KALE - Keegan's Awful Lite Editor

I love Nano/Micro, I wanted to love NeoVim, but couldn't — so I made my own text editor called K.A.L.E., or Keegan's Awful Lite Editor. Am I now realising I could've played with config files in NeoVim? Yes. Am I now too committed to this project to switch and admit I'm wrong? Also yes.

📫 Contact: cautiousdollop@protonmail.com

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⚠️ Current State

Massively unfinished, but surprisingly functional. Has some degree of syntax highlighting for quite a few languages.

KALE is Open Source, but I'm not really in a position to accept contributions to the code at the moment. This is a small project I work on when I feel like it.

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🛠️ Installation Instructions (Linux, currently no Mac or Windows instructions)

# Move the script and make it executable
mv kale.py kale
chmod +x kale

# Install system-wide (requires sudo)
sudo mv kale /usr/local/bin/kale

# OR install for single user
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv kale ~/.local/bin/kale
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
source ~/.bashrc

# Test it
kale test.txt

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📘 Controls & Keybindings

KALE operates in two main modes:

• COMMAND mode — for navigation and editor controls
• WRITE mode — for editing text

Switch modes using the Spacebar and Escape.

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🧭 General Controls (Both Modes)

Key	Action
Spacebar	Switch to WRITE mode
ESC	Switch to COMMAND mode / Cancel
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Y	Redo
Ctrl+F	Search

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🕹️ COMMAND Mode (Navigation)

Key	Action
W/A/S/D	Move cursor up/left/down/right
Q	Jump to start of previous word
E	Jump to start of next word

Jump Commands (J + Key)

Keys	Action
J + Q	Top of file
J + E	Bottom of file
J + W	Page up
J + S	Page down
J + A	Start of line
J + D	End of line
J + K	Half page up
J + L	Half page down
J + J	Jump to line (enter number)

Toggle Commands (T + Key)

Keys	Toggle
T + N	Line numbers
T + M	Word wrap
T + S	Syntax highlighting
T + A	Auto-save
T + O	Mouse support
T + B	Status bar
T + H	Help screen
T + C	Comment selected lines
T + U	Uncomment selected lines

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🧩 Selection & Deletion

Key	Action
H	Select current line
L	Extend selection to next word
K	Shrink selection from end
Ctrl+D	Delete current line / selection
Ctrl+K	Delete to start of word
Ctrl+L	Delete to end of word
Ctrl+X	Cut selection
Ctrl+C	Copy selection
Ctrl+V	Paste clipboard
Ctrl+A	Select all
Tab	Insert four spaces
Backspace	Delete before cursor
Delete	Delete at cursor
Enter	Insert newline with auto-indent

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✍️ WRITE Mode

• Printable characters: Insert at cursor
• Backspace, Delete: As above
• Enter: Auto-indented new line (e.g., after : in Python)

Navigation Keys

Key	Action
Arrow Keys	Move in all directions
Home	Start of line
End	End of line
Page Up	Scroll up
Page Down	Scroll down
Ctrl+V	Paste clipboard
Ctrl+D	Duplicate line or selection
Ctrl+W	Delete to start of word
Ctrl+X	Cut selection
Ctrl+C	Copy selection
Ctrl+A	Select all
Tab	Insert four spaces

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🖱️ Mouse Controls

Mouse support must be enabled (default: on). Toggle with T + O.

Action	Description
Left Click	Move cursor / Start selection
Double Left Click	Select word
Drag Left Click	Extend selection
Scroll Wheel Up	Scroll up 3 lines
Scroll Wheel Down	Scroll down 3 lines

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🔍 Search Mode (Ctrl+F)

Key	Action
Ctrl+F	Enter search mode
Characters	Add to query
Enter	Confirm search
ESC	Cancel search
↑ / ↓	Navigate results
Backspace	Remove last character

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More control docs and examples coming soon.