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┌──────── MOTION ─────────┬──────── EDITING ────────┬──────── BUFFERS ─────────┐
│^Left  word left         │^Del   del rest of line* │@1-@5  select a buffer    │   
│^Right word right        │^Bksp  delete word       │@=     next buffer        │ 
│^PgUp  top of file       │Tab    indent block      │@-     previous buffer    │   
│^PgDn  bottom of file    │$Tab   outdent block     ├─────── SEARCHING ────────┤  
│Home   start of text     │^Ins   insert any char*  │Use Find command for first│  
│Home Home start of line  │@6     reformat          │search. + and - on the num│
│End    end of line       │@7     toggle case       │pad repeat the search:    │   
│@9     find left bracket │@8     change case       │num + search forwards     │                            
│@0     find right bracket│@Space copy text above   │num - search backwards    │
│@arrows  pan screen*     │                         │@n repeat in same direct'n│
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘
^ means press CTRL and key, @ = ALT, $ = SHIFT        * enhanced keyboards only

Commands (press highlighted letter for more help)

mArk(block) Buffer(new/close) Copy(block) Dos(commands/shell) Find(text) 
Goto(line/buffer) Hide(outline) Insert(yanked line) Join(next line) Load(file) 
Macros Next(find) Options Print Quit Read Save Tools Vpaste(cut/copied block) 
Write Xcut(block) Yank(line) Zip(view Dos screen)

 Help Index                       (Press SPACE again for help on the space bar)

To view a topic press the letter key corresponding to the initial letter of that 
topic. Press the key repeatedly to step through topics with the same initial 
letter. Note that command descriptions are mixed in with the topics below

Backups and Timed Backups	Moving Text Around         
Command Line Switches           Outlining (Folding)        
Command Summary                 Picture Mode (Line Drawing)
Commands by Key                 Project Files              
Colour Brackets                 Redefining Keys            
Customisation                   Resume Mode                
Dialog Boxes                    Screen Saver               
Display (Status Line)           Template Files             
Environment Variables           Video Modes                
Files used by the Editor        Wordwrap Mode              
Mouse

 Space Bar - Ditto function

If you hold down the ALT key when pressing the space bar the character at the 
cursor column in the line above will be copied and inserted at the cursor 
position. This gives an easy way to duplicate portions of lines, which can be 
useful when programming and entering tables

Note that this function does not work in macros

A MARK (ALT-A)

This key allows you to mark a block of text that is to be operated upon by 
another command, typically Cut or (ALT-X) or Copy (ALT-C)

A single press will mark the start of the block, you can then move the cursor to 
extend the selected area (the cursor may be moved before the point where the 
mark key was pressed). Alternatively a double press will mark the word at the 
cursor, and a third press also marks any following whitespace

You can also mark a block by holding down the Shift key when using any of the 
Arrow Keys, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Ctrl-PageUp or Ctrl-PageDown.

While the cursor is at the start of the block a menu of options is displayed at 
the bottom of the screen. This is described on the next page.

Many functions change their behaviour when a block of text is selected, even it 
is off the visible screen area, so it is important to take note of the marking 
indicator. To remove the marking press ESC

Marking Menu

When marking and the cursor is at the point where the marking was started the 
"marking menu" is displayed on the hintline instead of the normal command list. 
This menu allows you to mark blocks with a single keystroke, or to change the 
kind of block marked when using the cursor keys:

Word	the word at the cursor is marked. (You can also press Mark (ALT-A) again 
	to mark the current word)

Text	the text at the cursor is marked. Text differs from Word in that the 
	latter only treats certain characters as forming a word, whereas Text 
	will mark all characters other than spaces and tabs

Line	the text of the current line is marked

When using any of the above, a second press of the key will extend the selection 
to include any trailing spaces or tabs

Box	the marking type is changed to Box, which allows you to mark a 
	rectangular area to be Cut or Copied, by moving the cursor

Note that you can select any of these options by pressing the letter key with or 
without the ALT key

BUFFER Menu

Commands related to buffers:

New	A new, untitled, buffer is created. Use the Load command to create a new 
	named buffer

Close	The current buffer is closed. You are prompted to save any changes 
	before closing the buffer. A Load command is required if the buffer is 
	later needed

Unload	The contents of the current buffer are removed from memory, to save 
	space. The file is reloaded automatically when the buffer is next 
	selected. You can unload neither a modified buffer nor one without an 
	associated file

List	provides a list of all the buffers in the editor (See next page)

Promote	The current buffer is moved to become buffer number one

Reload	The current buffer is reloaded from the associated file. This is useful 
	if you have accidentally modified a file, or otherwise wish to discard 
	the changes

BUFFER LIST

This screen lists all buffers. Move the selection bar up and down with the arrow 
keys. Press RETURN to select a buffer. Page Up/Down, Home and End work as you 
would expect. The display normally shows the file's last modification date & 
time, and its size when loaded. The name given is the buffer name, which is the 
last part of the file's full pathname. Pressing SPACE changes the display to 
show the full pathname for each file

An asterisk shows that the buffer has been modified since the last load or save 
operation

Promote	moves the selected buffer to the top of the list
Close	closes the selected buffer
Load	loads the file into memory
Unload	unloads (removes from memory) the contents of the selected buffer
Name	sorts the buffers into name order
Time	sorts the buffers by last modification date/time (newest at top)
Ext	sorts the buffers by extension

SPACE	shows the full pathnames of files instead of the buffer names
RETURN	switches to the selected buffer

Backups and Timed Backups

E4 will normally make a backup of a file when saving. The backup has the same 
name as the file but with the extension .BAK

However, if a directory called BACKUPS exists in the same directory as the file 
then the backup file is placed in that directory with the same name as the 
original file. You must create the BACKUPS directory manually

Timed Backups

If a directory called TBACKUPS exists within the directory where a particular 
file resides then backups of that file are made automatically, into the 
directory, every N minutes; where N is the number of minutes specified by the /T 
command line switch (3 by default)

The list of files being edited is saved periodically as TBACKUPS\E4FILES if the 
current directory contains a TBACKUPS directory

COPY

This command copies a block of text marked using the Mark command (ALT-A) to a 
temporary area known as the Clipboard, where it replaces any previous block

Once text has been placed in the clipboard the Paste command ALT-V will insert 
it back into the buffer at the current cursor position. The text remains in the 
clipboard so that it may be pasted into the buffer more than once

Easy Line Marking & Copying

If a block is not marked when ALT-C is pressed the current line is selected and 
copied to the clipboard. Further presses mark more lines, increasing the size of 
the block copied to the clipboard. Marked Lines on the status line indicates 
that a line block is being marked. If another key is pressed during this 
operation then the next Copy will start marking a new line block, beginning with 
the current line. The normal Paste command can be used to place a copy of the 
marked lines into the buffer

Command Line Switches

#	means switch must be followed by a decimal number
#hex	means switch must be followed by a hexadecimal number

All true/false switches default to false except /Z (save screen)
/X toggles option X, /+X forces it on, /-X forces it off

a	sort filespecs with wildcards by filename (instead of by time)
b	black and white mode
d	use default options: do not load config files
k	use keyboard only (no mouse)
n	no backups: do not make .BAK files (use with caution)
p	use standard PC keyboard (do not auto-detect enhanced keyboard)
r	resume mode: record the editor state upon leaving editor to file 
	"e4files". See Resume Mode
s#	screen blanker after # minutes of inactivity (0=never, default=5)
t#	timed backups every # minutes (0=none, default=3)
v#hex	set video mode. See Video Modes
v:#	change number of displayed rows. See Video Modes
xabc	default file extension for save and load (e.g. .abc)
z	save dos screen on entry (for Zip) (default)
#	go direct to line # of first file loaded
=name	set name of keys file to name.E4K (instead of E4KEYS)

Command Summary

Quit	Leave the editor (prompts for modified buffers to be saved)
Load	Load one or more files into the editor (can use wildcards)
Save	Save current buffer (optionally under another name)
Buffer	Create a new buffer, close the current buffer, list buffers
Find	Find (and optionally replace) a piece of text in one or more buffers
Next	Repeats the last Find or Find & Replace command
Read	Read a file into the buffer at the current cursor position
Write	Write all or part of the buffer to another file
Goto	Goto a line, by number, or select another buffer by name,
	switch to the previous buffer, or move to various other points or tags
Dos	Execute a DOS command or invoke a DOS shell
Print	Print part or all of the buffer to a device or file
Options Various option settings (most apply to current buffer only)
Tools	Several other utility commands, and setting tags
Macro	Record/Play a sequence of keystrokes
Zip	View the DOS screen (saved on entry to the editor)
Join	Join the current line with the line following it
Hide	Hide/Unhide a fold - see "Outlining"

For the commands mArk Xcut Copy Vpaste Yank and Ins see the section on "Moving 
Text Around"

Commands by Key

A	mArk		N	Next
B	Buffer		O	Options
C	Copy		P	Print
D	Dos		Q	Quit
E			R	Read
F	Find		S	Save
G	Goto		T	Tools
H	Hide		U	
I	Insert		V	Paste
J	Join		W	Write
K			X	cut
L	Load		Y	Yank
M	Macros		Z	Zip

Colour Brackets

The CB option (set by typing into the Options dialog box) causes the editor to 
display different levels of brackets in different colours. You can set the 
colours used by means of the Options Colours screen

Using this feature means that you can easily spot incorrectly paired brackets as 
their colours will not match

Note that this feature only works for brackets that are on the screen. If the 
partner of a particular bracket is off the top or bottom of the screen then the 
bracket will be shown in the normal text colour. Also note that brackets inside 
strings (in programs) do not receive special handling and may cause other 
brackets to appear mismatched

Customisation

You can customise E4 to your own requirements using any of the methods below. 
Look under the help topics "Command Line Switches", "Environment Variables", and 
"Files used by the Editor" for more information

Command Line Switches: Screen Saver, Timed Backups, Video Mode, etc. Use E4 
environment variable to change defaults

Environment Variables: Default command line switches. Default buffer options. 
E4PATH for macros and files

Files: Use Options cOlours to change & save screen colours. Use Options SAVE to 
create buffer option files. E4KEYS file to change the keyboard layout. See also 
Template files, Macros

DOS Page 1

This command allows access to DOS. You may issue a single command to be 
executed, or invoke a COMMAND.COM shell to type several commands

Dos	the command entered is executed. Internal DOS commands and .BAT files 
	require the use of the COMMAND option. Commands may contain parameters 
	and must be on the PATH unless the full pathname is given. If the 
	command is blank then this action performs a Shell

Shell	a copy of the DOS shell (command line interpreter) is invoked allowing 
	several commands to be given. Type EXIT to return to the editor

dElete	this action allows you to delete a file having first typed its name into 
	the dialog box. You are prompted for confirmation

Gotodir	this command prompts you for a directory pathname, and then changes to 
	that drive and/or directory

DOS Page 2: Options

Command	when set commands are executed using COMMAND.COM, otherwise E4 executes 
	the program directly. Using COMMAND.COM needs more memory but allows the 
	use of internal commands like DIR and DEL, and batch scripts. Executing 
	the command directly means that the editor can return the program's exit 
	status. (Useful when running a compiler or MAKE)

Allsave	when set E4 saves all modified files before passing control to DOS. 
	Useful for compiling from within the editor

Unload	when set E4 unloads all unmodified buffers from memory before starting 
	the DOS command or shell. This is done after the Allsave option so that 
	if both are set all files are removed from memory before transferring 
	control to DOS
	
Xms	if you have enough XMS memory then the editor will swap itself (and any 
	loaded text buffers) to XMS when executing a command or shell. This 
	reduces the editor size in memory to less than 2K. CAUTION: If the 
	command or shell fragments memory it may not be possible for the editor 
	to reload itself. In this case E4 will terminate, so you should always 
	use the Allsave option to make sure no work can be lost. Please refer to 
	the manual for more detailed information

DOS Page 3: Environment Variables

The DOS command can expand environment variables in both the command name and 
the parameters to the command. This is very useful in macros as it allows the 
behaviour of the macro to be changed by the user

Environment variables may be used by entering the name enclosed in percent 
signs, for example %prompt% would be replaced by the current prompt string:

	echo The value of the prompt is "%prompt%"
	
Use two percent signs (%%) to enter a single percent sign

Note that colons can also be used as an alternative to percent signs, but pairs 
must be matched

Dialog Boxes Page 1

A "dialog box" is the name given to a box into which a user types input required 
by a program. E4 has very simple dialog boxes that are used to request input 
whenever a command requires it: for example, when the Load command asks for a 
filename

Often a dialog box has other actions, and options, listed along the hintline at 
the bottom of the screen. These are used by pressing ALT and the highlighted 
letter, or clicking with the mouse. You must use ALT because pressing normal 
keys will enter text into the dialog box

When a menu line contains an option pressing ALT and the highlighted letter will 
toggle the option from off to on or vice-versa

Some actions require you to enter text in the dialog box before they can be 
used, others do not. Pressing F1 will always display help on the actions 
available

Dialog Boxes: Using Dialogs

Pressing RETURN in a dialog completes the command, performing the normal action 
of that command. Alternatively you can press the key used to invoke the command, 
so pressing a command key twice in a row repeats the last use of that command. 
For example ALT-G ALT-G is a quick way to repeat the last Goto command

Pressing ESC will clear any text you have entered into a dialog. If the dialog 
is empty or you haven't entered any new text then pressing ESC will cancel the 
dialog. Note that pressing ESC does not undo any changes made to option settings

Pressing Ctrl-RETURN will cancel the dialog as if you had pressed ESC, except 
that any text you have entered is kept. This is useful if you have started to 
issue a command but then decide that you want to do something else first. It is 
also very useful in macros as a way of saving text for later processing: you 
might collect the text for a Find command early on in a macro, but perform the 
actual search much later, having perhaps changed buffers, or taken another 
necessary action

Dialog Boxes: History Editing & Filename Completion

E4 offers two very useful features when entering text into dialog boxes:

History editing allows you to view strings previously typed into a dialog box 
and reuse them. Pressing Up arrow displays strings typed previously, Down arrow 
will reverse the process. Each string is copied into the dialog box so that you 
can edit it or use it directly. The number of strings saved by a dialog box 
depends on the size of the strings and the particular box itself. If you enter a 
string that is already in the history list then it is only saved once, thus 
maximising the number of strings that can be stored

Filename completion is useful for commands such as Load or Read. If you type the 
first few characters of a filename (or directory name) and then press TAB the 
editor will try to fill in the rest of the name. Pressing TAB again shows the 
next alternative. The editor will beep if there is no match or at the end of the 
list of matches. When a directory is found it is indicated by a \ at the end of 
the name. If you then press \ the cursor is automatically positioned after the 
name ready for the next directory or filename. The filename completion facility 
is available in all dialog boxes as Shift-TAB, and as TAB in those boxes where 
it is not normal to type a TAB character

Dialog Boxes: Function Keys

Certain special keys are active whenever you are using a dialog box (except the 
Macro dialogs) function keys are used to insert various items of information 
into the box, other keys affect any menu items

F2	shows the function key list
F3	name of the current buffer (usually the filename of the current file)
@F3	name of the current buffer without any extension
^F3	just the extension
F4	full pathname of the file associated with the current buffer
@F4	pathname without any extension
F5	currently selected text (if any)
F6	word at the current cursor position
F7	text (compound word) at the current cursor position
F8	text of the current line
F9	name of the current project file

^home	pressing Ctrl-Home clears all options (if any) for the current dialog to 
	the OFF state, regardless of their normal defaults

ALT=	pressing Alt-Equals before an option will set that option to the ON 
	state regardless of its previous state
ALT-	pressing Alt-Minus before an option sets the option to the OFF state

Display (Status Line) Page 1

Buffer number
│  Name of buffer
│  │            line number
│  │            │     column number
│  │            │     │    number of bytes in buffer             text off screen
│  │            │     │    │                                                  ┌┤
1  BUFFER.NAM   L1    C1   127 bytes Ins Modified 01/1                       
                                     │   │        │  │ │
                       Ins=insert mode   │        │  │ character under cursor
                     OVR=overtype mode   │        │  decimal character code
              Indicators (see next page)─┘        hexadecimal char code

When marking the status line changes to

1  BUFFER.NAM   L1    C1   Marking Chars 12 3 01/1                         
                            │       │     │   │
 shows "Marking" or "Marked"┘       │     │   │
	  shows kind of block marked┘     │   │
                           chars in block─┘   └─lines in block

Display Page 2: Status Line Indicators

Most of these are used to show the current Option settings

Ai	Auto-indent mode
Ol	Outline mode
Ww	WordWrap mode
Wp	WordProcessing mode
Ex	Expand mode (pressing TAB puts spaces into the buffer)
Pict	Picture mode, this is followed by a character indicating the current 
	line draw style
Macro	The current buffer contains a macro for editing
Modified
	The buffer has been changed. The initial letter changes to lowercase if 
	the file has been backed-up by the timed backup mechanism
Locked	buffer cannot be edited: there was an error loading the file, or the 
	buffer has been unloaded by the user. If the buffer was manually 
	unloaded it is automatically reloaded when selected again. If the buffer 
	failed to load due to a lack of memory, and you have since closed other 
	buffers, simply press ALT-L ALT-L to retry the load
Readonly
	The buffer is read-only
[RSH]	Letters inside square brackets show the attributes of the associated 
	file, when it was last loaded: R=ReadOnly, H=Hidden, S=System

Display Page 3: Marking Mode Indicators

Marking	currently marking a block, with arrow keys or mouse
Marked	block has been marked and is now frozen

Chars	normal block of text
Lines	block of lines marked using ALT-C

Macro Indicators (flashing in bottom right of screen)
P	playing a macro
R	recording a macro (press ESC twice to stop)
PP	a playing macro is paused awaiting input (until RETURN is pressed)
1P	a playing macro is paused waiting for a single keystroke
PR/1R	macro recording is paused. See the Macro command

Environment Variables

E4	default command line options

E4PATH	path of directories searched when looking for:
	e4colour.cfg, e4mono.cfg, template.*, e4macros.*, e4opts.*, e4keys

E4HELP	directory containing e4.hlp (the on-line help file)

E4OPTS	default option settings for all files. These options may be overridden 
	by the more specific option setting environment variables:

E4OPTS.*
	default option settings for files with the given extension, e.g.
		SET E4OPTS.C=AI+
	would turn on AutoIndent mode for all .C files. 

PATH	the editor uses the DOS PATH variable when looking for a file to execute 
	using the Dos command. The editor itself does not need to be on the path 
	to find its support files

INCLUDE	the editor will load files from a directory pointed to by this variable 
	if the filename given to the Load command starts with "<". Good for C 
	programming

FIND Page 1

This command allows you to search for text and optionally replace it with
another piece of text. To search again use Next. Normally a search proceeds 
forwards from the current cursor position

Find		starts the search for the given text
Replace		prompts for a replacement string, and then starts a search & 
		replace operation
Backward	controls the direction of search
Global		searches the whole buffer regardless of the cursor position
Loop		the search will loop round and continue when it reaches the end 
		of the buffer
Allbuffs	the search continues with the next buffer when the end of the 
		current buffer is reached. A Global Allbuffer search scans all 
		buffers from end to end. A Loop Allbuffer search starts at the 
		current point and loops back after searching all buffers
Caseless	causes upper and lower case letters to match when compared
Word		finds a string only if it is surrounded by text of a different 
		kind. e.g. letters must be surrounded by punctuation or space
Sol		find the string only where it is at the start of a line
Eol		find the string only where it is at the end of a line

For a Replace select the options required before pressing ALT-R

FIND Page 2

If text is marked a search is confined to that area and the Global, Loop and  
Allbuffers options are not available

GREY + and GREY - may be used instead of RETURN in the Find command to start the 
search, but force the search to be forwards (+) or backwards (-)

In the edit window GREY + and GREY - find the next matching string in the 
appropriate direction. Also, if the cursor is over a highlighted block of text 
when one of these keys is used then that block of text is copied to the find 
string and a new search is started with the string as the target

Files used by the Editor Page 1

E4COLOUR.CFG	holds the colour settings used for colour display adapters
E4MONO.CFG	holds the "colour" settings for monochrome display adapters or 
		for when the /B switch is given on the command line

E4FILES		a list of the files loaded when the editor was last used, 
		together with the option settings for each buffer. See Resume 
		Mode

E4KEYS		a list of keys the user wishes to redefine. See Redefining Keys

*.E4K		alternative keymap files

*.E4U		user-defined menu files (for E4-Deluxe)

*.PFL		project file lists. See Project Files

Files used by the Editor Page 2

E4OPTS.*	option settings for files with the given extension. This file is 
		not checked if an environment variable exists for the given 
		extension

E4OPTS		options settings for all files, other than those with more 
		specific option files or environment variables

TEMPLATE.*	a template or standard file read into a new buffer created by 
		giving a non-existent filename to the Load command

GOTO

This command allows you to go quickly to various points in the current buffer or 
other buffers. Ten tags (also known as bookmarks) are available for your own use

Type a number and press RETURN to go to that line of the current buffer

Type the first few letters of the name of a buffer and press RETURN to go to the 
next buffer whose name starts with those letters. You can also type a period 
followed by one or more characters to go the the first buffer whos name has that 
extension

The following action keys move directly to the named point:

Find	the place where the current search first started
Mark	the currently selected text
Prior	the buffer visited prior to this one (this does not include buffers 
	accessed by the next-buffer/prev-buffer keys)
Edit	the place where you last modified a buffer. The last eight edits are 
	remembered and repeating this command takes you to each of them in turn
0-9	One of the tags set by the Tools command

For the most efficient use of these actions you can assign them to function keys

HIDE

The Hide command is used, when outlining, to fold up or unfold an outline. Refer 
to the section on "Outlining"

To hide an outline you can press ALT-H with the cursor either on the headline of 
the outline, or on any line in the body that is not a headline for a deeper 
outline

If outlining is turned off when you use this command you will be asked if you 
wish to turn it on. If you answer yes then outlining will be turned on, but no 
other action will be taken

INSERT

The Insert command is used in conjunction with Yank to move lines of text

See Yank

JOIN

Joins the next line onto the current line. In doing so it removes any 
intervening whitespace, replacing it with a single space between the two joined 
lines. The cursor does not move

LOAD

This command allows you to load one or more files into the editor, or to create 
a new named buffer

Typing a name and pressing RETURN loads the named file into a new buffer. You 
can use this command to create an empty named buffer: you will be asked if you 
wish to create the file if it does not exist. If you create a new file then any 
TEMPLATE file for the given extension is read in to initialise the buffer

Once a file has been loaded successfully the editor displays its size and the 
number of lines. If the file uses non-standard end-of-line sequences or contains 
unusual characters then this is reported. See Tools Info for information on this 
report

Wildcards may be used in the filename to load several files at once. For the 
convenience of C programmers: double quotes in filenames are ignored and if a 
filename begins with a < then it is searched for in the directory specified by 
the INCLUDE environment variable

If you hold down the SHIFT key as well as ALT when pressing the L (Load) key 
then the filename at the current cursor position is copied into the dialog box. 
Press this over a C #include filename to load in the include source!

MACRO Menu Page 1

This command allows you to record of a series of keystrokes, which may be played 
back as required (a recording like this is known as a Macro). A macro may be 
assigned to a key (pressing the key plays back the macro) or it may be given a 
name (you must use the Play command to play it)

Record	record a sequence of keystrokes as a macro. Stop by pressing ESC twice
Play	play back a macro
Edit	edit the keystrokes that make up a macro
Compile	this command will check the syntax of a macro being edited (using Edit 
	above) and if it is correct save it to disk
List	creates a new buffer holding a list of all macros available to the 
	current editor session with their descriptions

Xmacro	when set (the default) new macros are created in a macro directory with 
	the same extension as the current buffer, and are therefore only 
	accessible when editing files of the same type

Note that macros cannot use other macros

MACRO Page 2

To record a macro choose the Record action and then press the key to which the 
macro sequence should be assigned, or type a name for it instead (up to eight 
characters). You are then asked to type in a short description of the macro, 
press RETURN if you desire none

Any key that is not assigned to an editor function may be used for single key 
macros. In addition the control keys may have macros assigned to them. Normally 
these keys insert the appropriate control code into the buffer, assigning a 
macro overrides this normal function, unless the shift key is held down while 
the control character is typed

Once you have entered the macro description (or pressed RETURN to skip this 
step) recording begins. To stop the recording press the ESC key twice. During 
recording you should not attempt to use another macro

MACRO Page 3: Macro Control Menu

The macro control menu is invoked by pressing ESC while a macro is being 
recorded. It provides the following actions

ESC		stop recording the macro and save it

Continue	ignore the escape keypress and continue recording the macro

Esc		inserts an ESC keypress into the macro

Getkey		when the macro is played back it will stop at this point and 
		wait for a single key to be pressed by the user. During 
		recording the next keystroke will not be recorded in the macro 
		file, as it corresponds to the one entered by the user during 
		playback

getLine 	when the playing macro reaches this point it will pause and 
		allow the user to type until RETURN is pressed. The RETURN 
		keypress is ignored and not passed to the editor. If a RETURN is 
		required the macro should include one after the getLine. During 
		recording the subsequent keypresses until a RETURN will not be 
		recorded as they correspond to those that will be entered by the 
		user during playback

MACRO Page 4: Macro Files

Each macro is stored in a file. The name given to the file depends on the type 
of macro:

For a named macro the file name is the same as the macro name (macro names must 
conform to the MSDOS rules for filenames)

For a single key macro the name of the file is the editor's name for the key. 
You can use the Tools Keycodes command to see what the editor calls any 
particular key. If the editor does not have a name for a key then it uses the 
hexadecimal scancode of the key prefixed by a percent sign (%) (this is for 
information only as the name given does not affect your use of the editor). Note 
that the same names are used for keys when editing macros using the Macro Edit 
command

MACRO Page 5: Macro Directories

Since there may be many macro files they are stored in special macro directories 
called E4MACROS. A macro directory may reside in any directory on the E4PATH 
(environment variable), or, if no environment variable is set, an E4MACROS 
directory may reside in the current directory or the one containing E4.EXE

The editor will create an E4MACROS directory whenever one is required. Note that 
if you have two macros with the same name then the one in the first directory on 
the E4PATH path is the only one that gets used

When saving macros they are always created in an E4MACROS directory in the first 
directory specified by the E4PATH environment variable (or the current directory 
if E4PATH is not set)

Normally a macro directory has an extension and the macros within are only 
available when editing files with the same extension. This enables you to have 
completely different sets of macros for different kinds of files

Macros in the E4MACROS. (no extension) directory are available at all times

MACRO Page 6: Exploding Macros

This feature allows you to use text entered in the buffer as the name of a macro 
to be run. In practice this is a very powerful and useful tool.

When the Explode key, Alt-Semicolon (ATL-;), is pressed it looks at the text 
immediately to the left of the cursor. This text (or the last 8 characters of a 
long word) is then used as the name of a macro to run.

The macro may do anything but typically it will add text after the word in the 
buffer. It can replace the word in the buffer by first deleting it using the 
appropriate number of backspaces.

Applications include converting easy to type abbreviations into their full 
meaning, or in programming where you can generate control structures from a 
keyword. For example I use a macro which turns

	if_

(the underscore marks the cursor position) into a complete IF statement with 
begin and end block markers, appropriate to the language in which I am working 
at the time.

MACRO Page 7: Temporary Macros

If the you don't enter a name for a macro when recording the editor will use the 
name TEMP. This macro is overwritten without complaint if it already exists.

You can invoke the TEMP macro by pressing Ctrl-Return.

This is a convenient way of entering a portion of text repeatedly, or performing 
some other repetitive task.

Mouse

E4 auto-detects the presence of a Microsoft compatible mouse at startup. The 
mouse may be used to select text and issue commands

To position the cursor in the text simply click the left button with the mouse 
pointer at the desired point. To select a block of text: press and hold the left 
button whilst dragging the mouse pointer across the text to be selected. Or, to 
select a word, click the left button twice with the pointer over the word to be 
selected, multiple clicks extend the selection

Using the mouse on the Hint/Menu line

Left Click	This selects an item
Right Click	This has the same effect as pressing ESC

Note that the mouse often does not work in SVGA modes due to the limitations of 
the mouse driver

Moving Text Around

There are two independent ways of moving text within the editor:

A) Cutting and Pasting (for arbitrary blocks of text)

1)	Use the mark key (ALT-A) to select a block of text: either press it once 
	and then use the cursor keys to extend the selection, or press twice to 
	select the current word.

2)	Press Cut (ALT-X), to move the block, or Copy (ALT-C), to copy it

3)	Move to the new position

4)	Press Paste (ALT-V)

Paste may be pressed more than once to duplicate text

Moving Text Around

B) Yank and Insert (for moving lines)

1)	Press Yank (ALT-Y) over one or more lines to be moved

2)	Move to the new position

3)	Press Insert (ALT-I) once for each line you wish to replace. You can 
	move between successive presses of ALT-I


NEXT

Continues a previous Find or Find-and-Replace command, starting from the cursor 
position

If Looping is turned on then the search will stop when it gets back to the start 
of the original Find command. To repeat a search again in its entirety simply 
press ALT-F twice

Note that this command will repeat a previous search-and-replace operation, 
starting with any match at the current cursor position. Grey +/- only search and 
do not display the Replace menu (Yes/No/All/Last). This means that you can 
locate the string to change using Grey +/- and then use Next to make the 
replacement

OPTIONS Menu

Option settings apply to the current buffer only, except for the colour 
settings, and resume mode. You can leave the options menu using ESC or RETURN. 
Common options are set using ALT keys, these and others may also be set by 
typing into the dialog box: See next page

cOlours	Allows you to change the display colours, see later pages
Resume	See Resume Mode. This controls whether the editor state is saved to the 
	file E4FILES upon exiting the editor
Save	saves the following (buffer) options to an options file
1-9	Pressing ALT-digit sets the tab width to that number of spaces. 0=ten
Autoi	Autoindent mode. When autoindent is on pressing return copies whitespace 
	from the start of previous line to the newly created line
Pict	see Picture Mode
Word	Cycles Normal/WordWrap/WordProcessing modes, see Wordwrap Mode
eXpand	when set pressing TAB inserts spaces into the buffer instead of a TAB 
	character
sHow	Controls the display of hidden characters (Space, Tab, and CRLF)
ctrLs	Controls how control characters (ASC<32) are displayed. The default is 
	to display these characters as letters.
EOL	Changes the end-of-line sequence entered by the RETURN key, Normally set 
	to "Norm" (CRLF). Press RETURN for more information on this topic

OPTIONS Dialog Box

Options may be changed by typing their names (given on the next page) into the 
dialog box

Typing the code alone toggles the option to the opposite setting (on or off). To 
turn an option on type the code followed by a plus sign, for example AI+
To turn it off use a minus sign instead. For numeric options use an equals sign 
followed by the value to be set:

	TABS=8	sets 8 character tabs
	RM=75	sets the margin used by the wordwrap option to 75

To view the current value of an option setting not displayed on the hintline 
type the option followed by a question mark, e.g. RM? will display the current 
right margin setting

OPTIONS Buffer Option Names

These are known as Buffer Options because they only affect the current buffer

AI	Auto Indent
CC	Control Characters (0=Hide, 1=Show as Letter, 2=Show as Symbol)
CB	Colour Brackets
EOL	End of line mode (0=Norm (CRLF) 1=CR 2=LF 3=CRLF)
EX	Expand Tabs
LM	Left Margin (0-)
OL	Outlining Mode
OV	Overtype Mode (0=Insert mode)
PICT	Picture Mode (1-4)
RC	Roaming Cursor
RM	Right Margin (10-)
RO	Read Only Buffer
SHOW	Show hidden characters (spaces, tabs and CRLFs)
TABS	Tab size (1-32)
WW	Word wrap (1=WordWrap, 2=WordProcessing)

OPTIONS Files

The editor can record a set of option settings in a file. This file is then read 
automatically each time a new buffer is created. The option settings apply only 
to files with a specific extension, so the default options for a file called 
FRED.TXT may be different from those for a file called FRED.C

When the editor loads a file it looks for an option setting file with the same 
extension as the loaded file. E.g. if you load a file called FRED.TXT then the 
default options will be loaded from a file called E4OPTS.TXT

The options file may be created as a normal file using the editor. The options 
settings are given as a series of option codes on the first line of the file

Alternatively, pressing ALT-S in the Options dialog box will cause the current 
options settings to be stored in a file with the same extension as the current 
buffer. These options will then apply to all files with that extension. A 
typical option setting file might look like this:

	OV+ WW+ RM=75 TABS=4

This turns on overtype mode and wordwrap mode, sets the wordwrap margin to 75 
and the tab spacing to 4 characters

OPTIONS Environment Variables

Since looking for option files can take a significant amount of time on a floppy 
based system the editor allows for options to be set using environment 
variables, for example the DOS command:

	SET E4OPTS.C=AI+ TABS:4

Will ensure that all .C files loaded by the editor will have autoindent mode set 
and 4 space tabs. Note that a : is used instead of an = sign as the latter is 
not permitted inside environment strings

Note that if an environment variable is set for a particular file extension then 
the editor will ignore any option files for that extension

OPTIONS Colours

The Options Colours screen allows you to change the colour scheme used by the 
editor

Use the Up and Down arrows to select the colour that you wish to change. Then 
use the Left and Right arrows to cycle through the various foreground colours. 
Use Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right to change the background colours

The display shows the current colour settings as two digit hexadecimal numbers, 
e.g. 07 is white on black. You can enter these values directly by typing the 
value using the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F

Once you have set the colours use ALT-S to save them to a file. The colour 
settings are stored in either e4colour.cfg or e4mono.cfg depending on whether 
the current display mode is colour or monochrome, as defined by the display 
adaptor or the /B command line switch. The editor will load these new settings 
the next time it is used (unless the /D switch is given)

ALT-L may be used to reload the settings from the file. ALT-R restores the 
settings to the editor standard defaults

Outlining (Folding) Page 1

E4 incorporates an ingenious outlining facility that allows you to "fold up" 
your documents and programs. This allows you to view and edit their overall 
structure

An outline consists of a headline followed by a body. The body must be indented 
by one tab stop with respect to the headine. For example

	Headline
		First line of body
		Second line of body
	Another Headline
		First line of body
		
The Hide command (ALT-H) is used to fold away the body of an outline. Place the 
cursor on the headline and press ALT-H to make the body disappear. Pressing 
ALT-H on the headline again will cause the body to reappear. When fully closed 
the example above would become

	Headline
	Another Headline
	
Outlining Page 2

E4 encodes the closed or open status of a fold in the whitespace characters of 
your file. This makes the system completely transparent to most compilers. An 
open fold is just a normal sequence of TAB characters. When a fold is closed E4 
changes some of the TABs to spaces, depending at what level the fold has been 
closed

Since E4 uses tab stops to define outline structure your program source files 
will usually be ready to fold up without change. However, you may be able to 
increase the effectiveness of folding by altering the structure of your code. In 
particular you might like to label sections of code with a comment line and 
indent the section with respect to the comment, then you can fold the code away 
just leaving a sequence of comments. You should also consider reducing the tab 
stop size

Outlining is controlled by the buffer option OL. Use the Options dialog to turn 
outline mode on or off. Also, the Hide command will turn on outlining 
automatically, after prompting you, if required

A closed headline changes colour. You can set the colour used by means of the 
Options Colour screen

Note that closing or opening a fold does not count as modifying the buffer

Outlining Page 3: Restrictions

The outlining system used by E4 is very simple, and as a result imposes some 
restriction on your use of it:

Lines of your file cannot start with a space character, in practice this is only 
likely to affect some comments in programs. If a line does start with a space it 
will be hidden and the previous line marked as a fold headline, pressing ALT-H 
over the headline will bring the hidden line into view

Where necessary (Find command, word-right, word-left, etc.) E4 will open a fold 
so as to display the line containing the cursor

PRINT Page 1

This command allows you to print the contents of the buffer or, if a block is 
marked, part of the buffer to a printer, file, or other device

Init	specify the initialisation sequence to be sent to the printer at the 
	start of each job. Any character may be entered using the CTRL key or 
	the ALT key and the numeric key pad

Options:

CR	lines send to the printer/file are terminated with just a carriage 
	return

CRLF	lines sent are terminated with both a carriage return and a line feed

FF	once the data has been printed a FormFeed (ASCII 12) is sent to the 
	printer

Strip	any control characters in the buffer other than FormFeed are not sent to 
	the printer

PRINT Page 2

The print command acts like the Write command except that tabs are expanded to 
spaces, and the end-of-line characters are changed to whatever the printer 
requires

Your printer manual will give details of whether or not a CR needs to be 
followed by an LF, but if you get double spaced output with CRLF then switch to 
CR, if you get all the output appearing on the same line with CR switch to using 
CRLF

PRINT Page 3

The initialisation string is sent to the printer before the data, each time the 
print command is given. Typical uses include setting the printer to condensed 
mode

To enter a control character simply press CTRL and the appropriate key, for 
example

Ctrl-L	FF Form Feed character. Putting this into the init string will cause 
	each print job to begin on a new page

Ctrl-M	CR Carriage return

Ctrl-[	Escape. Since pressing the ESC key will cancel the command you must use 
	CTRL-[ to put an ESCAPE character into the string. Many printers use 
	this character to access special printer modes and functions

To type any character using its character code in decimal hold down the ALT key 
and type the character code on the numeric key pad. For example, to insert 
character code 65 (a letter A) into the string you would Press ALT, type 6, type 
5, Release ALT. Note that this method is a standard PC feature that can be used 
in most programs

Picture Mode (Line Drawing)

Picture mode allows you easily to draw pictures using the IBM Line Draw 
character set. Other features also help in the production of many kinds of 
documents

Turn on Picture mode using Options Picture. This also turns on Overtype mode. 
Whilst in Picture mode you can draw lines by holding down the Shift key and 
pressing the arrow keys. As the cursor moves off of a character position a 
suitable line draw character is left behind. You can move without drawing if you 
don't hold Shift. Change the line draw style (thin or thick verticals and/or 
horizontals) by pressing the * key on the numeric keypad. The current style is 
displayed on the status line after the Pict indicator

Picture mode also affects the behaviour of the cursor keys:
right	pressing right arrow at the end of a line will extend the line with 
	spaces rather than moving to the beginning of the next line
left	at the start of a line left arrow will not move you to the beginning of 
	the previous line
up/down	if you move from a long line to a shorter one the shorter will be 
	extended with spaces if necessary to maintain the current cursor column

Project Files Page 1

A project file provides a way of saving the edit state of several related files 
(in the same way as Resume Mode saves the state of your last edit session). You 
can have any number of Project Files in a directory

You can create a project file manually or automatically. To create a project 
file manually list the filenames that make up the project, one per line, in a 
file with the extension .PFL (Project File List)

To create a project file automatically simply start the editor with the name of 
the project file without the extension, which is exactly how you will use the 
project file once you have created it. Now any files that you load into the 
editor will be added to the project, when you quit the project file will be 
created and will list all files that were loaded when you issued the Quit 
command

A third way to create a project is to rename an existing E4FILES (Resume mode 
file). This allows you to create a project file after loading the necessary 
files into the editor. Remember that you can turn on Resume Mode from within the 
editor by using Options Resume

Project Files Page 2

To use a project file invoke the editor with the name of that file (without the 
extension) as the single argument. For example to load the files listed in 
PROJ.PFL you would type

	E4 PROJ

When you quit the editor state is saved back to the project file automatically. 
If you don't want that to happen then use the Options Menu to turn off Resume 
Mode

QUIT

This command leaves the editor. If no buffers have been changed (since they were 
last loaded or saved) then the editor immediately terminates. Otherwise you are 
presented with the following options for each of the modified buffers in turn:

Save	save the changes in the buffer to the associated file

Lose	lose the changes made to the buffer

Quit	save all remaining modified buffers, and then leave

READ

This command allows you to read the contents of another file into the buffer at 
the current cursor position. Type the name of the file to be read and press 
RETURN

The text read is highlighted so that you can use ALT-X to move it if necessary

REPLACE

The Replace action allows you to specify a string of text to be substituted for 
that matching the Find pattern

Simply type the replacement text and press RETURN. When a match is found you 
will be asked if you wish to make the replacement, see next page

REPLACE Found text actions

Yes	replace the text and move to the next matching text
No	skip this match and move to the next matching text
All	replace all matching text in the search range without further prompts
Last	replace this matching text and then stop

ESC	stop the search

Redefining Keys Page 1

E4 allows for any key to be assigned to any of the editor functions

During start-up the editor looks for a file called E4KEYS in any of the 
directories specified by the E4PATH environment variable. The E4KEYS 
file should contain a list of the keys to be reassigned, with the 
sequence of keystrokes assigned to each key, e.g.

	F2	@B @L
	F5	@A
	^END	^DEL

Would cause F2 to execute the Buffer List command, F5 to act as the Mark key 
(ALT-A), and Ctrl-End to execute delete-to-end-of-line. The last entry shows how 
enhanced keyboard keystrokes may be accessed from a standard PC keyboard

The key to be changed must be in column 1 and the two sections of an 
entry must be separated by a tab character.

Note that the key sequences on the right are not subject to reassignment: this 
means that it is possible to swap the function of two keys

To find out the name of a key use the Tools Keycodes command

Redefining Keys Page 2

You can also assign functions to pairs of keys. In this case the two 
keys must be separated by a single space, a tab is then used to separate 
the pair from the list of keys assigned. For example

	^K ^B	@A

This makes the key sequence Ctrl-K Ctrl-B turn on block marking

You can change the name of the E4KEYS file by using the /= command line switch.

Having changed the key assignments you can alter some of the messages produced 
by the editor to match the changes you have made. These are set using "Editor 
Variables", which are entries in the keymap file of the form:

	name=string

The editor variables are documented on the next page

Redefining Keys - Editor Variables

msg	The default message displayed on the message line

hints	The hintline. To highlight a letter in the hint string you must use the 
	Change Case (ALT-8) Xor (ALT-X) function to set bit 7 of the character, 
	which makes it appear as a graphics character in the keys file. When E4 
	displays this character it removes the bit 7, and instead highlights it 
	on the display

markmsg	displayed when Mark (ALT-A) is pressed

cutmsg	displayed when the Cut (ALT-X) or Copy (ALT-C) commands are given. Note 
	that this string is preceded on the message line by a string like "10 
	chars, 1 line copied"

pastemsg
	displayed when the Paste (ALT-V) command is given

yankmsg	displayed when the Yank (ALT-Y) command is given

topline	(For E4-Deluxe only) displayed instead of the top menu until the menu 
	key is pressed or the mouse is moved over the menu bar.

Resume Mode

This allows you to restart an edit session at exactly the point you were when 
you left the editor

If Resume Mode is on when the editor terminates it will write the list of 
currently open files to the file E4FILES, together with a record of the options 
set for each buffer and the number of the buffer being edited. When the editor 
is restarted it will reload the entire state from the file

When the editor is started without any filenames given on the command line it 
looks (in the current directory only) for a file called E4FILES. This will 
contain the list of files that were last edited, one name per line. The files 
listed in the file are opened automatically, and Resume Mode is turned on

Resume mode may be turned on during the edit session by using Option Resume or 
on the command line with the /R switch

If an E4FILES file exists but the editor is started with one or more filenames 
then the E4FILES file will remain untouched

Try using /R from your root directory when you next edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and 
CONFIG.SYS, and then to edit them again later just type E4 whilst in your root 
directory. This also helps you remember what you changed last time!

SAVE

This command allows you to save the current buffer to the associated file or to 
another file

Save	saves the buffer under the name shown. Edit the name to Save As another 
	file. This will automatically rename the current buffer. To save without 
	renaming use the Write command

All	saves all modified buffers: those that contain unsaved changes

Changes	saves the content of the current buffer only if it has been modified

Screen Saver

To protect your monitor E4 will blank the screen after several minutes of 
inactivity (5 by default)

You can restore the screen by pressing a key (including Shift, ALT, or Ctrl) or 
moving the mouse (if the mouse driver is installed)

You can change the delay before the screen is blanked by using the /S command 
line switch. Give the delay in minutes immediately following the switch, for 
example to set the delay to 10 mins you would use

	E4 /S10

Like most switches you can set your own defaults by using the E4 environment 
variable:

	SET E4=/S10

TOOLS Menu

ASCII	Chart of all ASCII Characters

Colours	Displays all colour/attribute combinations

eRrors	Will provide the DOS error message associated with an error code

Editclip
	Allows you to edit the contents of the clipboard (up to the first 125 
	chars)

Info	Displays information about the content of the buffer. The same 
	information is displayed when the file is first loaded. See 
	later page

Keycodes
	Displays the keycode, and the name, for any key pressed

0-9	Pressing a number key will set a tag at the current point in the current 
	buffer. You can return to this point later using the Goto command

TOOLS ASCII Chart

The ASCII chart allows you to view the entire ASCII character set. If 
the current display mode has more than 33 lines you can see the whole 
chart at once, otherwise you must press the space bar (or click the 
right mouse button) to switch between pages

You can insert characters from the chart into the current buffer by 
pressing RETURN with the selector bar over the character, or clicking 
with the left mouse button with the mouse pointer on the character

The character inserted is displayed at the bottom of the screen, until 
you move the selector bar

To leave the ASCII chart press Esc or Click-Right on the bottom line of 
the screen

TOOLS Info

Tools Info displays the following information:

If there are any control characters or IBM characters in the file:

ctrls	the number of control characters. i.e. any character with an ASCII code 
	<32 except TAB, CR and LF

ibm	the number of IBM extended characters, i.e. those with an ASCII
	code >=128

If the file contains just CRLF end-of-line sequences then the count of the 
number of lines is displayed, otherwise:

crlf	the number of CRLF pairs
cr	the number of lines ending in just a CR
lf	the number of lines ending in just an LF

Template Files

When the editor attempts to load a file that does not exist, and the user 
answers Y to the "New file?" prompt, the editor will load instead a file called 
TEMPLATE.EXT where "EXT" is the extension of the new file. The new buffer will 
however still be associated with the name the user gave. This means that you can 
have skeleton files for certain kinds of file. Typically you might use this to 
include a copyright message in all the programs you create, or a standard 
heading for a memo

The template files may exist in any directory listed in the E4PATH environment 
variable, but the directory containing the new file is always searched for a 
TEMPLATE file first

If the editor successfully reads a template file it will then attempt to run a 
named macro called TEMPLATE. This can be used to enhance the basic template, for 
example, by inserting the current date (using Ctrl-Ins or the optional XDATE 
program)

Timed Backups

See Backups

V PASTE (ALT-V)

This command copies the contents of the Clipboard into the current buffer, 
inserting it at the current cursor position. The block is always inserted, 
increasing the size of the buffer, even if overtype mode is set

The pasted area is left selected so that it may be cut out again if it was 
incorrectly placed, or indented as necessary using TAB/Shift-TAB

The contents of the clipboard remain available for further paste operations

Video Modes

E4 can support any text video mode provided by your display adaptor. The 
editor will adopt any display mode in operation when it starts up 
(unless it is a graphics mode) up to 255 rows by 255 columns

You specify a particular mode to work in by using the /V switch on the command 
line. Follow the switch with the hexadecimal mode number. Refer to your video 
card manual to find out what modes are available. Make sure that any mode you 
use is also supported by your monitor

Example. If you have an ET4000 based VGA card you can use a 100 x 40 text mode 
(mode 2A):

	E4 /V2A
	
You can also select the number of display rows, with or without specifying a 
display mode. The number of rows is separated from the /V switch, or a mode 
number by a colon. Forexample

	E4 /V:50	selects VGA 50 Line Mode
	E4 /V:38	selects VGA 28 Line Mode
	E4 /V2a:75	selects a spcecial ET4000 100x75 mode!

WRITE

This command allows you to write all or, if a block is marked, part of the 
current buffer to another file

You may specify whether the file is to be overwritten or backed-up first. If you 
do not specify one of these options and the file exists you will prompted as to 
the action to be taken

If a selection is marked then only that part of the buffer is written, otherwise 
the whole of the buffer is written

Write		write the file, you are queried if it already exists
Append		add to the end of the file
Overwrite	write to the file even if it already exists
Backup		rename the file to a .BAK copy or into a BACKUP directory
		(if one exists) before writing a new file

Note that it is not possible to append to a file greater than 64k in size

Wordwrap Mode Page 1

Word wrap is the process that arranges words in a paragraph or block so that no 
line is longer than a certain length. Essential for document preparation this 
facility also allows you to format comments in your programs

E4 offers two kinds of (live) word wrap facility: (1) wordwrap (WW) mode is 
designed for use when editing source files and other text for processing by 
programs such as compilers and FAX software (2) wordprocessing (WP) mode is 
useful when creating general documents

In both modes text may be reformatted manually (a paragraph or marked block) or 
automatically (the current paragraph is reformatted continuously during editing)

In WordWrap mode a blank line is used to separate paragraphs, which consist of 
blocks of normal lines

In WordProcessing mode the end of a paragraph is marked with a Hard-Return 
(CRLF), which you enter by pressing the RETURN key. When a line is broken by the 
editor it inserts Soft-Return (CR) characters. This means that paragraphs do not 
have to be separated by blank lines, but not all software can handle text in 
this format

Wordwrap Mode Page 2

Use Options Word to select WordWrap or WordProcessing mode (Ww or Wp appears on 
the status line). In either of these modes most editing operations will 
automatically reformat the current paragraph (WordWrap mode only reformats the 
portion of the current paragraph starting with the current line). You can use 
the reformat command (ALT-6) to reformat the current paragraph explicitly, the 
cursor will then be positioned at the end of the paragraph so that repeated use 
of this command will reformat a sequence of paragraphs

You can format a block of lines by first marking them and then pressing ALT-6. 
The marked lines will then become a single paragraph. You can use this command 
even when you are not in a word wrap mode (the paragraph is formed as a series 
of normal lines, like WordWrap mode). This is useful for formatting comments in 
programs, as you do not normally want to remain in WordWrap mode

When using the manual reformat command (either for a paragraph or marked block) 
a space is added at the end of lines that do not already end with one

Wordwrap Mode Page 3

Indented and Hanging paragraphs

When a paragraph is reformatted TAB characters on the first line may be used to 
indent the paragraph. They can be at the start of the line to indent the whole 
paragraph, or after some initial text to create a hanging paragraph. If you want 
just the first line to be indented then use spaces instead of TABs

Right and Left Margins

The right margin (in characters) is set by typing into the Options dialog box. 
For example, typing the following will set the right margin to 72 characters:
	
	RM=72
		
The left margin may be set in the same way (using the name LM) but is only used 
when printing, on screen it has the same effect as reducing the right margin. 
The number of characters on each line is the difference of the right and left 
margins. The default margins are RM=72 and LM=0

X CUT (ALT-X)

This command behaves in the same way as the Copy command except that once the 
text has been copied to the clipboard it is removed from the buffer

YANK

This command is used to delete or move lines. When ALT-Y is pressed the current 
line is removed from the buffer and saved in an area known as the Line Stack. 
Many lines can exist in the Line Stack at any one time, unlike the clipboard, 
which can contain only one piece of text at a time

The Insert (ALT-I) command will retrieve a line from the Line Stack, starting 
with the line most recently put there, and place it into the buffer before the 
current line. So, to move several lines (which do not have to be together) you 
press ALT-Y on each of the lines in turn, if the lines are together then simply 
press ALT-Y repeatedly. Next you must move to the new location and press ALT-I 
once for each line to be replaced into the buffer. The Yanked lines may be 
replaced in the buffer together or separately

ZIP (Zip back to dos screen)

This command allows viewing of the state of the screen when the editor was 
started, or after execution of a DOS command from within the editor

It is particularly useful when compiling programs as it allows you to view 
compilation errors

Return to the editor by pressing any key

This facility is disabled by use of the /Z command line switch, which saves 
memory by not saving the DOS screen


NEW_FILE

The filename given does not refer to a file already on disk

Answer Y if you wish to create a new file (note that the file will not actually 
be created until you have entered some text and saved it)

Answer N if you don't want to create the file. You will enter the editor anyway

Press ESC at the prompt to exit the editor immediately and return to DOS

NEW_PROJECT

E4 incorporates an advanced project management system. A project file (.PFL 
extension) is a text file that lists all the files that make up a project, 
together with editor specific information

The filename you gave on the command line did not refer to a project or file 
already on disk

If you answer Y for yes to this prompt you will create a new project file. The 
editor will remember all the files that you load during this edit session. When 
you quit the list of files will be saved in the project file. You can then 
return to the project edit session at any time in the future by giving the name 
of the project file without any extension, on the editor command line

If you answer N to this prompt you will be given a chance to create an ordinary 
file with the name you gave on the command line. If you often want to create 
files whose names do not have an extension you can avoid answering this question 
by putting a period after the name of the file on the command line

Press ESC at the prompt to exit the editor immediately and return to DOS

READ-ONLY File

The file you are trying to write to has its Read-Only bit set. This bit can be 
set and reset by using the DOS ATTRIB command and is used to prevent programs 
from writing to the file

If you answer Y to the "Write anyway?" prompt the file will be written to anyway 
(but the Read-Only bit will be set again afterwards)

Answer N or press ESC if you are not sure that this is what you want, and Save 
or Write to a different file

ALREADY-EXISTS

The filename you gave to the Save or Write command already exists on disk. You 
must choose one of the following options:

ESC	Press ESC (the Escape key) to cancel the command, and change the name to 
	something else

Backup	The file currently on disk will be renamed with a .BAK extension, or 
	moved into a BACKUPS directory if one exists in the directory where the 
	file resides

Overwrite
	The file currently on disk will be deleted before the new one is written

If you are using the Write command you also have this option:

Append	The text you are writing will be appended to (added to the end of) the 
	file

KEYSTROKES

The following screens document the keystroke commands available

LEFT

Moves the cursor one character left. At the start of a line it moves the cursor 
to the end of the previous line

Ctrl-LEFT wordleft

Moves the cursor to the start of the previous word

Alt-LEFT

If you have an enhanced keyboard then pressing this screen will pan the screen 
left without changing the current line

RIGHT

Moves the cursor one character right. At the end of the line it moves the cursor 
to the start of the previous line

Ctrl-RIGHT wordright

Moves the cursor to the start of the next word

Alt-RIGHT

If you have an enhanced keyboard then pressing this screen will pan the screen 
right without changing the current line

UP

Moves the cursor up one line

Alt-UP

If you have an enhanced keyboard then pressing this screen will pan the screen 
up without changing the current line

DOWN

Moves the cursor down one line

Alt-DOWN

If you have an enhanced keyboard then pressing this screen will pan the screen 
down without changing the current line

HOME

Pressing this key once moves the cursor to the start of the text on the current 
line, i.e. the first non-whitespace character. Pressing again moves the cursor 
to the start of the line. Repeated presses cause the cursor to move between 
these two points

Ctrl-HOME

moves the current line to the top of the screen

In dialog boxes this key clears any options to the OFF state

END

Moves the cursor to the end of the current line

PGUP

Moves the current line up about a screenful of text, by moving the text and 
keeping the current line in the same position on the screen

Ctrl-PGUP

Moves the cursor to the first character on the first line of the buffer

PGDN

Moves the current line down about a screenful of text

Ctrl-PGDN

Moves the cursor to the end of the buffer

RETURN

The RETURN key is used to start a new line: it inserts an end-of-line sequence 
into the buffer. E4 is very unusual in that it can directly deal with text files 
from systems other than the IBM PC, e.g. the Apple MAC, and UNIX systems. The 
end-of-line sequence inserted by the RETURN key is set automatically when a file 
is loaded, but can be changed by using Options EOL. The possible settings are:

Norm	Normal MSDOS (CRLF)		(Carriage Return followed by Line-feed)
CR	Used by the Apple MAC		(Just a Carriage Return)
LF	Used by UNIX based systems	(Just a Line Feed)
CRLF	Like Norm but CR or LF may be inserted by pressing ^M or ^J

A file may contain any combination of the above sequences. In Wordwrap Mode the 
editor uses CR characters for soft-returns (at the end of each line) and CRLF 
pairs for hard-returns (at the end of a paragraph). These characters are changed 
as necessary when using the Print command. The editor reports usage of these 
different sequences after it has loaded and analysed a file

Ctrl-RETURN

This invokes a macro called TEMP if one exists. To create a TEMP macro press 
RETURN for the macro key in the Macro Record command

TAB

Normally this key inserts a TAB character (ASCII 9) into the file. TABs are 
displayed on screen as sequence of spaces. The displayed width of TAB characters 
may be set using the Option menu. The Option menu also provides the eXpand 
option, which causes TABs to be expanded to the appropriate number of spaces on 
entry

If a block of text is marked then pressing TAB will indent the block one tab 
stop, by inserting a TAB character at the start of each line that contains any 
marked text, even if only part of the line is marked

Shift-TAB

will reverse the effect of a TAB on a marked block. If no block is marked then 
it has no effect

Backspace

The backspace key deletes the character to the left of the current cursor 
position. If the cursor is at the start of the line then the current line is 
joined to the end of the previous line

Ctrl-Backspace (Delete Word)

The word under the cursor is deleted, together with any following spaces

A word in this case is defined as

1)	a sequence of the characters a-z A-Z or _
2)	a sequence of white space characters (space, tab, CR & LF)
3)	a sequence of any other characters

INS

This key toggles between Insert mode and Overtype mode:

In insert mode characters are inserted into the buffer at the current cursor 
position, pushing the rest of the line to the right

In overtype mode the character typed replaces the character at the current 
cursor position (except at the end of a line).

Some commands like Paste and Read always insert text into the buffer, even in 
overtype mode

The editor normally starts in insert mode, as do dialog boxes. The state of the 
insert/overtype mode flag is set independently for each buffer

Ctrl-INS

This key allows you to insert any ASCII code into the buffer. The ASCII code of 
the next key pressed is inserted into the buffer. This is a useful way to insert 
control characters when you have assigned the control keys to other functions

Note that the ESC key will cancel this command as normal, if you want to insert 
an ESC code into the buffer press the E key instead

You can also use this key to insert the current date and/or time into the 
buffer, by pressing the letters below:

D	the date in the form ddmmmyy, for example 01Jun94
T	the time in the form hh:mm, for example 14:22

DEL

This key deletes the character to the right of the current cursor position. If 
the cursor is at the end of a line then the CR/LF characters at the end of the 
line are deleted joining the next line to the end of the current one

Ctrl-DEL

If you have an enhanced keyboard then pressing Ctrl-Delete (^del) will delete 
all text to the right of the cursor up to the end of the current line

#PLUS Grey Plus: Search Forwards

This key repeats a previous search like Next, but it forces the search to 
continue in the forwards direction and turns on the Find Loop option, so that 
the search loops round at the end of the buffer

If the cursor is over a marked block then the marked text is used as the search 
string

#MINUS Grey Minus: Search Backwards

This key behaves like the one above except that the search continues in a 
backwards direction

#STAR Grey Star

In Picture Mode this key cycles through the various combinations of line draw 
characters

ALT-1...ALT-5

These keys can be used to switch directly to any one of the first five buffers

If you press one of these keys when you are already at the buffer it refers to 
then the editor will switch back to the prior buffer (it performs a Goto Buffer 
command)

ALT-6 Reformat

This key reformats the current paragraph so that no line is longer than the 
current margin setting. This behaves like wordwrap mode: long lines are broken 
by inserting CR characters as necessary

To change the margin setting invoke the Options dialog and then type rm= and the 
new margin setting, e.g. rm=80

ALT-7 Toggle Case

This key changes the case of the letter under the cursor, and then moves the 
cursor right. Uppercase letters are converted to lowercase letters and 
vice-versa. Non-letters are unaffected

If a block is marked then all letters in the selected block have their case 
changed

This key is a short-cut for the Change Case command: ALT-8

ALT-8 Change Case

This command is usually used by first selecting a block of text. It provides the 
following actions:

Change	letters have their case toggled to the opposite case
Upper	letters in the selected block are converted to uppercase
Lower	letters in the selected block are converted to lowercase
Title	letters are converted to lowercase except those at the start of a word

Advanced facility

XOR	all characters within the block are exclusive or'ed with a preset bit 
	pattern. The default bit pattern is 10000000, which inverts bit 7 of the 
	character code

SetXOR	this allows you to set the bit pattern for the XOR action

Note that the XOR action will not affect CR and LF characters

ALT-( Find left bracket

This key will look forwards until it finds any left-hand bracket i.e. ( { [

However if the cursor is over a right-hand bracket when this key is pressed then 
the editor will place the cursor on the matching left-hand bracket. The editor 
will beep if the brackets do not match correctly, e.g. as in ([)] rather than 
([]) 

ALT-) Find right bracket

This key will look backwards until it finds any right-hand bracket i.e. ) } ]

However if the cursor is over a left-hand bracket when this key is pressed then 
the editor will place the cursor on the matching right-hand bracket. The editor 
will beep if the brackets do not match correctly, e.g. as in ([)] rather than 
([]) 

ALT-Minus Previous Buffer

Selects the previous buffer in numerical order. If at buffer one it selects the 
last buffer

ALT-Equals (+ key) Next Buffer

Selects the next buffer in numerical order. If at the last buffer it selects the 
first one

HELP on HELP

This screen explains how to use the context sensitive help system, which can be 
invoked from anywhere in the editor by pressing F1. It tries to give information 
about the current command, or if a DOS error message is displayed, information 
about that error

Once you have left the help system, you can return to the page you were viewing 
by pressing ALT-F1. All help screens are available from any position by using 
the PageUp and PageDown keys to step though them

To find out about a particular key simply press it, e.g. pressing F will bring 
up the Find help screen

To view information about general topics (grouped alphabetically) press a letter 
key repeatedly to view topics with that initial letter. For example to find out 
about Resume Mode press the R key until you find the correct page

Press the SPACE bar to go the Index page, which lists the available help topics

ERROR MESSAGES

The following screens lists MSDOS error messages and, where necessary, give 
descriptions of how they affect the editor

001 Invalid function

A program has tried to execute a non-existent DOS Function

002 File not found

This message is normally self explanatory

However, the DOS RENAME command reports this error if a file cannot be renamed. 
Note that an open file cannot be renamed. The editor does not keep files open 
while that are being edited but other applications may do so

003 Path not found

The specified path refers to a directory or disk drive that does not exist. Can 
be caused by a floppy disk not being inserted into a disk drive

004 Too many open files

This means that no more file handles are available for use by a program. Make 
sure that you have at least FILES=20 in your CONFIG.SYS file. Some applications 
require even higher values

005 Access denied

This is a general error message that may be caused by many different conditions, 
such as writing to a readonly file (made readonly with ATTRIB +R), or to a 
write-protected disk. It really means "could not perform operation"

This error also occurs when trying to create a file in a directory when no more 
directory slots are available. The root directory of a floppy disk can hold no 
more than a fixed number of files. Novell currently imposes a (higher) limit for 
subdirectories on network drives

006 Invalid handle

A program tried to access a file handle that was not associated with a file or 
tried to close a file that was already closed

007 MCBs damaged (Memory Control Blocks Damaged)

This indicates that the MSDOS memory allocation system has been damaged. This is 
usually due to a program writing to an area of memory that does not belong to it

It is usually possible to save the files currently being edited as the editor 
treats this error similarly to an Out of Memory condition. However, leaving the 
editor will probably halt the system, and require a reboot. It is best to reboot 
the system as soon as possible after getting this error

008 Out of memory

This means that no more memory is available the executing program (the editor). 
Memory may still be available in the system but not in useful position

The editor handles an out of memory condition correctly. You can close one or 
more buffers to make more memory available to the editor and continue with the 
edit session

Up to 20K free memory may be needed to execute another copy of COMMAND.COM, 
which means that low memory conditions can prevent you from using DOS commands 
such as DEL. It is always a good idea to have a blank floppy disk on hand in 
case you run out of both disk space and memory at the same time

009 Invalid MCB

010 Invalid Environment

011 Invalid Format

012 Invalid access code

013 Invalid data

014 Undefined error

015 Invalid drive

016 Can't remove CWD

017 Not same device

018 No more files

019 Write protected

This condition generates an Access Denied error message. It usually means that a 
floppy disk is physically write protected. There are utilities that can also 
write protect hard disks

020 Bad disk unit

021 Drive not ready

This usually means that a disk has not been inserted into a floppy disk drive. 
In the case of a hard disk it indicates a hardware problem

Usually causes a Path not found (3) error message

022 Invalid disk command

023 CRC error

024 Invalid length

This may be caused by attempting to append to a file greater than 64k in size

025 Seek error

Indicates a hardware problem with the disk drive or with a floppy disk

026 Not MSDOS disk

027 Sector not found

Indicates a hardware problem with the disk drive or with a floppy disk

028 Out of paper

029 Write fault

This indicates that although a file or device could be opened by a program, an 
error occurred when trying to write data. This error can be caused by a printer 
being off-line: although the system can detect its presence, it cannot write any 
data to it

030 Read fault

031 General failure error

This is normally caused by using an unformatted diskette in a drive

032 Sharing violation

033 Lock violation

034 Wrong disk

035 FCB unavailable

036 Disk full (editor only)

This is not a standard DOS error message. The editor uses this message to 
indicate that a write operation failed to report the correct number of bytes 
written to the file. This invariably means that the disk is full

NO HELP

There is no further help available

