[slebetman]: I've been using the console editor form [Linux Console Text Editor In Pure TCL] a lot and have modified it to suit my needs. The first thing I did was to add syntax hilighting mainly because I wanted to easily distinguish lines that I have commented out at a glance. Later I added other features and changed a lot of the underlaying engine. Rather than backport my changes to the original code I decided to post my code here and leave the original code alone.

The following are some of the features of the editor:

   * Basic syntax hilighting. The hilighting is line based and can easily cope with Tcl style # comments but because it is line based it can't cope with multiline C style /* comments */
   * This is faster at pasting large blocks of text since it does it line by line rather than character by character. It will also try to redraw only the current line if possible rather than the whole screen.
   * '''^f''' to search. Searching uses Tcl regexp syntax. F3 searches again just like on most Windows/Mac text editors.
   * '''^g''' to go to a specific line.
   * '''^s''' saves the file.
   * '''^d''' deletes the current line. (Removed ^y)
   * Pressing the '''End''' key moves the cursor to the end of the line.
   * Pressing the '''Home''' key takes the cursor to the beginning of the line. Pressing '''Home''' a second time moves the cursor to the first non-whitespace character in the line.
   * Changed the tab to 4 characters (can be easily modified if you prefer 8 or other values).
   * Auto resizes the editor to fit the terminal window. There is a worst case delay of 1 second before the editor actually resizes after the window is resized. That is how often I poll ''stty''.
   * Implemented a simple auto-indenting. When inserting a newline by pressing the '''Enter''' or '''Return''' key the leading whitespace of the previous line will be copied and automatically inserted.
   * Implemented key rate limiting for control characters and escape sequences. This is to improve responsiveness especially on slow machines/connections so that you don't accidentally "over-delete" when you press the delete key for too long.

The code is quite messy. A lot of the procs here are not functions but merely act like macros which are upleveled and evaluated in the caller's context. I simply moved them to procs to make it easier for me to see the program logic. The syntax hilighting rules are also hardcoded into the code but is easy enough to modify.

The control character and escape sequence handling have been re-written to be more general and to report unhandled cases. This is to make it easier to add new features to the code. For example, if you want to implement a feature and bind it to ^k just run the editor and press ^k. It will tell you "Unhandled control character:0xb" so that you know you should add the code as a \u000b case in handleControls. The same goes for escape sequences. For example, pressing F12 will generate the message "Unhandled sequence:[24~"

[slebetman] 21 June 2006: An updated version with improved tab handling. Added some more key bindings to support xterm, rxvt and Hyperterminal ''(yes, I really did test it on Hyperterminal)''. I also back-ported [SRIV]'s unique long-line editing method to this code which simplified my rendering engine.

  #! /usr/bin/env tclsh
  
  # con-editor.tcl a linux console based editor in pure tcl
  
  set filename [lindex $argv 0]
  set searchpattern ""
  set statusmessage ""
  set modified 0
  set tabstop 4
  
  array set bg {
      black 40 red 41 green 42 yellow 43
      blue 44 magenta 45 cyan 46 white 47
  }
  
  array set fg {
      black 30 red 31 green 32 yellow 33
      blue 34 magenta 35 cyan 36 white 37
  }
  
  array set style {
      none 0 bright 1 dim 2
      underline 4 blink 5 reverse 7
  }
  
  # Syntax hilighting:
  set syntaxRules {
      # The syntax rules is in the form:
      # {regexp} {formatting}
      # Each rule must be on a single line.
      # Comments will be ignored.
      
      # Strings & numbers:
      {".*?"} {$fg(magenta)}
      {[0-9]+} {$fg(magenta)}
      
      # Script comments/C preprocessing
      {^#!.*$} {$style(bright);$fg(green);$bg(blue)}
      {(?:^|;)\s*#.*$} {$fg(green)}
      
      # Script style variables:
      {(?i)\$[a-z_][a-z0-9_]*} {$style(bright);$fg(cyan)}
      {(?i)[\@\%][a-z_][a-z0-9_]*} {$style(bright);$fg(yellow)}
      
      # Tcl variables after a set command:
      {(?:set|append|incr) ([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*)} {$fg(cyan)}
      
      # Email address:
      {(?i)(?:[a-z0-9-]+\.)*[a-z0-9-]+\@(?:[a-z0-9-]+\.)*[a-z0-9-]+} {$style(bright)}
      
      # Backtick exec:
      {`.*?`} {$bg(yellow);$fg(black)}
  }
  
  foreach rule [split $syntaxRules "\n"] {
      set rule [string trim $rule]
      if {$rule != "" && [string index $rule 0] != "#"} {
          foreach {pattern attr} $rule break
          lappend hilight $pattern [subst $attr]
      }
  }
  
  proc readbuf {txt} {
      upvar 1 $txt STRING
      upvar 1 fid fid
      
      set ret [string index $STRING 0]
      set STRING [string range $STRING 1 end]
      if {$STRING == ""} {
          append STRING [read $fid]
      }
      return $ret
  }
  
  proc endLine {} {
      global BUFFER
      upvar 1 bufRow bufRow
      upvar 1 bufCol bufCol
      set x [string length [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]]
      if {$bufCol > $x} {
          set bufCol $x
      }
  }
  
  proc getSpaces {line} {
      global tabstop
      set ret [lindex [regexp -inline {^[[:space:]]+} $line] 0]
      string map [list [string repeat " " $tabstop] "\t"] $ret
  }
  
  proc handleDelete {dir} {
  global BUFFER
  upvar 1 bufCol bufCol
  upvar 1 bufRow bufRow
  upvar 1 line line
  
  set line [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]
  
  if {$dir == "-"} {
      if {$bufCol == 0 && $bufRow > 0} {
      uplevel 1 {
          set upRow [expr {$bufRow-1}]
          set line [lindex $BUFFER $upRow]
          set bufCol [string length $line]
          append line [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]
          set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $upRow $bufRow $line]
          incr viewRow -1
          set bufRow $upRow
          handleRedraw partial
      }
      return
      }
      incr bufCol -1
  } else {
      if {$bufCol == [string length $line] && $bufRow < [llength $BUFFER]} {
      uplevel 1 {
          set downRow [expr {$bufRow+1}]
          append line [lindex $BUFFER $downRow]
          set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $bufRow $downRow $line]
          handleRedraw partial
      }
      return
      }
  }
  uplevel 1 {
      set line [string replace $line $bufCol $bufCol]
      set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $bufRow $bufRow $line]
      handleRedraw edit
  }
  return
  }
  
  proc syntaxHilight {line start {charmap ""}} {
      global hilight IDX
      
      set tabmap "\t"
      if {$charmap != ""} {
          set tabmap $charmap
      }
  
      set matches ""
      set end [expr {$start+$IDX(COLMAX)-1}]
      foreach {pattern color} $hilight {
          set ps 0
          set pn 0
          foreach m [regexp -inline -all -indices -- $pattern $line] {
              foreach {s n} $m break
              lappend m $color
              if {$s <= $pn && $s >= $ps && $n <= $pn} {
                  set matches [lreplace $matches end end $m]
              } else {
                  lappend matches $m
              }
              set ps $s
              set pn $n
          }
      }
  
      set oldline [string range $line $start $end]
      set line {}
      set prev 0
      foreach m [lsort -integer -index 0 $matches] {
          foreach {s n color} $m break
          if {$s < $start} {
              set s 0
          } else {
              set s [expr {$s-$start}]
          }
          set n [expr {$n-$start}]
          if {$n > $end} {set n $end}
              
          if {$s < $prev} continue
          append line [string range $oldline $prev [expr {$s-1}]]
          set prev [expr {$n+1}]
          append line "\033\[${color}m"
          append line [string range $oldline $s $n]
          if {$n != $end} {
              append line "\033\[0m"
          }
      }
      append line [string range $oldline $prev end]
      append line "\033\[0m"
      
      #string map [list "\377" $charmap "\t" $tabmap] $line
      return $line
  }
  
  proc handleSearch {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      global searchpattern
      status "Search: $searchpattern"
      
      if {$searchpattern != ""} {
          if {[catch {lsearch -regexp [lrange $BUFFER \
              [expr {$bufRow+1}] end] $searchpattern} found]} {
              # Regexp error:
              status $found
          } else {
              if {$found == -1} {
                  set found [lsearch -regexp $BUFFER $searchpattern]
                  if {$found != -1} {
                      set bufRow $found
                  }
              } else {
                  incr bufRow $found
                  incr bufRow
              }
              if {$found != -1} {
                  set C [regexp -indices -inline $searchpattern \
                      [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]]
                  set bufCol [lindex [lindex $C 0] 0]
                  if {$bufRow < $viewRow} {
                      set viewRow 0
                  }
              } else {
                  status "Search: $searchpattern (not found!)"
              }
          }
      } else {
          status ""
      }
      handleRedraw
  }
  }
  
  proc getInput {buffer {txt ""}} {
      upvar 1 $buffer keybuffer
      upvar 1 fid fid
      upvar 1 viewRow viewRow
      upvar 1 viewCol viewCol
      
      status ""
      goto end 1
      puts -nonewline "\033\[7m$txt "
      flush stdout
      set ret ""
      while {[set ch [readbuf keybuffer]] != "\n" && $ch != "\r"} {
          if {$ch == ""} {
              after 40
              continue
          }
          if {$ch == "\u0003"} {
              doExit
          } elseif {$ch == "\u001b"} {
              # escape:
              if {$keybuffer == ""} {
                  return
              }
              
              # need to ignore escapes sequences:
              while {[set ch [readbuf keybuffer]] != "~"
                  && $keybuffer != ""} {}
              continue
          } elseif {$ch == "\u007f"} {
              # handle backspace:
              set ret [string range $ret 0 end-1]
          } elseif {[string is print $ch]} {
              append ret $ch
          }
          set stat "$txt $ret"
          set len [expr [string length $stat]+1]
          status $stat
          goto end $len
          flush stdout
      }
      return $ret
  }
  
  proc handleEscapes {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      set seq ""
      set found 1
      while {[set ch [readbuf keybuffer]] != ""} {
          append seq $ch
          set found 1
  
          switch -exact -- $seq {
              "\[A" { ;# Cursor Up (cuu1,up)
                  if {$bufRow > 0} {
                      set tmp $bufCol
                      set bufCol 0
                      handleRedraw line
                      set bufCol $tmp
  
                      incr bufRow -1
                      incr viewRow -1
                  }
                  endLine
                  handleRedraw
                  break
              }
              "\[B" { ;# Cursor Down
                  if {$bufRow < [expr {[llength $BUFFER] - 1}]} {
                      set tmp $bufCol
                      set bufCol 0
                      handleRedraw line
                      set bufCol $tmp
                  
                      incr bufRow 1
                      incr viewRow 1
                  }
                  endLine
                  handleRedraw
                  break
              }
              "\[C" { ;# Cursor Right (cuf1,nd)
                  if {$bufCol < [string length [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]]} {
                      incr bufCol 1
                  }
                  handleRedraw line
                  break
              }
              "\[D" { ;# Cursor Left
                  if {$bufCol > 0} {
                      incr bufCol -1
                  }
                  handleRedraw line
                  break
              }
              "\[H" -
              "\[7~" -
              "\[1~" { ;# home
                  set line [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]
                  set homeCol [regexp \
                      -indices -inline -- \
                      {^[[:space:]]*} $line]
                  set homeCol [lindex [lindex $homeCol 0] 1]
                  incr homeCol
                  if {$bufCol != $homeCol} {
                      set bufCol $homeCol
                  } else {
                      set bufCol 0
                  }
                  handleRedraw line
                  break
              }
              "\[3~" { ;# delete
                  handleDelete +
                  break
              }
              "\[K" -
              "\[8~" -
              "\[4~" { ;# end
                  set bufCol [string length [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]]
                  handleRedraw line
                  break
              }
              "\[5~" { ;# 5 Prev screen
                  set size [expr {$IDX(ROWMAX) - 1}]
                  if {$bufRow < $size} {
                      set bufRow  0
                      set viewRow 1
                  } else {
                      incr bufRow  -$size
                      incr viewRow -$size
                  }
                  endLine
                  handleRedraw
                  break
              }
              "\[6~" { ;# 6 Next screen
                  set size [expr {$IDX(ROWMAX) - 1}]
                  incr bufRow  $size
                  incr viewRow $size
                  if {$bufRow >= [llength $BUFFER]} {
                      set viewRow [llength $BUFFER]
                      set bufRow  [expr {$viewRow - 1}]
                  }
                  endLine
                  handleRedraw
                  break
              }
              "OR" -
              "\[13~" { ;# F3
                  handleSearch
                  break
              }
              default {
                  set found 0
              }
          }
      }
      if {$found == 0} {
          status "Unhandled sequence:$seq ([string length $seq])"
          flush stdout
      }
  }
  }
  
  proc handleNewline {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      # The getSpaces is for auto-indenting:
      set newline [getSpaces $line]
      
      set currline [string range $line 0 [expr {$bufCol - 1}]]
      set line [string range $line $bufCol end]
      set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $bufRow $bufRow $currline]
  
      incr bufRow
      
      if {$keybuffer == "" && [regexp {^\s} $line] == 0} {
          set len [string length $newline]
          append newline $line
          set bufCol $len
      } else {
          set newline $line
          set bufCol 0
      }
      set BUFFER [linsert $BUFFER $bufRow $newline]
      handleRedraw partial
      incr viewRow
      handleRedraw
  }
  }
  
  proc handleControls {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      # Control chars start at a == \u0001 and count up.
      switch -exact -- $char {
          \u0011 { ;# ^q - quit
              return done
          }
          \u0001 { ;# ^a - beginning of line
              set bufCol 0
              handleRedraw line
          }
          \u0003 { ;# ^c
              doExit 1
          }
          \u0004 { ;# ^d - delete line
              if {$bufRow < [llength $BUFFER]} {
                  set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $bufRow $bufRow]
                  handleRedraw partial
              }
          }
          \u0005 { ;# ^e - end of line
              set bufCol [string length $line]
              handleRedraw line
          }
          \u0006 { ;# ^f - find/search
              global searchpattern
              set searchpattern [getInput keybuffer "Search:"]
              handleSearch
          }
          \u0007 { ;# ^g - goto line
              if {[set n [getInput keybuffer "Goto Line:"]] != "" &&
                  [string is integer $n]
              } {
                  
                  set bufRow [expr {$n-1}]
                  if {$bufRow < $viewRow} {
                      set viewRow 0
                  } else {
                      set len [llength $BUFFER]
                      if {$bufRow > $len} {
                          set bufRow [expr {$len-1}]
                      }
                  }
              } else {
                  status ""
              }
              handleRedraw
          }
          \u0013 { ;# ^s - save file
              saveFile
          }
          \u0008 -
          \u007f { ;# ^h && backspace ?
              handleDelete -
          }
          \u001b { ;# ESC - handle escape sequences
              handleEscapes
          }
          default {
              binary scan $char c ch
              status "Unhandled control character:[format 0x%x $ch]"
              flush stdout
          }
      }
      # Rate limiter:
      set keybuffer ""
  }
  }
  
  proc handleInsert {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      set line [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow]
      set oldline $line
      set line [string range $oldline 0 [expr $bufCol - 1]]
      append line [getSpaces $printbuffer]
      append line [string trimleft $printbuffer]
      append line [string range $oldline $bufCol end]
      set BUFFER [lreplace $BUFFER $bufRow $bufRow $line]
      set len [string length $printbuffer]
      incr bufCol $len
  }
  }
  
  proc linerange {} {
      global BUFFER tabstop
      upvar 1 col col
      upvar 1 row row
      upvar 1 bufCol bufCol
      # translate viewCol to proper index (account for tabs)
      # let's just brute force over the line
      set col 0
      set i 0
      set line ""
      foreach c [split [lindex $BUFFER $row] ""] {
          if {$c == "\t"} {
              set n [expr {$tabstop-$col%$tabstop}] ;# align to tabs
              if {$i < $bufCol} {incr col $n}
              append line [string repeat " " $n]
          } else {
              if {$i < $bufCol} {incr col}
              append line $c
          }
          incr i
      }
      incr col
      return $line
  }
  
  proc handleRedraw {{mode "full"}} {
      # Valid modes are: full(default), line, edit, partial
      
      global IDX BUFFER tabstop
      upvar 1 viewRow viewRow
      upvar 1 viewCol viewCol
      upvar 1 bufRow bufRow
      upvar 1 bufCol bufCol
  
      cursor off
      
      # Constrain current view idx
      set inview 1
      if {$viewRow <= 1} {set viewRow 1}
      if {$viewRow >= ($IDX(ROWMAX) - 1)} {
          set viewRow [expr {$IDX(ROWMAX) - 1}]
          set inview 0
      }
      
  
      set startRow [expr {$bufRow + 1 - $viewRow}]
      # start and end view area to display
      if {$mode == "partial" && $inview} {
          set start $bufRow
          goto $viewRow 1
      } else {
          set start $startRow
          home
      }
      #flush stdout
      set row $bufRow
  
      if {$mode == "full" || $mode == "partial"} {
          if {$IDX(ROWLAST) != $startRow || $mode == "partial"} {
              # Add display size to get end points
              set endRow [expr {$startRow + $IDX(ROWMAX) - 1}]
              # set endCol [expr {$startCol + $IDX(COLMAX) - 1}]
              for {set row $start} {$row < $endRow} {incr row} {
                  if {$row == $bufRow} {
                      puts ""
                  } else {
                      set line [linerange]
                      # puts -nonewline "\u001b\[K" ; # erase current line
                      clearline
                      puts [syntaxHilight $line 0]
                      if {$row%24 == 0} {
                          # Some ttys can't handle large dumps so we
                          # limit each dump to around 20 lines:
                          flush stdout
                      }
                  }
              }
          }
      }
  
      set row $bufRow
      set line [linerange]
      set viewCol $col
      if {$viewCol >= $IDX(COLMAX)} {set viewCol $IDX(COLMAX)}
          
      if {$IDX(ROWLAST) != $startRow || 
          $mode == "line" || 
          $mode == "edit" ||
          $mode == "partial"
      } {
          set startCol [expr {$col - $viewCol}]
          if {$mode != "line" || $IDX(COLLAST) != $startCol} {
              goto $viewRow 1
              clearline
              puts [syntaxHilight $line $startCol " "]
              set IDX(COLLAST) $startCol
          }
      }
      
      if {$IDX(ROWLAST) != $startRow} {
          set IDX(ROWLAST) $startRow
      }
  
      idx [expr {$bufRow + 1}] [expr {$bufCol+1}]
  
      goto $viewRow $viewCol
      cursor on
      flush stdout
  }
  
  proc edittext {fid} {
      global BUFFER IDX
  
      set viewRow 1       ; # row idx into view area, 1-based
      set viewCol 1       ; # col idx into view area, 1-based
      set bufRow 0        ; # row idx into full buffer, 0-based
      set bufCol 0        ; # col idx into full buffer, 0-based
      set IDX(ROWLAST) -1 ; # last row most recently displayed in view
      set IDX(COLLAST) -1
      set char ""         ; # last char received
      set line [lindex $BUFFER $bufRow] ; # line data of current line
  
      handleRedraw
      home; flush stdout
      set keybuffer ""
      set printbuffer ""
      set timestamp [clock seconds]
      set prevRow $bufRow
  
      while {$char != "\u0011"} {
          append keybuffer [read $fid]
          if {[eof $fid]} {return done}
          if {$keybuffer == ""} {
              set now [clock seconds]
              if {$now != $timestamp} {
                  set timestamp $now
                  set changed 0
                  getRowColMax
                  if {$changed} {
                      handleRedraw
                  }
              }
              if {$printbuffer != ""} {
                  handleInsert
                  if {$prevRow != $bufRow} {
                      set prevRow $bufRow
                      handleRedraw
                  }
                  handleRedraw edit
                  set printbuffer ""
              }
              after 40
              continue
          }
          set char [readbuf keybuffer]
          
          if {[string is print $char] || $char == "\t"} {
              append printbuffer $char
          } elseif {$char == "\n" || $char == "\r"} {
              handleInsert
              handleNewline
              if {$keybuffer == ""} {
                  handleRedraw
              }
              set printbuffer ""
          } else {
              handleControls
              set prevRow $bufRow
          }
      }
  }
  
  proc status {args} {
      global IDX statusmessage
      
      if {[llength $args] != 0} {
          set statusmessage [join $args " "]
      }
      
      set len $IDX(ROWCOL)
      set str [format "%-${len}.${len}s" $statusmessage]
      puts -nonewline "\033\[7m\u001b\[$IDX(ROWMAX);00H$str\033\[0m"
      #flush stdout
  }
  
  proc idx {row col} {
      global IDX BUFFER
      set c $IDX(ROWCOL)
      set r $IDX(ROWMAX)
      set str [format " L:%-9s C:%-4d\033\[0m" "$row/[llength $BUFFER]" $col]
      # the string must not exceed $IDX(ROWCOLLEN) length
      set str [string range $str 0 $IDX(ROWCOLLEN)]
      puts -nonewline "\033\[7m\u001b\[${r};${c}H${str}\033\[0m"
      #flush stdout
  }
  
  proc home {}  { goto 1 1 }
  proc goto {row col} {
      global IDX
      if {$row == "end"} {
          set row $IDX(ROWMAX)
      }
      puts -nonewline "\u001b\[${row};${col}H"
  }
  proc clear {} {
      puts -nonewline "\u001b\[2J"
      flush stdout
  }
  proc clearline {} {
      puts -nonewline "\u001b\[2K"
  }
  proc cursor {bool} {
      puts -nonewline "\u001b\[?[expr \
          {$::IDX(ROWMAX)+1}][expr {$bool ? "h" : "j"}]"
  }
  
  #start of console editor program
  
  proc getRowColMax {} {
  uplevel 1 {
      if {![catch {exec stty -a} err]
          && [regexp {rows (\d+); columns (\d+)} $err -> rows cols]} {
          if {$rows != 0 && $cols != 0} {
              if {$rows != $IDX(ROWMAX)} {
                  set IDX(ROWMAX) $rows
                  set changed 1
              }
              if {$cols != $IDX(COLMAX)} {
                  set IDX(COLMAX) $cols
                  set changed 1
              }
          }
      }
      if {$changed} {
          set IDX(ROWCOL) [expr {$IDX(COLMAX) - $IDX(ROWCOLLEN)}]
          status
          idx $bufRow $bufCol
          set IDX(ROWLAST) -1 ;# force redraw
      }
  }
  }
  
  proc saveFile {} {
      global filename BUFFER modified
      
      if {!$modified} return
      
      status "Save '$filename'? Y/n"
      flush stdout
      fconfigure stdin -blocking 1
      while 1 {
          set line [read stdin 1]
          if {$line == "y" || $line == "Y" || $line == "\n"} {
              set outfile [open $filename w ]
              for {set i 0} {$i<[expr [llength $BUFFER]-1]} {incr i} {
                  puts $outfile [lindex $BUFFER $i]
              }
              puts -nonewline $outfile [lindex $BUFFER end]
              close $outfile
              status " Saved '$filename' ([llength $BUFFER] lines)"
              set modified 0
              break
          } elseif {$line == "n" || $line == "N"} {
              status " Aborted"
              break
          }
      }
      flush stdout
      fconfigure stdin -blocking 0
  }
  
  proc bufferModified {args} {
      global modified
      set modified 1
  }
  
  proc console_edit {fileName} {
      global BUFFER IDX tabstop
      # Script-Edit by Steve Redler IV  5-30-2001
  
      set IDX(ROWMAX) 24
      set IDX(COLMAX) 80
      set IDX(ROWCOLLEN) 18
      set changed 1
      set bufRow 0
      set bufCol 0
  
      set infile [open $fileName RDWR]
      set BUFFER [split [read $infile] "\n"]
      close $infile
      
      trace variable BUFFER w bufferModified
      
      getRowColMax
  
      clear ; home
      status "$fileName loaded"
      idx [llength $BUFFER] 1
  
      fconfigure stdin -buffering none -blocking 0 -encoding iso8859-1
      fconfigure stdout -buffering full -translation crlf -encoding iso8859-1
  
      flush stdout
      exec stty raw -echo
      set err [catch {edittext stdin}]
      
      if {$err == 0} {
          saveFile
      }
      
      doExit $err
  }
  
  proc doExit {{err 0}} {
      # Reset terminal:
      puts -nonewline "\033c"
      if {$err} {
          global errorInfo
          puts $errorInfo
      }
      flush stdout
      exec stty -raw echo
      after 100
      exit 0
  }
  
  if {$filename == ""} {
      puts "\nPlease specify a filename"
      gets stdin filename
      if {$filename == ""} {exit}
  }
  
  console_edit $filename

[SRIV] I really like the addition of color. The one issue I found was that the editor consumes 100% cpu while waiting for a keystoke. Easily noticable for me since I'm on a notebook.

[slebetman] Yeah, this implementation uses busy polling the non-blocking stdin. In lieu of Tk's event loop this was the quickest hack I could think of to get the auto-resizing and fast-pasting to work. Of course we can reduce CPU consumption by using after and vwait. In fact, something like after 100 is responsive and fast enough for a human to not notice yet will reduce CPU consumption by more than 85% (depending on your CPU MHz of course).

[slebetman] I've added a couple of '''after 50''' in the input loops which should limit the polling rate down to 20Hz max. This is still an ugly hack but on my machine it brought down CPU usage from 75%-99.9% to 0.2%-5%.
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[Category Editor utility], [Category Application]