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Terminal Text Editor

Build your own terminal text editor from scratch in modern C++ with zero external dependencies. Raw terminal mode, VT100 escape sequences, a text buffer, file I/O, incremental search, and syntax highlighting - the same foundations behind vim, nano, and kilo.

~5 hours

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What You'll Build

A working terminal text editor you can actually use: open a file, move around, edit, save, search incrementally, and see C++ syntax highlighted - all rendered with raw VT100 escape codes you write yourself, no curses, no libraries.

Learning Objectives

  • Switch a terminal into raw mode and restore it safely with RAII
  • Drive the screen directly with VT100 escape sequences
  • Design a text buffer with std::vector and std::string
  • Implement cursor movement, scrolling, and viewport math
  • Implement inserting, deleting, line splitting/joining, and saving
  • Build incremental search and a syntax highlighter
  • Refactor a growing single file into clean modules

Coming Soon

This project is in development. Register your interest and we'll email you the moment it goes live.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Coming Soon

This project is in development. Register your interest and we'll email you the moment it goes live.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.