micro(1)

📦
version 2.0.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ micro(1) ✨ — the manual page bestie, but make it iconic

okay so like, this is the manual page for micro, and we're in the General Commands Manual section, section 1, commands, you know the vibe 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

micro — a modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor. she's cute, she's fast, she's literally right there in your terminal 🦋

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

micro [OPTION]... [FILE]... [+LINE[:COL]] [+/REGEX]
micro [OPTION]... [FILE[:LINE[:COL]]]...  (only if the `parsecursor`
option is enabled)

so yeah, second form? only works if you've got the parsecursor option turned on. iykyk ✨

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that's all about being easy to use and intuitive, while ALSO flexing the full capabilities of modern terminals. she ships as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies. no cap. one binary. that's it. 👑

as the name suggests (and bestie, the name is doing a LOT), micro is kinda aiming to be a successor to the nano editor — easy to install, easy to use in a pinch when you're in a hurry. BUT micro also wants to be enjoyable to use full time, whether you're living in the terminal because you prefer it (like the author, same honestly), or because you need to (over ssh, we've all been there 😭).

Use Ctrl-q to quit, Ctrl-s to save, and Ctrl-g to open the in-editor help menu. that's it. those three. memorize them. they will save your life. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -clean — clean the configuration directory and dip. exit. done. 🧹
  • -config-dir dir — specify a custom location for the configuration directory, if you're feeling fancy about where your config lives 💅

🌈 line/column starting positions 🌈

  • FILE:LINE[:COL] — only if the parsecursor option is enabled. specify a line and column to start the cursor at when opening a buffer 🎯
  • FILE +LINE[:COL] — same idea, specify a line and column to start the cursor at when opening a buffer
  • +/REGEX — specify a regex to search for when opening a buffer 🔍

🦋 other flags 🦋

  • -options — show all options help and exit 📋
  • -debug — enable debug mode (which enables logging to ./log.txt) 🐛
  • -profile — enable CPU profiling (writes profile info to ./micro.prof so it can be analyzed later with "go tool pprof micro.prof") 🔥
  • -version — show the version number and information and exit ⭐

🧚 plugin management 🧚

micro's plugins can be managed at the command line with the following commands:

  • -plugin install [PLUGIN]... — install plugin(s) 💖
  • -plugin remove [PLUGIN]... — remove plugin(s) 🙈
  • -plugin update [PLUGIN]... — update plugin(s) — and if no argument is given, it updates all plugins 👑
  • -plugin search [PLUGIN]... — search for a plugin 🔍
  • -plugin list — list installed plugins 📝
  • -plugin available — list available plugins 🌟

💜 setting options from the command line 💜

micro's options can ALSO be set via command line arguments for quick adjustments. but for real configuration, bestie, please use the settings.json file (see 'help options').

  • -<option> value — set option to value for this session. for example: micro -syntax off file.c

use micro -options to see the full list of configuration options ✨

🌸 CONFIGURATION 🌸

micro uses $MICRO_CONFIG_HOME as the configuration directory. if that environment variable is not set, it uses $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/micro instead. and if THAT environment variable isn't set either, it uses ~/.config/micro as the configuration directory.

so basically a little chain of fallbacks, she's flexible like that 🫶

in the documentation, we use ~/.config/micro to refer to the configuration directory — even if it's actually somewhere else because you set one of those environment variables up top. just so we're all on the same page 💅

💀 NOTICE 💀

this manpage is intended only to serve as a quick guide to the invocation of micro. it is not intended to replace the full documentation included with micro, which can be accessed from within micro itself. micro literally tells you what key combination to press to get help — look in the lower right. 👀

🐛 BUGS 🐛

a comprehensive list of bugs will not be listed in this manpage, bestie. see the Github page at https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/issues for a list of known bugs, and to report any newly encountered bugs you may find. we strive to correct bugs as swiftly as possible 🫡

Copyright © 2020 Zachary Yedidia, et al. MIT license. see https://github.com/zyedidia/micro for details.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's dated 2025-09-03 and it's page micro(1) — so like, when you go looking for her again in the manual, that's the tag, that's the footer, that's the vibe 💖 stay slaying in your terminal, ily 🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from