Night Owl 6/Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso/019a/e14.zip/E.DOC

Text File | 1991-12-15 | 13KB | 289 lines

Thanks for downloading E!

E is a small, fast, general purpose editor.  It is copyrighted but you are
hereby granted a limited license to use it free of charge.  While I am not
aware of any bugs, I make no guarantees about its trustworthiness, so use it at
your own risk.  Feel free to share it with others.  I only ask that you
distribute these files together and unchanged and charge nothing for them (a
distribution fee of up to $15 is allowed).

Some of e's features:

  - block and line move and delete functions, to/from buffer or another file

  - find, replace, replace all

  - set tabs, L and R margins, word wrap, autoindent

  - set and jump to labels or line number

  - shell to DOS, one-key execution of batch files

  - DESQview-compatible (run in a window with direct write disabled)

  - assembly language (TASM) for speed and compactness, source included

  - configuration program included to change defaults


Lines are limited to 80 chars in length.  Longer lines in input files are
truncated.  Those entered at the terminal are wrapped at 80 characters.  Tab
characters encountered as a file is being read in are converted to spaces using
the current tab setting.

Here is a summary of commands.  In the descriptions of these commands, '*'
indicates that the function performs differently if the shift key is down.
When in E, press F1 for help.  Whenever you are asked to enter a response to a
prompt (as for a string to find or file name), just pressing Enter will usually
cancel the command.


Cursor movement:

left                      left arrow, Ctrl S
right                     right arrow, Ctrl D
word left                 Ctrl left arrow, Ctrl A
word right                Ctrl right arrow, Ctrl F
tab right                 Tab
tab left                  Shift Tab
to left margin            Home
to end of line            End
up                        up arrow, Ctrl E
down                      down arrow, Ctrl X
page up                   PgUp, Ctrl R
page down                 PgDn, Ctrl C
start of file             Ctrl PgUp
end of file               Ctrl PgDn
assign label (0-9)        Alt L
go to label (0-9)         Alt G
jump to line #            Alt J


Insert and Delete:

delete char left          backspace
delete char at cursor     Del
    Pressing delete when the cursor is to the right of all text on a line joins
    that line with the line below.
delete word left          Ctrl [
delete word right         Ctrl ]
delete to end of line     Ctrl \
delete line               Ctrl -, Ctrl Y
undelete line             Ctrl ^
    'Delete to end of line' and 'delete line' save the deleted text in a
    buffer.  Use Ctrl ^ to retrieve one line at a time.  The same buffer is
    used for block deletes, providing an easy way to move a few lines:  delete
    the lines individually using Ctrl -, move the cursor to the new location,
    then insert all the lines at once using Alt I (see below).  If the cursor
    is at the left margin when a line is undeleted using Ctrl ^, the line is
    inserted above the current line.  If it is to the right of the left margin
    it overwrites what is currently on the line from that column on.  This is
    useful for moving comments from the end of one line to another.
toggle insert mode        Ins
    Toggle between Insert (the default, signified by a line cursor) and
    Overwrite (identified by a block cursor) modes of text entry.
insert raw character      Alt = *
    Insert the character which follows, which might otherwise be interpreted as
    a command (for example a form feed character).  If shifted, 80h is added to
    the character.  For example, to enter line drawing characters, press Shift
    Alt =, then a character in the set {@, A-J}.  Warning: don't start a line
    with a character whose ASCII value is > 80h (E uses that bit as a flag when
    moving buffered lines during a file swap).


Insert and Delete Block and File:

mark start of block       Alt B
copy block to buffer      Alt C *
delete block to buffer    Alt D *
insert block from buffer  Alt I *
empty block buffer        Alt E *
unmark                    Alt U
    Alt C copies all marked lines (between the line where you pressed Alt B for
    'mark start of block' and the present cursor location) to a buffer, or if
    the shift key is also down, to a file.  Alt D deletes the original lines
    after first copying them to the buffer or file.  Alt I inserts the contents
    of the file or buffer above the present line.  Press Alt I several times to
    insert multiple copies.  To move text, use Alt D then Alt I.  To move text
    between two files, delete or copy to the block buffer, press Alt O to
    change files, then Alt I to insert.  You can get lines into the buffer
    using either Alt C or Alt D or the line delete commands Ctrl - or Ctrl \
    and out using either Alt I or Ctrl ^.

    All block commands marked with a '*' will read from or write to a file
    instead of an internal buffer if the shift key is down (you will be
    prompted for a file name).  Here's a useful trick:  to print part of a
    file, first mark the start of the block with Alt B, then use Shift Alt C
    and give 'prn' as the file name.

    The block commands work on whole lines only.  To move part of a line, use
    the Enter key to break it into pieces first.


Formatting:

set left margin           Ctrl Home
set right margin          Ctrl End
    These toggle the margin settings between the current cursor location and the
    screen edge.
set tab width             Alt T
    E will expand all tabs found in files it edits.  If a file read in doesn't
    look right, change the tab width, then read the file in again by pressing
    Alt O and reentering the file name.
wrap paragraph            Alt W
    Readjust line lengths by moving words at the end up or down a line as
    necessary to best fill out the lines within the boundaries set by the left
    and right margins.  Wrapping will start at the beginning of the line the
    cursor is on and stop at the first line on which text does not begin at the
    left margin.  E automatically wraps text as you enter it, moving the first
    word that overflows the right margin down to the beginning of a new line.
toggle autoindent mode    Ctrl @
    Autoindent mode causes each new line after a carriage return to be indented
    as much as the line above it.  The default is on, the way you generally will
    want it for programming.  Turn it off for most word processing except
    writing outlines.
Toggle text/programming mode defaults   Alt Z
    Use this to change quickly between programming and text mode configurations.
    E starts in programming mode with margins at 0, 79 and autoindent on.  ALT
    Z toggles between this and margins at 8, 72 with autoindent mode off for
    processing text.  You may alter E to start up in text mode each time or
    change the default margins using the accompanying configuration program.


Find and Replace:

find                      Alt F *
replace                   Alt R *
find/replace all          Alt A *
    After pressing Alt F and entering a string to find, E will put the cursor
    at the start of the first string in the text which matches the search
    string, ignoring case of letters.  If you then press Alt R, you will be
    prompted for another string to replace the one just found.  Replace must
    always be used immediately after Find.  If the shift key is also pressed,
    the last string entered is used.  Use Find/Replace All only if you're sure
    you want to change all occurrances of a string.  Otherwise use shifted Find
    to locate each subsequent occurrence of a string, then shifted Replace only
    for those instances you want to replace.


Files and DOS:

load other file           Alt O *
    Alt O will save the current file if changed and prompt for the name of a
    new file to edit.  Shift Alt O will return you to the last file edited at
    the point you left off.  Repeatedly pressing Shift Alt O toggles back and
    forth between two files.
save and continue         Alt S
save and exit             Alt X, Esc
    Any time an attempt is made to save a file and the disk is full, E will let
    you know.  If you can't just change disks and try again (perhaps your hard
    disk is full), press Alt K, then F2 to shell to DOS, then delete some other
    files to make room.  Then type 'exit' to return to E, type Alt K again to
    mark the file to be saved and try the original command again.
toggle kill save on exit  Alt K
    Use Alt K before Alt X or Alt O to discard any changes made before exiting.
    Pressing Alt K again reinstructs E to save the file at exit.
shell to DOS              F2 *
    Press F2 to exit E temporarily to run some other file or system command
    (for example, DIR).  Type 'exit' after you are done to return to E.
execute EFn.BAT           F3-F6 *
    If it exists, the batch file EFn.BAT will be executed when Fn is pressed,
    for n = 3 to 6.  The file being edited will be saved first if changed.  You
    can use this feature to run a .BAT file to compile, link and/or debug the
    file you are editing, print the file, perhaps passing it to a print
    formatter such as NROFF first, even play a game if you are tired of
    working, all without losing your place!

    For example, here is the .BAT file I use to invoke the Turbo assembler,
    linker and debugger for e.  It is named 'EF3.BAT', and runs whenever I push
    F3.  '%1' is automatically replaced by the name of the file being edited
    without the extension.

        tasm -zi %1
        IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO fix
        tlink /v %1
        IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO fix
        tdstrip -s %1
        exe2bin %1 %1.com
        td %1.com
        :fix
        exit

    If you use this feature to invoke an assembler or compiler, I recommend you
    also install a program like BUFFIT to allow you to retrieve error messages
    that have scrolled off the top of the screen.  Alternatively, you could
    redirect the output of the compiler to your printer or add 'pause' at the
    end of the batch file.

    Here's a .BAT file to print the file currently being edited.  If you call
    it EF4.BAT, it will cause the file to be printed when you press F4:

        copy %1 prn

    If the shift key is pressed along with F2 or F3 - F6, E contracts down to
    under 7K, writing the file being edited to disk if changed, then reading it
    back in afterward.  Anything in the block or other buffers is lost.  Use
    this if the application which you are leaving E to run won't fit otherwise.


I'd like to thank some folks who have helped with this project.  Jim DeVries
wrote ECONFIG.EXE, with which you may change many of E's default settings.
Mike Robertson sent me the original code to allow E to run under DESQview and
contributed many helpful suggestions as I was developing and debugging E.
Many other users have contributed helpful suggestions for improvements and bug
reports -- thanks to all of you.  Thanks also to Barry Nance who said nice
things about E in his column in the September '91 BYTE.

I'd appreciate hearing about any bugs, and welcome any other comments.  To
contact me, leave mail to dnye on BIX or write me at the address below.  Please
enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you write and want a reply.


                                                      David Nye MD
                                                      4209 W Lowe's Creek Rd.
                                                      Eau Claire, WI  54701
                                                      1 Feb, 1991
                                                      BIX name: dnye

Version history

0.2, 1 Jan 1990
    First widely released.

0.3, 20 Jan 1990
    Added F2 to execute a DOS command, Alt Z as a quick way to set up word
    processing defaults.  Clearer help screen.  ESC no longer exits (I kept
    hitting it by mistake).  Use Alt X instead.  Some minor bug fixes.  Added
    more color monitor support (default colors, cursor fix).

0.4, 28 Jan 1990
    More bug fixes (last line in file no longer has CR LF appended, can no
    longer start e up without a file name on the command line, then escape out
    of entering a file name at the prompt).  There is now a byte settable with
    debug to start e up in text mode instead of programming mode.  Can enter
    chars above 80h with Shift Alt =.  Wrapping a line ending in one of the
    punctuation characters in the set {.;:!?} leaves two spaces after the
    character.

0.5, 15 Feb 1990
    More minor bug fixes.

0.6, 28 Feb 1990
    Added ability to run under DESQview and F3-F6 functions (to execute BATs).

1.0, 15 Mar 1990
    Bug fixes.  Added shifted F2-F6 functions.

1.1, 7 July 1990
    More bug fixes.  Now works under older (v. 2.?) DOS, recognises disk full.

1.2, 12 Oct 1990
    Minor bug fixes.

1.3, 1 Feb 1991
    Added Shift Alt O command to return to last file edited.  The lower of two
    lines joined by pressing delete at the end of the upper line now has leading
    spaces deleted.

1.4, 13 Dec 1991
    Bug fixes, find is now case-insensitive.