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Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.1) Brief Introduction to Djinn Version 3.6 +/- 0.3 Bard Bloom January 25, 1986 Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.2) Chapter 1 Introduction The Djinn, or genies, are powerful creatures created from fire, with many wondrous powers. The more famous (among mortals) Djinn were those imprisoned in bottles and lamps, such as the lamp of Alladin: mighty servants with great and mystic powers. This particular Djinn is a directory manager, a program that allows you to do the sorts of things that DOS does, but much more easily. Djinn is to DOS as a full-screen editor is to EDLIN. Djinn includes an excessive number of features, including: - Copying, Renaming, Deleting Files - Moving files from directory to directory - Editing Files with your favorite editor - Creating/Appending to files - Typing files a page at a time (with commands to search, skip, and restart) - Scientific Calculator - Tree search of directory for files - DOS shell - DOS-command macros The first few sections of this manual are essential. You can skip the rest if you must; but if you use Djinn you should read them. 1.1 Requirements Djinn should run on any MS-DOS machine with 128K of memory. More memory, a RAMdisk (even a small one) and a hard disk will all help. It works best on a DEC Rainbow. Non-Rainbows must have ANSI.SYS installed. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.3) 1.2 Starting Djinn the First Time If you do unusual things with your computer (e.g., change COMSPEC) then you should read the sections telling how to do unusual things with Djinn. 1. If you don't have a Rainbow, and if you don't have ANSI.SYS installed, include the line "DEVICE=ANSI.SYS" in the CONFIG.SYS file on your system disk. Reboot your system. 2. Leave the system disk in the drive it usually starts in. (This is not essential; but you can't use some commands -- editing and system calls -- if it is not there. Any disk with the file COMMAND.COM on it will do.) 3. [optional] Edit the file DJINN.CNF to change options to fit your computer. If you have a Rainbow or IBM PC clone, you will want to change the COMPUTER= line. 4. Have the files DJINN.COM, DJINN.000, and DJINN.CNF in the same directory. Type the DOS command "SET DJINN=directory". E.g., if the files are in E:\COM\DJINN, type "SET DJINN=E:\COM\DJINN". You may put this line in AUTOEXEC.BAT. 5. Read the first few sections of the manual, if you haven't already. There are summaries of the commands and the input editor at the end, too. 6. Run Djinn, by typing "DJINN path" to DOS. If you don't specify a path, Djinn uses the current directory. 7. If you like Djinn and expect to use it, contribute $25 to Bard Bloom, Apt 1A, 26 Inman St., Cambridge, Mass 02139. If you are using this program for business, the contribution is not voluntary but probably is a business expense, and probably the business should pay it. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.4) Chapter 2 Using Djinn 2.1 The Screen Normally, most of the screen is devoted to a list of filenames. Each filename has the size of the file in kilobytes ("0k" = empty; "tiny" = less than 1/2 k; "dir" = directory; "vol" = volume name.), and possibly a couple of extra marks. A "+" marks files that are hidden, read-only, or system. You can "tag" files for use with multiple-file commands (e.g., "Delete all the tagged files"); tagged files are marked by "*". One filename is marked in reverse video; the current file. You can do many things (e.g., "delete a single file" by pointing to a file and pressing a command.) The top line of the screen gives some useful information: the name and version number of Djinn; the directory that you are in at the moment; the date and time. The date and time are approximate; they are updated whenever Djinn executes a command. The bottom few lines of the screen give more information. If you want, you can have information (precise size, date and time of creation, attributes) about the current file displayed on the fourth to last line. This slows the program down considerably except on a Rainbow, and you can get the information easily when you want it. The third-to-last line tells what the editor is, and how many files there are in the current directory. Djinn does not include an editor -- it would be hard to write one that satisfied myself, much less anyone else. The editing commands of Djinn invoke your editor (assuming that there is space). The second to last line gives the Space Tagged (the total size of the tagged files), the Total Size of files in this directory, and the Space Left on this disk. The last line is normally used for messages and prompts. Some messages, mostly warnings, mostly blinking, go away when you press a key. The message "[Smite thou a key]" is the most common of these. You can change drives or directories at this prompt; pressing the "G" and "H" keys acts as the "Go To Path" and "H:Go To Drive" commands. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.5) 2.2 Aborting Things The keys <ESCAPE> and Control-Z (^Z) cancel a command. You can leave Djinn by typing "X", or ½Exit╗ on a Rainbow. 2.3 The Input Editor Whenever Djinn asks for more than one letter, it gives you a sort of one-line word processor to type with. ^A is Control-A. ½Find╗ is the Find key on the Rainbow keyboard; if ½╗ don't look like double angle brackets to you, you probably don't have a Rainbow. IBM compatible keys are given in [brackets]. The following editing commands work: Forward Character ^F or Rainbow/IBM cursor keys Backward Character ^B or Rainbow/IBM cursor keys Forward Word ^Y or ½Next Screen╗ or [control- right] Backward Word ^W or ½Prev Screen╗ or [control-left] End of Line ^E or ½Remove╗ or [end] Start of Line ^A or ½Insert Here╗ or [home] Delete Next Char. ^D or ½Select╗ or [Del] Delete Last Char. <DEL> or <X] Delete Next Word ^V or ½Addtnl Options╗ Delete Last Word ^H or ½F12╗ Delete to End of Line ^K or ½Find╗ Delete Entire Line ^U or ½Exit╗ Transpose last two character ^I or <TAB> or ½Tab╗ Insert Control Character ^Q (then type the control character:^A) Insert Name of Current File ^R Insert Name of Current Path ^G Insert Last Item Deleted ^J Quit ^Z or ½Cancel╗ Djinn remembers the last fifty or so lines that you typed. You can recall an old line by pressing the Up-arrow key (or ^P) repeatedly. (Naturally, ^N or Down-arrow gives you more recent lines.) You can edit the line. Pressing <RETURN> will send it to Djinn. The ^R and ^G (insert filename and path) are merely typing conveniences. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.6) 2.4 The Most Useful Commands Djinn has a lot of commands, some of which are very specialized. Even the commands given here have subtleties that most people won't want to know about. All things are revealed in the section on "Hairy Details". Djinn accepts uppercase and lowercase letters. Many commands ask you a question followed by "[y/n/v]" (e.g., "Delete the files? [y/n/v]"). "Y" and "n" mean "yes" and "no". "V" means "verify", which prompts you individually for each file. The prompt for each file asks you "[(y)/n/All/Quit]". "y" (or most other keys) mean "yes" and "n" means "no", as usual. "A" means "all the rest", and "Q" means "none of the rest". In general, when a command asks you for something, you can cancel the command by pressing ^Z or <ESCAPE>. 2.4.1 Moving the Cursor Arrow keys (on IBM and Rainbow) move the cursor. The edges of the screen wrap around; try them. I, J, K, and <Space> form a keypad for the right hand, and work just like the arrow keys. ^I and ^M move the cursor up and down, keeping it in the same column when they wrap around. F finds a file. You type the name of the file, one character at a time; with patterns as you wish. After each character, Djinn moves the cursor to the next file that matches the current pattern. The usual delete keys delete the last letter and go back to the last position. The space bar finds the current pattern again. Most other keys, including <RETURN> and ";", stop Finding. The "\" and "/" characters are special -- if either appears in the file name, F will look for any directory rather than a file. ^F: find the next file matching the last F pattern. If you haven't used an F, this will look for the next directory. ",": Go to first file. Moves the cursor to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. 2.4.2 Changing Directories G: Go to path. Type a path name (e.g., "A:\GRYPHON\NEST"), and Djinn will go to that path. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.7) H: Go To Drive. Type a single letter for the name of the drive to go to. L and ½Find╗: Descend Directory. If the cursor is on a directory rather than a file ("dir" rather than a size), Djinn will move into that subdirectory. ".": Ascend Directory. This will go up one level in the directory tree. "[": Remember Directory. This memorizes the name of the current directory, for the "]" command to deal with. "]": Go To Remembered Directory. Pressing this goes to the directory stored with the "[" command. It also saves the current directory, so that you can switch back and forth between them by repeated "]" commands. ^L, ";": Look at new disk. When you change the disk that Djinn is looking at, this command will tell Djinn to look at the new disk. If you don't, *probably* nothing bad will happen. W: Whereis File. This looks at the current directory and all directories under it for a file pattern. It moves to the directory where it finds it. ^W: Whereis File from anywhere. This looks at and under a directory that you specify for a file pattern, like W. 2.4.3 File Management C: Copy File. This copies the current file to somewhere. You tell Djinn where. You can give a full name ("B:FNIRGAL\EDITOR\FLIB.COM"), or use "*.*" much as in DOS. (copying "FLIB.COM" to "B:*.*" or simply "B:*" copies it to drive B:; to "B:*.OLD" names the copy on B: "FLIB.OLD".) NOTE: Djinn normally prompts you if you are about to overwrite an existing file. "Y" and "n" are "yes" and "no". Other options are advanced. ^C: Copy the tagged files. Generally like C. "All" on the prompt for overwriting files will tell Djinn to overwrite all the files in the current batch. D and ½Remove╗: Delete the current file or directory. You have one chance to save them. If you try to delete a non-empty directory, Djinn will forbid you. ^D: Delete the tagged files. You have one or two chances to save them, one at the [y/n/v] and possibly another at each file if you pressed "v". Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.8) R: Rename/move the current file. If you give it a path on the current disk as well as a name, it will move it to that path. Renaming "\FOO.PAS" to "\SOURCES\FOO.PAS" will move the file. ^R: Rename/move the tagged files. V and ½Next Screen╗: View Current File. This prints the current file 20 lines at a time. This "cooks" the file, transforming control characters to a visible form so that they don't screw up your screen. "P" is similar, but doesn't cook the file. After each screen, it asks what you want to do on a small menu. The most useful choices are: <SPACE> ---------- Next 20 lines Q ---------------- Quit. X ---------------- Quit Immediately. ? ---------------- Help. A bit cursory. S ---------------- Skip some lines. (asks for how many) R ---------------- Restart the file from the beginning. V ---------------- Go backwards (roughly) a page. ^V: View Any File. Like "V", but you give the filename. Y: Copy File To Drive. The most common case of copying is copying from one drive to another. "Y" does this, asking for the name of the drive. ^Y: Copy Tagged Files to Drive. Like ^C, except that it only asks for the name of a drive. "\": Make Directory. 2.4.4 Tagging Files T and ½Select╗: Tag the current file. ^T: Tag all files that match a pattern. Press <RETURN> to tag all files. This does not tag directories. U and ½Prev Screen╗: Untag file ^U: Untag all files that match a pattern. ^H: Retag Files. This puts tags on all the files that were tagged before the last operation. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.9) 2.4.5 File Creation and Modification E or ½Insert Here╗: Edit current file. This calls the editor (as you have defined it) on the current file. It does require space for the editor as well as for Djinn; an editor that normally runs on and uses all of a 128K machine won't work, since Djinn takes too much of its memory. EDLIN, the rather lousy editor that comes with DOS, will usually work if nothing else will; but you'll probably want to leave Djinn for long edits. Get more memory -- it's cheap and makes a big difference. The editor is defined in the DJINN.CNF file. ^E: Edit any file. Like E, except that it asks for the name of the file to edit. 0 through 9: These keys act like the E command, calling a program or DOS command on a file. They, too, are defined in DJINN.CNF. See the section on macros for more details. M: Make new file. This is the same as ^E -- it lets you specify a filename and then calls the editor. 2.4.6 Running Programs B or ½Do╗: Run current file. ' (single quote): Execute a DOS command on the current file. If you wanted to TYPE the current file, put the cursor on it, press "'", and type TYPE. " (double quote): Execute a DOS command on each tagged file. The mass version of ' (single quote). This is useful for simulating commands that Djinn doesn't have. For example, to print a collection of files with the DOS PRINT command, tag them and use ". S: System command. You type a line, and DOS executes it. Most DOS commands work here. SET does not. ^S: File as System Command. Runs the current file, prompting you for arguments. ^G: Inferior DOS shell. This puts you into a new DOS. Type EXIT to get back to Djinn. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.10) 2.4.7 Misc N: Calculator. Call the calculator once. See the section on the calculator to tell how to use it. ^N: Calculate Lots. Repeatedly call the calculator, until you exit with ^Z or <ESCAPE> or a blank line. X and ½Exit╗: Exit Djinn. ^X: Reread the DJINN.CNF file. If you have edited it, Djinn's internal switches are changed. "-": Redraw Screen. (This updates the time, too.) "=": Information about current file. Gives size in bytes; date and time; and attributes. "~": Set File Attributes. You can make a file Read-Only, Archived, Hidden, or System. You must give the initials of all the attributes you want the file to have. "_": Mass Set File Attributes. This lets you change the attributes of lots of files at once. "{" and "}": See the section on "Handling Huge Directories". "?" and ½Help╗: help. "/": Restrict Files. This causes Djinn to look only at files that match a pattern. You can go back to looking at all files by giving an empty pattern. "&": Status Report. Includes a plea for money. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.11) Chapter 3 Unusual Cases 3.1 Handling Huge Directories When a directory has more than about 80 files, the listing of files will not fit on one screen. Djinn warns you of this. The "Files:" number becomes three numbers, and blinks. It starts off something like "Files: [0]132[52] More Files...", flashing (for a directory with 132 = 0 + 80 + 52 files). Djinn only looks at 80 files at a time. The files are consecutive in the directory (e.g., the first 80 files that you would see with a DIR command in DOS). You can change the set of files you are looking at with the "{" and "}" commands. "}" moves the window of 80 files forward by 40 files; "{" moves it backward 40 files. The first number in brackets is the number of files before the window; the second is the number in the directory, and the third is the number after the window. These commands are admittedly clumsy. Djinn has no way of manipulating files off the screen. If you use huge directories a lot, write to me and I may do something about it. (Suggestions are welcome.) If you also send money, I am considerably more likely to do something. 3.2 The Vaguely Scientific Calculator The Vaguely Scientific Calculator is a desk calculator of modest quality. You could probably buy a dimestore calculator that did the 1 same things for about $35. You give it expressions in standard algebraic notation, and it gives you answers. It does arithmetic with about ten significant figures, with numbers between 1E-38 and 1E38. 38 (This is a computer's exponential notation: it is hard to write 1x10 on a single line.) The basic operations: +, -, * (multiplication), and / (division), work as you expect them to. "4+3*7" computes to 25. Parentheses work ----------- 1. As Djinn costs only $25 even if you pay for it, you are getting quite a bargain. All you have to do is carry your computer around in your side pocket, which is probably a good idea anyways. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.12) normally, and you should use them whenever there are two reasonable ways for the computer to read your expression. "4/5*6" might mean either "(4/5)*6" or "4/(5*6)" -- most programmers are used to the second, most nonprogrammers would expect the first. Use parentheses. There are 26 variables, "a" through "z". You can put things into them with the "="-sign: a = 5-21/5 and take them out by mentioning the variable name: b = 3-a/(a+1) - 4*a/3 The result of the last calculation is stored in "@", which you may use like a variable: @+3 adds three to the last answer. The variables keep their values between calculations, as long as you stay inside Djinn. The Input Editor works in the Vaguely Scientific Calculator. The calculator has some scientific functions: sin, cos, tan, arcsin, arccos, arctan, exp, ln, log, lg, sqrt, fact, abs. "Ln" is natural logarithm, "log" is logarithm base 10, and "lg" is logarithm base 2. "Exp" is anti-natural-logarithm, "e" raised to a power. All these functions take their argument in parentheses: sin(exp(arcsin(0.2)). "^" is exponentiation: 2^4=16. The calculator has some integer functions as well. These convert their arguments into 16-bit signed integers, if this is possible. AND, OR, XOR, and NOT work bitwise. MOD and DIV work as in Pascal. You may have string together several calculations by putting semicolons ";" between them. WARNING: The calculator accepts some mis-typed expressions, like "3 4 +". Some of these give reasonable answers (that one gives 7). Others give completely silly answers. WARNING: Some math errors will crash Djinn. Other math errors will cause the Vaguely Scientific Calculator to insult you, departing 2 considerably from Djinn's usual mild manners. You can turn this off with INSULTS=NO in DJINN.CNF. ----------- 2. Read, "obsequious" Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.13) 3.3 Hints DJINN.000 is a file of overlays; a number of common procedures, including View File and Append, use it. If you have a RAMdisk, put DJINN.CNF and DJINN.000 on it and set the DOS variable DJINN to the name of the RAMdisk. If you also have a copy of COMMAND.COM on the RAMdisk, you can set the system variable COMSPEC (e.g., to E:\COMMAND.COM -- the full name of the file). This will speed up system commands, execution of programs, and editing. It also makes DOSCOPY=YES faster than DOSCOPY=NO. 3.4 Doing Unusual Things with Djinn Djinn uses patterns that look generally like DOS patterns, but they are somewhat better. The wildcard character "*" will match any string of characters. So, "A*X" matches "AX" and "ANTHRAX" and "A()()X", but does not match "AY". If you type "A*X" as a DOS pattern, it will match "AY". Djinn calls programs through the command processor, as defined by the COMSPEC system variable. Normally, it will be something like "A:\COMMAND.COM", so Djinn will reload COMMAND.COM from drive A: every time you execute another program. This is slow and noisy. If you have a Ramdisk, you can copy COMMAND.COM onto it and use that copy. The following lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file will do it automatically: COPY A:COMMAND.COM E:\COMMAND.COM (Use the name of the Ramdisk instead of E) SET COMSPEC=E:\COMMAND.COM If you are using a different shell, I make no promises about how Djinn will behave. 3.5 Things you can do with DJINN.CNF The file DJINN.CNF gives you a good deal of control over how Djinn behaves. Some of the commands are simple enough; others are mainly for hackers. The commands in DJINN.CNF must be given one to a line, with no extraneous character except spaces. Lines starting with semicolons are comment lines. If Djinn can't understand a line, it ignores it. COMPUTER = IBM or RAINBOW or RB-TECHROM or MSDOS. This tells Djinn what kind of computer you have. At the moment, the difference between IBM and MSDOS is minimal, and IBM will work for IBM compatibles. RB-TECHROM means, Rainbow with the Technical Character Set ROM installed, and I hope it works 'cause I haven't been able to check it. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.14) EDITOR = xxxx. When Djinn calls the editor on a file named "ffff.ext", it effectively executes the DOS command "xxxx ffff.ext". This is where you define "xxxx". For example, my editor is FinalWord on drive E:; I have the line EDITOR = E:FW. 0 = xxxx, 1 = yyyy, ..., 9 = zzzz. The keys 0 through 9 act like the E key, running DOS programs on a given file. AUTOINFO = YES or NO. YES tells Djinn to display information about the file under the cursor. NO requires you to get this information by hand, with the "=" command, when you want it. NO lets the cursor move much faster. UNSAFECOPY = YES or NO. Normally Djinn checks to see if you are overwriting a file with a copy (copying ONE.FIL to ANOTHER.FIL, and ANOTHER.FIL is already a file). You can turn this off by setting UNSAFECOPY = YES. DOS-COPY = YES or NO. With NO, Djinn uses its own procedure to copy files; with YES, it calls DOS. The main advantage of DOS is that it allows the /V (verify) flag. INSULTS = YES or NO. If you do something illegal in the calculator, like dividing by zero, the calculator will insult you ("Ha! An error! I bet you have emotions as well, Human!"). If you dislike this childish display of humor, you can turn it off with INSULTS=NO. LONG-ATTRIBUTES = YES or NO. When Djinn tells you what attributes a file has, it can use words ("hidden", "archived", "read-only") or abbreviations ("hid", "arc", "R/O"). With the words, the list of attributes may run off the edge of the screen. FINDPAUSE = YES or NO. Normally View File and relatives pause every 100 lines when searching for a string, and ask if you want to continue. NO lets you turn this off; Djinn still prints the line numbers every 100 lines so that you know it's doing something. FINDMESSAGE = number. Changes the "100" in the previous command. TRY-LAE = YES or NO. Djinn normally runs programs by calling COMMAND.COM. This requires reading COMMAND.COM, and takes extra memory. With TRY-LAE, Djinn will try loading and executing the program immediately. I have had problems with TRY-LAE=YES; my editor can't find some of its files, I know not why. If TRY-LAE works for you, use it. I don't. DRIVES = dddd. Djinn assumes that you have drives A:, B:, ..., Z:; for example, it allows you to try to copy a file to a nonexistant drive. In general this is not very helpful. You can tell Djinn precisely which drives you have; for example, I have two floppies (A: and B:) and one RAMdisk (E:), and use DRIVES=ABE. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.15) 3.6 Bugs and Unpleasant Features You MUST tell Djinn where the files DJINN.000 and DJINN.CNF are, by setting the system variable DJINN, unless you start in that directory. There are probably places where you can get Turbo errors, though I have eliminated all that I have found. 3.7 Credits Borland International wrote Turbo Pascal. Glen Marshall wrote MSDOS.PAS, a collection of system routines for Turbo Pascal, which I used for all the hard stuff. Stew Stryker wrote FASTVID.PAS, a collection of fast video routines, which I used a lot also. Someone anonymous, somewhere on the network, wrote a Quicksort routine which I used. Since I can't find this person's name, I'll give credit to Hoare who invented the algorithm originally. Much of the inspiration for writing this came from the VSWEEP program written by Gregory L. Meckstroth. (Some of the inspiration was from the fact that I couldn't find a copy of VSWEEP with a working COPY command.) VSWEEP in turn was inspired by SWEEP (I suppose), which is to VSWEEP as a line editor is to a screen editor. A number of people, especially William Macneill and a peculiar entity who calls himself Mark Bornstein, did a lot of beta-testing and general encouragement. 3.8 Conditions Djinn is to be distributed with all included files (in particular, 3 this document), without fee , to all who want it. It is not to be modified without Bard Bloom's consent. The Turbo Pascal code will be distributed separately, after Bard Bloom cleans it up. Djinn is not intended as a weapon, either directly or indirectly. I prefer that it not be used by the armed services of any country or other terrorist organizations. This specifically includes the Department of Defense and defense contractors, as well as a number of groups (e.g., the PLO and the Contras) who are rather unlikely to use it. It should not be used by any group devoted even partially to the ----------- 3. Except for media and copying costs. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.16) violent overthrow of any country, or the repression of any segment of humanity. Djinn is copy-protected, in the sense that having many copies protects it. Entities violating these terms are subject to various forms of legal and divine retribution. They may be transformed into cubes of lime jello and juniper berries. They may be compelled to speak only in COBOL, or program computers only in Tagalog. They may be flung into the vasty sea by the ghosts of the great authors of the 19th century, or into the Amazon by hordes of raving marsupials. Ravens may perch upon their computers and utter dark prophecies. Lemurs may perch upon their plumbing and chant love poetry in Latin. Wombats may perch upon their foreheads and whisper the secrets of New Jersey. (All of these are extremely unlikely. Maybe their consciences will bother them, though.) 3.9 Non-Warranty I use the [latest version] of the program myself, extensively. I know of no way in which it could damage something if you are careful, except as noted in BUGS above. Of course, if you append a shopping list to the code of your word processor, the word processor probably won't work very well after that. My liability, in the event that Djinn does something nasty, is limited to an expression of sympathy and a promise to try to fix Djinn sometime if I feel like it. Note that, if you have contributed, I am more likely to fix it and send you a fixed copy. 3.10 Plea for Money I am a poor starving graduate student. If you like my program, please send me $25 , or whatever you wish to contribute. If you use this program for business, this contribution is not optional. Of course, the business should pay for it. Bard Bloom 26 Inman St., Apt 1A Cambridge, Mass 02139 ARPAnet: BARD XX.LCS.MIT.EDU FIDOnet: Bard Bloom at DEC-line, Fido 202, region 101. Send public messages, since my name is easy to misread. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.17) 3.11 About the Djinn According to Moslem tradition, Allah created three different species of intelligent beings: Angels, who are made of light, Jinn ... who are made of fire, and Men, who are made of earth. The Jinn were created of a black smokeless fire some thousands of years before Adam, and consist of five orders. Among these orders we find good Jinn and evil, male Jinn and female. The cosmographer al-Qaswini says that "The Jinn are aerial animals, with transparent bodies, which can assume various forms." At first they may show themselves as clouds or as huge undefined pillars; when their form becomes condensed, they become visible, perhaps in the bulk of a man, a jackal, a wolf, a lion, a scorpion, or a snake. Some are true believers; others, heretics or atheists. The English Orientalist Edward William Lane writes that when Jinn take the shape of human beings they are sometimes of an enormously gigantic size and "If good, they are generally resplendently handsome; if evil, horribly hideous." They are also said to become invisible at pleasure "by a rapid extension or rarefaction of the particles which compose them," when they may disappear into the air or earth or through a solid wall. The Jinn often attain the lower heavens, where they overhear the conversations of angels about future events. This enables them to help wizards and soothsayers. Certain scholars attribute to them the building of the Pyramids or, under the orders of Solomon, the Great Temple of Jerusalem. The usual dwelling places of the Jinn are ruined houses, water cisterns, rivers, wells, crossroads, and markets. The Egyptians say that the pillarlike whirlwinds of sand raised in the desert are caused by the flight of an evil Jinnee. They also say that shooting stars are arrows hurled by Allah against evil Jinn. Among the acts perpetrated by these evildoers against human beings the following are traditional: the throwing of bricks and stones at passersby from roofs and windows, the abduction of beautiful women, the persecution of anyone who tries to live in an uninhabited house, and the pilfering of provisions. Invoking the name of Allah the All Merciful, the Compassionate, is usually enough to secure one against such depredations, however. ... In 1828, young Victor Hugo wrote a tumultuous fifteen- stanza poem ½Les Djinns╗ about a gathering of these beings. With each stanza, as the Jinn cluster together, the lines grow longer and longer, until the eighth, when they reach their fullness. From this point on they dwindle to the close of the poem, when the Jinn vanish. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.18) Burton and Noah Webster link the word "Jinn" and the Latin "genius," which is from the verb "beget". Skeat contradicts this. -- The Book of Imaginary Beings Jorge Luis Borges with Margarita Guerrero Trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni, Discus Books, 1967, 1969. My use of "Djinn" as a singular disagrees with the proper Arabic. I am, however, speaking English. 3.12 Macros Djinn allows you to define ten macros (on keys 0-9) of sorts. Actually, eleven macros the E key (Editor) is a macro as well. These normally run a DOS program on the current file, after the style of the E key; but you can do a number of other things as well. The normal way of defining a macro is to include a line 0 = TYPE in DJINN.CNF. This makes the 0-key type the current file using the DOS command. Macros defined thus are present every time you invoke Djinn. You can define macros for one run of Djinn by the ^Z command. [This paragraph is for people who want to do complicated things] Normally, these commands put the filename at the end of the string. If your editor is FinalWord, the command string would be "FW", and you would have a line "EDITOR = FW" in DJINN.CNF. This is usually adequate. However, you might want to have a command that has options after the filename, such as CHKDSK filespec /F, on the 3 key. Djinn allows you to build such commands, using some backquote-letter combinations to stand for filenames. For example, "`f" is the filename (with extension); you could have the line 3 = CHKDSK `f /F in DJINN.CNF. If any backquote sequences (except for "``" which inserts a backquote) appear in the command, Djinn does NOT append the filename automatically. You can append it yourself with another backquote- Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.19) command, of course. There is one backquote command (`x) which does 4 nothing but inhibit adding the filename. `f --- filename.ext (File) `a --- path\filename.ext (All) `p --- path (Path) `n --- filename (Name) `e --- ext (Extension) `` --- ` (to insert a backquote) `x --- (this does nothing, but prevents Djinn from appending the filename) 3.13 Hairy Details of Commands ^B: Make a .BAT file involving the tagged files. This is a very strong and versatile and somewhat awkward way to simulate mass 5 commands that Djinn doesn't have. For each tagged file FILENAME.EXT, it creates a line: initial-text FILENAME.EXT final-text It prompts for the name of the file, the initial, and the final text. Either (or both) of the texts may be blank. (The command does put blanks between the texts and the filename, and at the moment there is no way to prevent it.). You have a choice (given in a prompt) whether to use the full pathnames (A:\FOO\FILENAME.EXT) or just names (FILENAME.EXT). For example, you could print several files by setting initial-text = A:PRINT. After doing this, it asks you if you want to [Run], D[elete], B[oth], N[either], or E[dit] R[un]ning (the default) it will run it (with no arguments) and leave it in the directory. D[eleting] it will NOT run it; it's a way of cancelling a mistake B[oth] will run it and delete it -- good for one-shot batch jobs ----------- 4. You can use backquote sequences in the ' (execute DOS command on current file) command, but it is generally better to use the ^R (insert filename) and ^G (insert path) input-editor commands. 5. Among other uses. Anything I spent so much time writing has got to have other uses. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.20) N[either] will leave it on disk without executing it. E[dit] runs the editor on it. When you are finished, you can [Run] (etc) it. You can run it later with arguments by pointing to it and using ^S, or without arguments by B. Typical uses of this are collecting a group of files and doing several things with them. For example, the public domain program ARC collects and compresses groups of files for archiving and distributing. Djinn does not have ARCing commands. If you want to create an archive file (say WOMBAT.ARC) of the tagged files, and if you have the ARC program, you can create a batch file with initial text = ARC A WOMBAT.ARC final text = (nothing) Then, run and delete this file (option B[oth]). C, ^C, R, ^R names: There are some useful tricks for copying several files and changing their names. The symbol "*" refers to the full filename (with extension). The symbol "<" is just the filename, 6 and ">" is just the extension. So, you can copy DJINN.COM to E:\<\*, which makes a copy in the directory DJINN. You can copy files to <1.>, which sticks a "1" at the end of the filename; good for making backup files, unless the filenames have eight letters. Exception: "*." acts like "<.", ".*" acts like ".>", and "*.*" like "*". This exception agrees with DOS usage, and you can copy a file to E:*.* to make a copy with the same name on the E: drive and not have to remember this eccentric usage. C, ^C: When you try to overwrite an existing file (and UNSAFECOPY=NO), you have six choices. "yes" and "no" are clear. "All" is like saying "yes" to all later overwrites in this mass command. "Quit" stops the mass copy. "Rename dest" lets you rename the file you were about to overwrite. "Give new dest" lets you give a new name to copy to. O: Tell how much space is left on a drive. ^O: Tell how much space is left for programs running under Djinn in your machine. This also tells how much space Djinn has left; this amount determines how fast copy is. In some version, you may have some control over how space is allocated. P, ^P: Raw View File. These type a file on the screen without changing control characters. This can be good; if you try to type a file ----------- 6. Remember those as "left part" for "<" and "right part" for ">". Or don't remember them at all, since it is but a minor convenience. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.21) and see a lot of ^I's, P will treat them as tabs. On the other hand, it can be extremely dangerous. Most screens are controlled by escape sequences. If the file has escape sequences in it, printing them raw can really screw up your screen -- or even crash your computer. You can toggle between raw and cooked mode by the "t" option. V,^V,P,^P: View File. This cooks control and meta characters as follows: Control characters are printed as ^C Delete (ASCII 127) is ^? Meta characters, (ASCII 128+c) ~c (so, ASCII 129 is ~^A) TAB, ^I, is not cooked. The full list of options is: x ----- quit; go back to Djinn's top level s ----- skip some number of lines. This asks for the number. f ----- look for a string. Asks for the string. Ignores case. p ----- pattern find. See below t ----- toggle raw/cooked characters. Makes V act like P and vice versa r ----- restart this file from the beginning again. g ----- go to a given line. You *can* move backwards with this. b ----- skip backwards. You tell how many lines v ----- backwards [roughly] one page. m ----- mode change. Lets you look at the file bytewise. See "$". ? ----- help. (A bit sketchy) OTHER - go on with the next 20 (or whatever) lines. V,^V,P,^P: (Finding strings and patterns.) You may search forward during viewing, for either a string (F) or pattern (P). Djinn stops every 100 lines to ask if you want to continue; if you do not, it starts printing from there. (The FINDPAUSE and FINDMESSAGE options control this behavior. FINDPAUSE = NO has Djinn merely print a message, rather than asking to stop. FINDMESSAGE = n changes 100 to n. The patterns for P can include * (which matches any string of characters) and ? (which matches any single character), like the patterns for filenames. Normally the pattern find assumes that the string starts at the beginning of the line; if you want to find it anywhere in the line, start it with a *. V,^V,P,^P: (Moving around) Djinn remembers as much of the file as it can, about seventy lines. You can move around inside this range without rereading any of the file. In particular, the V command (back one page, to reread something that has scrolled off the screen) is fast. $: General File View. MS-DOS used to mark the end of a text file by a ^Z character, and many programs still do so. The V-type commands stop at ^Z's (because Turbo does, not because I want to). If you have a file that has ^Z's inside it, and you want to read past them, you can use the $ command. You can specify Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.22) Raw (P-style), and/or Byte (skip ^Z). If you press <CR> twice, you have precisely the effect of V (viewing the current file). If you ask for Bytes, you will read past ^Z's. No, your computer hasn't crashed -- Byte mode is a *lot* slower than normal mode. P,^P: Djinn can easily get messed up in its line count if the file has escape sequences, line feeds, form feeds, and such in it. Of course, your computer can get messed up by escape sequences (ESC c can crash a Rainbow). V and ^V are safe. ^: Load and Execute. This acts like the S (system command) command, except that it tries not to load COMMAND.COM. This should have consequences: 1. It loads somewhat faster, expecially if you type the .COM or .EXE extension. (If you don't, Djinn has to make sure that it exists). 2. It takes about 16K less memory 3. It can execute files in any directory. You can "^"-execute A:\ARC\ARC, even if you couldn't type this directly to DOS. Unfortunately, it has behaved somewhat erratically. Occasionally after using it, various programs can't find files. I don't know why. ): Send Escape Sequence. You type a string; Djinn prints that string preceded by an ESCAPE. Do not use this unless you know what you are doing. This is especially useful on the Rainbow, which knows a lot of escape sequences. For example, ESC = turns the numeric keys into function keys, and ESC > turns them back. ESC c crashes the Rainbow. Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.23) List of Commands MOVING THE CURSOR Arrow keys (IBM and Rainbow) I, ^I J,^J K,^K <sp>,^M F: Find File by typing part of the name. ^F: Find a file matching the last pattern for F. ,: Go to upper left hand corner of the screen. CHANGING DIRECTORIES G: Go to drive and path. (May be used at [smite thou a key]) H: Go to drive (May be used at [smite thou a key]) L: Descend into directory. ½Find╗ .: Ascend directory W: Where is file; looks for a filename under the current directory ^W: Where is file; looks for a filename under some directory [: Remember this directory ]: Go to remembered directory (and save current, so you can get back) FILE MANAGEMENT C: Copy file ^C: Mass copy D: Delete File ½Remove╗ ^D: Mass Delete R: Rename/Move (on drive) file ^R: Mass Rename/Move V: View File ½Next Screen╗ ^V: Remote View File P: Raw View File ^P: Remote Raw View File Y: Copy File to Drive ^Y: Mass Copy to Drive \: Make Directory TAGGING FILES T: Tag this file ½Select╗ ^T: Tag pattern U: Untag this file ½Prev Screen╗ ^U: Untag pattern ^H: Retag files FILE CREATION AND MODIFICATION E: Edit current file ½Insert Here╗ ^E: Edit any file. M: Make file. ^B: Create .BAT file RUNNING PROGRAMS Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.24) 0-9: Run a DOS program on current file B: Execute the current file as a command without arguments ½Do╗ ': Execute a DOS command on the current file ": Execute a DOS command, '-style, on each tagged file S: DOS System command. (except for SET) ^S: Run the current file as a system command, asking for arguments ^G: Push to inferior DOS shell. ^: Load and Execute Program. (? unsafe ?) MISC N: Calculate one thing ^N: Calculate many things X: Exit ^X: Reread DJINN.CNF and [possibly] change switches -: Redraw Screen =: Information about current file ~: Set File Attributes _: Mass Set File Attributes {,}: Manipulate Large Directory (badly) ?: Help /: Restrict Files ;: Look at new disk in current drive. O: Tell how much space is left on a drive ^O: Tell how much memory is left on your computer ): Send Escape Sequence &: Status Report Djinn 4.3 +/- 0.3 manual (p.25) ^Z: Define Macro 3.14 Djinn's Input Editor +------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Find ^K| Insert Here ^A| Remove ^E| |Del to End of Line| Move to Start | Move to End | +------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Select ^D| Prev Screen ^W| Next Screen ^Y| |Delete Character | Left Word | Right Word | +------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | ^ ^P| | Up History | +------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | <- ^B| V ^N| -> ^F| | Left Character | Down History | Right Character | +------------------+-----------------+-----------------+ ½BS╗ (½F12╗), ^H : Delete Last Word ½Addtnl Options╗,^V : Delete Next Word ½Exit╗,^X : Delete Entire Line ½Cancel╗,^Z : Delete Entire Line and Cancel Command ½Tab╗,^I : Exchange Last Two Characters (fix typso) ^Q : Insert control character. ^R : Insert current file name ^G : Insert current path ½Do╗,^J : Undelete ½Return╗ accepts what you have typed, sending it to Djinn. It works even in the middle of a line. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Starting Djinn the First Time . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chapter 2 Using Djinn 4 2.1 The Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Aborting Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.3 The Input Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4 The Most Useful Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4.1 Moving the Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.4.2 Changing Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.4.3 File Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.4.4 Tagging Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.4.5 File Creation and Modification . . . . . . . . 9 2.4.6 Running Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4.7 Misc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter 3 Unusual Cases 11 3.1 Handling Huge Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.2 The Vaguely Scientific Calculator . . . . . . . . . 11 3.3 Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.4 Doing Unusual Things with Djinn . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.5 Things you can do with DJINN.CNF . . . . . . . . . 13 3.6 Bugs and Unpleasant Features . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.7 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.8 Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.9 Non-Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.10 Plea for Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.11 About the Djinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.12 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.13 Hairy Details of Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.14 Djinn's Input Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 i