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Text File | 1993-10-26 | 14.1 KB | 395 lines

.brp .inb -4 .fif MACRO KEY COMMANDS - defining macro keys and managing macro key files ------------------ .fin The Macro Key Commands allow you to redefine any sequence of typed keys to output a sequence of characters or commands, and to save these key redefinitions in a disk file for later recall. Macro keys can dramatically increase productivity and decrease boredom and frustration (and besides that, they're just plain fun.) After a macro key has been defined, typing that key, or sequence of keys, will have the same results as typing the characters or commands the key was redefined to. For instance, if the <LF> (^J) key has been redefined to type 'this is the linefeed key', then typing <LF> will cause 'this is the linefeed key' to be entered on the screen (and in the file) just as if you had typed the entire string yourself. This can be handy in many obvious ways (like defining macro keys for common words like 'write', 'read', 'begin', etc.) and in many not-so-obvious ways that are described in Appendix ???. When you are done using a macro key, you can 'undefine' the key (by redefining it to a blank string) and it will regain its original meaning. You can also enter the original valueof a key into the file by using the Insert Control Character (actually 'literal next') command ^C (____) followed by the key; you can redefine normal printable characters without losing the ability to enter them into the text. A macro key can be any character, or sequence of characters, that you can type on the keyboard; each macro 'key' can be up to 10 keystrokes long. For instance, the following could be redefined as macro keys: ^U^B (control+U followed by control+B) t (the letter 't') T (the letter 'T', separate from the letter 't') <ESC>BGG (the <ESC> key followed by 'BGG' . . The redefinition of a macro key can be any mixture of characters and commands entered just as you would type them at the keyboard; each macro 'redefinition' can be up to 256 keystrokes in length. Macro redefinitions can be used to execute any command you can execute from the keyboard. For instance, a macro key to go to Command Mode and save the current text block to the file 'TEMP.$$$', then return to Edit Mode is defined as: <ESC>bs temp.$$$<CR><ESC> assuming that you are using the command keys originally installed in EXPRESS. Notice that when the macro redefinition is typed in, you actually type the <ESC> key, not the sequence of characters '<ESC>'. Another example is the following command that will move to the beginning of the last word on the current line and place you in partial insert mode: ^U^L^A^Q (end of line, prev word, partial insert on) again, this is assuming you have not reinstalled the command keys with CONFIG; if you have, just use the commands you have defined as 'end of line', 'prev word', and 'partial insert on' when entering the redefinition string. .unl 4 MDefine When this command is entered, you are prompted for 'input keys' (the key sequence you will type to execute the macro). Type the exact key sequence you want to use followed by a <CR>. Then you will be asked for the 'redefinition'; type the characters and editing commands that you want to be executed when you type the 'input keys' followed by <CR>. If you make a mistake while defining either the input keys or the redefinition string, use the <RUB> (DEL) key to correct the line (all other editing keys are disabled so they can be part of macro definitions). To 'UnDefine' a macro command, enter the input keys that you wish to be undefined, then enter a blank line for the redefinition. You can 'redefine' an existing key without worrying about undefining it first. If you want to use <CR> and <RUB> in macro definitions, you can either avoid the problem by using 'NextLine, Start of Line' for <CR> and 'Backspace, Delete Character' for <RUB> or you can follow the MD on the command line with the keys you wish to use for <RUB> and <CR>. For instance, the command: MD:- will allow you to define a new macro key using ':' as the <RUB> key and '-' as the <CR> key. .unl 4 MClear Mclear is a quick way to clear out the entire macro table. All previously defined macro key will be 'forgotten'. .unl 4 MSave du:fid.ext Saves all current macro definitions to the named file. The definitions are not cleared from the macro table. .unl 4 MRestore du:fid.ext Loads the named macro key file into the macro table. A check is made to see if the file actually does contain macro definitions. The new macro definitions are added to the current definitions (the current ones are not deleted). You can concatenate two (or several) macro files by MRestoring them all and then MSaving them all at once. .brp .fif BUFFER COMMANDS - Managing the edit buffer contents --------------- .fin These commands operate directly on the file that is being edited and on the contents of the edit buffer. .inb +4 .unl 4 PRead [n] Writes n screens full (if n is not specified then it writes one screen full) of the current edit buffer to the disk and reads as many more as will fit in the buffer, if any of the file is left on the disk. If the entire file has already been read, n pages are still written to disk and the buffer is left partially empty. .unl 4 BRead If there is still a portion of the file remaining on the disk, this command writes the current edit buffer contents to disk and reads in more until the buffer is full or the end of the file is reached. If there is no more of the file remaining on disk, this command is ignored. .unl 4 End This command saves all changes made to the file during this editing session and returns to the operating system. If the file is larger than memory and has not all been read through the edit buffer yet, this will be done automatically upon issuing this command. Also, the original file will be saved as d:fid.BAK before the new copy of the file is named to d:fid.ext. .unl 4 Quit Use this command to terminate the editing session without saving the changes that have just been made to the file. This is handy when you are just examining the contents of a file or when you suddenly realize that a large number of changes that you have just made to the file are inappropriate. .unl 4 SAve Use this command if you have a system prone to memory errors or power failures, or if you just happen to have common sense. It saves all changes that have been made to the file and then places you back exactly where you were in the file at the time you issued the save command. .unl 4 Head This is the same as the SAve command except that it places you at the beginning of the file instead of where you were when the command was given. It is functionally the same as Ending and then calling up EXPRESS again to edit the same file, it is just faster. .brp .inb -4 .fif SYSTEM COMMANDS - CP/M surrogate --------------- .fin The following commands operate on any file on a disk currently on the computer system. They provide you with most of the commands of the CP/M Console Command Processor and PIP without requiring you to end the edit and exit to the operating system. On all commands, if a given filename is invalid or does not exist, an appropriate error message is displayed and the cursor is placed at the beginning of the command line, with the line you just typed still intact for editing. Remember that anywhere a filename is requested, you can optionally specify a disk and user area different from the current defaults (displayed on the command screen immediately preceding 'Editing'). .inb +4 .unl 4 Dir [du:fid.ext] Displays a listing with filesizes (in kilobytes) of the directory of the given disk or files matching the filename given. '?' (single character) and '*' (multiple letters) wildcards are allowed in the file name. For instance: DIR C:*.COM will list all files of type .COM on drive C in the current user area. D A11: lists all files on drive A in user area 11. di d4:the?.* lists all files on drive D, user area 4, with a four letter filename starting with 'THE' and any extension. DIR prints the directory of the current default drive and user area. .unl 4 TYpe du:fid.ext This command is used to display a file on the screen, similar to CP/M's TYPE command (with a few enhancements). The command: ty myfile.txt will display the file 'myfile.txt' on the screen (if the file exists). TYPE simply sends the contents of a file to the screen. It does not stop after each screen (type a <space> or some other character to momentarily suspend output). The speed at which the file scrolls past the screen may be controlled with the number keys in the same fashion as auto-scroll, with the exception of the '-' key (you cannot scroll backwards with the TYPE command). See the Continuous Scroll commands in the Edit Mode section for more details. Typing any character other than a number suspends output until another character is typed; typing <ESC> stops the display and immediately returns you to Command Mode. When the entire file has been displayed, the message [EOF] is displayed at the bottom of the screen. At this time you must type <ESC> (______) to return to the command screen. Wildcarded file names are NOT allowed for the TYPE command. .unl 4 ERase du:fid.ext Functionally the same as the CP/M ERA command. This command erases the named file if it exists, or prints an error message if it doesn't. The '?' (single character) wildcard character and the '*' (multiple character) wildcard are both allowed when specifying the file to ERASE. This means that you can ERASE several files with a single command. For example: era *.bak will ERASE all files with file extension BAK on the current drive/user (this is a very handy thing to do when you get a Disk Full Error). era b12:the*.* will ERASE all files on drive B, user 12 with names that begin with 'the'. erase a:dis? ERASEs all files on drive A in the current user area that have a four character file name beginning with 'dis' and a blank file extension. As a rule, any selected group of files that would include the file being edited (source.ext) or the temporary file used by EXPRESS during the editing session (source.$$$) cannot be operated on by this command (to avoid lawsuits and suicides). .unl 4 REName du:fid.ext > du:fid.ext This is identical to CP/M's REN command except that it recognizes the '>' character (ala UNIX) as well as the '=' (like PIP). You may also use the '<' redirection symbol (more UNIX) or simply a space (MSDOS, VMS). This way, no matter what operating system you are used to, the command will execute and you won't get frustrated trying to remember 25 different types of command lines. So there is no confusion, the following command lines all have the same effect, they RENAME a file called 'OLDNAME' to 'NEWNAME': ren newname=oldname ren newname < oldname ren oldname > newname ren oldname newname Note that blanks between filenames and the 'director' characters are ignored (except in the case where the 'director' IS a blank). If the file to be RENAMED is in a different drive/user than the current default, you only need to include it in the first filename on the line. For example, all of the following commands rename 'B21:OLD' to 'B21:NEW': rename b21:new=old rename b21:new <old rename b21:old >b21:new rename b21:old new Remember: when in doubt, just type the same command you would use in CP/M (or MSDOS, or whatever you are used to) Wildcarded file names are NOT allowed for this command and it is not allowed to operate on the files source.ext or source.$$$. (* NOTE: You cannot change the drive that a file is on with the rename command! You must first COPY the file to the other drive and then ERAse it from the source drive) (* NOTE for UNIX purists: Yes, I realize that the UNIX command is 'mv' and that it doesn't use the redirection symbols, but they do have an intuitive appeal about them in this context, don't you think?) .unl 4 Copy du:fid.ext > du:fid.ext This command copies the contents of a file into a new file. Both files can be on any drive in any user area. The same flexible command interpretation used for the rename command is used for COPY. To illustrate: copy exist > new copy new = exist copy exist new copy new < exist all copy the contents of the file 'EXIST' into the new file called 'NEW'. The '>' form of the command becomes very understandable when the '>' is thought of as the word 'to'; this way the command would read as 'COPY exist TO new'. Wildcarded file names are NOT allowed for this command. If the file being copied does not exist, or the file you wish to create already exists, an appropriate error message is printed and the command is ignored. If you want to copy over an existing file, ERASE it first, then COPY into it. .unl 4 LOg du: This command allows you to change the current 'default' drive and user area (displayed on the third line of the Command Screen, preceding 'Editing'). This is handy if you entered the editor in one area and then decided to work on something in another area. While you could just type the new drive and user area preceding all the file names you enter, it is much more convenient to LOG into the new area and just type the file names from then on, letting EXPRESS figure out the drive and user for you. After this command is entered, the new 'default' will be displayed at the beginning of the third line on the screen: C12:Editing B3:THIS.FIL ^-- new default drive/user area This new default is in effect until you return to the operating system, when the original default drive and user area are restored. You MUST type the colon ":" at the end of the drive/user area or you will receive an error message. Remember that you can specify a drive without a user area, but you cannot give a user area without a drive.