A simple editor for simple needs.

This editor pays homage to the classic MS-DOS Editor, but with a modern interface and input controls similar to VS Code. The goal is to provide an accessible editor that even users largely unfamiliar with terminals can easily use.

You can also download binaries from our Releases page.

You can install the latest version with WinGet:

winget install Microsoft.Edit

If your distribution does not provide binaries, or if you'd like to build your own, you can use our install script, provided you have installed:

• Rust (via rustup or similar)
• A C compiler (e.g. gcc)
• ICU (e.g. libicu78, libicu, icu)
• curl/wget and tar

The following command will then install msedit into ~/.local/bin:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/edit/main/assets/install.sh | sh

Additional flags are --dev, to build directly from the main branch, and --system to install into /usr/local/bin. For instance:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/edit/main/assets/install.sh | sh -s -- --dev --system

You can install the latest version with Homebrew:

brew install msedit

• Install Rust
• Clone the repository
• If you're using nightly Rust:

  cargo build --release --config .cargo/release.toml

• If you're using stable Rust:
  • Ideally: Set the environment variable RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 and use the nightly build instructions above. This is recommended, because it drastically reduces the binary size and slightly improves performance.
  • Otherwise, simply run:

    cargo build --release

You can set the following environment variables at build-time to configure the build:

The canonical executable name is "edit" and the alternative name is "msedit". We're aware of the potential conflict of "edit" with existing commands and recommend alternatively naming packages and executables "msedit". Names such as "ms-edit" should be avoided. Assigning an "edit" alias is recommended, if possible.

This project optionally depends on the ICU library for its Search and Replace functionality.

By default, the project will look for the following library names:

If your installation uses a different SONAME, please set the following environment variable at build time:

• EDIT_CFG_ICUUC_SONAME: For instance, libicuuc.so.76.
• EDIT_CFG_ICUI18N_SONAME: For instance, libicui18n.so.76.

Additionally, this project assumes that the ICU exports symbols without _ prefix and without version suffix, such as u_errorName. If your installation uses versioned exports, please set:

• EDIT_CFG_ICU_CPP_EXPORTS: If set to true, it'll look for C++ symbols such as _u_errorName. Enabled by default on macOS.
• EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_VERSION: If set to a version number, such as 76, it'll look for symbols such as u_errorName_76.

Finally, you can set the following environment variables:

• EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_AUTO_DETECT: If set to true, the executable will try to detect the EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_VERSION value at runtime. The way it does this is not officially supported by ICU and as such is not recommended to be relied upon. Enabled by default on UNIX (excluding macOS) if no other options are set.

To test your build settings, run cargo test with the --ignored flag. For instance:

cargo test -- --ignored