_line_style(). For example, the following styles the
cursor line with bold text.
```rust,ignore use ratatui::style::{Style, Modifier};
let style = Style::default().addmodifier(Modifier::BOLD); textarea.setlinenumberstyle(style); ```
To disable cursor line style, set the default style as follows:
```rust,ignore use ratatui::style::{Style, Modifier};
textarea.setlinenumber_style(Style::default()); ```
The default tab width is 4. To change it, use TextArea::set_tab_length() method. The following sets 2 to tab width.
Typing tab key inserts 2 spaces.
rust,ignore
textarea.set_tab_length(2);
By default, past 50 modifications are stored as edit history. The history is used for undo/redo. To change how many past
edits are remembered, use TextArea::set_max_histories() method. The following remembers past 1000 changes.
rust,ignore
textarea.set_max_histories(1000);
Setting 0 disables undo/redo.
rust,ignore
textarea.set_max_histories(0);
To search text in textarea, set a regular expression pattern with TextArea::set_search_pattern() and move cursor with
TextArea::search_forward() for forward search or TextArea::search_back() backward search. The regular expression is
handled by regex crate.
Text search wraps around the textarea. When searching forward and no match found until the end of textarea, it searches the pattern from start of the file.
Matches are highlighted in textarea. The text style to highlight matches can be changed with
TextArea::set_search_style(). Setting an empty string to TextArea::set_search_pattern() stops the text search.
``rust,ignore
// Start text search matching to "hello" or "hi". This highlights matches in textarea but does not move cursor.
//regex::Error` is returned on invalid pattern.
textarea.setsearchpattern("(hello|hi)").unwrap();
textarea.searchforward(false); // Move cursor to the next match textarea.searchback(false); // Move cursor to the previous match
// Setting empty string stops the search textarea.setsearchpattern("").unwrap(); ```
No UI is provided for text search. You need to provide your own UI to input search query. It is recommended to use
another TextArea for search form. To build a single-line input form, see 'Single-line input like <input> in HTML' in
'Advanced Usage' section below.
editor example implements a text search with search form built on TextArea. See the
implementation for working example.
To use text search, search feature needs to be enabled in your Cargo.toml. It is disabled by default to avoid
depending on regex crate until it is necessary.
toml
ratatui-textarea = { version = "*", features = ["search"] }
<input> in HTMLTo use TextArea for single-line input widget like <input> in HTML, ignore all key mappings which inserts newline.
```rust,ignore use crossterm::event::{Event, read}; use ratatui_textarea::{Input, Key};
let defaulttext: &str = ...; let defaulttext = defaulttext.replace(&['\n', '\r'], " "); // Ensure no new line is contained let mut textarea = TextArea::new(vec![defaulttext]);
// Event loop loop { // ...
// Using `Input` is not mandatory, but it's useful for pattern match
// Ignore Ctrl+m and Enter. Otherwise handle keys as usual
match read()?.into() {
Input { key: Key::Char('m'), ctrl: true, alt: false }
| Input { key: Key::Enter, .. } => continue,
input => {
textarea.input(key);
}
}
}
let text = textarea.into_lines().remove(0); // Get input text ```
See single_line example for working example.
All editor operations are defined as public methods of TextArea. To move cursor, use ratatui_textarea::CursorMove to
notify how to move the cursor.
| Method | Operation |
|------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| textarea.delete_char() | Delete one character before cursor |
| textarea.delete_next_char() | Delete one character next to cursor |
| textarea.insert_newline() | Insert newline |
| textarea.delete_line_by_end() | Delete from cursor until the end of line |
| textarea.delete_line_by_head() | Delete from cursor until the head of line |
| textarea.delete_word() | Delete one word before cursor |
| textarea.delete_next_word() | Delete one word next to cursor |
| textarea.undo() | Undo |
| textarea.redo() | Redo |
| textarea.paste() | Paste yanked text |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Forward) | Move cursor forward by one character |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Back) | Move cursor backward by one character |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Up) | Move cursor up by one line |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Down) | Move cursor down by one line |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::WordForward) | Move cursor forward by word |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::WordBack) | Move cursor backward by word |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::ParagraphForward) | Move cursor up by paragraph |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::ParagraphBack) | Move cursor down by paragraph |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::End) | Move cursor to the end of line |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Head) | Move cursor to the head of line |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Top) | Move cursor to top of lines |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Bottom) | Move cursor to bottom of lines |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Jump(row, col)) | Move cursor to (row, col) position |
| textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::InViewport) | Move cursor to stay in the viewport |
| textarea.set_search_pattern(pattern) | Set a pattern for text search |
| textarea.search_forward(match_cursor) | Move cursor to next match of text search |
| textarea.search_back(match_cursor) | Move cursor to previous match of text search |
| textarea.scroll(Scrolling::PageDown) | Scroll down the viewport by page |
| textarea.scroll(Scrolling::PageUp) | Scroll up the viewport by page |
| textarea.scroll(Scrolling::HalfPageDown) | Scroll down the viewport by half-page |
| textarea.scroll(Scrolling::HalfPageUp) | Scroll up the viewport by half-page |
| textarea.scroll((row, col)) | Scroll down the viewport to (row, col) position |
To define your own key mappings, simply call the above methods in your code instead of TextArea::input() method. The
following example defines modal key mappings like Vim.
```rust,ignore use crossterm::event::{Event, read}; use ratatui_textarea::{Input, Key, CursorMove, Scrolling};
let mut textarea = ...;
enum Mode { Normal, Insert, }
let mut mode = Mode::Normal;
// Event loop loop { // ...
match mode {
Mode::Normal => match read()?.into() {
Input { key: Key::Char('h'), .. } => textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Back),
Input { key: Key::Char('j'), .. } => textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Down),
Input { key: Key::Char('k'), .. } => textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Up),
Input { key: Key::Char('l'), .. } => textarea.move_cursor(CursorMove::Forward),
Input { key: Key::Char('i'), .. } => mode = Mode::Insert, // Enter insert mode
// ...Add more mappings
_ => {},
},
Mode::Insert => match read()?.into() {
Input { key: Key::Esc, .. } => {
mode = Mode::Normal; // Back to normal mode with Esc or Ctrl+C
}
input => {
textarea.input(input); // Use default key mappings in insert mode
}
},
}
} ```
See modal example for working example. It implements more Vim-like key mappings.
If you don't want to use default key mappings, TextArea::input_without_shortcuts() method can be used instead of
TextArea::input(). The method only handles very basic operations such as inserting/deleting single characters, tabs,
newlines.
rust,ignore
match read()?.into() {
// Handle your own key mappings here
// ...
input => textarea.input_without_shortcuts(input),
}
ratatui allows to make your own backend by implementing ratatui::backend::Backend trait. ratatui-textarea also
supports it. In this case, please use your-backend feature for ratatui. They avoid adding backend crates (crossterm and termion) since you're using your own backend.
toml
[dependencies]
ratatui = { version = "*", default-features = false }
ratatui-textarea = { version = "*", default-features = false, features = ["your-backend"] }
ratatui_textarea::Input is a type for backend-agnostic key input. What you need to do is converting key event in your own
backend into the ratatui_textarea::Input instance. Then TextArea::input() method can handle the input as other backend.
In the following example, let's say your_backend::KeyDown is a key event type for your backend and
your_backend::read_next_key() returns the next key event.
```rust,ignore // In your backend implementation
pub enum KeyDown { Char(char), BS, Del, Esc, // ... }
// Return tuple of (key, ctrlkey, altkey) pub fn readnextkey() -> (KeyDown, bool, bool) { // ... } ```
Then you can implement the logic to convert your_backend::KeyDown value into ratatui_textarea::Input value.
```rust,ignore use ratatuitextarea::{Input, Key}; use yourbackend::KeyDown;
fn keydowntoinput(key: KeyDown, ctrl: bool, alt: bool) -> Input { match key { KeyDown::Char(c) => Input { key: Key::Char(c), ctrl, alt }, KeyDown::BS => Input { key: Key::Backspace, ctrl, alt }, KeyDown::Del => Input { key: Key::Delete, ctrl, alt }, KeyDown::Esc => Input { key: Key::Esc, ctrl, alt }, // ... _ => Input::default(), } } ```
For the keys which are not handled by ratatui-textarea, ratatui_textarea::Input::default() is available. It returns 'null'
key. An editor will do nothing with the key.
Finally, convert your own backend's key input type into ratatui_textarea::Input and pass it to TextArea::input().
```rust,ignore let mut textarea = ...;
// Event loop loop { // ...
let (key, ctrl, alt) = your_backend::read_next_key();
if key == your_backend::KeyDown::Esc {
break; // For example, quit your app on pressing Esc
}
textarea.input(keydown_to_input(key, ctrl, alt));
} ```
TextArea instances in screenYou don't need to do anything special. Create multiple TextArea instances and render widgets built from each instances.
The following is an example to put two textarea widgets in application and manage the focus.
```rust,ignore use ratatui_textarea::{TextArea, Input, Key}; use crossterm::event::{Event, read};
let editors = &mut [ TextArea::default(), TextArea::default(), ];
let mut focused = 0;
loop { term.draw(|f| { let rects = ...;
for (editor, rect) in editors.iter_mut().zip(rects.into_iter()) {
let widget = editor.widget();
f.render_widget(widget, rect);
}
})?;
match read()?.into() {
// Switch focused textarea by Ctrl+S
Input { key: Key::Char('s'), ctrl: true, .. } => focused = (focused + 1) % 2;
// Handle input by the focused editor
input => editors[focused].input(input),
}
} ```
See split example and editor example for working example.
MSRV of this crate is depending on ratatui crate. Currently MSRV is 1.56.1.
This crate is not reaching v1.0.0 yet. There is no plan to bump the major version for now. Current versioning policy is as follows:
This project is developed on GitHub.
For feature requests or bug reports, please create an issue. For submitting patches, please create a pull request.
Please see CONTRIBUTING.md before making a PR.
ratatui-textarea is distributed under The MIT License.