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- This QuickStart document provides a brief overview of some of the commands
- available in BBEdit Lite. For more general information about BBEdit Lite,
- consult the ╥About BBEdit Lite╙ document.
-
- The topics covered in this document are:
-
- Installation
- Creating and Saving Documents
- Editing Documents
- More on Wrapping
- Printing
- Searching
- Multi-File Searching
- Preferences Dialog
- Parting Shots
-
- ---
-
- Installation
-
- BBEdit consists of the following major components:
-
- Ñ The BBEdit application itself
- Ñ The ╥BBEdit Extensions╙ folder
-
- Only the BBEdit application file is required to use BBEdit.
-
- If you╒re planning to install the whole set of BBEdit files, create a
- ╥BBEdit Folder╙. Copy the BBEdit application and the ╥BBEdit
- Extensions╙ folder into your BBEdit Folder.
-
- ---
-
- Creating and Saving Documents
-
- To create a new document within BBEdit, 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.
-
- If you╒re using System 6 or System 7, you can use the Finder to open
- files created by BBEdit by double-clicking on them.
-
- Once you╒ve 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 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 scrolls the window╒s contents so that the insertion
- point is visible. Note that since BBEdit doesn╒t automatically wrap the
- text as you type, the window may scroll horizontally. You can use the
- ╥Wrap while Typing╙ option to change this behavior; when it╒s turned
- on, BBEdit will insert carriage returns 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╒re 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 provides an assortment of facilities for transforming text in
- various ways. The commands to transform text are all found under the
- Text menu:
-
- Ñ Balance locates the pair of parentheses, braces, brackets, or curly
- quotes which encloses the current selection range or insertion point.
- If there are unmatched parentheses, braces, brackets, or quotes, BBEdit
- will beep.
-
- Ñ Twiddle transposes the two characters on either side of the
- insertion point, or at either end of the selected text.
-
- Note: If you hold down the Option key, Twiddle becomes Twiddle Words.
- Twiddle Words behaves in similar fashion to Twiddle, except that it
- acts on entire words, rather than individual characters.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ Shift Left and Shift Right indent the selected text by one tab stop
- (in the case of Shift Left), or outdent by one tab stop (for Shift
- Right). 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.
-
- Ñ The 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.
-
- Ñ Unwrap╔ removes carriage returns and spaces between groups of text.
- Essentially, it performs the reverse function of the ╥Wrap╔╙ command.
-
- Ñ Zap Gremlins╔ is useful for finding and altering non-printing
- characters in your text files.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- ---
-
- More on Wrapping
-
- BBEdit offers the capability to wrap text in a variety of ways. This
- wrapping is not the ╥live╙ word wrapping that word-processors provide;
- instead, 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.
-
- To wrap text in the current document window, choose ╥Wrap╔╙ from the
- Text menu.
-
- The controls on the left half of the ╥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:
-
- Ñ 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 adocument window when the window
- is zoomed to full size on a nine-inch ╥classic╙ Macintosh screen. For
- this reason, you╒re guaranteed that text wrapped to the philip bar will
- be readable without horizontal scrolling by anyone on any Macintosh.
-
- Ñ 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 alittle longer or a little shorter than is provided for
- by the philip bar; just size the window appropriately and wrap.
-
- Ñ 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. Short lines will be left untouched.
-
- ---
-
- Printing
-
- BBEdit 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:
-
- 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.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- When printing a Search Results window, you can print out the list of
- results by making sure that the heavy border is around the list. If it
- is not, hit the Tab key or click on the list.
-
- ---
-
- Searching
-
- BBEdit 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 or not. When you choose ╥Find╔╙ from the
- Search menu, BBEdit will present a dialog box with several options.
-
- The edit field to the right of ╥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 to the right of ╥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 an explicit carriage return, line feed, or tab, you
- can type the literal character by holding down the Command key and
- hitting the Return or Tab key, or typing ╥\n╙ for a line feed, ╥\r╙ for
- a carriage return, or ╥\t╙ for a tab. You can also type Control-J,
- Control-M, and Control-I, respectively. To search for a -literal-
- occurrence of an escape (for example, in C or Rez program source), use
- two backslashes: ╥\\n╙, ╥\\r╙, and ╥\\t╙. Also, a ╥\\╙ will be
- interepreted 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 ╥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 will
- blink the menu bar to alert you.
-
- If the ╥Search Backwards╙ check box is checked, BBEdit 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 ╥Search Selection Only╙ box is checked, BBEdit will constrain
- the search to the current selection range; this box will be dimmed if
- there is no selection range.
-
- After you have entered the search and replace strings and set the search
- options appropriately, you can click ╥Find╙, ╥Replace╙, ╥Don╒t Find╙,
- or ╥Cancel╙. If you click ╥Find╙, BBEdit will immediately search for
- the current search and replace strings, using the current search
- options. If you click ╥Replace╙, BBEdit will search for the current
- search string, and if it╒s found, replace it with the replace string.
- If you click ╥Don╒t Find╙, BBEdit 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.
-
- If you hold down the Option key while the Find dialog is up, ╥Find╙
- becomes ╥Find All╙ and ╥Replace╙ becomes ╥Replace All╙. If you hold
- down the Option key while clicking on either button, the operation is
- extended to affect the entire document (or selection range, if the
- ╥Search Selection Only╙ option is activated).
-
- ---
-
- Multi-File Searching
-
- BBEdit 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.
-
- When you turn on ╥Multi-File Search╙, the ╥Options╔╙ button is enabled;
- to set up the options for a multi-file search, click this button, and a
- new dialog box will appear.
-
- The popup menu next to ╥Search Method╙ in this dialog box determines
- how BBEdit will locate the files to be searched.
-
- There are three ways to locate files:
-
- Ñ Directory Search. When this search method is chosen, BBEdit scans
- through the folders starting at the one you choose, and each file that
- it encounters will be searched for the search string.
-
- Ñ Open Windows. When you choose this search method, BBEdit 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.
-
- Ñ 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 in the ╥Options╔╙ dialog can be used to tailor the
- search to your needs:
-
- Ñ 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 double-click on
- entries in the window to display any given match, or select multiple
- matches from different files and display them all at once.
-
- Ñ Search Nested Folders causes the Directory 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.
-
- Ñ Skip (╔) Folders causes the Directory 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.
-
- Ñ Search All File Types. If this check box is checked, BBEdit searches
- files of all kinds, regardless of whether they contain actual text or
- not. If it╒s not checked, only text files will be searched.
-
- After you have set the options, click ╥OK╙ to save the settings and
- return to the ╥Find╔╙ dialog. If you then click ╥Find╙, the multi-file
- search will start. If you click ╥Don╒t Find╙, the current settings will
- be saved, but the multi-file search won╒t start until you choose ╥Find
- in Next File╙ from the Search menu. (If Batch Find is selected, the
- ╥Don╒t Find╙ button is disabled.)
-
- When BBEdit 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╒re 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╒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 hold down the Option
- key and click the ╥Replace╙ button in the Find dialog. After building
- the list of files, BBEdit will present a dialog for setting the
- multi-file replace options.
-
- There are three levels of safety that are available:
-
- Ñ Safest. Click on the ╥Leave Open╙ radio button. For each file that
- contains the search string, BBEdit will perform a ╥Replace All╙ on that
- file, and leave the file open so that you can inspect the changes.
-
- Ñ Less Safe. Click on the ╥Save To Disk╙ radio button, and make sure
- that the ╥Confirm Saves╙ check box is checked. BBEdit 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 will save the changed file. If you click
- ╥Don╒t Save╙, BBEdit will throw away the changes that were just
- performed. If you click ╥Leave Open╙, BBEdit will leave the file open;
- this is the same behavior as the ╥Safest╙ case, above. If you click
- ╥Cancel Search╙, BBEdit will stop the multi-file replace operation.
-
- Ñ 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 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╒re absolutely certain of what you╒re doing, since
- the changes are irreversible.
-
- ---
-
- Grep Searching
-
- Grep is a method of pattern matching that derives from the Unix¬
- operating system. You may be 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 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 amember 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.
-
- 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 º╡ where º can be matched by x and ╡ 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 \ followed by any character is a pattern that matches
- that character. (You would use this to find special characters, such as
- the . character. To search for a period, you would use \.).
-
- 5. 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. Note that the case sensitivity flag does
- not apply to characters between square brackets: letters must match
- exactly.
-
- 5a. The pattern [^º] matches any character that is not in the string
- º. Special characters will be taken literally in this context. Again,
- case sensitivity doesn't apply to characters between square brackets.
-
- 5b. 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.
-
- 6a. Any pattern p formed by any combination of rules 1 or 3-5b
- followed by a * forms the pattern p* that matches zero or more
- consecutive occurrences of characters matched by p.
-
- 6c. Any pattern p formed by any combination of rules 1 or 3-5b
- followed by a ? forms the pattern p? that matches zero or one
- consecutive occurrences of characters matched by p.
-
- 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.
-
- 7. A pattern surrounded by ( and ) is a pattern that matches whatever
- the sub-pattern matches. This is useful for matching two or more
- instances of the same string and 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.
-
- 8. 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.
-
- 9. 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 (as in the above example).
-
- 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 have written a program that is to become
- 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.
-
- 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.
-
- ---
-
- Preferences Dialog
-
- To bring up the Preferences dialog, choose ╥Preferences╔╙ from the Edit
- menu, or double-click on your BBEdit Prefs file. (This may not be
- convenient, since the BBEdit Prefs file usually resides somewhere
- within the System Folder.)
-
- The popup menu next to the ╥Preferences╙ text determines which section
- of the preferences you╒re looking at. If you click on ╥Save╙, all of
- the preferences settings will be saved to the ╥BBEdit 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╒s editing and keyboard behavior.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ If Auto-Indent is turned on, BBEdit 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╒re using BBEdit for composing prose.
-
- Ñ Wrap While Typing: generally, BBEdit does not automatically wrap
- text as you type it in, which means the text may scroll horizontally.
- Selecting this option tells BBEdit to enter carriage returns at the end
- of each line, according to the current ╥Wrap╔╙ settings.
-
- Ñ If Balance While Typing is turned on, BBEdit will flash matching
- parentheses, curly braces, and brackets as you type them.
-
- Ñ 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╙.
-
- Ñ If Show Invisibles is activated, BBEdit will display certain
- invisible control characters by using visible placeholders: carriage
- returns will be represented with a ╥┬╙; tabs will be represented with a
- ╥╞╙, and spaces will be represented with a ╥╫╙. Non-printing control
- characters will be represented with a ╥└╙.
-
- Ñ Ordinarily, actions such as Entab, Detab, Zap Gremlins, Replace All,
- and most extensions are not undoable, and BBEdit will alert you if you
- are about to perform a non-undoable action. If you aren╒t concerned
- about being able to undo these actions, and don╒t want BBEdit to alert
- you, turn on the ╘No ╥Can╒t Undo╙ Alerts╒ check box, and BBEdit will
- not alert you of these actions.
-
- Ñ Exchange Command and Option reverses the meaning of the Command and
- Option keys when used with the left and right arrow keys. See ╥Editing
- Text with BBEdit╙ for more details.
-
- Ñ 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╙ for more details.
-
- --> The ╥File Search╙ section of the Preferences contains settings to
- determine defaults for BBEdit╒s behavior when locating files via the
- ╥Open Selection╙ command. The ╥Default <...> Directory╙ setting
- determines which directory BBEdit will initially search for files whose
- names are included in <angle brackets>. If ╥Follow Aliases╙ is checked,
- BBEdit will resolve aliases to folders as it searches for your file,
- and search those folders as well.
-
- --> 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╙ and ╥Generic Text File╙ are built into BBEdit
- and cannot be changed or deleted.
-
- --> The ╥Filing Preferences╙ settings in this part of the Preference
- dialog control the default settings for the Open╔ and Open Several╔
- dialogs. If ╥Auto-Backup╙ is checked, a backup will automatically be
- made of a file every time it is saved. If ╥Wrap TeachText Files╙ is
- checked, BBEdit will perform a Wrap operation, without paragraph fill,
- whenever you open a file created by TeachText (or SimpleText).
-
- --> The ╥Grep Patterns╙ 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.
-
- 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╒s.
-
- These settings correspond to the same settings on the ╥Options╔╙ dialog
- which can be brought up from the Print╔ dialog.
-
- --> The ╥Search Folders╙ provides the ability to set up a list of
- frequently-used starting points for a multi-file search; the folders
- listed here will appear on a popup in the Multi-File Search options
- section of the Find... dialog.
-
- --> The ╥Startup╙ settings control what BBEdit does when it╒s launched
- by some means other than double-clicking on a BBEdit document, or by
- dragging and dropping some item onto BBEdit itself (under System 7).
-
- Ñ If Nothing is selected, BBEdit will take no action at startup. This
- is handy if BBEdit regularly gets launched into the background, or is
- launched by some scripting utility which will then start feeding
- commands to BBEdit directly.
-
- Ñ New Window causes BBEdit to bring up a new untitled window, as if
- the ╥New command on the File menu had been chosen.
-
- Ñ Open causes BBEdit to bring up an ╥Open╔╙ dialog, as if the ╥Open╔╙
- command on the File menu had been chosen.
-
- Ñ Open Several causes BBEdit to bring up the ╥Open Several╔╙ dialog,
- as if that command had been chosen.
-
- --> The ╥State Preferences╙ 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. If the ╥Leave Room for Finder Icons╙ is
- checked, BBEdit will make certain that there╒s enough space below and
- to the right of any window so that icons on the desktop can be seen
- when you╒re running under MultiFinder or System 7. The ╥Default Saved
- State╙ popup menu determines what state information will be saved by
- default when you choose ╥Save As╔╙ for a new window or for a file with
- no saved state information. If ╥Always Add State╙ is checked, BBEdit
- will save state information file every time, even if the file
- previously had no state.
-
- --> 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 ╥Start From╔╙ button sets the default starting directory for
- Directory Scan multi-file searches.
-
- --> The ╥Windows╙ preferences control BBEdit╒s behavior with respect to
- the display and management of windows.
-
- Ñ Delay When Scrolling makes BBEdit wait a tenth of a second when you
- click in the arrows of a scrollbar before scrolling the text in a
- document window. This is most useful under System 6 on faster machines;
- often several lines will go by before your reflexes allow you to let go
- of the mouse button. System 7 offers a ╥scrolling throttle╙, so this
- setting may be turned off.
-
- Ñ Show Status Bar causes the status bar to be visible within all
- editing windows. (See ╥Editing Text With BBEdit╙ 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.
-
- Ñ 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.
- See above for more details.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ Show Line Numbers places line numbers along the left edge of each
- editing window.
-
- Ñ 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.
-
- Ñ The ╥Leave Room for Finder╙ settings, when activated, will instruct
- BBEdit to leave space along the bottom and right edges of the display
- containing the menu bar, whenever it zooms or arranges windows on that
- display.
-
- Note - if you╒re running on a Macintosh with a 9-inch screen, the window
- sizes when ╥Leave Room for Finder╙ is checked are usually too small to
- be useful. Therefore, you may want to turn these options off if you have
- a small screen.
-
- Ñ The ╥Maximum Width╙ and ╥Zoom Windows To╙ preferences control the
- maximum size of windows when zooming or arranging them, and will also
- control how BBEdit places zoomed windows.
-
- --> The ╥Wrapping Preferences╙ settings are the default settings for the
- Wrap dialog.
-
-
- --> The ╥Zapping Preferences╙ settings are the default settings for the
- ╥Zap Gremlins╔╙ dialog.
-
- ---
-
- Parting Shots
-
- Be sure to look at the ╥About BBEdit Lite╙ document which comes with the
- BBEdit Lite software. For more information about BBEdit or BBEdit Lite,
- write:
-
- Bare Bones Software, Inc.
- 1 Larkspur Way, #4
- Natick, MA 01760
-
- or, by e-mail:
-
- bbedit@world.std.com [internet]
- 73051,3255 [CompuServe]
- BARE.BONES [AppleLink]
-
- or, by phone or fax:
-
- (508) 651-3561 [phone]
- (508) 651-7584 [fax]
-
- This document was written by Allan Rousselle, with assistance from Rich
- Siegel. This document and the BBEdit Lite application are copyright
- ⌐1992-1994 Bare Bones Software, Inc., all rights reserved.
-