Using tk to create a text editor

Question

Is it possible to use tk to create a text editor that can support syntax highlighting, autocomplete and even can be later extended to be an IDE for a specific language?

I found tkinter widget, but not sure if it can support that or not?

I think if a widget can do some processing on the text while the user is writing it, then it can used for this purpose.

Answer 1

Absolutely. The tkinter text widget is remarkably powerful. Everything you mentioned can be done, and more. You can also implement code folding, embedded images, hyperlinks, undo, etc.

Here are some answers to related questions you might find helpful:

• you can use pygments for syntax highlighting. This answer has a tiny example: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11551277
• line numbers and a custom event that fires whenever the widget changes is mentioned in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/16375233
• adding a search function is partially covered in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/3781773