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Mac Format 1998 September
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BBEdit Lite 4.1
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BBEdit Lite Quickstart.txt
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About BBEdit Lite
===== ====== ====
BBEdit Lite 4.1 is a freeware derivative of BBEdit 4.5, the popular and
critically acclaimed text and HTML editor for Web authors, programmers,
on-line-service users, and anyone else who needs to edit plain-text
files.
BBEdit Lite is shipped with this QuickStart document which describes
many of the application's features. Please note that this file is the
only documentation available for BBEdit Lite. Full documentation, as
well as a considerable amount of additional functionality, is available
with the purchase of BBEdit 4.5. See the document "How do I order BBEdit
4.5" for details on obtaining your own copy of BBEdit.
We are committed to providing continued support for BBEdit Lite by
responding to individual questions and inquiries, as well as in
providing fixes for Lite, and improvements in its functionality. We will
announce any future changes or updates to Lite via the comp.sys.mac.*
newsgroups, as well as by providing information and downloadable
versions on our Web and ftp sites. We regret that we cannot offer
telephone or fax support for BBEdit Lite; if you have any suggestions,
comments, or questions regarding Lite, please send us email at
<support@barebones.com>.
Overview
========
BBEdit Lite Capabilities
------ ---- ------------
BBEdit Lite offers a great deal of useful functionality:
* Powerful multi-file search. BBEdit Lite offers the usual multi-file
search, in which a disk directory is scanned and the files are
opened one at a time; however, BBEdit Lite can also display the
search results in a window for easy browsing (and selected entries
in the window can be opened for display). The search can also be
limited to files that are already opened for editing, or to files
which were already found in a previous multi-file search. BBEdit
Lite also offers multi-file replace capability for automated "search
and destroy" operations.
* File size limited only by available memory. BBEdit Lite's default
partition size is 1221K (only 650K with VM or RAMDoubler) of RAM.
This can be set as low as 450K, to make BBEdit Lite the ideal
constantly-resident editor for small to moderate tasks, or turned up
as high as necessary to edit many large files or perform large-scale
search-and-replace operations. BBEdit Lite automatically takes
advantage of available system memory, so that you don't have to
adjust its partition size to edit large files.
* No hard limit on number of files open. The number of files that
BBEdit Lite can have open at once is limited by available memory,
and can be increased or decreased by adjusting BBEdit Lite's
partition size as appropriate.
* Easy manipulation of multiple files at once. The "Open Several..."
command makes it possible to open multiple files from different
folders at once, and the Save and Print commands can operate on all
open files at once.
* Pattern ("grep") searching. Matching patterns can be constructed so
that strings other than exact literal matches can be found and
replaced; for example, converting Pascal comments to C comments, or
modifying instances of HTML tags.
* Drag & Drop Editing. BBEdit Lite now includes support for Macintosh
Drag & Drop, both for internal editing operations, and for
exchanging data with other applications, or creating text clippings
in the Finder.
* High performance. BBEdit Lite 4.1 includes PowerMac native code
support. Try and enjoy.
BBEdit Lite also offers the following significant benefits:
* High quality. BBEdit Lite is based on mature and stable technology;
this technology is the beneficiary of years of in-house and field
use and testing. The commitment to quality and functionality shown
in BBEdit 4.5 is reflected in BBEdit Lite.
* Zero cost. BBEdit Lite is free, with no qualification. It is not a
shareware or commercial product. It is not a demo version, and there
is no expectation that you will buy anything.
* Extensibility. BBEdit Lite can use plug-in code modules to perform
a wide range of text editing and transformation tasks. There are a
large number of these plug-ins already available from us, and from
other sources such as the Info-Mac archives.
This document contains specific information on how to take advantage of
BBEdit Lite's capabilities. If you would like to write such plug-ins, we
offer a BBEdit extension developer's kit, which includes documentation
on how to write your own plug-ins, as well as source code for several
sample plug-ins. A copy of the BBEdit Extension SDK is available from
our Web site:
<http://web.barebones.com/updates.html>
or from our FTP site:
<ftp://ftp.barebones.com/>
as well as from Info-Mac mirror sites, in the /info-mac/text/bb directory.
Differences between BBEdit Lite and BBEdit 4.5
----------- ------- ------ ---- --- ------ ---
BBEdit Lite has many of the same capabilities as the commercial BBEdit;
however, the following capabilities of the commercial BBEdit are -not-
present in BBEdit Lite:
* BBEdit Lite cannot use the advanced HTML markup tools that are
supplied with the full version;
* BBEdit Lite does not include syntax coloring support;
* BBEdit Lite does not support Internet Config for interacting
directly with Internet service applications (such as Web browsers and FTP clients);
* BBEdit Lite is not scriptable;
* BBEdit Lite does not have an integrated FTP tool for accessing
and editing files directly;
* BBEdit Lite does not include an integrated spelling checker;
* BBEdit Lite has only 1 level of Undo capability;
* BBEdit Lite's use of Macintosh Drag and Drop is limited to dragging
and dropping of text while editing. Commercial versions of BBEdit
make more comprehensive use of drag-and-drop operations.
* Find Differences (comparing files, folders, and projects) is not
included;
* QuickSearch (an incremental search facility) is not provided;
* There is no option for split windows
* Disk browsers are not available, and you can only have one Search
Results window open at a time;
* BBEdit's advanced PopupFuncs(TM) technology is not built in (you can,
however, obtain and install PopupFuncs 2.8 or later into BBEdit
Lite);
* BBEdit Lite cannot open or browse project documents;
* Integration with THINK C, Symantec C++, CodeWarrior, and THINK
Reference is not supported;
* ToolServer is not supported;
* The Glossary function is not supported;
* Marker support is not provided;
* BBEdit Lite does not support Apple Guide for active assistance in
using its capabilities.
* XTND translation is not supported;
In addition to the specific capabilities listed here, BBEdit 4.5
contains a large number of refinements and smaller capabilities that
are not present in BBEdit Lite.
About BBEdit 4.5
----- ------ ---
BBEdit 4.5 is an industrial-strength text editor for use by software
developers, HTML authors, engineers, scientists, telecommunications
users, and anyone else who needs to view, edit and manipulate plain-text
documents with maximum flexibility and performance. BBEdit 4.5 is an
ideal companion for CodeWarrior, THINK C, Symantec C++, THINK Pascal,
MPW, and THINK Reference users. With BBEdit 4.5, you can:
* Take advantage of integrated HTML editing tools and integration
with Internet services to create and edit World Wide Web content;
* See your code in color, with BBEdit's built-in syntax coloring for
HTML, Java, Perl, C, C++, Pascal, and a whole bunch of other languages;
* Quickly and easily edit files residing on remote FTP file servers,
via "Open from FTP" and "Save to FTP" commands;
* Use an integrated HTML-aware spell checker with a 100,000+ word
dictionary to correct typographical and spelling errors;
* Automate operations via AppleScript, Frontier, or any other
OSA- compliant scripting system;
* Easily compare text files, folders, and projects via a built-in
differences engine and browser;
* Use BBEdit 4.5 in conjunction with Metrowerks CodeWarrior (version
1.2 or later required) to compile source files, and run and debug
projects;
* Access multiple levels of Undo to speed your content editing tasks;
* Use Macintosh Drag and Drop (included) for text editing and in
various parts of the user interface;
* Use integrated PopupFuncs(TM) technology to quickly navigate C, C++,
Java, Pascal, Fortran, 68K assembler, Perl, HTML, Tcl, GuideScript,
TeX, and ScriptX source files;
* Browse and search source files in CodeWarrior, THINK C/Symantec
C++, and THINK Pascal project documents;
* Use BBEdit 4.5 in conjunction with Symantec C++ (version 6.0 or
later required) to compile source files and run projects;
* Use ToolServer to execute MPW Shell scripts for building MPW-based
applications and other MPW-driven tasks, as well as MPW 411-based
Toolbox searches;
* Use THINK Reference 2.0, MPW 411, or Macintosh Programmer's Toolbox
Assistant to search for Toolbox symbols and insert Toolbox call
templates;
* Open disk browser windows to easily navigate the directory
structures of any mounted volumes and view files quickly and easily;
* Take advantage of integrated Claris XTND translation to translate
text files to and from popular word processor formats;
* Use a glossary to store commonly-used pieces of text for insertion
with a single keystroke;
* Split editing windows for easier navigation and reference;
* Enjoy many other technical advancements and refinements made since
the original release of BBEdit.
In addition, BBEdit 4.5 is delivered on CD-ROM with full printed and
electronic documentation, a complete collection of BBEdit plug-ins
contributed by BBEdit users from all over the world, demo versions of
ours and other developers' products, and product information and special
offers from select third-party developers. (Customers who don't have a
CD-ROM drive can obtain floppy disks at a nominal extra cost.)
Additional information on BBEdit 4.5's capabilities, and instructions on
how to upgrade, are contained in the enclosed documents "What is BBEdit
4.5" and "How do I order BBEdit 4.5", or you can visit our Web site:
<http://www.barebones.com/>
for the latest information available.
Distribution
============
BBEdit Lite is Freeware
------ ---- -- --------
BBEdit Lite is a freely distributable, copyrighted program, otherwise
known as "freeware". There is no registration process, no fee requested
or required, no obligation on your part, and no guilt.
We at Bare Bones Software do not produce or develop "shareware"; it has
been our direct experience that many people simply ignore shareware
notices. The cost of goods related to distributing BBEdit Lite is very
low, and can be recouped by means other than (unsuccessfully) trying to
shame users into paying some small amount of money for a program.
We believe that when users of a program make the financial sacrifice to
obtain a piece of software, they should expect, and receive, significant
value added. This is why a commercial distribution of BBEdit exists.
If you feel compelled to pay us for BBEdit Lite, don't. If you need the
capabilities that the commercial version of BBEdit has to offer, we
encourage you to order your own copy of BBEdit. See "How do I order
BBEdit 4.5" for information on how to do it.
License Requirements
------- ------------
Although BBEdit Lite is free, it is not "public domain". It is a
copyrighted software program, and Bare Bones Software, Inc. reserves all
rights; therefore:
* BBEdit Lite cannot be sold, either by itself or in combination with
any other product, without the express written permission of Bare
Bones Software, Inc.
* If you are a user group which is publishing a CD-ROM or floppy
collection, you may include BBEdit Lite and all of its related files
without restriction, save that the entire original package is
included. Contact Bare Bones Software for up-to-date versions and
information.
* If you are a hard disk vendor which distributes PD, shareware, and
freeware on your disk drives, you are welcome to distribute BBEdit
Lite. Contact Bare Bones Software for up-to-date versions and
information.
* Commercial publishers and distributors of CD-ROM software
collections, to include any and all software compilations provided
as an adjunct to printed or online publications, may not distribute
BBEdit Lite on CD-ROM without the express written permission of Bare
Bones Software, Inc.
* BBEdit Lite may be posted on an information service which charges
its users for general connection time and downloading, but it may
NOT be posted to an information service which will charge for the
specific right to download BBEdit Lite, without the express written
permission of Bare Bones Software, Inc.
* BBEdit Lite may be given away as a support utility for a package
which is itself to be given away. People who need to distribute
BBEdit Lite as a support utility should contact Bare Bones Software
for up-to-date versions and information.
Address all correspondence to:
Postal: Bare Bones Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 1048
Bedford, MA 01730
Web: <http://www.barebones.com/>
email: <sales@barebones.com> -- licensing inquiries only
<support@barebones.com> -- all technical questions
Phone: +1 781 687-0700
Fax: +1 781-687-0711
Please note that we cannot provide technical support for BBEdit Lite or our
other freeware products via phone or fax.
Getting Started with BBEdit Lite
======= ======= ==== ====== ====
Installation
------------
BBEdit Lite consists of the following major components:
* The BBEdit Lite application itself
* The "BBEdit Plug-ins" folder, which contains plug-in code modules
that can provide specialized text processing or utility functions
Only the BBEdit Lite application file is required in order to run and
use BBEdit Lite; you do not need to have any plug-ins.
If you are planning to install the whole set of BBEdit Lite files,
create a "BBEdit Lite Folder". Then, copy the application and the
"BBEdit Plug-ins" folder into your BBEdit Lite Folder.
Creating and Saving Documents
-------- --- ------ ---------
To create a new document within BBEdit Lite, choose "New" from the File
menu. An empty editing window will be opened on the screen. You can type
in this window, paste text from another document or application, or do
anything else which causes text to be placed in this window.
Please note that in BBEdit Lite 4.1, the various "New" commands (which
were previously hidden on the File menu) have been gathered into a
single "New" submenu. However, your reflexes will still produce the
expected results: Command-N still creates a new editing window, and you
can still choose the first command from the File menu to create a new
editing window.
Once you have opened a new window and done some basic editing, you can
save your new document. To do this, choose the "Save As..." command from
the File menu. Type in the name of your new file and click on "Save".
Editing Documents
------- ---------
In terms of its basic editing functionality, BBEdit Lite behaves like
any other word processor or text editor on the Macintosh: any typed
characters are inserted at the insertion point; if there is a selection
present, the selection is replaced by the first typed character, and the
insertion point is placed after the first typed character.
The insertion point is indicated by a blinking vertical bar.
If there is any text selected in the active (or front) window, it is
highlighted using your Mac's default highlight color. If there is text
selected in a window that is inactive (not the front window), it is
framed in the highlight color.
As you type, BBEdit Lite scrolls the window's contents so that the insertion
point is visible. Unless you have the "Soft Wrap Text" option selected, the
window may scroll horizontally as you type.
To move text from one place to another, select the text you wish to
move, and choose the "Cut" command from the Edit menu. The selected text
will be deleted, and placed in a special area called the "Clipboard".
(The Clipboard always contains the last text that you cut or copied.)
You can then use the "Paste" command on the Edit menu to place the text
elsewhere in the document you are editing, or even in another window
altogether. Also, any text that you cut or copy can be pasted into
another application. You can place text in the Clipboard without
deleting it by choosing "Copy" from the Edit menu.
When you Paste, the text that's in the Clipboard will replace the
current selection (if there is one), or be inserted at the insertion
point. Paste doesn't remove text from the Clipboard, so you can Paste as
many times as you wish.
To delete selected text, hit the "Delete" key on your keyboard, or
choose "Clear" from the Edit menu. If you have a keyboard with a numeric
keypad on it, you can hit the "Clear" key on the keypad to delete the
selected text.
To select all the text in the front editing window, choose "Select All"
from the Edit menu. You can then cut, copy, or perform any other action
that affects selected text.
BBEdit Lite provides an assortment of facilities for transforming text
in various ways. The commands to transform text are all found under the
Text menu:
Balance locates the pair of parentheses, braces, or brackets which
encloses the current selection range or insertion point. If there
are unmatched parentheses, braces, or brackets, BBEdit Lite will
beep.
Twiddle transposes the two characters on either side of the insertion
point, or at either end of the selected text.
Change Case... allows you to automatically switch between upper and
lower case characters for entire words, first letters of words, or
first letters of lines.
Shift Right and Shift Left will indent the selected text by one tab stop
(in the case of Shift Right), or outdent by one tab stop (for Shift
Left). If you hold down the Shift key while choosing one of these
commands, the selected text will be indented or outdented by one
space instead of one tab stop.
The Hard Wrap... command is used for wrapping long lines of text and
filling paragraphs. Essentially, it uses carriage returns to break
lines of text, to keep them from running off to the right of your
screen.
Insert Line Breaks "freezes" the line breaks in soft-wrapped documents,
by turning each soft line break into a hard carriage return. This is
useful when preparing to transmit a soft-wrapped document to an
environment that doesn't support soft wrapping.
Remove Line Breaks removes carriage returns and spaces between groups of
text. Essentially, it performs the reverse function of the "Hard
Wrap..." command.
Zap Gremlins... is useful for finding and altering non-printing
characters in your text files.
Entab converts runs of spaces into tabs, according to the current
setting in the "Font and Tabs..." dialog. This transformation is
useful when downloading text from a mainframe computer or on-line
service which uses spaces to line up columns of text; when
displaying the text in a monospaced font, columns will still usually
not line up unless you Entab the text.
Detab converts tabs into runs of spaces, according to the current
setting in the "Font and Tabs..." dialog. This is useful when
uploading text to a mainframe or on-line service which has no
concept of tabs as column separators.
Cursor Key Equivalents
Sometimes, you may want to perform word selection or deletions directly
from the keyboard. Here are some available shortcuts:
Key Modifier Action
=== ======== ======
(left/right) Arrow (none) Move 1 character left/right
(left/right) Arrow Option Move 1 word left/right
(left/right) Arrow Command Move to beginning/end of line
(up/down) Arrow (none) Move up/down 1 line in file
(up/down) Arrow Command Move to top/bottom of file
(up/down) Arrow Option Move to previous/next screen page
[any of the above] Shift Make or extend a selection range
Delete (none) Deletes selection range, or
character preceding the insertion point.
Delete (Command) Deletes all characters backwards
to beginning of line
Delete (Option) Deletes all characters back to
beginning of word
There is an option to "Exchange Command & Option" key effects in the
Editor section of the Preferences, for those who may be used to some
older environments which behaved this way. If this option is activated,
the behavior of the Up and Down arrow key equivalents will change
accordingly.
Menu Item Modifiers
---- ---- ---------
Here is a listing of some of the additional functions (or changes to the
behavior of existing functions) which can be invoked by using various
modifier keys. Please remember that BBEdit Lite displays the modified
names of these commands in its menus, so to see the commands in context,
just pull down the menu and press one or more modifier keys.
Menu Item Modifier New Name Action
==== ==== ======== === ==== ======
File Open Selection Option Reveal Selection Displays the selected
file in the Finder
Close Option Close All Closes all
open documents
Save Option Save All Saves all unsaved
documents
Save As.. Option Save As Selection.. Uses selection
as default name
for Save As
Print.. Option Print All.. Prints all open
documents
Quit.. Option Transfer.. Run another
application
Edit Cut Shift Cut & Append Cut & Add to
Clipboard
Copy Shift Copy & Append Add to Clipboard
Select Line Option Select Paragraph Selects paragraph
containing current
line
Text Twiddle Option Twiddle Words Exchange words
Change Case.. Option Change Case Use current
settings
Shift Left Shift Shift Left One Space
Shift Right Shift Shift Right One Space
Wrap.. Option Wrap Wrap with
current settings
Unwrap.. Option Unwrap Unwrap with
current settings
Zap "Gremlins"..Option Zap "Gremlins" Zap with
current settings
Entab.. Option Entab Use current
settings
Detab.. Option Detab Use current
settings
Search Enter Option Enter
Search String Replace String
Find in Option Open All Matches Find in Next File
Next File until no more found
Go to Line... Option Go to Line Use last setting
Windows Arrange... Option Arrange Use last setting
Special Keys
------- ----
The Apple Extended Keyboard has additional function keys on it, which are
usable within BBEdit Lite:
Key Action
=== ======
F1 Undo
F2 Cut
F3 Copy
F4 Paste
"del" Forward Delete
Home/End Scroll to start/end of document
Cmd-Home/End Move insertion point to start/end of document
Page Up/Down Scroll up/down a page
Printing
--------
BBEdit Lite offers a variety of options for varying your printed output.
These options are available from the dialog that appears when you choose
"Print" from the File menu.
If you are using recent versions of the LaserWriter driver, select the
"BBEdit Lite 4.1" item from the popup menu to access these options. If
you are using an older version of the LaserWriter drivers, or other
printer drivers, the portion of the dialog above the gray line is the
normal set of controls that is provided by whichever printer driver you
use. Below the gray line are controls provided specifically by BBEdit
Lite.
* The "Printing Font:" button will bring up a dialog that allows you
to set the font, size, style, and tab attributes for the text when
it's printed (as opposed to when it's displayed). For a description
of the controls in this dialog, see the "Editing" section of this
document.
* The "Options..." button will present a dialog box for setting
various formatting options, most of which should be
self-explanatory.
Most of the options in "Options..." dialog only affect the appearance of
the pages that are printed out, and can therefore be set according to
your individual taste.
Setting Your Preferences
------- ---- -----------
To bring up the Preferences dialog, choose "Preferences..." from the
Edit menu, or double-click on your BBEdit Lite Prefs file. (This may not
be convenient, since the BBEdit Lite Prefs file usually resides
somewhere within the System Folder.)
The list on the left-hand side of the dialog determines which section of
the preferences you are looking at. If you click on "Save", all of the
preferences settings will be saved to the "BBEdit Lite Prefs" file. If
you click on "Cancel", the existing preferences will be left alone, and
any changes you've made in the Preferences settings will be discarded.
The Editor preferences control BBEdit Lite's editing and keyboard
behavior. These settings establish the defaults for newly-created
documents, as well as for text files that don't already contain BBEdit
Lite state information.
* The "Default Font" button sets the font which will be used to
display the text in newly created windows, and for documents which
have no saved state information.
* If "Auto-Indent" is turned on, BBEdit Lite will indent to the start
of the preceding line whenever you type the "Return" key on the
keyboard. This is useful for programmers and for reverse-indenting
text. It may be less convenient if you are using BBEdit Lite for
composing prose.
* Soft Wrap Text: by default, BBEdit Lite does not automatically wrap
text as you type it in, which means the text may scroll
horizontally. Selecting this option tells BBEdit Lite to wrap the
text as you enter, insert, or delete it, using the "Wrap To:" width
that you choose.
* If Balance While Typing is turned on, BBEdit Lite will flash
matching parentheses, curly braces, and brackets as you type them.
* Smart Quotes is used to determine the default value of the Smart
Quotes setting for newly created windows and for documents saved
with state information other than "BBEdit". If this option is on,
BBEdit Lite will automatically insert curly, or typographers, quotes
instead of the normal straight marks. (If you are editing material
for online distribution, or platforms other than Mac, it is best to
leave this off!)
* Ordinarily, actions such as using BBEdit plug-ins are not undoable,
and BBEdit Lite will alert you if you are about to perform a
non-undoable action. If you are not concerned about being able to
undo these actions, and do not want BBEdit Lite to alert you, turn
on the "No 'Can't Undo' Alerts" check box.
* Exchange Command and Option reverses the meaning of the Command and
Option keys when used with the Up and Down arrow keys. See
"Editing Text with BBEdit Lite" for more details.
* If Use Keypad for Cursor Control is checked, the keys on the
numeric keypad (on keyboards that have them) will move the cursor.
See "Editing Text With BBEdit Lite" for more details.
The File Search section of the Preferences controls BBEdit Lite's
behavior when searching for files via the "Open Selection" command.
* If "Skip (...) Folders" is checked, BBEdit Lite will ignore folders
whose names are enclosed in parentheses.
* The "Default <...> Directory" setting determines which directory
BBEdit Lite will start a multi-file search in by default (if you
do not select another folder from the Find dialog).
* If "Follow Aliases" is checked, BBEdit Lite will resolve any folder
aliases it encounters during its search.
The File Types section of the Preferences allows you to modify the list
of file creators that appears in the "File Creator" popup menu of the
"Save As..., Options..." dialog box.
To add a new application's file creator to the list, click the "Add..."
button, and choose the application. To change an application's creator
signature, click on an application name in the list, enter a new
four-letter code in the text field next to "Creator...", and click the
"Change" button. You can use the "Set button to pick an application and
enter its creator code in the text field for you. To remove an
application creator from the list, click on an application name, and
click the "Delete" button.
The creators for "BBEdit Lite" and "Generic Text File" are built into
BBEdit Lite and cannot be changed or deleted.
The Filing settings control the default settings for the Open... and
Open Several... dialogs.
* If "Wrap TeachText Files" is checked, then BBEdit Lite will always
soft- wrap files which have been created by TeachText (or its
successor SimpleText).
* If "Auto-Backup" is checked, a backup will automatically be made of
a file every time it is saved.
The Grep Patterns section of the Preferences dialog allows you to modify
the list of regular expressions which appears in the popup menu next to
the "Grep" check box in the "Find..." dialog.
The scrolling list box shows the names of the installed patterns. When
you click on one, the text fields below the list will be filled in with
its name, search pattern, and replace pattern. You can change any of
these text fields, and click "Change" to replace the selected pattern
with the changed one. You can also enter new information in the text
fields and click "Add" to add a new pattern, or select a pattern and
click "Delete" to remove it from the list. For more information on grep
patterns, please see the next section on Searching.
Note: You can install a pattern with an empty replace pattern, which is
useful just for locating text which matches a particular regular
expression.
The Printing settings provide the default print settings for new windows
and for documents which have saved state information other than BBEdit
Lite's.
These settings correspond to the same settings on the "Options..."
dialog which can be brought up from the Print... dialog.
The Search Folders section presents a list of folders which will appear
in the "Folder:" pop-up menu in the "Find" dialog.
The Startup settings determine BBEdit Lite's behavior when it is
launched without any documents.
* The "At Startup:" radio buttons control what BBEdit Lite does when
it's launched by some means other than double-clicking on a BBEdit
Lite document, or by dragging and dropping some item onto BBEdit
Lite itself (under System 7).
* If "Nothing" is selected, BBEdit Lite will take no action at
startup. This is handy if BBEdit Lite regularly gets launched into
the background, or is launched by some external utility which will
then start sending commands to BBEdit Lite directly.
* New Window causes BBEdit Lite to bring up a new untitled window, as
if the "New command on the File menu had been chosen.
* Open causes BBEdit Lite to bring up an "Open..." dialog, as if the
"Open..." command on the File menu had been chosen.
* Open Several causes BBEdit Lite to bring up the "Open Several..."
dialog, as if that command had been chosen.
The State settings control what parts of a file's saved state are honored
whenever a file with saved state information is opened. In some cases, it
may be desirable to ignore one of these aspects of the saved state.
* The "Remember File State" setting establishes whether BBEdit Lite
will remember information about the document's state (window
position, font and size settings, and other options). This default
is applied to newly created documents. If "Always Add State" is
checked, BBEdit Lite will remember state information for documents
that you open which don't already have saved state information.
The Text Search settings provide the defaults for text searching and
multi-file searching. The options in this dialog correspond to their
counterparts in the Find... and the Multi-File Search Options dialog.
The Windows settings affect the appearance and behavior of BBEdit Lite's
document windows.
* Delay When Scrolling makes BBEdit Lite wait a tenth of a second when
you click in the arrows of a scrollbar before scrolling the text in
a document window.
* Show Status Bar causes the status bar to be visible within all
editing windows. (See "Editing Text With BBEdit Lite" for a
description of the status bar.) This option is on by default; you
can turn it off if you have a small screen and screen "real estate"
is at a premium.
* Show Philip Bar draws a vertical gray line in the status bar at the
point where the visible editing area ends on a 9-inch "classic"
screen.
* Show Tab Stops places tick marks in the status bar to indicate the
position of tab stops in each editing window. This option is dimmed
if "Show Status Bar" is turned off.
* Show Line Numbers places line numbers along the left edge of each
editing window.
* Show Cursor Position places the cursor-position display at the
lower left corner of each editing window; this display shows the
position of the insertion point, or the last-changed end of the
selection range.
* Window Zooming controls the maximum width to which BBEdit Lite will
open documents, either by default or when using the zoom-box control
in the upper right-hand corner of the window; the "Zoom Windows To"
setting determines where BBEdit Lite will place windows that are
zoomed on multiple-screen systems.
* If either of the check boxes under the "Leave Room for Finder" is
checked, BBEdit Lite will make certain that there's enough space
below and/or to the right of any window so that icons on the desktop
are not obscured by the edges of the Window.
Note: If you are running on a Macintosh with a 9-inch screen, the
window sizes when either of these options is checked are usually too
small to be useful. Therefore, you may want to turn these options off if
you have a small screen.
Text Wrapping
---- --------
BBEdit Lite offers the capability to wrap text in a variety of ways. One
method of wrapping is the "soft" or "live" word wrapping that
word-processors provide; it is useful when importing text files from
word processors or other programs that do not use carriage returns to
break lines on the screen. When opened, such files appear to have only a
few lines in them, which run far past the right-hand edge of the window.
Soft text wrapping is also useful when you are writing text that will be
exported to a word processor or page-layout program, as well as in other
situations in which paragraphs are separated by carriage returns.
For composing text in situations where carriage returns are a line
separator (rather than a paragraph separator), "hard" text wrapping is
useful for formatting your text.
To hard-wrap text in the current document window, choose "Hard Wrap..."
from the Text menu.
The controls on the left half of the "Hard Wrap..." dialog box control
how much of the text is wrapped, and the maximum length of the lines
after wrapping.
The group of radio buttons controls the length of lines after they have
been wrapped:
* The "Philip Bar" button will break lines of text at the philip bar.
(To see the location of the philip bar, turn on "Show Philip Bar" in
the Windows section of the Preferences dialog.) The philip bar
indicates the maximum usable width of a document window when the
window is zoomed to full size on a nine-inch "classic" Macintosh
screen. For this reason, you are guaranteed that text wrapped to the
philip bar will be readable without horizontal scrolling by anyone
on any Macintosh.
* If "Window Width" is selected, no wrapped line will be longer than
the current width of the window. This option is useful if you'd like
the lines to be a little longer or a little shorter than is provided
for by the philip bar; just size the window appropriately and wrap.
* If "Character Width" is selected, the number in the text field
designates the maximum number of characters allowed on any line; a
line that exceeds this number of characters in length will be
wrapped. The "Character Width" setting is useful for preparing
postings to on-line services, which can break lines in an
unattractive fashion if they're longer than a fixed number of
characters (usually 80).
The controls on the right half of the dialog control paragraph wrapping.
If the "Paragraph Fill" check box is turned off, long lines will be
wrapped, but short lines will be left untouched. If "Paragraph Fill" is
on, the entire contents of the selection range will be rewrapped using
the current width option; no existing line breaks will be preserved.
Searching
=========
String Searches
------ --------
BBEdit Lite gives you the ability to search for strings of characters
within the current document, or within multiple files, whether they're
currently open in BBEdit Lite or not. When you choose "Find..." from the
Search menu, BBEdit Lite will present a dialog box with several options.
The edit field directly below "Search For:" contains the string of
characters that you wish to search for. If the "Grep" check box is
checked, the string in this edit field is a regular expression. See
below for more information on grep searching.
The edit field directly below "Replace With:" contains the string of
characters that will replace the current selection whenever you choose
"Replace", "Replace and Find Again", or "Replace All" from the Search
menu.
Note: To search for a carriage return, line feed, or tab character, you
can either 1) type the literal character by holding down the Command key
and hitting the Return or Tab key, or 2) enter the expression "\n" for a
line feed, "\r" for a carriage return, or "\t" for a tab. To search for
a -literal- occurrence of an backslash character "\" (for example, in C
or Rez program source), use two backslashes: "\\n", "\\r", and "\\t".
Also, a "\\" will be interpreted to mean a single backslash (just as it
does in C).
The "Match Case" check box determines whether the search is
case-sensitive or not. If "Match Case" is checked, only text which has
the same combination of upper and lower case letters as the Search For
string will be found.
The "Entire Word" check box determines whether the text being searched
must be bounded by word breaks (spaces, dashes, and other punctuation).
The "Start at Top" check box will cause the entire document to be
searched, starting at the beginning of the document and proceeding
forward to the end of the document.
The "Wrap Around" check box will cause the entire document to be
searched, regardless of where the current insertion point or selection
range lies. Ordinarily, only the text from the start of the selection
range to the end of the document is searched. If "Wrap Around" is turned
on, and the search string isn't found between the start of the selection
range and the end of the document, the search will automatically restart
from the beginning of the document. If the search string is found in the
document after wrapping around, BBEdit Lite will blink the menu bar to
alert you.
If the "Search Backwards" check box is checked, BBEdit Lite will search
backwards from the start of the insertion point to the start of the
document, rather than forward to the end of the document. If "Wrap
Around" is checked, and the search string is not found between the start
of the document and the start of the selection range, the backwards
search will resume from the end of the document.
If the "Selection Only" check box is checked, BBEdit Lite will search
only the selected range of text.
Note: If "Start at Top" is checked, the "Search Backwards", "Selection
Only", and "Wrap Around" options are automatically disabled.
After you have entered the search and replace strings and set the search
options appropriately, you can click any of the buttons arrayed along
the right-hand edge of the dialog:
* If you click "Find", BBEdit Lite will search for the current search
string, using the current search options.
* If you click "Find All", BBEdit Lite will locate all occurrences of
the search string, using the current search options, and display
those occurrences in a "Search Results" window.
* If you click "Replace", BBEdit Lite will search for the next
occurrence of the search string, using the current search options,
and replace it with the specified replace string.
* If you click "Replace All", BBEdit Lite will locate all occurrences
of the search string, and replace them with the specified replace
string.
* If you click "Don't Find", BBEdit Lite will accept the current
search strings and options, but will not perform the search; you can
then choose "Find Again" from the Search menu to start the search.
Note: If the "Multi-File Search" box is checked, the "Find All" and "Replace
All" buttons will operate across all files that BBEdit Lite locates using the
indicated search method and starting point.
Multi-File Searching
---------- ---------
BBEdit Lite also provides a variety of means for searching through multiple text
files at one time in order to locate the search string. To perform a multi-file
search, check the "Multi-File Search" check box in the Find... dialog.
The popup menu next to "What:" determines how BBEdit Lite will locate the
files to be searched.
There are three ways to locate files:
* Folder Search. When this search method is chosen, BBEdit Lite scans
through the folders starting at the one you choose, and each file
that it encounters will be searched for the search string.
* Open Windows. When you choose this search method, BBEdit Lite
searches for the search string only in document windows that are
currently open. This sort of search is very fast, and may be most
convenient if you wish to limit the scope of your search to a few
files.
* Search Results. This search method is only available when the
"Search Results" window is open and contains the results of a
previous Batch Find (see below).
The check boxes can be used to tailor the search to your needs:
* Batch Find accumulates the results of the search in progress and
displays them all at once in a Search Results window. If this check
box is not checked, then the multi-file search will stop each time
it encounters a match, and open the file that contains the match.
Once the Search Results window is opened, you can single-click on an
entry in the window to display any given match, or double-click on an
entry to open the file containing that match.
* Search Nested Folders causes the Folder Scan search to search
folders which are enclosed in the search's starting directory. If
this check box is turned off, only the files in the starting
directory will be searched.
* Skip (...) Folders causes the Folder Scan to skip folders whose
names are enclosed in parentheses. This is useful if you have
folders containing text files that you do not want to search for one
reason or another; just enclose the folders' names in parentheses,
and they will be skipped.
The "File Type" and "File Name" pop-up menus give you control over the
types of files that BBEdit Lite will search. Choose "Any File" from the
menu to search files of all kinds, regardless of whether they contain
actual text or not. Choose "Text Files" to limit the search to known
text files.
When BBEdit Lite performs a multi-file search, it does so in two steps.
First, it constructs a list of the files to be searched, using the
search method specified in the Multi-File Search Options dialog. Second,
it searches each file in the list for the search string. If "Batch Find"
is selected, all occurrences in each file will be displayed in the
Search Results window. Otherwise, each file will be opened to display
the first occurrence of the search string; you can find subsequent
occurrences of the search string in the same file by choosing "Find
Again" from the Search menu. If you are not using Batch Find, you can
locate the next file that contains the search string by choosing "Find
In Next File" from the Search menu.
You can combine the capabilities of BBEdit Lite's multi-file search with
the Replace All command to perform multi-file replace operations. To do
this, set up a multi-file search as desired, and click the "Replace All"
button in the Find dialog.
Once BBEdit Lite has constructed the list of files to search, it will
present a dialog containing options for the replace operation:
There are three levels of safety that are available:
* Safest. Click on the "Leave Open" radio button. For each file that
contains the search string, BBEdit Lite will perform a "Replace All"
on that file, and leave the file open so that you can inspect the
changes.
* Less Safe. Click on the "Save To Disk" radio button, and make sure
that the "Confirm Saves" check box is checked. BBEdit Lite will
perform a Replace All on each file that contains the search string,
and then ask you what to do.
If you click "Save", BBEdit Lite will save the changed file. If you
click "Don't Save", BBEdit Lite will throw away the changes that were
just performed. If you click "Leave Open", BBEdit Lite will leave the
file open; this is the same behavior as the "Safest" case, above. If you
click "Cancel Search", BBEdit Lite will stop the multi-file replace
operation.
* Living on the Edge. Click on the "Save to Disk" radio button, and
un-check the "Confirm Saves" check box. If you do this, BBEdit Lite
will perform a Replace All on each file that contains the search
string, and then save the changed file to disk without asking. You
should only use these settings if you are absolutely certain of what
you are doing, since the changes are irreversible.
Grep Searching
---- ---------
Grep is a method of pattern matching that derives from utilities
commonly provided with the Unix(TM) operating system. You are probably
familiar with simple pattern matching from using word processors; when
you ask a word processor to find all instances of the word "black", it
is performing a simple pattern match, where each letter has to match
literally. Matching strings in this manner is not very hard.
The ability to match strings in a more general manner is both more
powerful and more complicated. It allows for sophisticated pattern
matching operations, such as matching all words that begin with the
letter "P" and end with the letters "er", or deleting the first word of
every line. Grep provides a powerful means of doing this.
To use grep patterns for searching documents, just check the "Grep"
check box in the Find... dialog.
The popup menu next to the "Patterns:" in the dialog contains a list of
your most commonly-used grep patterns. You can change this list in the
"Grep Patterns" section of the Preferences... dialog.
How Grep Works
The "grep" mode of searching and replacing is a powerful tool. Although
somewhat slower than normal text searching, grep allows the user to
search for one of a set of many strings instead of a particular string.
As a simple example, you can search for any occurrence of an identifier
beginning with the letter P, or all lines that begin with a left brace.
A pattern is a string of characters that, in turn, describes a set of
strings of characters. An example of a set of strings is the set of all
strings that begin with the letter P and end with the letter r; the
strings "Ptr" and "ProcPtr" are members of this set. We say that a
string is matched by a pattern if it is a member of the set described by
the pattern. Patterns are composed of sub- patterns which are patterns
in themselves; this is how complicated patterns may be formed.
Rules for Creating Grep Patterns
The following section goes through the grep pattern matching and
replacement rules step by step, so that by the end of it you should be
able to understand how each of these grep patterns works and be able to
make your own.
In some cases, the state of case sensitivity affects the results of a
pattern match. We have noted below when this is the case.
1. Any character, with certain exceptions described below, is a
pattern that matches itself.
2. A pattern x followed by a pattern y forms a pattern xy that
matches any string Bu where B can be matched by x and u can be
matched by y. We can, of course, take the compound pattern xy and
concatenate yet another pattern z onto it, forming the pattern xyz.
3. The character . is a pattern that will match any character.
4. The character # is a pattern that will match any single numeric
digit.
5. The character \ followed by any single character is a pattern which
matches the literal single character. (You would use this to
find special characters, such as the . or # characters. To search for
a period, you would use \.).
6. A string of characters s surrounded by square brackets ([ and a ])
forms a pattern [s] that matches a single instance of one of the
characters in the string s.
6a. The pattern [^B] matches any character that is not in the string B.
Special characters will be taken literally in this context.
6b. If a string of three characters in the form [a-b] occurs in the
pattern p, this represents all of the characters from a to b
inclusive. All special characters are taken literally; i.e., [!-.]
denotes the characters from ! to .. Notice that the only way to
include the character ] in p is to make it the very first character.
Likewise, the only way to include the character - in p is to have it
either at the very beginning or the very end of p. Single
characters and ranges may both be used between brackets.
7a. Any pattern p formed by any combination of rules 1 or 3-6b
followed by a * forms the pattern p* that matches zero or more
consecutive occurrences of characters matched by p.
7b. Any pattern p formed by any combination of rules 1 or 3-6b
followed by a ? forms the pattern p? that matches zero or one
consecutive occurrences of characters matched by p.
7c. Any pattern p formed by any combination of rules 1 or 3-6b
followed by a + forms the pattern p+ that matches one or more
consecutive occurrences of characters matched by p.
8. The character | placed between two patterns p1 and p2 specifies
that either one or the other of these patterns (but not both)
matches the target string.
We now have the ability to form patterns that are composed of
sub-patterns, and will find it useful to "remember" sub-strings matched
by sub-patterns and to be able to match against those substrings.
9. A pattern surrounded by ( and ) is a pattern that matches whatever
the sub-pattern matches. This is useful when doing replacements.
Sometimes it is useful to be able to "constrain" patterns to match only if
certain conditions in the context outside the string matched are met.
10. A pattern p that is preceded by a ^ forms a pattern ^p. If the
pattern ^p is not preceded by any other pattern, it matches whatever
p matches as long as the first character matched by p occurs at the
beginning of a line. If the pattern ^p is preceded by another
pattern, then the ^ is taken literally.
11. A pattern p that is followed by a $ forms a pattern p$. If the
pattern p$ is not followed by any other pattern, it matches whatever
p matches as long as the last character matched by p occurs at the
end of a line. If the pattern p$ is followed by another pattern,
then the $ is taken literally.
Note that the characters ^ and $ constrain pattern matches to begin or end
at line boundaries, and so can be combined to constrain a pattern to match
an entire line only.
Grep provides not only a more sophisticated method of searching, but a
sophisticated method of replacing as well. In a replacement string, the
following substitutions are made before any text replacement occurs:
1. Each occurrence of the character & is replaced with whatever was
last matched by the entire pattern.
2. Each occurrence of a string of the form \n, where n is one of the
digits 1-9, is replaced by whatever was last matched by the
sub-pattern beginning with the nth occurrence of (.
3. Each occurrence of a string of the form \p, where p is other than
one of the digits 1-9, is replaced by p.
This allows you to not only be able to search for a string satisfying a
complex set of conditions, but also to be able to do a subsequent
replacement that varies depending on the string that is matched. Note
that this does not take into account escape sequences, such as \t, \r,
\n, \\, etc.
Suppose that you are writing a Macintosh application (i.e., it uses the
Macintosh ToolBox instead of stdio for the user interface). Suppose
also that you have discovered that you have forgotten to put a \p at the
beginning of your string constants, so that your program is trying to
pass C strings instead of Pascal strings to the Toolbox (which only
knows how to deal with Pascal strings). You can easily change all your
C strings to Pascal strings by specifying "(.*)" as the search pattern
and "\\p\1" as the replacement string.
A Simple Example
Suppose you decided to reverse the two arguments of the function "foo".
You might try the pattern foo\(([^,]*),([^)]*)\) as the search pattern
and foo(\2, \1) as the replacement pattern. How does the search pattern
work?
Let's assume we're trying to match some text that looks like foo(1,*bar)
foo\(([^,]*),([^)]*)\) matches foo(1,*bar)
Since ([^,]*) matched 1 and ([^)]*) matched *bar, the two arguments to
foo, the replacement pattern foo(\2, \1) will result in foo(*bar, 1)
This, unfortunately, won't work in the case of foo(1,(*bar)+2), since
([^)]*) will match only up to the first right parenthesis, leaving +2)
unmatched. If we're sure that all calls to foo end with a semicolon,
however, we can change our pattern to foo\(([^,]*),([^;]*)\);. In this
pattern, instead of trying to match the second argument by matching
everything up to the first right parenthesis, we match everything up to
the ); which terminates the invocation of foo.
In this example we showed how to analyze a grep pattern by examining
sub- patterns. This is a good way of figuring out how to build a pattern
as well. Grep can be thought of as a small and rather cryptic
programming language, with each pattern a program and sub-pattern a
statement in this language. If you try to create a grep pattern by
testing a small sub-pattern, then adding and testing additional
sub-patterns until the complete pattern is built, you may find building
complex grep patterns not nearly as daunting as you first thought.
An HTML Example
Using grep, we want to change the following tag instance:
<CENTER><H2><FONT COLOR=#0000FF>changeable text</FONT></H2></CENTER><P>
into something that looks like:
<CENTER><H3><FONT COLOR=#FF00FF>changeable text</FONT></H3></CENTER><P>
In other words, we want to modify some of the tags, but keep the text
content the same.
Here is one way to approach the issue:
search for:
<CENTER><H2><FONT COLOR=\#0000FF>([^<]*)</FONT></H2></CENTER><P>
replace with:
<CENTER><H3><FONT COLOR=#FF00FF>\1</FONT></H3></CENTER><P>
(please pay special attention to the parts in bold type during the
following discussion)
An important thing to keep in mind when constructing grep patterns is
that you do not have to abstract everything out; it is OK to use big
chunks of strings as part of the search pattern!
In this case, we use strings to specify the exact tag format we want to
match, and use a character range for the variable text. However, before
proceeding further, we must see whether these strings contain any
special grep characters, and if they do, we must modify them
accordingly.
In particular, one of the target tags contains a color value #0000FF,
and as we learned above, the number sign # is a special character
meaning 'match any digit' in grep. So, we must _escape_ this in the
pattern by placing a backslash ahead of it \# so that it will be
interpreted literally instead. (This is not necessary in the replace
string, since that is not performing a match on anything, but it would
work properly there as well.)
The range is then constructed as follows: having matched the opening
font tag by means of a string, we now want to pick up all text from here
to the next tag. So, we search for anything _except_ another left angle
bracket [^<] where the range is denoted by the square brackets, ^ means
"not the following character", and < is of course what would begin the
next tag. The * added to the range means "find zero or more instances of
the preceding item" (so we can match empty tags as well), and the whole
thing is then enclosed in parentheses ([^<]*) to let us reference this
_subpattern_ in the replace string.
Thus, the replace string is just the revised tag form, with a \1 to
insert the contents of the first (and only) subpattern match defined in
the search expression at that point.
A couple of things to keep in mind: this search pattern will not work if
the 'changeable text' section contains markup, since we are specifically
keying on the presence of a tag opening character. You can avoid this by
using the simpler expression:
search for:
<CENTER><H2><FONT COLOR=\#0000FF>(.*)</FONT></H2></CENTER><P>
but this has the disadvantage of not suppressing BBEdit's _longest
match_ behavior, so any match will extend to the close of the furthest
font tag possible (e.g. if there are two font tags per line in your
source document). If all these tags live on single lines, and you have
markup contained in the changeable text, this is OK; if the tags span
lines, you are better off with the preceding expression.
Parting Shots
======= =====
Technical Support
--------- -------
Should you have questions about BBEdit Lite, please send us e-mail:
<support@barebones.com>
Please note that we cannot provide support for BBEdit Lite or our other
freeware products via phone or fax.
From time to time, we will release updates to correct problems in the
software, and/or add minor functionality. Updates to our freeware may be
found on the Freeware page on our Web site, as well as in the Freeware
directory on our public FTP area:
<ftp://ftp.barebones.com/pub/freeware/>
We will also provide technical support bulletins, as warranted by
circumstances, to address some commonly encountered problems. You can
also find a list of frequently asked questions about BBEdit on our Web
page.
If you do have a problem with the software, please let us know. All too
often, users do not report problems for one reason or another. Remember
that if we do not hear about a problem, we can't fix it.
Copyrights
----------
All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
This document is written by and copyright (c)1995-1998 by Bare Bones
Software, Inc. It may be redistributed freely as long as it is not
modified in any way. Information presented here is accurate as of the
time of writing, but is subject to change without notice.
BBEdit Lite is copyright (c)1992-1998 Bare Bones Software, Inc., all
rights reserved. Please see the preceding section of this document for
license requirements.
Limited warranty and limitation of remedies
------- -------- --- ---------- -- --------
The program and any support from Bare Bones Software, Inc., are provided
"as is" and without warranty, express and implied, including but not
limited to any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose. In no event will Bare Bones Software, Inc. be
liable for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or other
incidental or consequential damages, even if Bare Bones Software, Inc.
is advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by you
or any third party.
Additional Acknowledgements
---------- ----------------
The regular-expression library used for 'grep' searching is based on the
'regexp' package, written by Henry Spencer of the University of Toronto.
Pete Keleher provided a Mac- compatible version, from which BBEdit's
code is derived.
Thanks!
=======
Thank you for using BBEdit Lite! If you have any suggestions for
improvements, or any problems to report, please do not be shy. Our
experience shows that feedback from our customers has consistently led
to better products and happier users.
-- The Bare Bones Software Team
=end=
