CLI Text Editing Engine

Project Date: Spring 2025 | Course: Computing Lab (CSC1002)

An interactive command-line text editor in Python that replicates the core functionality and navigation of the classic Vim editor. The tool features constant state management, allowing users to navigate text, perform in-line string modification (text insertions, appends, and deletions), and toggle a visual terminal cursor rendered via ANSI escape codes. I also implemented an undo and command-repetition system by managing history stacks for both the text content and cursor states.

Features

• Visual Cursor Tracking: Toggleable inline cursor highlighting to track your exact position within the string.
• Navigation: Move character-by-character, word-by-word, or jump to the ends of the line.
• Command History & Undo: Built-in state saving allows you to undo previous actions or repeat the last executed command.
• Zero Dependencies: Built entirely using Python's standard library.

Usage

To run the text engine, clone the repository and execute the script in your terminal:

python text_engine.py

Command List

Navigation

Command	Action
h	Move cursor left
l	Move cursor right
^	Move cursor to the beginning of the line
$	Move cursor to the end of the line
w	Move cursor to the beginning of the next word
b	Move cursor to the beginning of the previous word

String Editing

Command	Action
i<text>	Insert <text> before cursor
a<text>	Append <text> after cursor
x	Delete character at cursor
dw	Delete word and trailing spaces at cursor

Utilities

Command	Action
.	Toggle the row cursor highlighting on and off
u	Undo previous command
r	Repeat last command
?	Display this help information
q	Quit program

Example

> iHello World
Hello World
> ^
Hello World
> w
Hello World
> dw
Hello 
> aDeveloper
Hello Developer

Example Output with Highlighted Cursor