CD-ROM Today - The Disc! 2/CD-ROM_Today_-_The_Disc_2_June-July_1994.iso/books/read.doc

Text File | 1994-04-24 | 11KB | 272 lines

READ.DOC
11/22/93

Program written by:
                        Bruce Guthrie
                        Room H-4885
                        U.S. Dept of Commerce/ESA/OBA/BSISD
                        Washington, D.C. 20230

                        [phone]

You may freely copy and re-distribute this program; however, the U.S.
Department of Commerce neither guarantees nor assures compatibility of the
program with all computer software or hardware.

Foreign users:  Please provide an Internet address in all correspondence or
and just e-mail your problems to me at [e-mail]


READ allows you to view any ASCII text document with 16,000 lines or less (about
900,000 bytes).  You can also search for text within a document, scroll around
in the document, and split up big files into small files for printing or copying
to another file.

READ supports a mouse scroll bar at the top if a compatible mouse is detected.


Syntax:

    READ [ filespec | @filename ] [ /line ] [ /Pport ] [ /-I ]
      [ /DOS | /-DOS ] [ /MONO | /-MONO | /COLOR | /-COLOR ] [ /? ]

where:

"filespec" is the file specification you want to view.  You can use a path
specification and a single wildcard if you'd like.  It defaults to three
wildcard selections; *.DOC, *.TXT, and *.BAT.  If more than one document in the
directory matches the wildcard, you can switch back and forth between documents
with Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn.

"@filename" is a text file that contains the names of any files you want READ
to process.  The file can contain only filenames, with paths if desired, one
file per line.

"/line" puts line "line" at the top of the screen.  Only applicable if
"filespec" (vs "@filename") is used.

"/Pport" specifies the printer port to use for printing.  This typically
defaults to /PLPT1:  although this can be overridden by the READ.INI file.  (See
below.) If a READ.INI file is found, any /Pport, /MONO, /COLOR, /-MONO, or
/-COLOR specification is ignored.

"/-I" says to ignore any READ.INI file found.


"/DOS" allows access to the jump to DOS feature of the program.  This is
typically the default.

"/-DOS" prohibits jumping to DOS.

"/MONO" or "/-COLOR" forces the system into monochrome mode.

"/-MONO" or "/COLOR" forces the system into color mode.  This is typically the
default.

"/?" or "/HELP" or "HELP" gives you the syntax of the command.  All current
defaults that can overwritten by using the CONFIGWS.EXE routine are also shown.


Return codes:

READ returns an ERRORLEVEL parameter of 2 if the file can't be found, and 1 if
an invalid parameter was passed in.


Viewing options:

While you're viewing a document with the READ command, you can use the following
keys:

Cursor movement keys (up/down):

Up                moves up one line
Down              moves down one line
Home              moves to the top line of the document
End               moves to the bottom line of the document
PgUp              moves up one screen's worth
PgDn              moves down one screen's worth
#line or Gline    moves to the given line in the document (goto line)
+line             moves forward a number of lines
-line             moves backward a number of lines

Cursor movement keys (right/left):

Right             moves one column to the right
Left              moves one column to the left
Tab               moves 8 columns to the right
Shift-Tab         moves 8 columns to the left
Ctrl-Right        moves to the far right of the document
Ctrl-Left         moves to the far left of the document


Search for text:

\ or F or f       search for text within the document
                  (the search is case-insensitive; "/COMMERCE" will find
                  "Commerce", "commerce", and "COMMERCE")
/                 search for exact (case-sensitive) text within the document
F3                search for the next occurrence of that text
F9                search for the previous occurrence of that text

Marking lines:

Alt-M             mark top line for copy or print
Alt-B             mark bottom line for copy or print
Alt-U             unmark all lines

Copying/printing lines (can copy/print either marked lines, all lines, or just
the lines that are currently on the screen):

Alt-C or Alt-D    copy (duplicate) lines to a file
Alt-P             print lines

Next/previous documents:

Ctrl-PgUp         go to the previous file viewed
Ctrl-PgDn         go to the next file specified on the input line

Miscellaneous:

Alt-E             toggles between 25-line and 43-/50-line mode (if your system
                  supports EGA and VGA respectively)
Alt-J or Alt-G    jumps (goes) to DOS; say EXIT to get back to program;
                  this feature can be turned off using the /-DOS switch
Alt-R             shows ruler at the top of the listing
Ctrl-P or Ctrl-F  do a form feed to the printer
F1                get help screen (which also includes some other statistical
                  information like the size of the file in bytes)
Esc               leave READ program

Note that you can't view beyond the beginning or end of the document.  This is
obvious but you cannot scroll to the right if you're already seeing the far
right of the display.



Marking and copying text:

If you need to copy a portion of your file to the printer or to another text
file, you will typically want to mark sections of the text first.  This is done
using the mark functions:  Alt-M marks the top line on the screen and Alt-B
marks the bottom line on the screen.

For example, you might decide that you have a 2,000-line document and you want
to print 50 lines of it.  Go to the first line you want to print or copy (you
can use the search options if you want to).  Get that line at either the top of
the screen or the bottom of the screen.  If it's the bottom line, press Alt-B;
if it's the top line, press Alt-M.

Now go to the last line you want to print or copy.  Again, get that line at
either the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen and press Alt-B or
Alt-M appropriately.  Having marked two lines, the program tags those lines and
all those lines between them.  You can use the F1 (help) key; it will tell you
the first and last lines that are marked.

Now press Alt-C (or Alt-D) to Copy the lines elsewhere or Alt-P to print them.
When you select these functions, you'll be asked if you want to process the
whole file, just those lines on the current screen, or the lines that are
marked.  Ask for the marked lines.  If you selected Alt-C, you'll be asked for
the file name to copy the lines to.  If the file already exists, you'll be
allowed to overwrite the existing file or append to it.

Note that you can say "LPT1:" or "PRN:" when you're doing Alt-C in which case
the text will go to the printer.  The differences between Alt-C and Alt-P are:

(1) Alt-P will remove linefeeds during printing whereas Alt-C leaves them in.
    Typically, Alt-C will result in double-spaced printing.

(2) Alt-P may reset the printer based on the width of the current document if a
    READ.INI file is used.


The READ.INI file:

The READ program utilizes a READ.INI file if one is found.  This file is an
ASCII text file that can be created maintained by hand or else by Wayne
Software's READINIT.EXE program (which is also free).  The file itself consists
of one or more of the following types of statements:

        comments
        PORT=port
        PTYPE=name
        INITT=string
        INITW=string
        AFTERP=string
        AFTERF=string
        COLOR=nnn nnn nnn nnn

comments are blank lines or any line beginning with:
                        ;    (semi-colon)
                        :    (colon)
                        '    (quote)
                        /*   (slash asterisk)

PORT=port provides the name of printer port such as LPT1:  or COM2:, you can
specify a file name here if desired.  Defaults to "PORT=LPT1:".

PTYPE=name is the abbreviated name of printer brand such as "HPLJ" or "EPSON".
This statement is purely informational to READ although it used by the
READINIT.EXE program.

INITT=string ("initialize thin") provides the string that will be sent to the
printer before printing if all lines in the document are 80 characters or less
in length.  The string can include regular characters.  Special characters are
entered by using their three-character ASCII numeric code preceded by a slash.
"/027" is the code for the special character Escape.  You can specify
INITT=(NONE) if desired.  Defaults to "INITT=(NONE)".

INITW=string ("initialize wide") provides the string that will be sent to the
printer before printing if any lines in the document (not just the section
printed) exceed 80 characters in length.  See INITT=string description.
Defaults to "INITW=(NONE)".

For a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet, the following codes would typically be used:
        INITT=/027E             (portrait mode, 80 column)
        INITW=/027E/027(s16.66H (portrait mode, 132 column)

AFTERP=string specifies the string to print after a partial document is printed.
This string can include a page eject character ("/012") or any printer reset
codes ("/012/027E") you want.  Defaults to "AFTERP=(NONE)".

AFTERF=string specifies the string to print after a full document is printed.
See AFTERP=string description.  Defaults to "AFTERF=(NONE)".


COLOR=nnn nnn nnn nnn specifies the color settings to use for (in order) regular
text, the status line, marked text, and found text.  Each setting must consist
of three digits, the first two being the foreground color and the last being the
background color.  The foreground color should be padded on the left with a 0 if
it is only one digit in length.  Defaults to "COLOR=150 151 157 143".

Foreground colors:

        Low intensity           High intensity

        0 = black                8 = dark grey
        1 = blue                 9 = light blue
        2 = green               10 = light green
        3 = cyan                11 = light cyan
        4 = red                 12 = light red
        5 = magenta             13 = light magenta
        6 = brown               14 = light yellow
        7 = white               15 = bright white

Adding 16 to any color will make the text blink.  Background colors can consist
of 0 to 7 above.  Bright white on blue, for example, would be "151".

The READ.INI file can skip any of the above statements in which case system
defaults will be taken.

READ and READMAKE-created files look for READ.INI in the following locations in
the following order:

        C:\
        your default subdirectory
        the directory where READ.EXE or the self-viewable file was found

Passing in "/-I" causes the READ.INI file to be ignored.  Note that a READ.INI
file with PORT and COLOR settings causes any passed in "/MONO", "/COLOR",
"/-MONO", "/-COLOR", or "/Pport" parameters to be ignored.