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Welcome to QEdit(R) Advanced the "quick editor" Version 3 R E F E R E N C E M A N U A L Please note that this is the shareware version of the documentation. The licensed commercial version includes an indexed, bound manual. Copyright 1985-1994 SemWare Corporation. All rights reserved worldwide. This software embodies valuable trade secrets proprietary to SemWare Corporation. SemWare is a registered trademark of SemWare Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. The QEdit registered trademark is used under license from Robelle Consulting Ltd. Specifications subject to change without notice. The READ.ME file contains information which supplements this documentation. +-------------------------------------------------------+ | | | SALES AND SUPPORT | | | | | | SemWare Corporation | | Suite C3A | | 4343 Shallowford Road | | Marietta, GA 30062-5022 | | U.S.A. | | | | | | Orders ONLY: (800) 467-3692 Inside USA, 9am-5pm ET | | | | Other Voice Calls: (404) 641-9002 9am - 5pm ET | | | | FAX: (404) 640-6213 24 hours | | BBS: (404) 641-8968 24 hours | | | | CompuServe: GO SEMWARE (select Section 6) | | or 75300,2710 | | InterNet: sales@semware.atl.ga.us | | or tech.support@semware.atl.ga.us | | | +-------------------------------------------------------+ _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427, or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. QEDIT ADVANCED SHAREWARE SOFTWARE LICENSE ========================================= This version of QEdit (the "Software") is NOT public domain or free software, but is being distributed as "shareware" for EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY. Your use of this Software indicates your agreement to the terms and conditions of this License. COPYRIGHT, PROPRIETARY RIGHTS ----------------------------- The QEdit Advanced Software is owned by SemWare Corporation or its suppliers and is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on the Software for any purpose other than creating an adaptation to the Software as an essential step in its utilization for your own use. This Software embodies valuable trade secrets proprietary to SemWare; you may not disclose any information regarding the internal operations of this Software to others. USAGE RESTRICTIONS ------------------ SemWare grants a limited license to individuals to use this shareware Software for a 30-day evaluation period on a private, non-commercial basis, for the express purpose of determining whether QEdit is suitable for their needs. At the end of this 30-day evaluation period, the individual must either purchase a license from SemWare for continued use of the Software, or discontinue using QEdit. What does this mean? If you use this Software on a continued basis, you must purchase a license for its use. QEdit is NOT free, and we are not giving away free copies. We are giving you the opportunity to try it before paying for a license for continued use. It is that simple. Try it for 30 days. Then either pay for it, or quit using it. Paying for a license to continue using the Software product is not only required, but also allows SemWare to provide support and updates, and stay in business. Licensed users receive printed documentation; a built-in spelling checker; additional utilities and configuration files; and a version of the program that does NOT show the opening and closing shareware reminder screens. Registration of the licensed copy entitles the registered user to receive technical support (by phone, fax, our own support BBS, mail, or various electronic services such as CompuServe), and makes them eligible for discounts on future versions. Purchasing a license for QEdit Advanced entitles you to use the Software on any and all computers available to you, provided you do not operate QEdit on more than one computer or terminal at a time and you do not operate QEdit on a network or a multi-user system. If you would like a network or multi-user license, please contact SemWare for details. DISTRIBUTION, COPYING RESTRICTIONS ---------------------------------- Individuals are granted a limited license to copy the SHAREWARE version of QEdit Advanced only for the trial use of other individuals in accordance with the limitations identified in this License, and subject to the following restrictions: 1. You MAY NOT distribute the Software in connection with any other product or service. 2. You MAY NOT make general use of the Software within a company, institution, or agency. 3. You MAY NOT copy or distribute the Software for any consideration or "disk fee". 4. You MAY NOT copy or distribute the Software in modified form. (Any distribution must include ALL FILES supplied by SemWare with the shareware version of QEdit Advanced, WITHOUT ALTERATION.) 5. You MAY NOT distribute the Software documentation, in whole or in part, in printed form. Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (Sysops) are permitted and encouraged to post the shareware version of QEdit Advanced for downloading by their users, as long as the above conditions are met. Though a fee may be charged for BBS access, NO FEE may be charged to specifically access or download the QEdit Advanced shareware files. Non-profit computer-related User Groups may distribute the shareware version of QEdit Advanced provided the above conditions are met. However, such User Groups MAY charge a NOMINAL fee to cover the cost of the disk and copying of the Software. Disk vendors MUST obtain written permission from SemWare before distributing the shareware version of QEdit Advanced. Certain restrictions apply. Generally, ASP approved vendors are granted permission. For further details, see VENDOR.DOC. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER ------------------- SEMWARE PROVIDES THE SHAREWARE VERSION OF QEDIT ADVANCED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, SEMWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SPECIFICALLY, SEMWARE MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE IS FIT FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SEMWARE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFIT, DATA OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR OTHER SIMILAR CLAIMS, EVEN IF SEMWARE HAS BEEN SPECIFICALLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. U. S. GOVERNMENT LICENSEES -------------------------- If you are acquiring the Software on behalf of any unit or agency of the United States Government, the following provisions apply: The Government acknowledges SemWare's representation that the Software and its documentation were developed at private expense and no part of same is in the public domain. The Government acknowledges SemWare's representation that the Software is "Restricted Computer Software" as that term is defined in Clause 52.227-19 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs) and is "Commercial Computer Software" as that term is defined in Subpart 27.401 of the Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). The Government agrees that: (i) if the Software is supplied to the Department of Defense (DoD), the Software is classified as "Commercial Computer Software" and the Government is acquiring only "restricted rights" in the Software and its documentation as that term is defined in Clause 252.227-7013(c)(1)(ii) of the DFARS, and (ii) if the Software is supplied to any unit or agency of the United States Government other than the DoD, the Government's rights in the Software and its documentation will be as defined in Clause 52.227-19(c)(2) of the FARs. RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND. Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights In Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013. SemWare Corporation, 4343 Shallowford Road, Suite C3A, Marietta, Georgia 30062-5022, U.S.A. EXPORT LAW ASSURANCES --------------------- You acknowledge and agree that the Software is subject to restrictions and controls imposed by the United States Export Administration Act (the "Act") and the regulations thereunder. You agree and certify that neither the Software nor any adaptation thereof is being or will be acquired, shipped, transferred or reexported, directly or indirectly, into any country prohibited by the Act and the regulations thereunder, nor will it be used for any purpose prohibited by the same. GOVERNING LAW AND GENERAL PROVISIONS ------------------------------------ This License and Warranty Disclaimer shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, U.S.A. If any provision is found void, invalid or unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of this License and Warranty Disclaimer which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. This License and Warranty Disclaimer may only be modified in writing signed by you and a specifically authorized representative of SemWare. All rights not specifically granted in this License are reserved by SemWare. ORDERING INFORMATION ==================== Purchasing a license for QEdit Advanced allows you to use the product on a regular and/or continuing basis. Registration of your licensed copy of QEdit Advanced entitles you to technical support from SemWare, discounts on updates, and access to the Registered User area of our support BBS (404/641-8968, <N81>, 1200/2400/9600 baud, 24 hours a day). With your purchase, you will receive: a licensed copy of QEdit Advanced V3.0 with a 90-day limited warranty; a bound, indexed manual; a built-in spelling checker; and additional utilities for use with QEdit. We offer discounts to educational institutions, full-time students, BBS sysops, US and Georgia government agencies, and various approved Computer-related User Groups. Students must include proof of full-time student status (photocopy of current registration slip or student ID card). BBS sysops must supply the name and number of their BBS, along with any other relevant information. User Groups must be members of our SemWare Supporter program. Call for details. All prices and discounts are subject to change without notice. MULTI-USER LICENSES AND QUANTITY PURCHASES ------------------------------------------ All corporate, business, government, or other commercial, public, or private users of QEdit must be licensed. We offer quantity discounts as well as multi-user licensing. Please call or write for more information. ORDERS OUTSIDE THE U.S.A ------------------------ Please use your MasterCard, VISA, American Express, or Discover card when ordering, or send a check drawn on a US bank payable in US dollars. *** QEdit Advanced version 3.00, January 1994 *** * SINGLE-USER LICENSE ORDER FORM * MAIL: SemWare Corporation FAX: (404) 640-6213 24 hours 4343 Shallowford Rd, Suite C3A BBS: (404) 641-8968 24 hours Marietta, GA 30062-5022 USA CIS: 75300,2710 InterNet: sales@semware.atl.ga.us PHONE (Orders ONLY): (800) 467-3692 OTHER VOICE CALLS: (404) 641-9002 Inside USA, 9am-5pm ET 9am-5pm ET ========================================================================== ____ QEdit Advanced V3.00 with printed manual ... @ $59.00 ea $ ______ SHIPPING (each copy) .... US/Canada/Mexico: $5; Overseas: $12 $ ______ PURCHASE ORDERS under $100.00, add $6 Billing Fee ........... $ ______ (Does NOT apply to PREPAID Check or Charge Card orders) SUBTOTAL $ ______ GEORGIA RESIDENTS please add Sales Tax ................ @ 5% $ ______ TOTAL (U.S. Dollars drawn on U.S. Bank, payable to SemWare) $ ______ Diskette Size: ( )3-1/2" or ( )5-1/4" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payment by: ( )CHECK ( )VISA ( )MC ( )AMEX ( )DISCOVER ( )PO#_____________ (copy attached) Name: _____________________________________________________________ Company (ONLY if company address):_________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ : __________________________________________________________ : __________________________________________________________ Voice Phone: _______________________ FAX: ______________________ Card #: _________________________________ Exp. Date: ______________ Signature of cardholder: __________________________________________ THE QEDIT SOFTWARE IS LICENSED ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SEMWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT THAT ACCOMPANIES THE QEDIT SOFTWARE. Prices subject to change without notice. Call to confirm current prices. Contact us about quantity discounts and multi-user licenses, as well as discounts for full-time students, BBS sysops, and approved User Groups. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================= Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tasks to Perform Following Installation. . . . . . . 7 Setting Up QEdit on a Laptop System. . . . . . . . . 8 1. User's Guide for QEdit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Quick Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 In the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Getting Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The StatusLine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Prompts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Creating New Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Loading Existing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Invoking QEdit at a Specific Line Number . . . . 15 Multiple Files: The Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Saving Files and Exiting . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Read-Only Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Viewing and Getting Around in the Text . . . . . . . 19 Cursor Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Moving Through a File. . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Moving Around on the Screen. . . . . . . . . 21 Moving By Lines and Characters . . . . . . . 22 Using Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Creating Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Switching Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Changing Window Size . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Closing Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Finding and Replacing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Finding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Replacing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Copying, Moving, Changing, and Deleting Text . . . . 30 Block Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Marking and Unmarking a Block . . . . . . . 30 Manipulating Blocks Directly . . . . . . . . 32 Manipulating Blocks Using Scrap Buffer . . . 33 Manipulating Blocks Using Scratch Buffers . 35 Examples of Block Commands . . . . . . . . . 36 Non-Block Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Copying Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Moving Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Deleting And Undeleting Text . . . . . . . . 43 Changing Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sorting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Kill Buffer - A Safety Net . . . . . . . . . 45 Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Print Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Formfeeds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Shell and Dos Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Swapping, [QE] Shell Indicator . . . . . . . . . 51 Word-Processing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 2. Customizing QEdit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Initiating the Configuration Program . . . . . . . . 57 The Configuration Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Colors/Screen Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 General Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The Help Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Keyboard Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 The Keyboard Definition File . . . . . . . . . . 73 Creating a Keyboard Definition File. . . . . . . 75 Printer Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Tab Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 3. QEdit Macro Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Keyboard Macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Creating Keyboard Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Using Keyboard Macros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Saving and Reloading Keyboard Macros . . . . . . 81 Example of a Keyboard Macro. . . . . . . . . . . 82 Creating Macro Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Advanced Macro Programming . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Macro Pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Using Paste within a Macro . . . . . . . . . 87 Repeating a Command within a Macro . . . . . 88 Conditional Logic for Macros . . . . . . . . 89 Special-Purpose Macro Commands . . . . . . . 90 The Main Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 QMac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Using QMac: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Executing QMac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Writing Macro Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Converting Macro Binary Format to Text Format. . 102 Startup Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 4. QEdit Command Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ====================================================================== Many years of work have gone into the development of this version of QEdit. And we had LOTS of help. Special thanks go to: Gerhard Barth, who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us track down a nasty bug in the very first version of QEdit. P.L. Olympia, who has gone out of his way and spent much time promoting this program. Karl Brendel, for his constant support and excellent testing. Karl is also the author of an excellent add-on product for QMODEM called QFONEDIT. John Newlin, for his encouragement and support. John is also the author of SCOUT. If you are looking for a powerful file or DOS manager that is memory resident, then look no further. SCOUT is probably what you are looking for. Stuart Warren, for his insight, encouragement, and many valuable programming suggestions. To ALL registered users - THANK YOU! It is only through your support that continual enhancements are made possible. INTRODUCTION ====================================================================== This manual describes the use and operation of QEdit, a full-screen text editor for the IBM PC and compatible computers. The manual includes installation instructions, a user's guide, a chapter on customizing the editor, and reference sections for the macro language and the QEdit commands. QEdit is a text editor as opposed to a word processor. This means that most of its features are geared toward creating and maintaining program source code and other text files. However, QEdit can also be used like a word processor to write documents or letters since it includes many word-processing capabilities. QEdit was developed with these goals in mind: * FAST OPERATION - More than anything else, QEdit was designed to operate quickly, especially in these areas: - Initially loading a file for editing. - Displaying/updating the screen. - Moving through the editing window. - Searching for text. - Saving a file back to disk. * EASE OF USE - This version of QEdit includes: - Optional "pull-down" menus. - Customizable Help Screen. - Complete execution from a single file (Q.EXE). - Pop-up file directory and picker. * COMPACT PROGRAM SIZE - Every effort has been made to keep the program size as compact as possible. Even though memory is getting cheaper all the time, we do not want QEdit to require any more memory than absolutely necessary. QEdit is available in three versions: QEdit Advanced (the standard DOS version), QEdit TSR (the memory-resident DOS version), and QEdit for OS/2. All three versions offer the same rich set of features and behave in much the same manner. This manual uses QEdit Advanced as its basis for discussion of the operation and features of the editor. FEATURES ====================================================================== QEdit offers a number of powerful features for editing text, both easily and quickly. To put that power at your fingertips, version 3 of QEdit: * Is very fast! * Is highly customizable. QEdit can be easily configured the way you like. You can configure ALL of the special keys on the keyboard (Alt, Ctrl, and function keys; <Home>, <PgUp>, etc.), as well as the colors, screen appearance, and many other options. * Is easy to use. An optional "pull-down" menu provides ready access to QEdit's commands, and the Help Screen can be customized for your own needs. * Is compact. Even with all these features, QEdit requires less than 70K of disk space. * Utilizes all available DOS memory (up to 640K). Edit files as large as your computer's memory will allow. * Allows multi-file editing. The number of files you can edit is limited only by available memory. * Enables you to view files through up to eight horizontal, resizable "windows". You can have multiple views of the same file or view a different file in each window. * Provides up to 99 scratch buffers for cut-and-paste or template operations. You can even select a buffer from a pick-list of your current scratch buffers. * Allows you to temporarily exit to DOS (or a DOS shell) and use DOS commands from within the editor. Optionally, the editor can swap to disk or expanded memory to allow even the largest programs (such as compilers) to run from within QEdit. * Supports numerous character, line, and column Block operations. * Saves deleted words, lines, and Blocks in a deletion buffer for later recall. * Will load multiple files from the DOS command line, with or without wildcard characters. * Allows you to specify up to six default file extensions for use when loading files and determining tab settings. * Provides line-drawing capability to create diagrams and tables. * Supports enhanced (101-key) keyboards. * Supports up to 200-column and 100-line screens. * Supports EGA 43-line mode, and VGA 28-line and 50-line modes. * Offers a built-in Sort command, with options for ascending, descending, and case-insensitive sorting. * Includes options for the Find and FindReplace commands to start a search at the beginning of a file ("global" option) and/or limit a search to a marked Block ("local" option). * Provides the ability to shift entire Blocks using the tab left and right commands (TabLt and TabRt). * Allows you to fill a Block with a specified character (FillBlock command). * Offers an optional large, flashing block cursor as a configuration option. This is especially helpful for use on laptop computers. * Accommodates editing of files with a linelength of up to 1000 characters. * Provides a pop-up ASCII chart that allows you to directly insert the selected character into your text. * Includes various tab-handling options, including variable, smart, and fixed tabs. For your word-processing needs, QEdit: * Provides wordwrap and paragraph-reformat capabilities. * Includes options to change the case of characters (Flip, Lower, Upper commands). * Gives you the ability to center the text on a line (CenterLine command). * Offers various printing options, such as specification of top and bottom print margins (SetPrintBotMargin, SetPrintTopMargin commands), assignment of the print device, ability to adjust line spacing, and inclusion of line numbers. * Allows you to configure the date and time formats. * Includes an option to display the hex and decimal values of the current character on the StatusLine. To further enhance the editor's operation, QEdit's macro facility: * Allows you to create macros that will execute a series of commands and keystrokes by pressing a single key. * Offers a simple macro scripting language. * Includes the ability to load and/or execute macros from the DOS command line, as well as an option to execute an automatic startup macro. * Supports conditional logic (Jump, JTrue, JFalse commands). To assist you in your programming tasks, QEdit: * Provides "C mode", which utilizes automatic indentation for C-language programming. * Locates matching braces and parentheses, which is very useful for entering and maintaining source code. * Allows you to execute command-line compilers from within the editor, using QEdit's macro facility. * Offers a DOS command-line option (-n) for jumping to a specific line number within a file upon loading. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ====================================================================== QEdit will run on the IBM PS/2, PC/AT, PC/XT, PC, PC/Jr, and on IBM compatible computers including the Compaq, NCR, Tandy, and WYSE PCs. MINIMUM requirements are: * 128 KB of memory (although QEdit can utilize up to 640 KB if it is available) for QEdit Advanced. * PC- or MS-DOS v2.0 or greater. * One diskette drive. * Either a color or a monochrome monitor with 80-column display. * Less than 70 KB of disk space. * The editor program itself: Q.EXE. Once configured, no other files are necessary for operating QEdit. INSTALLATION ====================================================================== With the shareware version of QEdit, simply create a new directory, and copy all of the included QEdit files to that directory. TASKS TO PERFORM FOLLOWING INSTALLATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Following installation, if you placed QEdit Advanced in a directory that is not already listed in your path, you may want to modify the path statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT to include the QEdit directory. This allows you to run QEdit Advanced from any directory. Please review the contents of the READ.ME file included with the QEdit software. This file contains important information (usage information, new features, changes, etc.) that became available after this manual was printed. The READ.ME file also contains a complete list of the files included with the software. A partial list is included here: QEdit Advanced QEdit Advanced File Description -------------- ------------------------------------------ Q.EXE QEdit. Once configured, no other files are necessary for proper operation of QEdit. QCONFIG.EXE The QEdit configuration program. This program allows you to customize QEdit. QCONFIG.DAT The default QEdit Keyboard Definition file. Used by QCONFIG.EXE (or QTCONFIG.EXE) QHELP.TXT The default QEdit Help text. Used by QCONFIG.EXE (or QTCONFIG.EXE). QMAC.EXE The QEdit macro translator. This program allows you to externally write macros. Note: After you have tried QEdit, you may wish to permanently customize some of the options. QEdit comes with a configuration program, QCONFIG, that makes customizing the editor easy. See Chapter 2, "Customizing QEdit," for instructions. SETTING UP QEDIT ON A LAPTOP SYSTEM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have a laptop computer (one with an LCD or plasma display), in addition to carrying out the procedures given in the previous sections, you should set your screen parameters before using QEdit. QEdit works best if you enter MODE BW80 at the DOS command line before running the editor. Alternatively, you can install QEdit for a black-and-white screen with the QEdit customization program, QCONFIG. Refer to Chapter 2, "Customizing QEdit." With this customization program, you should choose "1" (Monochrome) from the "Colors/screen" options, when prompted with "Startup attribute set:". +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Please note that one of the MAJOR features of QEdit is | | configurability. You can customize the colors, the keys, | | the on-screen appearance of the editor, and many other | | functions. | | | | By spending just a small amount of time reviewing Chapter | | 2 on configuration, you can benefit greatly through | | customizing the editor to your personal preferences. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ CHAPTER 1. USER'S GUIDE FOR QEDIT ====================================================================== QUICK START ---------------------------------------------------------------------- With QEdit you can edit any text file with a few simple commands. The next three sections briefly describe the quickest way possible to load, edit, and save a file. Getting Started --------------- Using QEdit is simple and straightforward. To initiate QEdit, type "Q <Enter>". The Editor will respond with a prompt for the name of the file to be edited. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | File(s) to edit: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the filename. The filename may include full path designation. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | At any "File to edit" prompt, you may use wildcard | | characters (* or ?) to obtain a list of matching files in | | the directory. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ You may optionally include the filename on the DOS command line in order to bypass this prompt. For example, from the DOS command line, type: "Q filename <Enter>" In the Editor ------------- Once you are in QEdit, the cursor movement keys (Left, Right, Up, Down, Home, End, ...) allow you to move around in the text. To obtain a Help Screen, simply press <F1>. Pressing <F1> again (or any other key) returns you to the text. To obtain a menu of QEdit commands, press <Esc>. You may then use the cursor movement keys to position the cursor bar over the desired command. Press <Enter> to execute the command. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Within a prompt for a command, press <Esc> to cancel the | | command (and the prompt). | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Getting Out ----------- The easiest way to get out of QEdit and save all the work you have done is to enter <Alt F> <G>. MENUS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit provides an easy-to-use "pull-down" style menu system. The menu system is very helpful while learning to use the editor. It is also handy for executing seldom-used commands. To access the menus and execute a command: 1. Press <Esc>. The main menu is displayed at the top of the screen. The main menu consists of a list of sub-menu items. 2. Select a sub-menu item. To do this, either move the cursor bar to the desired item and press <Enter>, or type the capital letter of the desired item. 3. Execute a command. This is done in the same manner as selecting the sub-menu items. Here is an example of the pull-down style menu system. The User is about to execute the "Copy block" command. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |File Window #Block# Search Print Macro Editing Other Quit | +------------+-------------------+--------------------------------+ | mark Line | | mark cHaracter | | mark Kolumn | | mark Begin | | mark End | | Unmark | +-------------------+ |#Copy block########| | Move block | | Delete | | copyOver | | Fill | +-------------------+ | Sort | | Ignore case [off] | | desceNding [off] | +-------------------+ You can execute many QEdit commands using the menus. As you become more familiar with the editor, you may wish to use the <Ctrl>, <Alt>, and function key assignments, instead of the menus, to execute commands more quickly. Cross-reference listings of all QEdit commands can be found in Appendices A and B. THE STATUSLINE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At the top of the editing screen is the StatusLine. The StatusLine constantly displays information about the file you are currently editing. The StatusLine is shown below with a description of the information displayed. +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |L 15 C 15 IAW R B 411K *c:\qedit\qedit.doc 20h,32| +--+------+----+++-+-+---+-----+------+-------------------------+--+ | | ||| | | | | | +---------------------+ | | ||| | | | | | | | | ||| | | | | | | | | ||| | | | | | +--- The hex and decimal | | ||| | | | | | value for the character | | ||| | | | | | at the cursor position, | | ||| | | | | | if this option is turned | | ||| | | | | | on. | | ||| | | | | | | | ||| | | | | +--- The path and name of the | | ||| | | | | file you are editing | | ||| | | | | | | ||| | | | +--- *) Indicates file has been changed | | ||| | | | | | ||| | | +--- Amount of available memory | | ||| | | | | ||| | +--- B) Indicates Box Drawing mode is ON | | ||| | | | ||| +--- R) Indicates Macro Recording is ON | | ||| | | ||+--- W) Indicates WordWrap mode is ON | | || | | |+--- A) Indicates AutoIndent mode is ON | | | | | +--- I) Indicates Insert mode is ON | | | +---- The current cursor column number | +---- The current cursor line number For more information on Insert, AutoIndent, WordWrap, and Box Drawing, refer to the "Modes" section in this chapter. For more information on macro recording, refer to Chapter 3, "QEdit Macro Reference." +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | The StatusLine may be configured to appear at the bottom | | of the screen. Refer to the "Colors/Screen Options" | | section of Chapter 2 for more information. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ PROMPTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When QEdit needs information from the user (such as the name of a file to edit, a search string, etc.), a prompt is issued. The prompt consists of a message, telling what information is requested, and an area for the user to enter their response. The following commands are available in prompts (if assigned to a key): BackSpace CursorRight EndLine Return BegLine DelCh Escape ToggleInsert CurrentFilename DelLine Paste CursorLeft DelToEol Pause Other commands are simply ignored. Note: Execute DelLine (<Ctrl Y> or <Alt D>) to clear the response area of any prompt. FILES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Creating New Files ------------------ There are three different ways to create new files, ready for editing. 1. From the DOS command line, enter <Q> followed by one or more new filenames. Each filename must be separated by a space. For example, typing: "Q file1 b:file2 \dir1\file3 <Enter>" will create "file1" in the current directory, "file2" on disk drive B, and "file3" in the directory "dir1". +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | When specifying file names to QEdit, you may use full | | path designations if desired. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ 2. From the DOS command line, type "Q <Enter>". QEdit responds with the prompt: +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | File(s) to edit: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter one or more new filenames, each separated by a space. 3. From within the editor, execute the EditFile <Alt E> command. The above prompt will appear. Again, you may enter one or more new filenames, each separated by a space. Loading Existing Files ---------------------- Loading existing files works exactly like creating new files (in the previous section) with two exceptions: * The filename(s) specified must exist on disk. * The filename(s) may contain wildcard characters (*, ?). QEdit can be configured to respond to wildcarded filename entries in one of two ways: 1. Load all matching files into the editor. 2. Show all the matching filenames in a "pick" listing. You can then use the cursor keys to find the file you want and press <Enter> to load it into the editor. QEdit can also be configured to use default file extensions, such as "doc" and "pas" when entering filenames. For more information on configuring these options, refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2. Invoking QEdit at a Specific Line Number ---------------------------------------- A QEdit DOS command line option (-n) allows you to specify a line number in a file on which to position the cursor when the file is loaded into QEdit. From the DOS prompt type: q <filename to edit> -n<specific line number> For example, to load file1 at line number 125, from the DOS command line you would enter: q file1 -n125 Or, if you prefer: q -n125 file1 Multiple Files: The Ring ------------------------ QEdit is a true multi-file editor. It allows as many files as will fit into memory to be loaded at the same time. All of these files can then be edited by simply switching back and forth between them without having to save and load each file individually. Switching between files is accomplished very quickly and easily. A simple explanation of how QEdit handles multiple files will help you in manipulating and editing multiple files. QEdit maintains all loaded files in a "ring". As we describe each of the commands used to manipulate the files in the ring, refer to the illustration below. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | +----+ +----+ | | | | |####| | | +-----> | A | <---<Ctrl KP>|#B##|<Alt N> | | | | | |####| | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | v ^ <Alt E> v | | +----+ | | +----+ | | | | | | | | | | | F | <----+-------------------+-----> | C | | | | | | | | | | | +----+ | | +----+ | | ^ v v ^ | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | | | | | | | | +-----> | E | <----------> | D | <----+ | | | | | | | | +----+ +----+ | | | | The "Ring" | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ In the ring we see that six files have been loaded into the editor. You can, of course, load many more files - as many as your computer's memory will allow. Assume the file currently being edited is file "B". You may then move from one file to another in any of the following ways: * Enter the NextFile <Alt N> command. You will now be editing the next file in the ring, file "C". * Enter the PrevFile <Ctrl KP> command. You will now be editing the previous file in the ring, file "A". * Enter the EditFile <Alt E> command. The editor will prompt for a filename. You may enter the name of any file in the ring. The editor will make the entered file the current one for editing. * Enter the ListFiles <Esc><F><T> command. You will be shown a scrollable list of all loaded files, from which you may select a different file to edit. You may, at any time, add files to the ring or discard files from the ring. If you add a new file to the ring using the EditFile command, it will become the current file and the old current file will become the previous file. If you delete a file from the ring the previous file will become the current file. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | When loading files, be aware that QEdit will not load two | | copies of the same file. If you issue the EditFile | | command for a file already loaded, that file will become | | the new current file. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Saving Files and Exiting ------------------------ QEdit provides several different ways to save files, discard files, and exit the editor. A set of five basic commands provides assorted combinations of saving, discarding, and exiting in order to suit individual preferences. We recommend selecting one or two methods with which you feel most comfortable and using them consistently. The table below summarizes these commands and their effects. +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Command for Single Command for Multiple | |File or Current File Files | |-------------------- -------------------- | |Exit <Ctrl KD> GExit <Alt X> X X X(a)| | | |File <Ctrl KX> GFile <Alt F><G> X X X(a)| | | |PQuit <Ctrl KQ> GPQuit <Alt Q><Q> X X X(a)| | | |Quit (b) X X | | | |SaveFile <Ctrl KS> GSave <Alt Y> X | | | | | | | | | | | Edited File(s) are Saved Unconditionally ---+ | | | | | | | | | | | | User Prompted to Save Edited Files (Y/N) ---+ | | | | | | | | | | User Warned That File Changes May Be Lost ---+ | | | | | | | | File(s) are Discarded From Editor ---+ | | | | | | The Editor is Terminated ---+ | | | | (a) The Exit, File, and PQuit commands can be configured to | | terminate or not terminate the editor. Refer to the | | "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more | | information. | | | | (b) USE WITH CAUTION! | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ Read-Only Files --------------- Read-Only files can be loaded and edited. However, they cannot be saved. When a Read-Only file is initially loaded, the message "File is READONLY" is displayed at the top of the screen. If you subsequently attempt to save a Read-Only file, the following message appears: +============================================+ |Cannot save READONLY files - Press <Esc> | +============================================+ To save a Read-Only file, simply save it under a different name using the WriteBlock <Alt W> command (be sure there are no marked Blocks in the file), or change the filename using the ChangeFilename <Alt O> command and then save the file under the new name. VIEWING AND GETTING AROUND IN THE TEXT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit is quite versatile in allowing you to move around in the text. With simple keystrokes you can either move a few characters or lines at a time or move from one end of the file to another. You can go to specific lines in the file or go to each occurrence of a particular string of characters. And with QEdit's windows, you can view up to eight files at a time or have multiple views of the same file. As you will see, there are quite a few commands in QEdit for moving around in your text. If you are not already familiar with these types of commands, try them out. You will probably find some new commands that will be useful for your applications of QEdit. Cursor Movement --------------- Moving Through a File QEdit provides several commands which enable you to move about in a file. * BegFile <Ctrl PgUp>, EndFile <Ctrl PgDn> As their names imply, these commands move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current file. BegFile positions the cursor at column one on the first line of the file. EndFile positions the cursor after the last non-blank character on the last line of the file. * PageUp <PgUp>, PageDown <PgDn> PageUp scrolls the text toward the top of the file, one page-full, less one line, at a time. PageDown scrolls the text toward the end of the file, one page-full, less one line, at a time. * HalfPgUp and HalfPgDn These commands work exactly like the PageUp and PageDown commands, except that they scroll only one-half page at a time. * NextPara, PrevPara, EndPara These commands move the cursor to the start of the next, previous, or to the end of the current paragraph. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | All QEdit commands, including those without default key | | assignments, can be assigned as the user desires, to | | almost any key. Refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" | | section of Chapter 2 for more information. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * ScrollUp <Ctrl W>, LineUp These commands scroll the text one line at a time toward the beginning of the file. The ScrollUp command causes the cursor to remain on the same line of text until it reaches the bottom of the screen, while the LineUp command causes the cursor to remain stationary on the screen. * ScrollDown <Ctrl Z>, LineDown These commands scroll the text one line at a time toward the end of the file. The ScrollDown command causes the cursor to remain on the same line of text until it reaches the top of the screen, while the LineDown command causes the cursor to remain stationary on the screen. * GotoLine <Ctrl J> Upon entering the GotoLine command, QEdit prompts with: +--------------------------+ |Goto line: | | | +--------------------------+ Type a line number and press <Enter>. QEdit then "jumps" the cursor to the specified line number. An easy way to move about quickly in your text is to keep track of critical positions by noting their line number, which is displayed on the StatusLine, and then using this command to "jump" to those positions. * GotoBlockBeg <Ctrl QB>, GotoBlockEnd <Ctrl QK> These commands move the cursor to the beginning or to the end of the currently marked Block. If the marked Block is in another file, QEdit makes that file the current file and then moves you to the beginning or end of the Block. For more information on using marked Blocks, refer to the "Block Commands" section in this chapter. * PrevPosition <Ctrl QP> This command can be very handy. It moves you to the cursor's previous position. Although it is not of much use if you have only moved a character or two, it can be useful for larger jumps of the cursor. For example, perhaps you are in the middle of a file and want to check something at the very beginning of the file. To get to the beginning, you would simply enter BegFile <Ctrl PageUp>. After you look at the beginning, you want to get back to where you were previously. You could use PageDown, but that could be tedious, especially if your file is large. The easiest way would be to enter PrevPosition, and with a single keystroke, you are immediately back where you started. Note: PrevPosition can only take you back to the cursor's immediately previous position. If there are intervening keystrokes that move the cursor, PrevPosition will move you back to the most recent location of the cursor. Moving Around on the Screen These commands affect the cursor position within the current screen of displayed text. * BegScreen <Ctrl Home>, EndScreen <Ctrl End> These commands move you to the first or last line of the screen (or current window if you have windows open). The cursor's column position does not change. * BegLine <Home>, EndLine <End> You are probably already familiar with these commands. BegLine moves the cursor to the beginning, or column one, of the current cursor line. EndLine moves the cursor to the last non-blank character of the current cursor line. * FirstNonWhite This command is intended as a replacement for the BegLine command. It positions the cursor on the first non-white (space) character on the current line, or column 1 if the line is blank. An interesting variation is a command that toggles between the beginning of the line and the first non-white character on that line: home MacroBegin FirstNonWhite MacroQuitTrue BegLine Refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" section of Chapter 2 for more information on changing QEdit command assignments. * ScreenLeft <Alt F5>, ScreenRight <Alt F6> These commands scroll the entire text to the left or right one column at a time. You can change the number of columns which are shifted each time using the QEdit configuration program. Refer to the "Colors/Screen Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. * WordLeft <Ctrl Cursor Left>, WordRight <Ctrl Cursor Right> These commands move the cursor to the first character of the previous or following word in the text. * MakeCtrofScreen <Shift F5>, MakeTopofScreen <F5>, and MakeBotofScreen These three commands change the position of the cursor line on the screen (or window, if you have windows open). They can be useful if you prefer to work at the bottom or top of the screen or if you want to keep the text surrounding your cursor line in view. The MakeCtrofScreen command scrolls the text on the screen (either up or down) until the cursor line is the center line of the screen. The MakeTopofScreen command scrolls the text upward until the cursor line is the top line of the screen. The MakeBotofScreen command scrolls the text downward until the cursor line is the last line of the screen. Moving By Lines and Characters These commands enable you to move in short increments through the text. * CursorLeft <Cursor Left>, CursorRight <Cursor Right> These commands move the cursor one column to the right or left on the cursor line. When you use CursorLeft, the cursor stops when it reaches the left edge of the screen, unless the text has been scrolled to the left. In that case it scrolls the text to the right one column at a time until it reaches column one. When you use CursorRight and the cursor reaches the right edge of the screen, it begins to scroll the text to the left. It stops scrolling when it reaches the maximum line length. If you prefer that cursor left/right would wrap at the beginning and end of lines, you can assign the following macros in your QCONFIG.DAT file in lieu of cursor left/right, respectively: * Left and Right cursor definitions that wrap to previous/next line * like WordStar does cursorleft MacroBegin CursorLeft * try to go left MacroQuitTrue * succeed! then we are done CursorUp * else try to go to prev line MacroQuitFalse * if fail, then at top of file. done. EndLine * jump to end of previous line. cursorright MacroBegin isEndLine * are we at end of line? JTrue down: * if so goto down CursorRight * else right one MacroQuit * Quit macro down: CursorDown * try to go to next line MacroQuitFalse * if not goto end BegLine * else goto beginning of line Refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" section of Chapter 2 for more information on changing QEdit command assignments. * CursorUp <Cursor Up>, CursorDown <Cursor Down> These commands move the cursor up or down in the file one line at a time. The cursor's column position does not change. * GotoColumn <Esc><S><G> Upon entering the GotoColumn command, QEdit prompts with: +--------------------------+ |Goto column: | | | +--------------------------+ Type a column number and press <Enter>. QEdit then moves the cursor to the specified column number. Using Windows ------------- QEdit provides the ability to view different areas of files (either multiple files or the same file) at the same time, through the use of windows. A window is a portion of the screen that allows you to view text. You can divide your screen into as many as eight horizontal windows. You can then view as many as eight different files through these windows or have multiple views of a single file. This capability can be quite helpful for comparing text, copying text, and moving text. An example of a screen split into three windows is shown below. +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | L 1 C 1 IAW 411K *c:\file1 | | | | This window is a view of file number 1 at line number 1. | | This file is being edited with Insert, AutoIndent, and | | WordWrap modes all ON. This file has been updated. | | | | | | | | | | L 483 C 12 IAW 411K *c:\file1 | | | | This window is a view of file number 1 at line number 483. | | | | | | | | | | L 15 C 14 I 411K c:\file2 | | - | | This window is a view of file number 2. | | This file is being edited with Insert mode ON, while | | AutoIndent and WordWrap modes are OFF. This file has not | | been updated. | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ Creating Windows To create a window, use the HorizontalWindow <Ctrl OH> command. The screen will be split into two halves, or windows, each window having its own StatusLine. The cursor will reside in the newly created window, making it the current window. If only one file is being edited, the newly created window will simply be an additional view of the same file. QEdit will not load more than one copy of the same file. If multiple files are being edited, the newly created window will be a view of the next file in the ring. (Refer to the "Multiple Files" section in this chapter.) If desired, you can configure QEdit to prompt for the name of the file to be viewed in the new window instead of the editor automatically selecting the next file in the ring. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. Once the screen has been split into windows, entering the HorizontalWindow command again will affect the current window. All other windows will remain unchanged. Switching Windows When multiple windows are opened, editing will only take place in the current window (the window containing the cursor). For editing text in other windows, two commands are provided to switch from one window to another. * PrevWindow <Ctrl OP> This command moves the cursor to the window above the current window. If the current window is at the top of the screen, the cursor moves to the last window on the screen. * NextWindow <Ctrl ON> This command moves the cursor to the window below the current window. If the current window is at the bottom of the screen, the cursor moves to the first window on the screen. Changing Window Size You can change the size of any window on the screen with the commands below. * GrowWindow <Ctrl OG>, ShrinkWindow <Ctrl OS>, ResizeWindow <Esc><W><R> These commands allow you to change the size of the current window. Upon entering any of these commands, QEdit prompts you to change the size of the window by using the cursor up and cursor down keys. * ZoomWindow <Ctrl OZ> This command causes the current window to fill the entire screen, as all other windows disappear. To restore the screen with all windows, simply press <Ctrl OZ> again. Be careful not to confuse this command with the OneWindow command (see below). OneWindow fills the screen with the current window (like ZoomWindow does), but it also closes all windows except the current one. ZoomWindow leaves the other windows intact, even though they are hidden from view. Closing Windows There are two commands to close windows. * CloseWindow <Ctrl OC> This command closes the current window. The current window disappears and the cursor is placed in the window above the closed window, making it the new current window. When the closed window is at the top of the screen, the window below the closed window becomes the new current window. * OneWindow <Ctrl OO> This command closes all windows except the current window. The current window then fills the entire screen. Note that closing a window does not discard files from the editor. FINDING AND REPLACING TEXT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Finding Text ------------ * Find <Ctrl QF>, RepeatFind <Ctrl L> These commands search for a specific string of characters in the file. Upon entering the Find command, QEdit prompts for the string of characters for which to search. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Search for: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the desired string of characters and press <Enter>. QEdit then prompts for the search options to use. +-------------------------------------------------------------+ |Options [BGLIW] (Back Global Local Ignore-case Whole-words): | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the letter(s) corresponding to the option(s) you want and press <Enter>. The available options are: [B] = Search backward from the current cursor position. When you choose "B", QEdit searches backward from the cursor position toward the beginning of the file. Otherwise, it searches from the cursor position toward the end of the file. [G] = Global search. Begins searching from the beginning of the file, or from the beginning of the marked Block if the [L] option is also selected. [L] = Local search. Limits the search to the currently marked Block. If the cursor is outside the marked Block, or the [G] option is also selected, the search starts at the beginning of the marked Block. Otherwise, the search starts at the current cursor position inside the marked Block. [I] = Ignore the case (capital or lowercase) of the search string. For example, "Hello" would match "hello" if this option is chosen. This option is set ON by default. [W] = Search for whole words only. For example, when this option is chosen, the word "sent" matches only the actual word "sent". Otherwise, any other words that contain the string (such as "sentence" or "absent") would also match. Once the Find command is executed the cursor is placed at the first occurrence of the search string found in the text. To locate subsequent occurrences of the search string, simply enter the RepeatFind command. If you want to search for a string and replace it with another string, refer to the "Replacing Text" section in this chapter. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | The placement of the found text is configurable. It can | | either be placed on the same relative row on which the | | cursor line initially started, or centered. Refer to the | | ToggleCenterFinds command in Chapter 4. On the menus, | | press <Esc><S><C>. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * Match <Alt F3> This is a specialized search command. It acts only on the characters ( ), { }, and [ ]. With the cursor placed on one of these characters, enter the Match command. QEdit locates the logical matching character of the pair. This command can be useful for programming in languages where complicated expressions are grouped using these characters. Replacing Text -------------- QEdit provides the ability to search for specific strings of characters throughout your text and then replace all, some, or none of them with another string of characters. (If you want to search for strings of characters without replacing them, use the Find command.) * FindReplace <Ctrl QA> This command searches for a specific string of characters in the current file, and optionally, replaces it with another string of characters. Upon entering the FindReplace command, QEdit prompts for the string of characters for which to search. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Search For: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the desired string of characters and press <Enter>. QEdit then prompts for a new string of characters (to replace the old string). +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Replace with: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the new string of characters and press <Enter>. QEdit then prompts for the search options you wish to use. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Options [BGLIWN] (Back Global Local Ignore-case Whole-words| |No-prompting): | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | You can also enter a number in the options prompt. This | | instructs QEdit to only change the next "n" number of | | occurrences of the found string. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the letter(s) corresponding to the option(s) you want and press <Enter>. The available options are: [B] = Search backward from the current cursor position. If you choose "B", QEdit searches backward from the cursor position toward the beginning of the file. Otherwise, it searches from the cursor position toward the end of the file. [G] = Global search. Begins searching from the beginning of the file, or from the beginning of the marked Block if the [L] option is also selected. [L] = Local search. Limits the search to the currently marked Block. If the cursor is outside the marked Block, or the [G] option is also selected, the search starts at the beginning of the marked Block. Otherwise, the search starts at the current cursor position inside the marked Block. [I] = Ignore the case (capital or lowercase) of the search string. For example, "Hello" would match "hello" when this option is chosen. This option is set ON by default. [W] = Search for whole words only. For example, when this option is chosen, the word "sent" matches only the actual word "sent". Otherwise, any other words that contain the string (such as "sentence" or "absent") would also match. [N] = Find and replace without prompting. If you choose "N", QEdit finds and replaces every occurrence of the search string, without asking you if you want to replace each individual occurrence. If you select the "No-prompting" option, QEdit finds and replaces every occurrence of the search string with no further User intervention. If you do not select the "No-prompting" option, QEdit prompts at every occurrence of the search string with: +---------------------------------------+ | Replace (Yes/No/Only/Rest/Quit): | +---------------------------------------+ Valid responses are: <Y>es - Replace the search string with the new string and continue to the next occurrence. <N>o - Do not replace the search string, but continue to the next occurrence. <O>nly - Replace the search string with the new string and quit. <R>est - Replace the search string with the new string and replace the rest of the occurrences with no further prompts. <Q>uit - Cancel the FindReplace process. You can press <Ctrl Break> to halt a global FindReplace. * RepeatFind <Ctrl L> This command reissues the previous Find or FindReplace command using the same character strings and options. COPYING, MOVING, CHANGING, AND DELETING TEXT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Block Commands -------------- In this section, we will see how to mark and manipulate Blocks. A Block is some portion of the text file which has been specifically delineated using QEdit's Block-marking commands. We will see how to manipulate Blocks both directly and through the use of intermediate storage areas known as buffers. QEdit contains a rich set of Block commands. There are commands to mark Blocks by lines, columns, and characters. There are commands to copy, move, shift, and delete Blocks. These commands are very useful for transferring text from one file to another. There are also cut-and-paste commands, as well as commands to move Blocks to and from named Scratch Buffers. Marking and Unmarking a Block Before you can manipulate a Block, you must first "mark" the Block. There are four ways of marking a Block in QEdit. The one you choose will depend on the editing situation and what you find most comfortable. * MarkLine <Alt L> This command allows you to mark a Block in whole line increments. In other words, the Block will contain complete lines only and no portions of lines. To use this command place the cursor anywhere on the first line of the text you wish to mark and press <Alt L>. (Notice that the line is immediately marked.) Now, move the cursor (the Block will "follow" the cursor) to the last line of text to be marked and press <Alt L> again. You now have a marked Block, ready for manipulation. * DropAnchor <Alt A> This command allows you to mark a Block one character at a time. In other words, the Block will contain a stream of characters (which can span over multiple lines). To use this command place the cursor over the first character of the text you wish to mark and press <Alt A>. Then begin moving the cursor toward the end of the text to be marked. Notice that the Block "follows" the cursor position. Once the cursor is placed over the last character to be marked, press <Alt A> again. You now have a marked Block, ready for manipulation. * MarkCharacter This command works just like DropAnchor except that while marking the Block, the cursor is not included within the Block. MarkCharacter is provided as a replacement for the DropAnchor command. If you want the cursor position included in character Blocks, then continue to use DropAnchor; otherwise, replace the DropAnchor command with this command in the QCONFIG.DAT file. Refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" section of Chapter 2 for more information on changing QEdit command assignments. * MarkColumn <Alt K> This command allows you to mark one or more columns of text. To use this command place the cursor over the upper left-hand character of the text you wish to mark and press <Alt K>. Then begin moving the cursor to the right and/or downward. Notice that the Block "follows" the cursor position. Once the cursor is placed over the lower right-hand character of the Block, press <Alt K> again. You now have a marked Block, ready for manipulation. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | When using the MarkLine, MarkCharacter, MarkColumn, and | | DropAnchor commands, it is not necessary to mark the end | | of the Block. QEdit will assume the end of the Block to | | be the current cursor position for DropAnchor, | | MarkCharacter, and MarkColumn and the current cursor line | | for MarkLine. Marking the end of the Block is only | | necessary when moving or copying text within the same | | file. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * MarkWord <Ctrl KT> This command allows you to mark the current word. To use this command, place the cursor anywhere in the word you wish to mark and press <Ctrl KT>. The entire word is immediately marked. If there is no word at the current cursor position, then no action is taken. * MarkBlockBegin <Ctrl KB>, MarkBlockEnd <Ctrl KK> This is another method of marking a Block one character at a time. To mark a Block with this command, place the cursor over the first character of the text you wish to mark and press <Ctrl KB>. Then position the cursor one character past the end of the text that is to be marked and press <Ctrl KK>. The Block is now marked and ready for manipulation. * UnmarkBlock <Alt U> Entering the UnmarkBlock command causes the currently marked Block to be unmarked. QEdit allows you to mark one Block at a time. If you mark a Block and then go elsewhere in the file and attempt to mark another Block, QEdit will simply extend the first Block by including all the text between the original Block and the current cursor position. If you mark a Block in one file and then go to another file and mark a Block, QEdit will automatically unmark the Block in the first file. Also, if you mix types of Block marking, by entering MarkLine followed by DropAnchor or vice-versa, QEdit will mark the Block according to the last command entered. Manipulating Blocks Directly QEdit provides several ways to manipulate a marked Block. The following commands act directly on a marked Block. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | When Copying or Moving Blocks: | | | | Blocks marked using the DropAnchor, MarkCharacter, | | MarkColumn, and MarkBlockBegin/End commands will always | | be inserted beginning at the current cursor position. | | | | Blocks marked using the MarkLine command will be inserted | | at either the line before or the line after the current | | cursor line. Refer to the "General Options" section of | | Chapter 2 for more information. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * CopyBlock <Alt C> This command makes a copy of the marked Block and inserts it where you indicate. You can insert this copy of the Block at some other place in the same file or in another file. The original Block of text, from which you made the copy, is not affected. To use this command, first mark the Block as described above. Next, move the cursor to the position in the file where you wish to insert the marked text. (Or, if you have multiple files loaded and wish to copy text from one file to another, use the NextFile, PrevFile or EditFile commands to get a new current file and likewise position the cursor.) Now enter the CopyBlock <Alt C> command. The Block will be inserted at the new position. You may notice, after you use CopyBlock, that the newly inserted Block of text is now marked and the original Block is unmarked. To unmark the copied Block, enter the UnmarkBlock command. QEdit provides an easy method for copying the same Block repeatedly. Refer to the Copy and Paste commands in the following section for more information. * CopyOverBlock <Alt Z> This command is for use with column Blocks only. It works just like CopyBlock except the Block is copied to the current cursor position by overlaying existing text and without shifting text to the right. * MoveBlock <Alt M> This command works exactly like CopyBlock with one exception: upon entering the MoveBlock <Alt M> command, the originally marked Block is deleted from the file. As with the CopyBlock command, you can move a Block to another part of the same file or from one file to another. QEdit provides an easy method for deleting a Block from its original position and inserting it repeatedly at other positions. Refer to the Cut and Paste commands in the following section for more information. * DeleteBlock <Alt G> This command simply deletes a marked Block of text from the file. To use this command, first mark a Block of text to be deleted, then enter the DeleteBlock command. The marked text will be deleted from the file. (Deleted Blocks will be placed in the Kill buffer. Refer to "The Kill Buffer - A Safety Net" section in this chapter for more information.) * ShiftLeft <Shift F7>, ShiftRight <Shift F8> These commands allow the User to shift text contained in a Block to the left or right. To use these commands, first mark a Block. Now enter ShiftLeft or ShiftRight. The entire marked Block of text will be shifted one column to the left or right respectively. If there is no marked Block of text or the cursor is outside of the marked Block, the current cursor line will be shifted. This command is very useful for changing indentation for portions of text or source code. * FillBlock <Ctrl KL> This command allows you to fill a marked Block with a single character. Manipulating Blocks Using Scrap Buffers QEdit provides an extremely helpful device for quickly manipulating Blocks of text. This device consists of a Scrap Buffer and several QEdit commands which act on the Scrap Buffer. The Scrap Buffer is a temporary holding area for marked Blocks of text. The commands Cut, Copy, Paste, and PasteOver are used solely for placing text into the Scrap Buffer and copying text from the Scrap Buffer. When you issue a Copy or Cut command (discussed in the following section), the marked Block is placed into the Scrap Buffer. The next time you Copy or Cut a Block into the Scrap Buffer, the previous contents of the Scrap Buffer are deleted and replaced with the new Block. You can repeatedly use the Paste and PasteOver commands as many times as needed to insert a copy of the Block held in the Scrap Buffer at multiple positions in your file or files. The Paste and PasteOver commands do not purge the contents of the Scrap Buffer. * Copy <Grey +> and Paste <Grey *> or PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> To copy a section of text from its present position and insert it somewhere else: 1. Mark the text using the Block marking commands. 2. Enter Copy <Grey +>. This places a copy of the marked text into the Scrap Buffer. 3. If you want to insert the text somewhere else within the same file, use the cursor movement commands to place the cursor where you wish to insert the text. 4. If you want to insert the text in another file, switch to that file using the NextFile, PrevFile, or EditFile command to access that file. Then place the cursor at the desired position. 5. Enter Paste <Grey *> to insert the text. If you have copied a column Block into the Scrap Buffer and wish to insert it by overlaying existing text then use PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> instead of Paste. Since Paste and PasteOver leave the contents of the Scrap Buffer intact, you can make multiple insertions in the same or different files. Simply move the cursor to the file and position where you wish to make additional insertions and enter Paste <Grey *> or PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc>. Please note that the next time you issue a Cut or Copy command, the previous contents of the Scrap Buffer will be discarded. * Cut <Grey -> and Paste <Grey *> or PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> Cut and Paste/PasteOver work exactly like Copy and Paste/PasteOver except that Cut will delete the marked Block from the file. You can still make multiple insertions of the text using the Paste or PasteOver Commands. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | QEdit can be configured to have the Cut and Copy commands | | act on the current cursor line if no Block is marked. | | Refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2 for | | more information. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Manipulating Blocks Using Scratch Buffers A Scratch Buffer is a special type of buffer to which you assign a name. QEdit allows you to create and name up to 99 Scratch Buffers for each editing session. These can be useful if you have several different Blocks of text that you want to insert in multiple locations. The commands StoreScrbuff <Ctrl BS>, AppendScrbuff <Ctrl BA>, and GetScrbuff <Ctrl BL> are used to place text in, and retrieve text from, a Scratch Buffer. Whenever you issue one of these commands, QEdit will ask you for the name of the Scratch Buffer. If you want to use an already created scratch buffer, and do not remember the name, just press <Enter> on an empty prompt (press the DelLine key to quickly remove any text in a prompt) and a list of existing Scratch Buffers will be shown, allowing you to select the appropriate one. Finally, you can remove a Scratch Buffer, if it is no longer needed, with the DelScratchBuff <Ctrl BD> command. The contents of all Scratch Buffers are discarded when the editor is terminated. * StoreScrbuff <Ctrl BS>, AppendScrbuff <Ctrl BA> To place a Block of text into a named buffer: 1. Mark the Block. 2. If you want to create a new Scratch Buffer containing the marked Block, execute StoreScrbuff <Ctrl BS>. (This command is also used if you wish to replace the current contents of a Scratch Buffer with the marked Block.) If you want to append the marked Block to the current contents of the Scratch Buffer, execute AppendScrbuff <Ctrl BA>. 3. QEdit prompts for the name of the Scratch Buffer. +---------------------------------------------------------+ |Store (Append) to buffer: | | | +---------------------------------------------------------+ 4. Enter a name. It is best to use a name which reflects the contents of the buffer and is easily remembered. Or press <Enter> to get a list of existing Scratch Buffers, if you cannot remember the name and want to use an existing Buffer. The Block is now stored in a Scratch Buffer under the assigned name. * GetScrbuff <Ctrl BL> To retrieve the contents of a named Scratch Buffer and insert it at the current cursor position: 1. Position the cursor where you wish the contents of the named Scratch Buffer to be inserted. 2. Enter GetScrbuff <Ctrl BL>. QEdit prompts for the name of the Scratch Buffer to be retrieved. +-------------------------------------------------------+ |Get from buffer: | | | +-------------------------------------------------------+ 3. Enter the name of the desired Scratch Buffer, or press <Enter> to choose from a list of existing Scratch Buffers. 4. Repeat the above steps whenever you want to insert the contents of a Scratch Buffer into your text. Examples of Block Commands This section contains examples of commonly used Block Commands. * Copying or moving a Block within the same file. 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the Block to be copied or moved. 2. Enter DropAnchor <Alt A> to mark a stream of characters, or MarkLine <Alt L> to mark whole lines, or MarkColumn <Alt K> to mark a column of text. 3. Position the cursor at the end of the Block to be copied or moved. 4. Enter DropAnchor, MarkLine, or MarkColumn again to mark the end of the Block. 5. Move the cursor to the location where you want to insert the marked Block. 6. Enter CopyBlock <Alt C>, CopyOverBlock <Alt Z> (column Blocks only), or MoveBlock <Alt M>. 7. Enter UnmarkBlock <Alt U> to unmark the Block. The Block has now been copied or moved. * Copying or moving a Block to another file. 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the Block to be copied or moved. 2. Enter DropAnchor <Alt A> to mark a stream of characters, or MarkLine <Alt L> to mark whole lines, or MarkColumn <Alt K> to mark a column of text. 3. Position the cursor at the end of the Block to be copied or moved. 4. Switch to the "target" file using the file commands EditFile, NextFile, or PrevFile. 5. Move the cursor to the location in the file where you want to insert the marked Block. 6. Enter CopyBlock <Alt C>, CopyOverBlock <Alt Z> (column Blocks only), or MoveBlock <Alt M>. 7. Enter UnmarkBlock <Alt U> to unmark the Block. The Block has now been copied or moved. * Copying or moving a Block for multiple insertions in the same file. If you want to insert the same Block at several positions within a file, follow these steps: 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the Block to be copied or moved. 2. Enter DropAnchor <Alt A> to mark a stream of characters, or MarkLine <Alt L> to mark whole lines, or MarkColumn <Alt K> to mark a column of text. 3. Position the cursor at the end of the Block to be copied or moved. 4. If you want to leave the Block in its original position and insert copies of it at other locations, then enter Copy <Grey +>. If you want to delete the Block from its original position and insert copies of it at other locations, then enter Cut <Grey ->. The Block is now stored in the Scrap Buffer. 5. Move the cursor to the location in the file where you want to insert the Block. 6. Enter Paste <Grey *> or PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> (column Blocks only). The Block is now inserted. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each additional insertion. * Copying or moving a Block for multiple insertions in more than one file. If you want to insert the same Block at several positions in more than one file, follow these steps: 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the Block to be copied or moved. 2. Enter DropAnchor <Alt A> to mark a stream of characters, or MarkLine <Alt L> to mark whole lines, or MarkColumn <Alt K> to mark a column of text. 3. Position the cursor at the end of the Block to be copied or moved. 4. If you want to leave the Block in its original position and insert copies of it at other locations, then enter Copy <Grey +>. If you want to delete the Block from its original position and insert copies of it at other locations, then enter Cut <Grey ->. The Block is now stored in the Scrap Buffer. 5. Switch to the "target" file using the file commands EditFile, NextFile, or PrevFile. 6. Move the cursor to the location in the file where you want to insert the Block. 7. Enter Paste <Grey *> or PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> (column Blocks only). The Block is now inserted. Repeat steps 5-7 for each additional insertion. * Copying multiple Blocks for insertion in one or more files. If you have several Blocks that you want to insert in several different files, follow these steps: 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the first Block. 2. Enter DropAnchor <Alt A> to mark a stream of characters, or MarkLine <Alt L> to mark whole lines, or MarkColumn <Alt K> to mark a column of text. 3. Position the cursor at the end of the first Block. 4. Enter AppendScrbuff <Ctrl BA> if you want to append to an existing Scratch Buffer. Otherwise, enter StoreScrbuff <Ctrl BS> to create or overwrite an existing Scratch Buffer. 5. QEdit will prompt for the name of the buffer. Enter a name. (It is best to use a name which reflects the contents of the buffer and is easily remembered). The Block is now stored in a Scratch Buffer under the assigned name. Repeat steps 1-5 for each additional Block you want to store. 6. Switch to the "target" file using the file commands EditFile, NextFile, or PrevFile. 7. Move the cursor to the location in the file where you want to insert a Block. 8. Enter GetScrbuff <Ctrl BL>. QEdit will prompt for the name of the Scratch Buffer. Enter the name of the desired Scratch Buffer for insertion. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for each insertion of a stored Block. Non-Block Commands ------------------ In addition to QEdit's array of Block commands, there are also many commands for manipulating your text which do not depend on marked Blocks. This section explains non-Block commands. Adding Text * AddLine <F2> As its name implies, this command inserts a blank line in the text. The line is added immediately below the current cursor line. The cursor is moved to the new line. The cursor column does not change. * InsertLine <Alt F2> This command inserts a blank line in the text above the cursor line. The cursor remains on the new line and the cursor column does not change. * Literal <Ctrl P> The Literal command is used to insert control characters into the text. To use this command, enter <Ctrl P> followed by a control character. The control character will be inserted into the text. For example, to insert a formfeed character (ASCII 12) in the text, enter <Ctrl P> <Ctrl L>. This command is handy for entering the control characters represented by ASCII decimal values 1 through 26. Simply enter <Ctrl P> followed by <Ctrl A> for ASCII character 1, or <Ctrl B> for ASCII character 2 and so on, up to <Ctrl Z> for ASCII character 26. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | An alternate and perhaps easier method of entering | | control characters or any ASCII character into your text | | is to hold down the <Alt> key and enter the decimal | | equivalent of the ASCII character using the numeric | | keypad. For example, to insert a formfeed character | | (ASCII 12) in the text, just enter <Alt 12> using the | | numeric keypad. | | | | If a linefeed character (ASCII 10) is entered, QEdit will | | split the line at this position the next time the file is | | edited. | | | | Another method for entering ASCII characters into the | | text is to use the AsciiChart command, described below. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * AsciiChart <Esc><O><T> Displays a scrollable ASCII chart on the screen. Press <Enter> to have the selected character inserted into the text at the current cursor position. * ToggleBoxDraw <Shift F1> This is a specialized command which is really a mode of operation that can be switched ON or OFF. If switched ON, the cursor movement keys (up, down, right, left) can be used to "draw" lines in the text. This can be very useful for creating graphs and tables. To switch Box Drawing mode ON, enter <Shift F1>. To switch OFF, enter <Shift F1> again. * ToggleEnterMatching <Esc><O><E> This is also a specialized command which is really a mode of operation that can be switched ON or OFF. If switched ON, QEdit will automatically insert into the text a corresponding ), ], or " character each time a (, [, or " character, respectively, is entered. To switch EnterMatching mode ON, enter <Esc><O><E>. To switch OFF, enter <Esc><O><E> again. Copying Text * GetPrev <Ctrl - (dash)> This command copies the character directly above the cursor onto the cursor line. To get an idea of how this command works, place the cursor at the beginning of any line which has text on the line immediately above it. Now press <Ctrl - (dash)> and hold it down. The cursor will move to the right while copying the the characters from the line above. * DupLine <F4> This command simply makes a copy of the current cursor line and inserts this copy on the line immediately below the cursor line. The cursor is placed on the new line. * Copy <Grey +>, Paste <Grey *> Refer to the "Block Commands" section in this chapter for a complete explanation of these commands. The commands are included here because, if desired, the User can configure QEdit so that these commands act on the current cursor line in the same manner in which they act on Blocks. For more information on how to configure this option, refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2. Moving Text * Align This command lines up the left-most character of the cursor line with the left-most character of the line above it. This allows you to align portions of text which require a common left margin. This command also moves the cursor down one line; thus, large portions of text can be aligned very quickly by entering this command and holding the command key down. * JoinLine <Alt J> This command will join the following line to the end of the current line. The cursor position does not change. If the cursor is positioned on or before the last non-blank character of the line, the line below will be appended immediately following the last non-blank character. If the cursor is positioned beyond the last non-blank character of the line, the line below will be appended beginning at the current cursor position. If the line below the cursor line is blank, the blank line will be deleted. * SplitLine <Alt S> This command will split the current line at the cursor position. The cursor position will not change. * Return <Enter> Before reading the explanation of the Return command, it may be helpful to review the discussion of Insert mode in the "Modes" section in this chapter. If the editor is in Insert mode, this command performs like the SplitLine command; that is, all text on and to the right of the cursor on the cursor line will be deleted and inserted on a new line immediately below the cursor line. The cursor, however, will be placed on the new line. If the editor is not in Insert mode, this command will simply place the cursor at the beginning of the line below the cursor line. No text will be affected. If the editor is in AutoIndent mode, the cursor will be placed at the left margin instead of at the beginning of the line. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | QEdit can be configured so that the Return command does | | not split lines in Insert mode. Refer to the "Advanced | | Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * Cut <Grey ->, Paste <Grey *> Refer to the "Block Commands" section in this chapter for a complete explanation of these commands. The commands are included here because, if desired, the User can configure QEdit so that these commands act on the current cursor line in the same manner in which they act on Blocks. For more information on how to configure this option, refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2. * ShiftLeft <Shift F7>, ShiftRight <Shift F8> Refer to the "Block Commands" section in this chapter for a complete explanation of these commands. The commands are included here because, if there is no marked Block in the text, these commands will act on the current cursor line. Deleting And Undeleting Text * Backspace <Backspace>, DelLtWord <Ctrl Backspace> If Insert mode is ON, the Backspace command deletes the character to the left of the cursor. The text to the right of the cursor is pulled behind the cursor as it moves to the left. If the cursor is in column one and you enter Backspace, the cursor line is appended to the line immediately above. If Insert mode is OFF, the Backspace command works the same as above except the text to the right of the cursor is not pulled behind the cursor as it moves left. The DelLtWord command is a backspace for "words". It works just like the Backspace command, except that it deletes all characters from the cursor to the beginning of the previous word. * DelCh <Del>, DelRtWord <Ctrl T> DelCh will delete the character at the cursor position and pull the text to the right of the cursor, one column to the left. If the cursor position is to the right of the last non-blank character on the cursor line, the line immediately below will be appended to the cursor line. The DelRtWord command is a character delete for "words". It works just like the DelCh command, except that it deletes all characters from the cursor to the beginning of the following word. * DelToEol <F6> This command deletes the character at the cursor position and all text to the right of the cursor on the current cursor line. The cursor position does not change. * DelLine <Alt D> This command deletes the current cursor line from the text. All text below the deleted line is shifted up one line. * UndoCursorline <Ctrl QL> This command allows you to reverse any changes you have made to the cursor line. This can be helpful if you accidentally delete or change part of a line, or you just change your mind and want the cursor line back the way it was. This command must be issued before the cursor is moved from the current cursor line and before any file or window commands are entered. Changes made using the FindReplace command cannot be reversed with this command. * UnKill <Ctrl U> This command allows you to retrieve text that has been deleted by the DeleteBlock, DelLine, DelRtWord, or DelToEol commands. Refer to "The Kill Buffer - A Safety Net" section in this chapter for a complete explanation of the use of this command. Changing Case * Upper <Alt 1> This command changes the current character to its upper-case equivalent. If the cursor is in a Block when invoked, all characters in the Block are upper-cased. * Lower <Alt 2> This command changes the current character to its lower-case equivalent. If the cursor is in a Block when invoked, all characters in the Block are lower-cased. * Flip <Alt 3> This command flips the case of the current character. If the cursor is in a Block when invoked, all characters in the Block are flipped. Sorting QEdit allows you to sort a range of lines, using a column Block as the key upon which the sort is based. In order to use the Sort feature, mark a column Block indicating the key on which to sort, and then press <Shift F3>. The Sort can be configured (either interactively or by using the configuration program, QCONFIG) to ignore or respect case, and to sort in ascending or descending order. * Sort <Shift F3> or <Esc><S> Sorts all the lines spanned by a column Block, using the column Block as the sort key. * ToggleSortCaseInSensitive <Esc> Toggles sort case sensitivity ON or OFF. Set this option ON to have the Sort command ignore the case of characters when sorting; set this option OFF to have the Sort command respect upper/lower case. * ToggleSortDescending <Esc><N> Toggles the sort order between ascending and descending. Set this option OFF to sort in ascending order; set this option ON to sort in descending order. The Kill Buffer - A Safety Net ------------------------------ QEdit maintains a temporary storage area for deleted text. This provides the User a safeguard against incorrectly or inadvertently deleting text. This recovery mechanism is automatically in effect when QEdit is running. No action is required from the User until there is a need to recover deleted text. The temporary storage area is called the Kill Buffer. QEdit will place into the Kill Buffer text which has been deleted by these commands: DeleteBlock <Alt G> DelLine <Alt D> DelRtWord <Ctrl T> DelToEol <F6> To understand how the Kill Buffer works and how text is recovered from the Kill Buffer, refer to the illustration below. The Kill Buffer Entry Command Number Entered Buffer Contents top +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | 4 | DelToEol | part of this line was deleted. | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | 3 | DelRtWord | word (1 word deleted) | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | 2 | DelLine | This entire line was deleted. | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | 1 | DelLine | This entire line was deleted. | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | empty | | | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ | empty | | | +-------+------------+--------------------------------+ bottom Each time one of the text deletion commands is used, a new entry is made in the Kill Buffer. In the above example, four deletion commands have been issued. The text from these four commands has been stored in the Kill Buffer from top to bottom. In other words, when the DelToEol command was issued (entry #4), the first three entries were pushed toward the bottom of the Kill Buffer and the newly deleted text was entered at the top. In the example, the Kill Buffer has enough room for six entries. When a seventh entry is made, the oldest entry, or entry number one, will be discarded from the Kill Buffer. Once discarded from the Kill Buffer, that text can no longer be recovered. To recover deleted text, the UnKill <Ctrl U> command is used. Each time the UnKill command is issued the most recent entry (the "top" entry of the Kill Buffer) is retrieved and restored to the file. This entry is then deleted from the Kill Buffer, and all remaining entries move toward the top of the buffer by one position. In the example, the first time the UnKill command is issued, entry #4 will be recovered. Next, entry #3 will be recovered, and so on. Thus, recovering deleted text follows the rule of LIFO (last in, first out). The last entry of deleted text will be the first one recovered and the first entry of deleted text will be the last one recovered. Here are some additional items of which to be aware regarding the Kill Buffer and its uses. * A separate Kill Buffer is maintained for each file loaded into QEdit. The Kill Buffer for each file exists only as long as the file is loaded. * The default size of the Kill Buffer is 30 entries. This may be changed using the QEdit configuration program. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. * The text deleted using the DelLine, DelRtWord, and DelToEol commands will take up one entry in the Kill Buffer each time the commands are executed. The text deleted using the DeleteBlock command will take up as many entries as there are lines in the Block. It is important to note that regardless of how large the Kill Buffer is configured to be, it may be possible to mark and delete a Block in the file which is larger than the buffer. If this situation arises, QEdit will save the deleted text in the Kill Buffer from the bottom up. For example, if a marked Block is 200 lines long and five lines too large for the Kill Buffer, then the top five lines of the Block will not be loaded into the Kill Buffer. * When issuing the UnKill command to recover deleted text, deleted lines will be inserted immediately before the current cursor line, and deleted words will be inserted immediately before the current cursor position. MACROS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit provides a helpful facility for creating macros, allowing you to simplify and automate editing tasks and to more fully customize the editor. Macros can be created as simple Keyboard Macros, by having the editor record a series of keystrokes as they are entered from the keyboard. More versatile macros can be created by assigning a series of editing and macro commands to specific keys within QEdit's Keyboard Definition file (QCONFIG.DAT). To create even more complex macros, QMac (QEdit's external macro facility) can be used. For more information about creating and using macros within QEdit, refer to Chapter 3, "QEdit Macro Reference." PRINTING ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit allows you to print either your entire current file or a portion of the current file. To print the entire current file, enter the PrintAll <Alt P><A> command. The entire current file is printed. To print a portion of the current file, first mark the portion of the file to be printed using the Block-marking commands. (Refer to the "Block Commands" section in this chapter.) Next, enter the PrintBlock <Alt P> command. Only the marked Block portion of the file is printed. Print Formatting ---------------- QEdit contains various commands to make printing easier and more useful. There are commands to set the left margin, the top margin, and the bottom margin; to specify the number of lines per page; to indicate the output destination; to select single-, double-, or triple-spacing; and to indicate whether you want to print line numbers. * SetPrintLeftMargin <Alt P><L> or <Esc><L> This command specifies the number of blank spaces to be used as a left margin. Valid values are zero to 200. * SetPrintPageSize <Alt P> or <Esc> This command specifies the number of lines to be printed on each page. Valid values are zero to 200. A value of zero instructs QEdit to print continuously without page breaks. * SetPrintTopMargin <Alt P><T> or <Esc><T> This command specifies the number of lines printed at the top of each page before the text is printed. Valid values are zero to 200. If the print page size is zero, the editor treats the document as one page and the top margin is ignored for all pages except the first printed page. * SetPrintBotMargin <Alt P><O> or <Esc><O> This command specifies the number of lines left blank at the bottom of each page. Valid values are zero to 200. If the print page size is zero, this command has no effect. * SetPrintDevice <Alt P><D> or <Esc><D> This command identifies the print output destination. Choices are PRN, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, or any valid DOS filename (for printing to disk). * SetPrintLineSpacing <Alt P><S> or <Esc><S> This command indicates the number of lines to advance for each new line of text to be printed. Valid values are 1 to 200. A value of 1 signifies single-spaced output, 2 signifies double-spaced output, etc. * TogglePrintLineNumbers <Alt P><N> or <Esc><N> This command determines whether line numbers are printed. Set this option ON to have file line numbers printed at the beginning of each line; set this option OFF if you do not want line numbers added to the print output. * TogglePrintPause <Alt P> or <Esc> This command determines whether the editor suspends printing between pages. To have QEdit pause after each page is sent to the printer, set this option ON. (For this option to operate effectively, the print page size must be set to an appropriate value greater than 0. Refer to SetPrintPageSize in this section.) The editor then requires a keypress after every page is printed before continuing. This allows you to manually feed paper to the printer, one sheet at a time. Set this option OFF for the editor to automatically send each subsequent page to the printer without pausing. Formfeeds --------- QEdit automatically sends a formfeed character (ASCII 12) to the printer at the end of each page. A page is determined according to the value of SetPrintPageSize (refer to the previous section). At times you may find it desirable to insert formfeed characters directly into your text. For example, you want the page size for your text to be 55 lines, which you have set using the SetPrintPageSize command, but there is a 15-line table in the text that should appear on a page by itself. To accomplish this, simply insert formfeed characters immediately before and after the table. To insert a formfeed character in the text, enter the Literal <Ctrl P> command followed by a formfeed <Ctrl L> character. Alternatively, you can insert a formfeed character by holding down the <Alt> key and typing "12" on the alternate numeric keypad. (You can also use the built-in ASCII-chart feature to insert a formfeed character. Refer to the AsciiChart command in the section "Adding Text" of this chapter.) If you need to insert formfeed characters into your text repeatedly, you may want to use a macro. An example of a macro to insert formfeed characters can be found in the "Example of a Keyboard Macro" section of Chapter 3. It is also possible, from within QEdit, to send a formfeed character directly to the printer, causing the printer to eject a page. To do this, simply execute the PrintEject <Alt P><F> command. THE SHELL AND DOS COMMANDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (For the following discussion, "Dos" is a QEdit command, while "DOS" refers to the computer's operating system.) QEdit provides two very helpful commands that allow you to interact with DOS from within the editor. The commands, Shell and Dos, allow you to perform most functions that you would normally execute from the DOS command line, then return you to your original position in the editor. QEdit also has an option which frees up memory when executing the Shell and Dos commands. For details, see "Swapping, [QE] Shell Indicator" later in this section. * Shell <F9> This command should be used when executing multiple DOS commands. Upon executing the Shell command, control is passed to DOS. The DOS prompt appears on the screen, just as if no other programs were running. You may now enter most DOS commands. (Some exceptions are noted below.) Once you have entered all the desired DOS commands, simply type "exit" and press <Enter>, and control passes back to QEdit. You are then positioned in the file exactly where you were when the Shell command was executed. * Dos <Alt F9> This command should be used when executing a single DOS command. Upon executing this command, QEdit prompts with: +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Execute what: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ You may now enter almost any DOS command. (Some exceptions are noted below.) Once the DOS command has completed, pressing any key causes control to pass back to QEdit. You should not execute any TSR programs (programs that terminate but remain resident in your computer) from the Shell or Dos commands. For example, the DOS PRINT and GRAPHICS commands are TSR programs. If you mistakenly execute a TSR program from QEdit's Shell or Dos command, the computer's memory allocation scheme will probably become fragmented, and as a result, QEdit's available memory may become severely limited. You should save your files, terminate QEdit, and then reboot the computer. Swapping, [QE] Shell Indicator ------------------------------ The QEdit Dos and Shell commands can optionally swap QEdit out to disk or expanded memory leaving only a 2K kernel in memory. This allows much more memory for running memory-hungry programs (such as compilers) from within QEdit. You can set this option by default using the configuration program (Advanced Options), or you can toggle it ON and OFF using the ToggleSwap command. While in a shell with swapping ON, QEdit will maintain a file with a ".SWP" file extension in your root directory. It is very important that you do not delete this file while in the shell. Once in the shell, QEdit will optionally append "[QE]" to the DOS prompt string, provided that: 1) You have defined the prompt environment variable. 2) There is enough space left in the environment. 3) You have set the "Change DOS PROMPT during a Shell" option to [Y]es via the configuration program. (For more information, refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2.) If you have NOT defined the prompt environment variable, then we suggest you do so. It is helpful with DOS command line operations in general. A suggested prompt is (this should go in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file): set prompt=$p $t $g If you do have a prompt string defined, but you do not get the "[QE]" prompt in the QEdit shell, add the following to your AUTOEXEC.BAT: set x=x WORD-PROCESSING COMMANDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit has all the features you need to do basic word processing. In addition to the commands which enable you to view and edit your text (discussed in previous sections), QEdit provides word-wrapping, paragraph-reformatting capabilities, and a line-centering command. QEdit also contains commands for changing case and for filling a Block. Refer to the sections in this chapter on "Changing Case" and "Manipulating Blocks Directly," respectively, for more information on these two functions. * The Right Margin To benefit from the word-wrap and paragraph-reformatting features of QEdit, an appropriate right margin must first be set. The default setting is column 72. This may be changed using the configuration program. (Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for instructions on how to change the right margin setting.) The value of the right margin is used each time the editor is initiated. QEdit provides the ability to change the right margin setting temporarily while the editor is running without affecting the permanent setting. To change the right margin setting temporarily, execute the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command. QEdit prompts with: +------------------------------------+ |Right margin [1..1000]: | | | +------------------------------------+ Enter the desired column number for the right margin. The new setting is in effect until the SetRmargin command is executed again or the next time the editor is initiated. WordWrap mode (see below) is automatically switched ON whenever the right margin is set using this command. * WordWrap WordWrap is a QEdit mode which can be switched ON and OFF using the ToggleWordwrap <Ctrl OW> command. When switched ON, this mode causes the cursor to advance automatically to the next line as text is entered. The cursor advances to the next line based on the right margin, which is set using the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command (see above). Once the cursor reaches the right margin and a non-blank character is typed, the cursor, along with the word (that is, any continuous string of non-blank characters) currently being typed, will be advanced to the next line. The cursor does not advance to the next line if the current line does not contain at least one space. * Paragraph Reformatting The WrapPara <Alt B> command reformats text from the current cursor position to the next blank line or the end of the file. The right-hand side of the text is reformatted based on the right margin. The right margin is set using the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command (see above). The left-hand side of the text is reformatted based on AutoIndent mode. If AutoIndent mode is switched OFF, the left margin is column one. If AutoIndent mode is switched ON, the first non-blank character on the line immediately AFTER the cursor line is used for the left margin. Using the line AFTER the cursor line allows for special indentation for the first line of a paragraph. (For more information on AutoIndent mode, refer to the "Modes" section of this chapter.) * CenterLine <Ctrl OT> Centers the current cursor line based on column 1 and the right margin. Use the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command to change the right margin (see above). With the cursor inside of a line Block, you can execute this command to center several lines at once. With the cursor inside of a column Block, you can center lines based on the left and right Block boundaries. MODES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit uses modes to affect the operation of the editor. In general, a QEdit mode is a state during which certain commands or keystrokes behave differently. Following is an explanation of the QEdit modes. * Insert mode Insert mode can be switched ON and OFF by pressing the <Ins> key. When Insert mode is ON, an "I" appears on the StatusLine. The following table describes the commands and keystrokes which are affected by Insert mode. Command/ Keystroke Insert ON Insert OFF ----------- ---------------------- ---------------------- Characters, Shifts text to right Overwrites existing Space of cursor, one column text. to the right. Backspace Deletes character/word Deletes character/word to left of cursor. Text to left of cursor. Text to right of cursor to right of cursor does shifts left one column. not shift. Return Splits line at cursor Does not split line. position. Cursor moves Cursor moves to next to next line. line. TabLt, Tabs cursor and shifts Tabs cursor only. TabRt text same number of positions. * AutoIndent mode AutoIndent mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleIndent <Ctrl QI> command. This mode, when ON, positions the cursor at the current left margin (This is not the same as the print left margin.) whenever the <Enter> key is pressed. The current left margin is determined by the first non-blank character on the immediately preceding line. When AutoIndent mode is ON, an "A" appears on the StatusLine. The following table describes the commands and keystrokes which are affected by AutoIndent mode. Command/ Keystroke AutoIndent ON AutoIndent OFF --------- -------------------------- ------------------------ Return Cursor positioned below Cursor positioned at first non-blank character column one. of previous line. WrapPara When reformatting, the left A left margin of zero is margin is determined from used when reformatting. the first non-blank character on the line immediately following the cursor line. * C mode This mode is specifically for "C" language programming. It is switched ON and OFF using the configuration program. (Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for information on switching C mode ON and OFF.) C mode is only in effect when AutoIndent mode is also ON. C mode, when switched ON, affects files with a ".c", ".cpp", ".cxx", ".h", ".hpp", or ".hxx", file extension. When the current cursor line contains a "{" and the <Enter> key is pressed, QEdit issues a normal Return followed by a TabRt command. Additionally, when a "}" character is entered, QEdit first issues a TabLt command and then enters the "}" character. * WordWrap mode WordWrap mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleWordwrap <Ctrl OW> command. When switched ON, this mode causes the cursor to advance to the next line automatically as text is entered. The cursor advances to the next line based on the right margin, which is set using the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command. Once the cursor reaches the right margin and a non-blank character is typed, the cursor, along with the word (i.e., any continuous string of non-blank characters) currently being typed, is advanced to the next line. The cursor does not advance to the next line if the current line does not contain at least one space. When WordWrap mode is ON, a "W" appears on the StatusLine. * BackUp mode BackUp mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleBakups <Esc><O> command. When BackUp Mode is switched ON, QEdit creates a backup copy (using the .bak file extension) for any file that is edited and saved. The backup copy of the file is an image of the file before it was last edited and saved. When BackUp mode is OFF, no backup files are created. * MacroRecord mode MacroRecord mode is switched ON and OFF using the MacroRecord <Ctrl M> command. This mode, when ON, records and assigns a series of commands and keystrokes to a designated key (or scrap area). This creates a Keyboard Macro. For a complete explanation of macros and their use, refer to Chapter 3, "QEdit Macro Reference." When MacroRecord mode is ON, an "R" appears on the StatusLine. * EnterMatching mode EnterMatching mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleEnterMatching <Esc><O><E> command. If switched ON, QEdit automatically inserts into the text a corresponding ), ], or " character each time a (, [, or " character, respectively, is entered. * Box Drawing mode Box Drawing mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleBoxDraw <Shift F1> command. If switched ON, the cursor movement keys (up, down, right, left) can be used to "draw" lines in the text. This can be very useful for creating charts and tables. The ToggleBoxType command allows you to select different line drawing styles. When Box Drawing mode is ON, a "B" appears on the StatusLine. * Fixed Tabs mode Fixed Tabs mode is selected using the SetTabType <Esc><O><Y> command. If selected, the TabRt and TabLt commands move the cursor to the next (or previous) tabstop as defined by the value of the cursor tab width (set by the SetCtabwidth <Esc><O><C> command). * Smart Tabs mode Smart Tabs mode is selected using the SetTabType <Esc><O><Y> command. If selected, the TabRt and TabLt commands place the cursor beneath the first character of the next (or previous) word on the first nonblank line preceding the current cursor line. * Variable Tabs mode Variable Tabs mode is selected using the SetTabType <Esc><O><Y> command. If selected, the TabRt and TabLt commands move the cursor to the next (or previous) tabstop as defined by the variable tab stops (set by the SetVarTabStops <Esc><O><V> command). Note that all of the supported tab modes may be set via the Tab type menu (<Esc><O><Y>). * Physical Tab Expansion mode Physical Tab Expansion mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleTabsExpand <Alt V> command. If switched ON, physical tab characters (ASCII 9) found in a file are expanded into spaces according to the Physical Tab Width set in the configuration program. (Refer to the "Tab Settings" section of Chapter 2.) If switched OFF, physical tabs are displayed on the screen and a physical tab character is placed in the text each time the TabRt command is executed. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | In general, Physical Tab Expansion mode should always be | | set ON. You would only want to set it OFF if you are | | editing binary or data files that contain or require | | physical tabs. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * Tabs Out mode Tabs Out mode is switched ON and OFF using the ToggleTabsOut <Alt I> command. If switched ON, continuous spaces in a line of text are replaced with physical tabs (ASCII 9) according to the Physical Tab Width set in the configuration program. (Refer to the "Tab Settings" section of Chapter 2.) Spaces falling between single or double quotes are not replaced. CHAPTER 2. CUSTOMIZING QEDIT ====================================================================== QEdit provides a configuration capability that allows the User to customize the editor to suit individual preferences. There are a wide range of options which may be customized including key assignments, colors, tab settings, and printer options. Of course, customizing QEdit is not a requirement. If you like the editor exactly the way it is, it is not necessary to use the configuration program. The configuration program is QCONFIG.EXE and is included on the distribution diskette, along with the other QEdit files. The configuration program customizes QEdit by actually modifying the editor program itself - Q.EXE. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Before running the configuration program, make a backup | | copy of the original QEdit distribution disk. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ INITIATING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To initiate the configuration program, type "qconfig" from the DOS command line, and press <Enter>. The program displays a prompt to request the name of the editor program to customize. Following is the prompt that is issued by the configuration program for QEdit Advanced. Configuration program for: QEdit Advanced v3.0 Enter program name to config, <CR> for Q.EXE : Simply press <Enter>, unless you have previously renamed the editor, or if the editor is located in another directory. If you have renamed the editor, enter the appropriate filename and press <Enter>. If it is located in another directory, enter the full pathname and press <Enter>. If the file to be customized could not be located on disk, the error message "File not found" is displayed. Check the editor's filename and/or path for accuracy. If the version numbers of the editor and the configuration program are not the same, the error message "Configuration area not found" is displayed. Try reloading the QEdit software from the distribution disk (in particular, Q.EXE and QCONFIG.EXE). THE CONFIGURATION MENU ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The configuration program displays the following menu from which to select the desired functions for customization. +------------------------------------------------------------+ | Configuration choices. | | Choose One of the Following by pressing the indicated Key: | | | | Advanced options | | Colors/screen | | General options | | Help install | | Keys | | Printer options | | Quit | | Save changes and quit | | Tab settings | +------------------------------------------------------------+ Following is a brief explanation of these menu items. They are discussed in detail later in this chapter. * Advanced options Contains a variety of configurable options, including those related to video display, DOS memory, and editor menus. * Colors/screen Allows you to change colors of various display items and to specify numerous other editing display options. * General options A miscellaneous category of options. * Help install Allows you to install your own Help Screen. * Keys Allows you to reassign editor commands to different keys. * Printer options Allows you to set options for printing text, such as page size. * Quit Terminates the program. You are first prompted to save or not save changes. * Save changes and quit Terminates the program, unconditionally saving your changes. * Tab settings Allows you to set various tab-related options, including the physical and cursor tab widths. To make a selection from the menu, type the first letter of the desired menu item. You are prompted for a response to each option within the category. Each configuration option is displayed along with its current value. (The Keys and Help install categories, however, work a little differently and simply request a filename.) For each option displayed, you may enter a new value. If you do not wish to change the current value, simply press <Enter>. After you have reviewed all options in a category, you are returned to the main configuration menu where you can select another category. Once you have completed customizing, you may save all the changes you have made either by simply typing "S" at the main menu prompt; or by typing "Q" at the main menu prompt, and then typing "Y" at the prompt, "Save Changes (Y/N)?". Your changes are made permanent (that is, effective the next time you execute the editor) by writing them to the editor program itself (Q.EXE). The configuration program then terminates. If you decide that you do not want to save your changes, type "Q" at the main menu prompt, then type "N" at the prompt, "Save Changes (Y/N)?". No changes are saved, and the configuration program terminates. ADVANCED OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains a list of the Advanced Options which can be customized using the configuration program. The configuration program prompt message, the default value, and a description are given for each option. * Test for presence of enhanced keyboard (Y/N)? [N] : If your system has an enhanced (101-key) keyboard, set this option to <Y> for QEdit to recognize the additional keys such as F11, F12, and the grey cursor keys. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Many TSRs, including mouse drivers, do not properly | | recognize the enhanced keyboard. If you are using a TSR | | and it is not working with QEdit, try setting this option | | to <N>. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * Swap to Expanded memory or DISK on the Dos and Shell commands (Y/N)? [Y] : Select <Y> if you want QEdit to swap itself out of DOS memory and to expanded memory or disk whenever the Dos or Shell commands are executed. This will leave a small 2K kernel of QEdit in DOS memory, freeing up the rest of DOS memory for running other applications, such as compilers or spreadsheets, out of the Dos or Shell commands. * Drive for disk swapping on the Dos/Shell commands *=default-drive [A..Z] [C] : If you selected <Y> for the previous option, then specify here the disk drive designation to be used for swapping. Enter an asterisk ("*") if you want QEdit to default to your current drive for swapping. * Should QEdit change the cursor size (Y/N)? [Y] : By default, QEdit uses a small cursor when Insert mode is OFF and a medium cursor when Insert mode is ON. Select <N> if you do not want QEdit to change the cursor size. * Do you want a large flashing cursor (Y/N)? [N] : If you want to use a large flashing block cursor, set this option to <Y>. This option is great for laptop users. * Size of cursor in Insert mode [0..7] [4] : Determines the size of the cursor when Insert mode is ON. A value of 0 indicates that no cursor indication is to be displayed. Values 1 to 7 indicate increasingly larger flashing cursor sizes. * Size of cursor in overwrite mode [0..7] [1] : Determines the size of the cursor when overwrite mode is ON. A value of 0 indicates that no cursor indication is to be displayed. Values 1 to 7 indicate increasingly larger flashing cursor sizes. * Get num rows on screen from BIOS data area (100% IBM PC only)(Y/N)? [N] : FOR NON EGA/VGA SYSTEMS ONLY. Set this option to <Y> if you want QEdit to automatically detect the number of rows on your screen. Setting this option to <Y>, to automatically detect the number of rows on your screen, only works if you have an IBM PC-AT or 100% compatible. For example, setting this option to <Y> does NOT work on AT&T 6300s. * Number of rows on screen (NOT NEEDED with EGA/VGA) [25..255] [25] : FOR NON EGA/VGA SYSTEMS ONLY. If you set the previous option to <N>, then you must provide the number of rows on your screen here. You should set this option to 25 unless you have a special card and monitor (such as a Genius Video System) that allow you to display more than 25 rows. * Do you want the Return command to split lines in Insert mode (Y/N)? [Y] : Normally, the Return command splits the current line at the cursor when executed with Insert mode ON. This means that the portion of the line following the cursor is inserted on a new line. If Insert mode is OFF, the Return command simply places the cursor at the beginning of the next line. If you select <N> for this option, the Return command always acts as if Insert mode is OFF. Return moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line with no effect on the text. * Should Cut and Copy use current line if no block marked (Y/N)? [N] : If you enter <Y> for this option, the current cursor line is used when you execute the Cut or Copy command and no Block is marked in the current file. * Do you want the Escape command to invoke the menus (Y/N)? [Y] : By default, the Escape command displays the pull-down menu, when executed outside of the menu or any QEdit prompts. If you do NOT want the Escape command to do this, select <N> for this option. * Should the editor restore the starting drive/dir on program exit (Y/N)? [Y] : Set this option to <Y> if you want to return to the original DOS drive and directory on program exit regardless of which drives and directories you have accessed with the QEdit directory picker or the Dos or Shell commands. * Should the editor change the DOS PROMPT during a shell (Y/N)? [N] : Set this option to <Y> if you want the following to be appended to the DOS prompt during a QEdit Shell: [QE]. * Should TabRt/TabLt be allowed to shift an entire block (Y/N)? [N] : Set this option to <Y> if you want the TabRt and TabLt commands to shift entire marked Blocks when the cursor is within the marked Block. * Date format: 1=MM-DD-YY, 2=DD-MM-YY, 3=YY-MM-DD [1] : Determines the date format used by the InsertDate command. The date string consists of a three-character abbreviation for the day of the week, followed by the numerical date of the month. The order of the elements of the date of the month can be selected from three options: select <1> for month, followed by day of the month, followed by 2-digit year; select <2> for day of the month, followed by month, followed by 2-digit year; select <3> for 2-digit year, followed by month, followed by day of the month. * Character to use to separate the elements of the date [-] : Determines the separator character used by the InsertDate command. Select the character to be used to separate the day, month, and year elements of the date. * Time format: 1=24-hour, 2=12-hour [1] : Determines the time format used by the InsertTime command. Select <1> for 24-hour time format; select <2> for 12-hour time format. * Character to use to separate the elements of the time [:] : Determines the separator character used by the InsertTime command. Select the character to be used to separate the hours and minutes (and seconds for 24-hour format) elements of the time. COLORS/SCREEN OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains a list of the Screen and Screen Color Options which can be customized using the configuration program. The configuration program prompt message, the default value, and a description are given for each option. * StatusLine position: "T" for top, "B" for bottom [T] : Indicates whether the StatusLine is to be positioned at the top line or the bottom line of the screen. * StatusLine fill character [ ] : This character is used to "break up" the information on the editor's StatusLine. The default is the space character. For example, if the dash character is specified, the StatusLine would look like this: +--------------------------------------------------------------+ |L 15-- C 15---IAW-R-B--411K-----*c:\qedit\qedit.doc-----------| +--------------------------------------------------------------+ * Display hex/decimal values of current character on StatusLine (Y/N)? [N] : Shows the hexadecimal and decimal values of the current character at the right-hand edge of the StatusLine. * Do you want the display "boxed" (Y/N)? [N] : Indicates whether the editing screen is to be completely enclosed in a box. * Do you want the original screen restored upon termination (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether QEdit is to restore the original screen upon exiting the program. Be aware that setting this option to <Y> causes the editor to require an additional 4K of memory; however, this can be very handy after long editing sessions to see what you were doing before you started. * Do you want "snow" checking (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit should slow down screen updating to eliminate "snow" (a sparkling appearance on the screen that results from updating the screen too quickly). If this option is set to <Y>, and QEdit determines that your system has a Color/Graphics Adapter card (CGA), the editor does not write to the screen at full speed, in order to avoid "snow". If you have a CGA card that does not create snow effects, set this option to <N> so that QEdit updates the screen as quickly as possible. If you have a VGA, EGA, COMPAQ, ZENITH, or other color adapter that allows full speed screen updating without "snow", then set this option to <N>. This option has no effect on monochrome and true EGA/VGA cards. * Number of columns to scroll horizontally for screen lt/rt commands [1..400] [1] : Specifies the number of columns that QEdit should scroll when you execute the ScreenLeft or ScreenRight commands. * Startup video mode: 0=current, 1=25lines, 2=28lines, 3=43/50lines [0] : Determines whether QEdit sets an initial video mode upon startup. 0: Use the current video mode 1: Set the monitor to 25-line mode 2: Set the monitor to 28-line mode (VGA only) 3: Set the monitor to 43/50-line mode (EGA = 43, VGA = 50) * Startup attribute set: 0=AutoDetect, 1=Monochrome, 2=Color [0] : Determines whether QEdit uses color or monochrome attributes for the screen display. * Do you want to configure the mono attribute set (Y/N)? [N] : Select <Y> if you wish to specify the attributes to use for the monochrome attribute set. * Do you want to configure the color attribute set (Y/N)? [N] : Select <Y> if you wish to specify the attributes to use for the color attribute set. (This option is skipped if you select <Y> for the previous option.) Enter a number, in response to each option, based on the color in which the number appears on the chart. If you have a monochrome screen, many of the values in the chart will appear to be the same color. However, you still have the options of normal, highlighted, underlined, and reverse video. If you have a color monitor, you can take advantage of a wider array of options. (The default monochrome setting is shown in the text of each prompt message below. The default color setting is shown to the right of the prompt message.) * Attribute for Blocked Text [112]: Default Color Setting: [120] The color used for marked Blocks. * Attribute for Error msgs [112]: Default Color Setting: [15] The color used for warning and error messages. * Attribute for Text Area [7]: Default Color Setting: [27] The color used for normal text (the editing screen). * Attribute for StatusLine [112]: Default Color Setting: [112] The color used for the StatusLine. * Attribute for Cursor Line [15]: Default Color Setting: [30] The color used for the cursor line. Reverts to normal when a Block is marked. * Attribute for Messages [15]: Default Color Setting: [15] The color used for QEdit messages. * Attribute for Hi-lited items [9]: Default Color Setting: [9] The color used for "found" search strings when using the Find and FindReplace commands. * Attribute for EOF line/indicator [15]: Default Color Setting: [15] The color used for the "End of File" line. * Attribute for Help Screen [112]: Default Color Setting: [112] The color used for the Help Screen. * Attribute for display Box Border [15]: Default Color Setting: [31] The color used for the border around the editor, if the editing screen is boxed. * Attribute for PopUp windows [15]: Default Color Setting: [112] The color used for the border around the pull-down menus and the prompt boxes. * Attribute for Menu items [15]: Default Color Setting: [112] The color used for items within sub-menus of the pull-down menu. * Attribute for Selected Menu items [112]: Default Color Setting: [32] The color used for selected items within the pull-down menus. GENERAL OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains a list of the General Options which can be customized using the configuration program. The configuration program prompt message, the default value, and a description are given for each option. * Do you want the DelCh command to join lines if at EOL (Y/N)? [Y] : Affects the behavior of the DelCh command. Set this option to <N> if you want the DelCh command to be restricted so that it only works on the current line. Set this option to <Y> if you want the DelCh command to work across line breaks. This means that if you issue DelCh at the end of the line, the following line is joined to the end of the cursor line (just as if you had issued a JoinLine command). * Do you want PQuit, Exit, and File to return to EditFile prompt (Y/N)? [Y] : If only 1 file is being edited, QEdit can either terminate or ask for another file to edit whenever the PQuit, Exit, or File commands are executed. To have QEdit terminate, select <N>. * Do you want the editor to start in WordWrap mode (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether WordWrap mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want WordWrap mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Word-Processing Commands" section of Chapter 1 for more information on WordWrap mode. * Default right margin for WordWrap [1..1000] [72] : Indicates the default right margin setting to be used each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to a value from 1 to 1000. Refer to the "Word-Processing Commands" section of Chapter 1 for more information. * Do you want the editor to start in Insert mode (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether Insert mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want Insert mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on Insert mode. * Do you want the editor to start in AutoIndent mode (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether AutoIndent mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want AutoIndent mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on AutoIndent mode. * Do you want the editor to use "sticky" AutoIndent (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit searches more than one line backward for a nonblank line to use for autoindenting. Set this option to <Y> if you want autoindenting to search back more than one line, if necessary, to find a nonblank line. AutoIndent mode must be set ON for this option to work. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on AutoIndent mode. * Load wildcarded filespecs from the command line (Y/N)? [Y] : Affects QEdit's behavior when filenames are specified containing wildcard characters (* or ?), from the DOS command line. Set this option to <Y> if you want QEdit to load every file that matches the wildcarded specification. (For example, if you enter "q *.doc", QEdit loads all files with the extension ".doc"). Set this option to <N> if you want QEdit to display a pull-down menu list of all the files which match the wildcarded specification. (You can then choose the file you want to edit by using the cursor keys to move to the desired file and then pressing <Enter>.) * Load wildcarded filespecs from inside the editor (Y/N)? [N] : Affects QEdit's behavior when filenames are specified containing wildcard characters (* or ?) within the prompt box for the EditFile command. Set this option to <Y> if you want QEdit to load every file that matches the wildcarded specification. (For example, if you enter "*.doc", QEdit loads all files with the extension ".doc"). Set this option to <N> if you want QEdit to display a pull-down menu list of all the files which match the wildcarded specification. (You can then choose the file you want to edit by using the cursor keys to move to the desired file and then pressing <Enter>.) * Do you want the editor to start in EnterMatching mode (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether EnterMatching mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want EnterMatching mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on EnterMatching mode. * Use CMODE for .c, .cpp, .cxx, .h, .hpp, and .hxx files (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether C mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want C mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on C mode. * Default number of deleted lines to keep per file [0..300] [30] : Indicates the number of deleted lines that are saved by QEdit, and can later be recalled using the UnKill command. For every file that is loaded in an editing session, this maximum number of lines is available. Enter a value from 0 to 300. (A value of 0 indicates that no deleted lines are to be saved.) * Remove trailing blanks from edited lines (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether QEdit is to remove trailing blanks from each line of text that is edited. Set this option to <Y> if you want trailing blanks removed. (For most purposes, this setting is preferable, as it generally results in smaller files.) Set this option to <N> if you want spaces at the end of lines to be preserved. * Terminate files with a Control Z (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit is to add a Control Z to the end of a file when it is saved to disk. Set this option to <Y> if you want to have a Control Z added to the end of files; otherwise, set this option to <N>. MS/PC-DOS versions 2.0 and above do NOT require an end-of-file terminator. (The exact size of the file is stored in the directory.) However, some programs that were directly translated from their CP/M versions still require the Control-Z end-of-file marker. If you have one of these programs for which you are creating text files, you should select <Y> for this option. * Do you want "backups" of saved files (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether QEdit is to create a backup file (an image of the file before you did any editing) with the .bak extension each time you save a file. Set this option to <Y> to have backups created; otherwise, set this option to <N>. * Prompt for filename on open window (Y/N)? [N] : Affects QEdit's behavior when the HorizontalWindow command is executed. Set this option to <Y> to have QEdit prompt for the name of the file you want to load into the new window. Set this option to <N> to have QEdit load the next file in the ring into the new window. (If only one file is loaded, another window containing the same file is opened.) * Close window when a file is quit (Y/N)? [Y] : Affects QEdit's behavior when more than one window is open on the screen and a command is executed that discards a file from the editor. Set this option to <Y> to have QEdit close the window containing the discarded file. Set this option to <N> to have QEdit load the next file in the ring into that window. * Display End Of File marker (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether QEdit displays an indicator line at the end of the file, in the following format: <*** End of File ***> Set this option to <Y> to have the end-of-file indicator line displayed; set this option to <N> if you do not want this line displayed. * Insert line blocks ABOVE the cursor line (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit is to insert line Blocks above or below the cursor line when the Paste, CopyBlock, or MoveBlock commands are executed. Set this option to <Y> to have line blocks inserted above the cursor line; set this option to <N> to have line blocks inserted below the cursor line. * Do you want a beep on warning messages and missed searches (Y/N)? [Y]: Determines whether QEdit sounds the bell on any QEdit warning message and when there is no match resulting from a Find or FindReplace operation. If you want the bell to sound, select <Y>; otherwise, select <N>. * Default Find options [IWBG] [I]: Indicates the default search options when using the Find command. The available default options are: "I" (Ignore case), "W" (Words only), "B" (Backwards search), and G (Global search). Multiple options can be specified. Note that even when these options are not selected as defaults, they can still be selected from within the editor when the Find command is executed. For more information on the Find command and the available Find options, refer to the "Finding Text" section of Chapter 1. * Default FindReplace options [IWBNG] []: Indicates the default search and replace options when using the FindReplace command. The available default options are: "I" (Ignore case), "W" (Words only), "B" (Backwards search), "N" (No prompting), and G (Global search). Multiple options can be specified. Note that even when these options are not selected as defaults, they can still be selected from within the editor when the FindReplace command is executed. For more information on the FindReplace command and the available FindReplace options, refer to the "Replacing Text" section of Chapter 1. * Should Find and Repeat_Find center the found text (Y/N)? [Y] Affects QEdit's behavior when the Find and RepeatFind commands are executed. Set this option to <Y> to have the line containing the found text centered vertically within the current window. Set this option to <N> to have line containing the found text positioned on the same row as the current line. * Default file extension number 1 [.c]: Specifies the first default file extension. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 2 [.pas]: Specifies the second default file extension. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 3 [.inc]: Specifies the third default file extension. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 4 [.asm]: Specifies the fourth default file extension. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 5 [.h]: Specifies the fifth default file extension. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 6 [.doc]: Specifies the sixth default file extension. See explanation below. Six default file extensions are provided to save keystrokes each time a filename to edit is entered. These file extensions are used when QEdit is executed with a filename from the command line or when the EditFile command is entered. If the filename entered does not end with a period (and does not include the DOS wildcard characters) and that file does NOT exist as named, QEdit appends the first default file extension to the name and tries to load that file. If that file exists, then QEdit loads it for editing. If it does not exist, QEdit repeats the process with the other default file extensions. If no matching file is found, then QEdit creates a new file as originally named. For each of the six previous options, enter the desired file extension. * Default to case-insensitive sort (Y/N)? [N] : Indicates the default case-sensitivity selection when the Sort command is executed. Set this option to <Y> to have the Sort command ignore the case of characters; set this option to <N> to have the Sort command respect the upper/lower case of characters. * Default to descending-order sort (Y/N)? [N] : Indicates the default sort order when the Sort command is executed. Set the option to <Y> to sort in descending order; set this option to <N> to sort in ascending order. THE HELP SCREEN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit allows you to create a customized one-page Help Screen, which may be displayed at any time from within the editor by executing the QuickHelp <F1> command. This section contains instructions for installing your own Help Screen using the configuration program. Of course, you may prefer to use the default Help Screen which is already loaded into QEdit. In that case no action is required. However, if you want to design and use your own Help Screen, simply follow these steps: 1. Create an 80 x 25 (80 columns by 25 lines) text file (you can use QEdit to create this file) and list all of the information that should appear on the screen when the QuickHelp command is executed. We suggest that you list less frequently used commands in this file, while leaving out more familiar commands such as cursor movement and paging. 2. Run QCONFIG and select option <H> from the configuration menu. 3. At the prompt, enter the name of the Help file just created. That is all there is to it! Now when you execute QuickHelp from within QEdit, your customized Help Screen is displayed. KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit provides the extremely helpful capability of assigning editor commands (as well as strings of characters) to almost any key you prefer. This allows you to assign frequently-used commands to keys which are most convenient for your use, and even to completely reassign commands to emulate another text editor or word processor with which you are already familiar. By taking a few minutes to review this section, your future text editing may become significantly more comfortable as a result of customizing your keyboard to suit your individual preferences. The Keyboard Definition File ---------------------------- QEdit uses the Keyboard Definition file to customize the keyboard. This file contains a list of all the keys to which commands may be assigned. Supplied with QEdit is a Keyboard Definition file called QCONFIG.DAT which contains the default settings for the keyboard. Other files are supplied which emulate certain common word processors and editors. The READ.ME file contains a list of these other emulations. The Keyboard Definition file consists of a list of configurable keys and the commands or macros which are assigned to them. The configurable keys are on the left side of the file, with the commands or macros assigned to the keys on the right. Blank lines and lines starting with an asterisk "*" are ignored. The QCONFIG.DAT file, as well as Appendix C, contains a complete list of configurable keys. Control keys are specified by a "^". For example: ^f1 or ^F1 specifies Control F1 ^c or ^C specifies Control C Alternate keys are specified by a "@". For example: @c or @C specifies Alt C @PgUp specifies Alt PgUp Shift keys are specified by a "#". For example: #f1 or #F1 specifies Shift F1 The format of a line in the Keyboard Definition file is simply the keystroke followed by the command. For example: f1 QuickHelp #f5 MakeCtrofScreen @f2 InsertLine cursorup CursorUp ^cursorleft WordLeft @a DropAnchor ^a WordLeft +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | The configuration program ignores the case of the key | | name, and ignores the case of the commands and of any | | underscores that may be embedded in the commands. This | | means that PGUP, PgUp, and pgup all refer to the same | | key, and InsertLine, insert_line, and Insert_Line all | | refer to the same command. | | | | Also, the order of the keys does not matter. The | | configurable keys may be put in any order desired. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ There is also a provision for assigning commands or macros to a "twokey". A twokey consists of two distinct keystrokes, such as <Ctrl B> immediately followed by <A>. To assign a command or macro to a twokey, enter both keystrokes of the twokey in the first column (keystroke column) separated by an underline. For example, to assign the Exit command to the twokey, <Ctrl F1> <F2>, enter the following into the Keyboard Definition file: ^f1_f2 Exit (Note that if you assign a command or macro to a single key, and then use that same key as the initial key of a twokey sequence, you lose the twokey assignment. For example, if you assign a command to <Ctrl B>, you would not be able to use a twokey assignment such as <Ctrl B> <A>.) To allow you to further customize the editor, multiple commands and/or text can be assigned to any configurable key (or twokey). This is accomplished through the use of macros. For more information on creating macros and assigning them to keys, refer to the "Creating Macro Programs" section of Chapter 3, "QEdit Macro Reference." Creating a Keyboard Definition File ----------------------------------- To customize the keyboard using the default Keyboard Definition file, QCONFIG.DAT, no action is required. QEdit is distributed with this Keyboard Definition file already installed. The following outlines steps to create and install your own Keyboard Definition file. (To customize the keyboard using one of the supplied word-processor or editor emulation Keyboard Definition files, skip to step number 6.) 1. Load the file QCONFIG.DAT into QEdit. (From the DOS command line, type "q qconfig.dat" and press <Enter>). 2. Rename the file using the ChangeFilename command <Alt O>. 3. Browse through the file using the Cursor Up and Down keys. Notice that the left side of the file contains a list of all configurable keys. To the right of each key is the command or macro currently assigned to the key. Some keys have no commands assigned. 4. Change the commands assigned to the keys to suit your particular needs. For more information on how to assign keys, refer to the previous section, "The Keyboard Definition File." 5. Save the file and exit QEdit by pressing <Alt X>. 6. Run QCONFIG and select option <K> from the menu. 7. You will be prompted for the name of the Keyboard Definition file. Enter the name of the Keyboard Definition file you wish to load. If you are creating your own file, enter the new name chosen in step 2. 8. Your key assignments are then incorporated into the editor program, Q.EXE, and the configuration menu reappears. 9. Press <S> to save your changes and terminate the program. 10. Run the editor to insure that your key assignments function as desired. PRINTER OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains a list of the Printer Options which can be customized using the configuration program. The configuration program prompt message, the default value, and a description are given for each option. * Default left margin for printing [0..200] [0]: Indicates the number of spaces QEdit skips before printing each line. If you do not want QEdit to skip any spaces at the beginning of each line, select zero. * Default page size for printing [0..200] [55]: Indicates the number of lines to be printed per page. QEdit sends a formfeed character to the printer after printing this number of lines. If you do NOT want QEdit to send formfeed characters (for continuous printing), select zero. * Add formfeed after printing (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether QEdit sends a formfeed character when printing is complete. Select <Y> if you want a formfeed character to be sent at the end of the document. (This is helpful for correctly lining up the printer in preparation for the next printing operation.) Select <N> if you do not want a final formfeed character to be sent. * Default top margin for printing [0..200] [0] : Indicates the number of lines to be left blank at the top of each page during printing. * Default bottom margin for printing [0..200] [0] : Indicates the number of lines to be left blank at the bottom of each page during printing. * Include line number at beginning of each printed line (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit prints line numbers at the beginning of each line. To include line numbers in the printed output, select <Y>; otherwise, select <N>. * Default line spacing: 1=single, 2=double, etc... [1..200] [1] : Indicates the line spacing to be used when printing. * Should printing pause between pages (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether QEdit pauses between each printed page. To have QEdit pause between pages, select <Y>. (For this option to be effective, the print page size must be non-zero.) If you do not want QEdit to pause between pages, select <N>. * Print Device: 0=PRN, 1=LPT1, 2=LPT2, 3=LPT3 [0..3] [0] : Determines the initial print device. TAB SETTINGS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains a list of all Tab Setting Options which can be customized using the configuration program. The configuration program prompt message, the default value, and a description are given for each option. * Do you want the editor to start in Physical Tab Expansion mode (Y/N)? [Y] : Determines whether Physical Tab Expansion mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want Physical Tab Expansion mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on Physical Tab Expansion mode. * Do you want the editor to start in Tabs Out mode (Y/N)? [N] : Determines whether Tabs Out mode is initially ON or OFF each time QEdit is executed. Set this option to <Y> if you want Tabs Out mode to be ON each time QEdit is started; otherwise, set it to <N>. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on Tabs Out mode. * Default physical tab width [1..12] [8]: Specifies the tab width that QEdit uses when Physical Tab Expansion mode or Tabs Out mode is ON. * Default cursor tab width [1..12] [8]: Specifies the tab width that QEdit uses the TabRt and TabLt commands are executed. * Default file extension number 1 for default tabs [.c]: Physical tab width for above [4]: Cursor tab width for above [4]: Specifies the first default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 2 for default tabs [.pas]: Physical tab width for above [2]: Cursor tab width for above [2]: Specifies the second default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 3 for default tabs [.inc]: Physical tab width for above [2]: Cursor tab width for above [2]: Specifies the third default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 4 for default tabs [.asm]: Physical tab width for above [8]: Cursor tab width for above [8]: Specifies the fourth default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 5 for default tabs [.h]: Physical tab width for above [4]: Cursor tab width for above [4]: Specifies the fifth default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. * Default file extension number 6 for default tabs [.doc]: Physical tab width for above [8]: Cursor tab width for above [8]: Specifies the sixth default file extension for default tabs. See explanation below. QEdit allows you to set default physical and cursor tab widths for up to six different file extensions. When a file is loaded that matches one of these extensions, the indicated defaults are used. Otherwise, the defaults set in the previous two default tab options are used. For each of the six options, enter the desired file extension and the appropriate physical and cursor tab width values. * Default tab type: 0=Fixed, 1=Smart, 2=Variable [0] : Determines the tab type to use each time QEdit is executed. Select <0>, <1>, or <2>, for Fixed, Smart, or Variable Tabs, respectively. Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1 for more information on the behavior of each tab type. * Default Variable Tap stop columns: [4 8 16 24 40] : Specifies the columns at which Variable Tab stops are to be set. Enter the appropriate column numbers, each separated by a single space. The last column at which you can set a Tab is column 255. A maximum string of 255 characters can be specified. If you press <Enter> without entering any tabs stops, you are prompted with: Delete all Variable Tab stops (Y/N)? [N] : Select <Y> to remove all existing Variable Tab stops. Select <N> to leave the tab stops unchanged. CHAPTER 3. QEDIT MACRO REFERENCE ====================================================================== To simplify and automate editing tasks and to further customize the editor, you can create macros. A macro is simply a series of commands and/or keystrokes that is assigned to a key. The simplest type of macro to create is a Keyboard Macro. A Keyboard Macro is created by recording a series of keystrokes as they are typed at the keyboard, and assigning that series to a key. For example, if you wish to repeatedly enter a row of asterisks, three Returns, and then a Tab, you could record this series and assign it to a single key, such as <Shift F6>. Then, the next time you wish to enter a row of asterisks, three Returns, and a Tab, you only have to press <Shift F6>. More powerful macros can be created using the QEdit configuration program (QCONFIG.EXE) and the QMac program (QMAC.EXE). These macros can be permanently tied to QEdit (using the configuration program), or can be loaded as needed (using QMac). Using these facilities, you can extend and customize the capabilities of the editor to suit your needs and preferences. Refer to "Creating Macro Programs" and "QMac" in this chapter for more information. KEYBOARD MACROS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Creating Keyboard Macros ------------------------ Once you have decided to assign a series of commands and keystrokes to a single key, creating a Keyboard Macro is simply a matter of entering this series while QEdit "records" the macro. To create a Keyboard Macro, follow these steps: 1. Position the text and cursor to where you wish to begin entering the series of commands and keys. (You may want to practice your series once or twice before actually recording the macro.) 2. Execute the MacroRecord <Ctrl M> command. An "R" appears on the StatusLine to indicate MacroRecord mode is ON. The following message appears: +----------------------------------------------------------+ |Assign to what key: (<Enter> for "scrap", <Esc> to cancel)| +----------------------------------------------------------+ 3. Enter the key to which you want to assign the series of commands and keystrokes. This key must be a "configurable" key (see Appendix C for a list of configurable keys). If a key is specified that has a QEdit command already assigned to it, the editor prompts you to determine if you want to overlay that key assignment. To assign the macro to a "scrap" or temporary area, simply press <Enter>. The scrap area holds your macro until a new macro is recorded (or you exit the editor). 4. Enter the series of commands and keystrokes to be assigned. Note that the "R" still appears on the StatusLine. 5. Execute the MacroRecord <Ctrl M> command again. MacroRecord mode is turned OFF, and the "R" no longer appears on the the StatusLine. The macro is now created and assigned to the key specified in step 3. Using Keyboard Macros --------------------- To use your Keyboard Macro, position the text and cursor properly and press the key to which you assigned the macro (or use the ExecuteScrap <Ctrl Enter> command to retrieve the last macro recorded). If the macro does not behave as you expected, repeat the above steps. Your old macro assignment is replaced with the new one. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Be aware of modes, especially Insert mode, when recording | | and using macros. Macros recorded with Insert mode ON | | and then used with Insert mode OFF (and vice versa) may | | behave very strangely. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Saving and Reloading Keyboard Macros ------------------------------------ Normally, macros created using this process are lost once the editor is terminated. QEdit, however, provides an easy method of saving your macros so that they may be reloaded for use in any future editing session. To save macros for future use, you must write them to a Keyboard Macro file. (This file is in a special binary format, recognizable by QEdit, and should not be edited as a normal text file.) The name of this file is specified by the user. To save macros once they have been created, execute the MacroWrite <Esc><M><W> command. QEdit prompts with: +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Macro file to write: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the name of the file (optionally including drive and/or path) to contain your macros. All Keyboard Macros currently recorded (and/or loaded) during the editing session are saved under the specified filename. (However, macros assigned only to the scrap area, and not to a specific key, cannot be saved.) In a future editing session, when you wish to reuse your previously defined macros, you need only reload the macro file. To do this, execute the MacroRead <Esc><M><R> command. QEdit prompts with: +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Macro file to read: | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the name of the previously saved macro file. Your macros are reloaded. You may then use them in the same manner as before. Example of a Keyboard Macro --------------------------- To create a Keyboard Macro that inserts a formfeed character (ASCII 12) at column one of the current cursor line, do the following: 1. Position the cursor in the text where you would like to insert the formfeed character. Set Insert mode ON. 2. Execute MacroRecord <Ctrl M>. 3. Press <Alt F1> to assign the macro to this key. 4. Press the following series of keys: <Home> (for the BegLine command) <Ctrl P> (for the Literal command) <Ctrl L> (a formfeed character) 5. Enter MacroRecord <Ctrl M>. The macro is now created and assigned to the <Alt F1> key. Now, when you press <Alt F1>, the cursor moves to column one and a formfeed character is inserted, just as if you had typed it from the keyboard. CREATING MACRO PROGRAMS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As mentioned in Chapter 2, "Customizing QEdit", the QEdit configuration program (QCONFIG) allows you to assign multiple commands and/or text to a key (or twokey). With this facility, you can easily write simple programs using QEdit's macro language. These macros are included in the Keyboard Definition file (QCONFIG.DAT), and then added to the editor program itself using the configuration program. Each time the editor is loaded, these macros are automatically available. For more information on including macros in the Keyboard Definition file, refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" section of Chapter 2. To write a macro program, begin by editing your Keyboard Definition file (QCONFIG.DAT, by default). Locate the key to which you wish to assign your macro program. To the right of that key, specify MacroBegin as the first command, followed by any combination of text strings and QEdit commands, each separated by a space. Text should be enclosed in single or double quotes. Once the macro is written, save your Keyboard Definition file and exit the editor. Then execute the configuration program (QCONFIG). Select the "Keys" option to update the QEdit program. This assigns your macro program to the specified key. Now when you run QEdit, you can execute your own custom macros by pressing the applicable key. Note: The amount of space that is available for macros included in the Keyboard Definition file is limited to about 2K. * Example: f1 MacroBegin EditFile 'help.dat' Return Press <F1> and this macro loads the file "help.dat". Note that the Return command is issued after the text. This is required to terminate the QEdit prompt issued by the preceding EditFile command. * Example: @t MacroBegin GSave Dos 'tpc ' CurrentFilename Return Press <Alt T> and this macro saves all files that have been changed, and then invokes the TURBO PASCAL compiler using the current file. (Note: There must be a space included within the quotes immediately following "tpc".) * Example: @f1 MacroBegin EditFile 'errors.lst' Return Quit Dos 'tcc ' CurrentFilename ' >errors.lst' Return Return HorizontalWindow EditFile 'errors.lst' Return Press <Alt F1> and this macro runs the TURBO C compiler on the current file, saves the results to a file called "errors.lst", and then loads that file into another window after the compile is finished. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | Macros can span multiple lines, as long as 2 simple rules | | are followed: the key name must begin in column 1, and | | all succeeding lines must begin in column 2 or greater. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ In general, any commonly used sequence of commands (or a useful but complicated sequence of commands, for that matter) is a good candidate for a macro. We have received many helpful macro suggestions from QEdit users over the years. Here is a short list of some of the more useful (and simple) macros. * A very useful QEdit command, GetPrev, copies a character from the line immediately above the cursor line, onto the cursor line. Often it is necessary to copy this character to several succeeding lines in the same column. The GetPrev command, used in a macro, makes this function easy. Assign this macro to the <Alt 4> key (for example) in QCONFIG.DAT as follows: @4 MacroBegin GetPrev CursorLeft CursorDown * QEdit's AddLine and DelLine commands do not change the cursor position. Many would prefer that the cursor move to column one when these commands are executed. A solution is to change the QCONFIG.DAT file as follows: Default QCONFIG.DAT file: f2 AddLine ^y DelLine Customized QCONFIG.DAT file: f2 MacroBegin AddLine BegLine ^y MacroBegin DelLine BegLine * QEdit's CopyBlock and MoveBlock commands leave the copied or moved Block marked. Many would prefer the Block to be unmarked. A solution is to change the QCONFIG.DAT file as follows: Default QCONFIG.DAT file: @c CopyBlock @m MoveBlock Customized QCONFIG.DAT file: @c MacroBegin CopyBlock UnmarkBlock @m MacroBegin MoveBlock UnmarkBlock * QEdit's DropAnchor command ends or extends a Block if executed after a Block has been initially or entirely marked. Some editors have a similar command, except that it acts as a toggle. That is, if you are already marking a Block, and you press DropAnchor again, the Block is unmarked and marking begins again at the current cursor position. To implement this behavior, change the QCONFIG.DAT file as follows: Default QCONFIG.DAT file: @a DropAnchor Customized QCONFIG.DAT file: @a MacroBegin UnmarkBlock DropAnchor * This macro allows you to edit a sorted list of files of the current directory. Assign this macro to the <Alt 5> key (for example) in QCONFIG.DAT as follows: @5 MacroBegin Dos "dir *.* | sort>filedir.tmp" Return Return EditFile "filedir.tmp" Return DelLine DelLine DelLine DelLine Advanced Macro Programming -------------------------- The following commands and features are intended for advanced QEdit macro writers, to make certain kinds of macros easier to write. In the examples provided, the key assignments indicated are suggested assignments only; you can assign each macro to the key of your choice. Macro Pause The Pause command allows you to suspend execution of a macro, make entries from the keyboard, and then continue execution of the macro. To use the Pause command, place "Pause" at the appropriate position within a macro in the QCONFIG.DAT file. When you execute a macro containing a Pause command from within QEdit, its execution is suspended when the Pause command is encountered. A "P" appears on the StatusLine. At this point the User can enter text from the keyboard. Press <Enter> to resume execution of the macro; press <Esc> to terminate execution of the suspended macro entirely. Please note that the <Enter> key entered from the keyboard to resume execution of a suspended macro is "eaten" by the Pause command; or, in other words, that <Enter> does not become part of the macro. * For example, suppose you want to create a "find" command that always searches forward, ignores case, and does not prompt for options. In the QCONFIG.DAT file, assign to whatever key you desire (<F7> in this example): f7 MacroBegin Find Pause Return 'i' Return If you want to get really fancy, you could let <F7> be your find-forward, and <Shift F7> be your find-backward: #f7 MacroBegin Find Pause Return 'ib' Return Using Paste within a Macro It can be handy to use the Paste command in a macro. Following are some examples of macros using the Paste command. * With the FillBlock command, you can use the following macro to move a Block, and blank fill the space used by the Block, instead of the text closing in around the Block. The macro assumes a Block is already marked. The Block is Cut to the clipboard or system scrap buffer. You can then insert the Block where you like by pressing the Paste key <Grey *>. You now have a "copy with wipe" command! f10 MacroBegin GotoBlockBeg Cut Paste FillBlock ' ' Return UnmarkBlock * A macro to take the filename at the current cursor position and load that file into the editor (assigned by default in QEdit to <Ctrl ]>.): ^] MacroBegin AltWordSet MarkWord Copy EditFile Paste Return DefaultWordSet This macro does the following: AltWordSet - sets the proper word set for filenames MarkWord - marks the filename at the current cursor position Copy - copies the filename into the scrap buffer EditFile - initiates the EditFile command Paste - inserts the copied filename into the prompt box Return - terminates the EditFile prompt DefaultWordSet - restores the normal word set * A macro to initiate a Find on the word at the current cursor position (assigned by default in QEdit to <Alt =>.): @= MacroBegin MarkWord Copy Find Paste Return Return This macro does the following: MarkWord - marks the word at the current cursor position Copy - copies the word into the scrap buffer Find - initiates the Find command Paste - inserts the copied word into the prompt box Return - terminates the search string prompt box Return - terminates the Find options prompt box Repeating a Command within a Macro Within macros, in order to repeat the previous command "n" times, the following syntax can be used: command n Where "n" is a number between 1 and 32767. The immediately preceding command is executed the number of times indicated. So, for example: CursorDown 1 Would move the cursor down one line (and is equivalent to just CursorDown by itself). CursorDown 10 Would move the cursor down ten lines. Conditional Logic for Macros Several commands are available for conditional logic within macros: Jump, JTrue, JFalse, MacroQuit, MacroQuitFalse, and MacroQuitTrue. Placement of one of these commands in a macro following another QEdit command allows for branching or looping during macro execution. All QEdit commands set an internal QEdit result code of TRUE upon successful execution, or FALSE if execution is unsuccessful or no action occurs. These result codes can be used to determine different courses of action during execution of a macro, based on the outcome of a particular command. The Jump command makes an unconditional jump, regardless of the outcome of the preceding command. The JTrue command makes a jump only when a result code of TRUE is returned; JFalse makes a jump only for a result code of FALSE. The MacroQuit command unconditionally terminates a macro. The MacroQuitTrue command terminates a macro only when a result code of TRUE is returned; MacroQuitFalse terminate a macro only if a result code of FALSE is returned. Labels can be defined for branching, in the format "label:". The maximum label length is 32 characters. For example, here is a macro to delete the text from the cursor position to the beginning of the line (assigned to the f10 key): f10 MacroBegin begin: CursorLeft MacroQuitFalse DelCh Jump begin: Special-Purpose Macro Commands This group of macro commands force the indicated mode or setting. If the setting was already in that condition, they set QEdit's result code to FALSE; otherwise, they set it to TRUE. In many cases, macros can behave differently based on the currently set QEdit modes. The following 3 commands give you some control in establishing the proper environment so that your macro always works as intended. * SetInsMode Sets Insert mode ON. To set Insert mode OFF (that is, set overwrite mode ON), do the following: SetInsMode ToggleInsert * SetAutoIndentMode Sets AutoIndent mode ON. To set AutoIndent mode OFF, do the following: SetAutoIndentMode ToggleIndent * SetWordWrapMode Sets WordWrap mode ON. To set WordWrap mode OFF, do the following: SetWordWrapMode ToggleWordWrap The Find command sounds a tone when the search string cannot be found. This may be undesirable in a long-running macro, that may possibly execute hundreds of find operations that fail. The following commands allow you to selectively turn the sound ON and OFF. * SetSoundOn Sets sound ON. * SetSoundOff Sets sound OFF. Most macros execute dozens of QEdit commands, possibly hundreds of times. This can cause the screen to flash rapidly as the macro runs. Not only is this somewhat disconcerting to watch, it actually slows down the speed of some macros. The following commands allow you to temporarily suspend or resume screen updating, while a macro is running. * SetScreenOn Turns screen updating ON. * SetScreenOff Turns screen updating OFF. You must turn screen updating back ON before your macro prompts for input, or if there is some output from the macro that you want displayed on the screen. NOTE: QEdit AUTOMATICALLY turns screen updating back ON when the macro is finished executing. Thus, it is not necessary to issue the SetScreenOn command at the end of the macro. Many times, it would be nice for a macro to force a few settings, do its assigned task, and then restore the original settings. The following commands allow you to do just that. Note that each time SaveSettings is executed, the previous settings saved with SaveSettings are overwritten. * SaveSettings Saves the current settings of: Insert, AutoIndent, WordWrap, Sound, and Screen Updating. * RestoreSettings Restores the saved settings for the settings indicated in SaveSettings. The following commands set QEdit's result code to TRUE or FALSE based on the condition being tested. These commands make certain types of macro tests easy and reliable. * isBegLine Returns TRUE if the cursor is at column 1; otherwise, FALSE is returned. * isCurrChar Returns TRUE if the character at the cursor position in the file is the same as that specified by the character immediately following the isCurrChar command. * isEndLine Returns TRUE if the cursor is past the last non-white character on the current line; otherwise, FALSE is returned (including when the cursor is on an empty line). * isEmptyLine Returns TRUE if the current line is empty or contains only white space; otherwise, FALSE is returned. * isLastLine Returns TRUE if the cursor is on the last line of the currently edited file; otherwise, FALSE is returned. * isFirstLine Returns TRUE if the cursor is on the first line of the currently edited file; otherwise, FALSE is returned. * isCursorInBlock Returns TRUE if the cursor is inside a marked Block; otherwise, FALSE is returned. In order to tie a few of these concepts together, we present a simple macro to delete all the blank lines in a marked Block. The cursor should be at the beginning of the Block when the macro is invoked. #f9 MacroBegin SetScreenOff * turn off screen for speed begin: isCursorInBlock MacroQuitFalse * exit if not in Block isEmptyLine JFalse next: * skip if not empty line isLastLine JTrue last: * special handling for last line DelLine Jump begin: * delete empty lines next: CursorDown JTrue begin: * try next line MacroQuit * last: DelLine * delete the last line * that's all, folks! The Main Macro QEdit has a provision for a special-purpose macro that is automatically executed at editor startup. In a Keyboard Definition file, assigning a macro to the key "main" causes that macro to be executed whenever the editor is initially invoked. * Example: main MacroBegin MacroRead "c:\qedit\mymacs.qed" Return This causes a macro file named "mymacs.qed" to be loaded into the editor, every time the editor is started. (Note that the "key" the macro is assigned to is "main".) QMAC -------------------------------------------------------------------------- QMac is a translator for QEdit macros. It translates QEdit Keyboard Macros from the binary format in which QEdit saves them, to a text format that allows easy macro editing, and then translates the text format back into the QEdit binary format. It also allows you to directly create external macros in text format, and then translate those macros to binary format so they can be loaded, as desired, into the editor. By using QMac with Keyboard Macros, you can create a Keyboard Macro using QEdit; fine-tune it by editing the text representation of the macro created by QMac; and then translate the edited version back to binary format so that the macro can be loaded into QEdit for execution. You may even wish to use the text format created by QMac to import a Keyboard Macro into your Keyboard Definition file. This provides the advantage of adding a macro directly to the editor program itself, so that it does not have to be loaded each time the editor is executed. (Contrast this to Keyboard Macros, which must be loaded each time the editor is started in order to be executed.) QMac offers additional advantages of increased macro space and enhanced configurability. * Macro space for built-in macros is limited to 2K. Built-in macros are those that are included in the Keyboard Definition file and added to the editor using the configuration program. Loadable macros, however, can be as large as 4K. Loadable macros are those created as Keyboard Macros and saved to a binary macro file, as well as macros modified or created with QMac. (The 4K limit applies to the size of the binary macro file, which can contain one or more loadable macros.) * Using loadable macros (rather than built-in macros), you can effectively create different versions of the editor for different tasks. For example, if you want to control the behavior of certain keystrokes according to the directory you are in, you can use QMac to create a different macro file for each set of affected keys. You may wish to have the function keys set up to behave in a certain manner when you are writing letters, another way when you are writing xBase programs, and yet another way when you are writing DOS BATCH files. The appropriate macro file could be added to each directory, and then loaded when the editor is started from a particular directory. QMac allows appending to or overwriting existing macro files, making it easy to add new macros to existing macro files. And QMac's text file format allows comments, permitting documentation of the macros within their "source file." Using QMac: An Overview ------------------------ Here is an overview of how to use QMac, including recording a sample Keyboard Macro, saving it to a file, and converting it with QMac. The keystrokes mentioned below assume you are using the default QCONFIG.DAT supplied with QEdit; if you have re-installed your keyboard using the configuration program, modify as needed. First, record a Keyboard Macro to search for the string "the". In the example, we assign the macro to <Ctrl F10>. 1. Execute the MacroRecord <Ctrl M> command. 2. At the prompt, "Assign to what key:", press <Ctrl F10>. 3. Press <Ctrl QF> to execute the Find command. Type "the" and press <Enter>. Type "IW" and press <Enter> again. 4. Execute the MacroRecord <Ctrl M> command again to end the macro. Next, save the macro to a macro file named FIND.MAC: 1. Execute the MacroWrite <Esc><M><W> command. 2. At the prompt, "Macro file to write:", type "find.mac" and press <Enter>. Now, use QMac to convert the macro to text for editing: 1. Execute the Dos <Alt F9> command and type: qmac find.mac find.txt /a- /t Press <Enter>. The file FIND.MAC is converted to a text format in the file FIND.TXT. (The /t option selects text output). 2. Execute the EditFile <Alt E> command to load the newly-created text output file into QEdit. At the prompt, "File(s) to edit:", type "find.txt" and press <Enter>. Text similar to the following is displayed: * * Converted by QMAC from: C:\FIND.MAC * ^f10 MacroBegin Find "the" Return "IW" Return This is the text representation of the keystrokes recorded in the previous steps. 3. Make any necessary changes to the macro. For example, change the word "the" to "and". Then execute the File <Ctrl KX> command to save the file. Next, convert the macro from text back to binary: 1. Execute the Dos <Alt F9> command and type: qmac find.mac find.txt /a- /b Press <Enter>. The file FIND.TXT is converted back to its binary form in the file FIND.MAC. (The /b option instructs QMac to create the binary file from the specified text file specified. Finally, reload the modified macro file into QEdit for execution: 1. Execute the MacroRead <Esc><M><R> command. 2. At the prompt, "Macro file to read:", type "find.mac" and press <Enter>. 3. Press <Ctrl F10> to execute your new macro. QEdit searches for the word "and" (instead of "the"). As this example illustrates, you can use QMac to convert macro files in two directions: from a human-readable text format to the binary format that QEdit uses, and vice versa. Executing QMac -------------- To display a summary of QMac's required format and options, type the following at the DOS prompt: qmac ? and press <Enter>. The following appears on the screen: +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | QMAC: QEdit Macro Program v3.0 | | Copyright 1989-1993 by SemWare Corp. All rights reserved worldwide. | | | | QMAC macfile txtfile [ /B | /T ] [ /A | /A- ] | | | | macfile Filename of binary macro file | | txtfile Filename of macro text file | | /B Binary output: Create macfile from txtfile | | /T Text output: Create txtfile from macfile | | /A Append mode: Append output to existing file | | /A- Do not append output to existing file | | | | QMAC will prompt for filenames if not specified. | | See manual for additional command-line options. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ The "macfile" parameter is the name (including directory, if needed) of a QEdit binary macro file, such as one created by using MacroWrite from inside QEdit. The "txtfile" parameter is the name of a text file that contains a human-readable text representation of the macros in a macro file. The "macfile" and "txtfile" parameters are required. If not specified on the command line, QMac prompts for these parameters. When executed, QMac creates whichever of the two file formats does not already exist. That is, if the text macro file ("txtfile") already exists, QMac converts this file to binary and creates the binary file ("macfile"); if the binary macro file ("macfile") already exists, QMac converts this file to text format and creates the text macro file ("txtfile"). However, if both files exist, you must supply either the /B or the /T switch to indicate the direction of conversion. The /B switch instructs instructs QMac to create a binary file; the /T switch instructs QMac to create a text file. If the output file already exists, you must also specify the /A switch to indicate whether QMac should append to the existing macro file. Specify /A+ to append to the file; specify /A- to overwrite the file. If this parameter is required but was not specified on the command line, QMac prompts for it. All of the switches other than /B, /T, and /A have default values. These need to be specified only if you want to select a value different than the default value. The switches /C, /U, /M, /Q, /I, and /W affect QMac's operation only when QMac is converting from binary to text format. The /E switch affects QMac's operation only when QMac is converting from text to binary format. (Information about these switches is provided later in this chapter.) When executed, QMac prompts for any required parameters that are not supplied at the DOS prompt, so you can just type: qmac with no parameters. QMac then prompts you for information. (Of course, for command-line switches that are not specified, the default values, if applicable, are used.) To halt QMac, press <Enter> without typing a response at any QMac prompt. The parameters accepted by QMac can be entered in any order on the DOS command line. If a switch appears more than once, or if conflicting switches are specified, the rightmost switch takes precedence. Writing Macro Text ------------------ Macros are created in a macro file. A macro file can contain multiple macros. The text format which QMac uses for macros is similar to that used within the Keyboard Definition file (QCONFIG.DAT): The format is: key [ MacroBegin ] [ Command... ] [ & ] [ "string" ] [ xxx ] [ * comment ] .... The "key" name must start in column 1 of a line, and must be a single key (no twokeys allowed). It can be either the name of a key that QEdit recognizes (such as "^pgup" for "<Ctrl PgUp>"), or the numeric scan code for a key. Capitalization of key names is not significant. However, the underscore ("_") character may NOT be used inside key names. By using the numeric scan code, you can assign macros to special keys that do not exist on your keyboard, but which are generated by a keyboard enhancer program. You can also accommodate non-standard keyboards on some clone PCs that have unusual keys. A macro optionally begins with the command "MacroBegin", but this is not required in this version of QMac. Next, the macro can contain any number of QEdit commands, such as "CursorRight", "EditFile", etc. For example, a macro (assigned to <Alt F2>) to make the cursor jump to the very first character on the last line of the current file is: @f2 MacroBegin EndFile BegLine Note: If a macro contains only the command "UnknownCommand", then that key has no action at all in QEdit. You might use this to "disable" certain keys in QEdit at certain times. In order to re-enable the keys, you must either load another macro file with those keys defined, or re-start QEdit. You may include any number of blank or tab characters between commands in a macro. Capitalization of command names is not significant, and QMac ignores the underscore ("_") character when used inside command names. Thus, any of the following are equivalent: ^f2 macro_begin beg_file un_mark_block ^f2 MaCrO_BeGiN BeGFiLe Un_MaRk_Block ^f2 MACROBEGIN BEG_file UNMARKBLOCK Along with commands, macros can contain quoted strings of text. These strings are "typed" when the macro is executed, just as if you typed them from the keyboard. Quoted strings can be surrounded by either single- or double-quote characters. If you need to embed a quote mark in a string, either use the other quote mark to surround the string, or double up the quote mark in the string. For example: 'This is a double quote: " within a string' or "This is a double quote: "" within a string" would enter the following string in the macro: This is a double quote: " within a string Quoted strings can be used to enter text in the file you are editing, or to answer prompts or menus presented by QEdit. For other ASCII characters that are difficult to enter, you can include the decimal code directly in the macro. For instance, to include a literal formfeed character in a macro, you could enter: "This is a form feed: " #12 The "12" would be translated to an ASCII 12, or formfeed, in the macro. You can use this method to enter any ASCII code form 0 to 255. The pound sign ("#") must be entered. The ASCII number IS NOT enclosed in quotes. Labels can also be included in a macro, to allow you to jump to a particular point in a macro, using the various "jump" commands. (For more information, refer to "Conditional Logic for Macros" presented earlier in this chapter.) To use a label, place it before the command to which you wish to jump. To identify a label, you must include a colon ":" as the last character of the label name. For label names, capitalization is not significant. Underscores can be used inside label names; however, they are considered a significant part of the name. So the following labels: My_First_Label: MyFirstLabel: are DIFFERENT. Comments can also be included within a macro. To identify a comment, precede the comment with an asterisk ("*"). Anywhere an asterisk ("*") appears on a line outside a quoted string, the rest of the line (to the right of the asterisk) is treated as a comment and is ignored by QMac. You can use this to include notes within a macro about the macro's operation. Comments are not included in the binary macro file that QEdit loads, so there is no space penalty for including them in your text macro files. QMac ignores any blank lines or lines that start with a comment ("*") indicator, so you can readily include these within or between your macros as needed. A macro can continue onto multiple lines. Simply indent the second and subsequent lines of the macro by one or more spaces. The macro continues until the end of the text, or until QMac encounters another key at the beginning of a subsequent line. An alternate method for continuing a macro onto multiple lines is to include an ampersand ("&") as the very last character of the preceding line. If a line ends with "&", the line that immediately follows is considered part of the macro. (Note, however, that if you use this method for continuation of macros, it is difficult to properly reformat the macro, when necessary, with QEdit.) Lines in your text macro files can be up to 1000 characters long. A text macro file may contain an arbitrary number of key definitions (that is, an arbitrary number of macros). QMac does not check the number or size of macros when creating a binary macro file from a text file, because the limits on size and number may change from version to version of QEdit. However, it does make a rudimentary check on total size to be sure that the current version of QEdit will be able to load the macro file. Converting Macro Binary Format to Text Format --------------------------------------------- When creating a text file from a binary macro file, QMac writes macros in the same format as described in the previous section. Literal ASCII characters whose decimal codes are between 0 and 31 inclusive (the "control codes") are written to the text macro in decimal form, preceded by "#". All other quoted characters are written as is. When interpreting macros containing jump commands, the original names of the labels for the jumps are no longer available. So QMac manufactures labels of the form "Labelxxx", where "xxx" is a sequential number beginning with zero. For example, if you compile the following macro to binary form with QMac: * Delete from the current line to the end of the file ^f10 MacroBegin REPEATIT: DelLine JTrue REPEATIT and then convert it back to text, it will look something like this: ^f10 MacroBegin Label0: DelLine JTrue Label0: QMac generates a separate numbered label for every Jump, JTrue, or JFalse command in the macro. (This results in multiple labels at the same place in a macro whenever that place in the macro is referenced by multiple "jump" commands.) QMac provides several command-line switches to affect the formatting of text macros, described below. You can control capitalization, use of underscores, indenting, word wrapping, and use of ampersands. None of these controls has any effect on QMac when it is reading text macro file(s), only when it is writing them. The /C switch controls the use of the "continuation" character, which is the ampersand ("&"). The default value is /C-, which instructs QMac to use the convention of indenting continuation lines, rather than writing the continuation character ("&") on the end of lines that are continued. If you prefer the ampersand syntax, you can specify /C+ on the command line to turn this option ON. The /Q switch indicates to QMac your preferred quote mark to be used around quoted strings. The default is /Q+, which instructs QMac to use a double quote mark ("""). To select the single quote mark ("'") for use around quoted strings, specify /Q-. The /M switch indicates whether you wish to use mixed case in command names. The default is /M+, which causes the QEdit command names to appear as they are normally listed in this manual (example: ToggleEGA43). Specify /M- to generate all lower-case names. (Note: Key names are always written in all lower case.) The /U switch controls whether QMac includes underscores ("_") in command names. The default is /U-, which means no underscores are written. When /U+ is specified, QMac inserts an underscore before each capitalized letter within a command (as they are normally capitalized in this manual). Here is a summary of how commands look with the different combinations of /M and /U: /M+ /U- (default) MacroBegin BegLine ToggleEGA43 /M+ /U+ Macro_Begin Beg_Line Toggle_EGA_43 /M- /U- macrobegin begline toggleega43 /M- /U+ macro_begin beg_line toggle_ega_43 The /I switch controls how far QMac indents commands from the left margin. To specify the indentation amount, immediately follow /I with the decimal number of the column in which the text of macros (other than the assigned key name) is to begin on each line. The default is /I9, which indicates column 9. The /W switch indicates to QMac your desired right margin, used to wrap multi-line macros. To specify the right margin, immediately follow /W with the decimal number of the column in which the text of macros is to be wrapped, when necessary. The default is /W80, which indicates column 80. STARTUP MACROS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit offers a feature that allows you to load and/or execute macros from the DOS command line. To load a macro from the DOS command line, type "-l" (this is a dash character and the letter "l") immediately followed by a macro filename when you execute QEdit. For example, from the DOS prompt type: q <filename to edit> -l<macro filename> To execute a macro from the DOS command line, type "-e" immediately followed by a macro filename when you execute QEdit. QEdit then automatically executes the first macro in the macro file after the file to be edited has been loaded. For example, from the DOS prompt type: q <filename to edit> -e<macro filename> Following are additional notes about the use of Startup macros. * The macro file to be loaded and/or executed must be created using either the MacroWrite <Esc><M><W> command or QMac. * A macro file to be executed (-e) is limited to a maximum size of 500 bytes. * A "/" character can be used instead of the "-" character, as "/l" and "/e". * You MUST supply a filename to be edited on the DOS command line to use this feature. * When using the execute ("-e") option, only the first macro in the macro file is executed. This macro is executed only after the file to be edited has been loaded. * You can load one macro and execute another macro at the same time. For example, from the DOS prompt: q <edit filename> -e<macro filename> -l<macro filename> Following is an example of using Startup macros. Suppose you have created two macro files, called first.mac and second.mac. Now you want to load a file for editing called work.tmp, and at the same time, load the macro file called first.mac and execute the macro file called second.mac. From the DOS command line, enter: q work.tmp -lfirst.mac -esecond.mac CHAPTER 4. QEDIT COMMAND REFERENCE ====================================================================== This chapter contains a description of each of the QEdit commands. Where applicable, the default key assignments are provided. Additionally, <Esc> sequences are given for those commands that can be accessed through the pull-down menus. To assign commands which do not have a default assignment or to change existing key assignments, refer to the "Keyboard Configuration" section of Chapter 2 for instructions. AddLine <F2> or <Esc><E><A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Adds a blank line after the cursor line, placing the cursor on the newly created line. The cursor column does not change. Align ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Aligns the text on the cursor line with the text on the line immediately before the cursor line and then positions the cursor on the next line. The cursor column does not change. If the cursor is on line one, or the previous line is blank, or the cursor line is blank, this command simply moves the cursor to the next line. Align searches backwards up to 100 lines for a line containing text to align with. AltWordSet ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Instructs QEdit to recognize an expanded set of characters as "word" characters. The default word set contains the following characters: 0 through 9, upper and lower case A through Z, and the underline character. The AltWordSet command causes additional characters to be considered "word" characters. These additional characters are: ! # $ % & ` ' ( ) - . / \ @ { } ~ : ^ The AltWordSet command affects the operation of these commands: DelLtWord <Ctrl Backspace> DelRtWord <Ctrl T> MarkWord <Ctrl KT> WordLeft <Ctrl Cursor Left> WordRight <Ctrl Cursor Right> The default word set can be re-installed by executing the DefaultWordSet command. AppendScrbuff <Ctrl BA> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appends the currently marked Block to the end of the named Scratch Buffer. The existing contents of the named Scratch Buffer are not lost. If the named Scratch Buffer does not exist, a new Scratch Buffer is created. AsciiChart <Esc><O><T> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Displays a scrollable ASCII chart on the screen. Press <Enter> to have the selected character inserted into the text at the current cursor position. Backspace <Backspace> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If Insert mode is ON: Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. The text to the right of, and including the cursor position, shifts left one position. If the cursor is in column one, the cursor line is appended to the end of the preceding line. If Insert mode is OFF: Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. The text to the right of the cursor does NOT close in or shift. If the cursor is in column one, the cursor line is still appended to the end of the previous line. BegFile <Ctrl PgUp> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at column one on the first line of the current file. BegLine <Home> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at column one of the current cursor line. BegScreen <Ctrl Home> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the top line of the current window. The cursor column does not change. CenterLine <Ctrl OT> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Centers the current cursor line based on column 1 and the right margin. Use the SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> command to change the right margin. With the cursor inside of a line Block, you can execute this command to center several lines at once. With the cursor inside of a column Block, you can center lines based on the left and right Block boundaries. ChangeFilename <Alt O> or <Alt F><C> or <Esc><F><C> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes the name of the current file. QEdit prompts for the new name. If the file already exists, you are required to confirm that you still want to rename the file. The current file is marked as being a changed file. (An asterisk appears on the StatusLine preceding the filename.) This command has no effect on disk files, until the renamed file is saved. CloseWindow <Ctrl OC> or <Esc><W><C> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Closes the current window, unless it is the only window which is open, in which case the command has no effect. Copy <Grey +> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies the marked Block into the Scrap Buffer. The Block is then unmarked. If no Block is marked, the cursor line is copied into the Scrap Buffer. The copying of the cursor line, when a Block is not marked, is configurable. Refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. CopyBlock <Alt C> or <Esc><C> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies the marked Block to the cursor position. If the Block is a character Block (created using the DropAnchor, MarkCharacter, or MarkBlockBegin/End commands) or a column Block (created using the MarkColumn command), the Block is inserted into the text beginning at the current cursor position. If the Block is a line Block (created using the MarkLine command), it is inserted before or after the current cursor line, depending on the configuration setting, "Insert line blocks ABOVE the cursor line" (refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2). The Block remains marked. Blocks may be copied from one file to another. CopyOverBlock <Alt Z> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies the currently marked column Block and places it at the current cursor position by overlaying existing text and without shifting text to the right. This command only works with column Blocks. The Block remains marked. Blocks may be "copied over" from one file to another. CurrentFilename ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Returns the name of the currently edited file, as if it had been typed at the keyboard. This command is useful for manipulation of files from within macros. CursorDown <Cursor Down> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moves the cursor downward in the file to the next line. CursorLeft <Cursor Left> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moves the cursor one character to the left. When the cursor reaches the left edge of the screen, it stops, unless the text has been scrolled left, in which case the text scrolls right one position. CursorRight <Cursor Right> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moves the cursor one character to the right. When the cursor reaches the right end of the screen, the text starts scrolling left until the cursor reaches the maximum line length. CursorUp <Cursor Up> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moves the cursor upward in the file to the previous line. Cut <Grey -> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies the marked Block into the Scrap Buffer. The Block is then deleted from the file being edited. If no Block is marked, the cursor line is cut into the Scrap Buffer. The cutting of the cursor line, when a Block is not marked, is configurable. Refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. DefaultWordSet ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Re-installs the default word set. Refer to the AltWordSet command for more information about word sets. DelCh <Del> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the character at the current cursor position. The line to the right of the cursor shifts left one position. If the cursor position is past the last character on the line, the next line is appended to the cursor line. The "joining" of the next line when the cursor is past the last character on the line is configurable. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. DeleteBlock <Alt G> or <Esc><D> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the currently marked character or line Block. If there is not a Block marked in the current file, this command has no effect. DelLine <Alt D> or <Ctrl Y> or <Esc><E><D> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the cursor line. The line following the cursor line becomes the new cursor line. DelLtWord <Ctrl Backspace> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the "word" to the left of the cursor. If the cursor is in column one, the cursor line is appended to the end of the preceding line. DelRtWord <Ctrl T> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the "word" to the right of the cursor. If the cursor position is past the last character on the line, the next line is appended to the cursor line. DelScrbuff <Ctrl BD> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes the requested Scratch Buffer. The editor prompts for the name of the Scratch Buffer to be deleted. Press <Enter> on a blank entry to bring up a list of all named Scratch Buffers. The appropriate buffer can be selected from this list by moving the cursor to an entry and pressing <Enter>. DelToEol <F6> or <Esc><E><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deletes text on the cursor line, from the cursor position to the end of line. Dos <Alt F9> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QEdit prompts for a command, which is passed to DOS for execution. After the command is executed by DOS, control is returned to QEdit. If you want to execute a series of commands in DOS, you should use the Shell command, described later in this chapter. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | You should NOT execute any TSR (terminate and stay | | resident) programs from QEdit's Dos command. This | | includes the DOS print and graph commands, and memory | | resident programs such as Sidekick and Superkey. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ DropAnchor <Alt A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is used to mark a character Block. Initially executing this command marks one end of a Block at the cursor position. As the cursor is moved, the Block "grows" with it. Executing this command again marks the other end of the Block at the cursor position. If DropAnchor is executed in a file that already contains a character Block, the Block is extended to the current cursor position. DupLine <F4> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Makes a copy of the current cursor line and inserts the copy immediately following the cursor line. The cursor is moved to the new line. EditFile <Alt E> or <Alt F><L> or <Esc><F><L> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The editor prompts for the name(s) of the additional file(s) to be edited. Wildcard characters (* or ?) are permissible, as are multiple filenames. The editor does not load multiple copies of the same file. If you issue the EditFile command using the name of a file that has already been loaded, QEdit simply makes that file the current file. EndFile <Ctrl PgDn> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor on the last line of the file immediately following the last non-blank character. If the last line of the file is blank, the cursor is positioned in column one. EndLine <End> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor immediately following the last non-blank character on the cursor line. EndPara ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor immediately following the last nonblank character of the current paragraph. EndScreen <Ctrl End> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The cursor is positioned on the last line of the current window. The cursor column does not change. Escape <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If executed while editing, the pull-down menus are displayed. Otherwise, this command terminates any editor prompt. ExecuteScrap <Ctrl Enter> or <Esc><M><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plays back the latest macro that was created using the MacroRecord command. Exit <Ctrl KD> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Conditionally discards the current file. If the file has not been modified, the file is discarded without prompting. If the file has been modified, the editor prompts with: + Save changes? =+ |#Yes############| | No | | Cancel | +================+ Press <Y> to save and then discard the file. Press <N> to discard the file without saving any changes. Press <C> or <Esc> to halt the command and return control back to the editor, without saving or quitting the file. QEdit can be configured, when only a single file is being edited and the Exit command is issued, to either terminate or prompt for another file to edit. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. File <Ctrl KX> or <Alt F><F> or <Esc><F><F> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saves and then discards the current file. QEdit can be configured, when only a single file is being edited and the File command is issued, to either terminate or prompt for another file to edit. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. FillBlock <Ctrl KL> or <Esc><F> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fills an entire marked Block with any ASCII character. You are prompted to enter the desired character. FillBlock is recommended for use with column and word Blocks, only because it fills other type Blocks with characters beyond column 80. Find <Ctrl QF> or <Esc><S><F> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Searches for a specified string of characters within the current file. The User is prompted for a search string and search options. Available search options are: [B] Search backwards from the current cursor position. [G] Global search. Begin searching from the beginning of the file (or marked Block, if the L option is also selected.) [L] Local search. Limit the search to the marked Block. [I] Ignore the case of the search string. [W] Search for whole words only. FindReplace <Ctrl QA> or <Esc><S><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Searches and replaces strings within the current file. The User is prompted for a search string, a replace string, and options. Available options are: [B] Search backwards from the current cursor position. [G] Global search and replace. Begin searching from the beginning of the file (or marked Block, if the L option is also selected.) [L] Local search and replace. Limit the search to the marked Block. [I] Ignore the case of the search string. [W] Search for whole words only. [N] Find and replace without prompting. At every occurrence of the search string in the file, the User is given the following replace options: [Y] Replace the search string with the replace string and continue on to the next occurrence of the search string. [N] Do not make any changes but continue on to the next occurrence of the search string. [O] Replace the search string with the replace string and then terminate the FindReplace process. [R] Replace the search string with the replace string for this and the rest of the occurrences throughout the file without any further prompting. [Q] Terminate the FindReplace process. You can press <Ctrl Break> to halt a global FindReplace. FirstNonWhite ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Intended as a replacement and/or supplement to the BegLine command. Places the cursor at the first non-white character on the line, or column 1 if the line does not have any non-white characters. "White" characters are tabs or spaces. A useful macro would be: Home MacroBegin BegLine MacroQuitTrue FirstNonWhite (Explanation: If already at the beginning of a line, go to the first non-white character on the line; otherwise, if not already at the beginning of a line, go to the beginning of the line. Flip <Alt 3> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reverses the case (upper to lower and lower to upper) of all characters in a marked Block. The cursor must be within the marked Block. If the cursor is outside of the marked Block or if no Block is marked, the case of the character at the current cursor position is reversed. GetPrev <Ctrl - (dash)> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Duplicates the character immediately above the cursor at the cursor position. GetScrbuff <Ctrl BL> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts the contents of the named Scratch Buffer at the cursor position. Refer to the "Block Commands" section of Chapter 1 for more information. GExit <Alt X> or <Alt Q><X> or <Esc><Q><X> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issues the Exit command for all files that have been loaded. If no files have been modified, this command immediately terminates the editor and returns control to DOS. If any files have been modified, you are prompted with the following menu for each modified file: + Save changes? =+ |#Yes############| | No | | Cancel | +================+ Press <Y> to save and then discard the file. Press <N> to discard the file without saving any changes. Press <C> or <Esc> to halt the command and return control back to the editor, without saving or quitting the file. For example, if you have ten files loaded and two of them have been modified, then you are prompted to save changes twice, once for each modified file. GFile <Alt F><G> or <Esc><F><G> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Instructs the editor to discard all files that have been loaded. Any files that have been modified are unconditionally saved. If no files have been changed, this command immediately terminates the editor and returns control to DOS. GotoBlockBeg <Ctrl QB> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the beginning of the currently marked Block. If the Block is in a file other than the current file, the file containing the Block becomes the new current file. GotoBlockEnd <Ctrl QK> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the end of the currently marked Block. If the Block is in a file other than the current file, the file containing the Block becomes the new current file. GotoColumn <Esc><S><G> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the requested column. The editor prompts for the desired column number. GotoLine <Ctrl J> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the requested line. The editor prompts for the desired line number. GPQuit <F3> or <Alt Q><Q> or <Esc><Q><Q> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issues the PQuit command for all files that have been loaded. GrowWindow <Ctrl OG> or <Esc><W><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes the size of the current window, if there are multiple windows on the screen. GSave <Alt Y> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Issues the SaveFile command for all files that have been modified. HalfPgDn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text toward the end of the file one-half page. HalfPgUp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text toward the beginning of the file one-half page. HorizontalWindow <Ctrl OH> or <Esc><W><S> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Splits the screen or current window horizontally, creating a new window. Up to eight windows may be displayed on the screen at one time. InsertDate ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts the system date at the current cursor position. InsertLine <Alt F2> or <Esc><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts a blank line above the cursor line and positions the cursor on the newly created line. The cursor column does not change. InsertTime ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts the system time at the current cursor position. isBegLine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the cursor is at column 1; otherwise, FALSE is returned. isCurrChar -------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Used to set a conditional branch based on the value of the character at the cursor position. The format is: isCurrChar char Where "char" is the character in literal format (surrounded by quotes, either single or double) or in ASCII value format, preceded by a pound sign (#). Examples: isCurrChar 'a' JTrue found: isCurrChar #97 JTrue found: Both of these examples jump to the label "found" if the current character is "a". isCursorInBlock ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the cursor is inside a marked Block; otherwise, FALSE is returned. isEmptyLine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the current line is empty or contains only white space; otherwise, FALSE is returned. isEndLine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the cursor is past the last non-white character on the current line; otherwise, FALSE is returned, including the case when the cursor is on an empty line. isFirstLine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the cursor is on the first line of the currently edited file; otherwise, FALSE is returned. isLastLine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Returns TRUE if the cursor is on the last line of the currently edited file; otherwise, FALSE is returned. JFalse ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to transfer control to the named label, if the previous command returned FALSE. JoinLine <Alt J> or <Esc><E><J> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Joins the line below the cursor line to the end of the cursor line. If the cursor is past the end of the line, then the line is joined at the cursor position. JTrue ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to transfer control to the named label, if the previous command returned TRUE. Jump -------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to unconditionally transfer control to the named label. KillFile <Ctrl KZ> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Erases the currently edited file from disk. The file remains loaded in the editor and is marked as being a changed file. (An asterisk appears on the StatusLine preceding the filename.) This command is very useful when available disk space is low. LineDown <Ctrl Cursor Down> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text one line at a time toward the end of the file. The cursor remains stationary on the screen. LineUp <Ctrl Cursor Up> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text one line at a time toward the beginning of the file. The cursor remains stationary on the screen. ListFiles <Esc><F><T> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Displays a list of the currently loaded files. To switch to another file, move the cursor to the appropriate file and press <Enter>. To keep editing the current file, press <Esc>. Literal <Ctrl P> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Causes the editor to literally interpret the keystroke that is entered immediately following this command. It is used to insert control characters into the currently edited file. For example, to insert the ASCII formfeed character (ASCII 12), you would first press <Ctrl P> then <Ctrl L>. To insert a "null" character into the file, press <Ctrl P> and then <Ctrl 2>. (Note: The "2" must be the "2" key on the alphanumeric keyboard, NOT the key on the numeric keypad.) Refer to the "Adding Text" section of Chapter 1 for more information. Lower <Alt 2> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes all characters in a marked Block to lower case. The cursor must be within the marked Block. If the cursor is outside of the marked Block or if no Block is marked, the character at the current cursor position is changed to lower case. MacroQuit -------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to immediately terminate a macro, thus saving a "jump past the end of the macro". MacroQuitFalse -------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to immediately terminate a macro, if the previous command returned FALSE, thus saving a "jump past the end of the macro on FALSE". MacroQuitTrue -------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. It is used to immediately terminate a macro, if the previous command returned TRUE, thus saving a "jump past the end of the macro on TRUE". MacroRead <Esc> <M><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Loads the named macro file, with all macros contained therein, from disk into the editor's internal macro buffer. The macros are assigned to the keys exactly as they were originally recorded and saved. The editor prompts the User for the name of the file. MacroRecord <Ctrl M> or <Esc><M><M> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) macro recording. If macro recording is OFF, this turns macro recording ON and prompts for a key to which to assign the macro. After pressing the desired key (see Appendix C for a list of assignable keys), all following keystrokes are recorded until the MacroRecord key is pressed again. After the macro has been recorded, it can be played back by pressing the key to which the macro was assigned. Instead of assigning a macro to a specific key, it can be assigned to a "scrap" or temporary area by simple pressing <Enter> at the prompt. A macro assigned to the scrap area may be played back by entering the ExecuteScrap <Ctrl Enter> command. The scrap area is updated each time the MacroRecord command is executed. MacroWrite <Esc> <M><W> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saves all currently defined macros to a binary disk file. The editor prompts for the name of the file. MainMenu <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Activates the pull-down menu system. Many of the editor's commands can be executed via the menus. MakeBotofScreen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text in the window so that the cursor line becomes the bottom line of the window. MakeCtrofScreen <Shift F5> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text in the window so that the cursor line becomes the center line of the window. MakeTopofScreen <F5> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text in the window so that the cursor line becomes the top line of the window. MarkBlockBegin <Ctrl KB> or <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Marks the beginning of a character Block. The Block is not shown until the MarkBlockEnd command is executed at some position beyond the beginning position of the Block. For an alternate method of marking character Blocks, refer to the DropAnchor and MarkCharacter commands. MarkBlockEnd <Ctrl KK> or <Esc><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Marks the end of a character Block. The Block is not shown until the MarkBlockBegin command is also executed at some position before the end of the Block. For an alternate method of marking character Blocks, refer to the DropAnchor and MarkCharacter commands. MarkCharacter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is used to mark a character Block. It is similar to the DropAnchor command except the cursor position is NOT included as part of the Block. This command is provided as a replacement for the DropAnchor command. If you want the cursor position included in character Blocks, then continue to use DropAnchor; otherwise, replace the DropAnchor command with this command. MarkColumn <Alt K> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is used to mark a column Block. Initially executing this command marks the current cursor position. As the cursor is moved, the Block "grows". Executing this command again marks the other end of the Block at the current cursor position. If MarkColumn is executed in a file that already contains a Block, the Block is extended to the current cursor position. MarkLine <Alt L> or <Esc><L> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is used to mark a line Block. Initially executing this command marks the current cursor line. As the cursor is moved, the Block "grows" with it, line by line. Executing this command again marks the other end of the Block at the current cursor line. If MarkLine is executed in a file that already contains a Block, the Block is extended to the current cursor line. MarkWord <Ctrl KT> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is used to mark a word Block. Executing this command marks the word at the current cursor position. If there is no word at the current cursor position, then no action is taken. Match <Alt F3> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Finds the corresponding "(", ")", "{", "}", "[", "]" character. This command is primarily intended for programming languages in which complicated expressions are grouped with one or more of these characters. This command is very useful for finding unmatched parentheses. MoveBlock <Alt M> or <Esc><M> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moves (copies and deletes) the currently marked Block to the cursor position. If the Block is a character Block (created using the DropAnchor, MarkCharacter, or MarkBlockBegin/End commands) or a column Block (created using the MarkColumn command), the Block is inserted into the text beginning at the current cursor position. If the Block is a line Block (created using the MarkLine command), it is inserted before or after the current cursor line, depending on the configuration setting, "Insert line blocks ABOVE the cursor line" (refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2). The Block remains marked. Blocks may be moved from one file to another. NewFile ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Executes the Exit <Ctrl KD> command followed by the EditFile <Alt E> command. Refer the Exit and EditFile commands in this chapter for more information. NextFile <Alt N> or <Alt F><N> or <Esc><F><N> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Makes the next file in the ring the new current file when multiple files are loaded. NextPara ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor on the first character of the next paragraph. NextWindow <Ctrl ON> or <Esc><W><N> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Makes the window below the current window the new current window. If the current window is at the bottom of the screen, the top window on the screen becomes the current window. OneWindow <Ctrl OO> or <Esc><W><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Closes all windows except the current window and expands it to occupy the entire screen. PageDown <PgDn> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text toward the end of the file, one page-full less one line, at a time. PageUp <PgUp> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text toward the top of the file, one page-full less one line, at a time. Paste <Grey *> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts the contents of the Scrap Buffer at the cursor position. The Scrap Buffer is loaded using the Cut or Copy commands. If the Scrap Buffer contains a character or column Block, it is inserted at the cursor position. If the Scrap Buffer contains a line Block, it is inserted before or after the cursor line depending on the configuration setting, "Insert line blocks ABOVE the cursor line" (refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2). Paste is also available within prompt boxes. PasteOver <Ctrl PrtSc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a Paste command for column Blocks. It takes a column Block which has been loaded into the Scrap Buffer using the Cut or Copy commands, and places the contents at the current cursor position by overlaying existing text, without shifting text to the right. Pause ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Temporarily suspends execution of a macro until either <Enter> or <Esc> is pressed. Refer to the "Macro Pause" section of Chapter 3 for more information. PQuit <Ctrl KQ> or <Alt F><Q> or <Esc><F><Q> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command initiates a protected quit. If the current file has not been modified, it is discarded. If the current file has been modified, the following prompt is issued: + Lose changes? =+ |#Yes############| | No | | Cancel | +================+ Press <Y> to quit the current file. Press <N>, <C>, or <Esc> to cancel the command, without discarding the current file. If multiple files are being edited, this command makes the previous file in the ring the new current file. QEdit can be configured, when only a single file is being edited and the PQuit command is issued, to either terminate or prompt for another file to edit. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. PrevFile <Ctrl KP> or <Alt F> or <Esc><F> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Makes the previous file in the ring the new current file when multiple files are loaded. PrevPara ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor on the first character of the previous paragraph. PrevPosition <Ctrl QP> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the previous cursor position. Very helpful when used with the GotoLine command. The GotoLine command can be used to go directly to a certain line of the file. The PrevPosition can then be used to return you to the previous cursor position. PrevWindow <Ctrl OP> or <Esc><W> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Makes the window above the current window the new current window. If the current window is at the top of the screen, the bottom window on the screen becomes the current window. PrintAll <Alt P><A> or <Esc><A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Prints the entire contents of the current file. PrintBlock <Alt P> or <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Prints the entire contents of the marked Block. The marked Block must be in the current file. PrintEject <Alt P><F> or <Esc><F> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sends a formfeed character (ASCII 12) to the printer. QuickHelp <F1> or <Alt H> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Displays the Help Screen. A default Help Screen is provided with QEdit; however, you may wish to design your own Help Screen. For more information, refer to "The Help Screen" section of Chapter 2. Quit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Unconditional quit. The current file is discarded regardless of any changes made to it. This command is for those who do not like software that "nags" you. USE WITH CAUTION! ReadBlock <Alt R> or <Alt F><R> or <Esc><F><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Inserts the named disk file at the current cursor position. RepeatCmd <Ctrl QQ> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Repeats the last character, command, or macro entered from the keyboard up to 9,999 times. You are prompted for the number of times to repeat. Repeating automatically terminates when any command fails. For example, if you are repeating a search and get a "Not Found", repeating then stops. You can also enter <Ctrl Break> at any time from the keyboard to cancel repeating. RepeatFind <Ctrl L> or <Esc><S><A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Repeats the previous Find or FindReplace command. ResizeWindow <Ctrl OG> or <Ctrl OS> or <Esc><W><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes the size of the current window, if there are multiple windows on the screen. RestoreSettings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Restores settings saved by the SaveSettings command. Return <Enter> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Return command behaves differently depending on Insert mode and AutoIndent mode. If Insert mode is OFF, the cursor is positioned at the first column of the next line. If Insert mode is ON, the current cursor line is split at the cursor position and any text to the right of and including the cursor position is placed on a new line following the current line. If the cursor is past the last character on the line, then a blank line is added following the current line. The cursor is then moved to the first column of the new line. If AutoIndent is ON, spaces are inserted ahead of the cursor position to align it with the text on the previous line. If AutoIndent is OFF, the text is moved to the beginning of the next line. The Return command can be configured to split or not split lines when Insert mode is ON. Refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. SaveFile <Ctrl KS> or <Alt F><S> or <Esc><F><S> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saves to disk the file currently being edited. The file remains loaded, ready for further editing. SaveSettings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Saves the current settings of: Insert, AutoIndent, WordWrap, Sound, and Screen Updating. See RestoreSettings. ScreenLeft <Alt F5> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shifts the screen to the left, the number of columns specified in the configuration program. Refer to the "Colors/Screen Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. ScreenRight <Alt F6> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shifts the screen to the Right, the number of columns specified in the configuration program. Refer to the "Colors/Screen Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. ScrollDown <Ctrl Z> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text one line at a time toward the end of the file. The cursor remains on the same line of text until it reaches the top of the screen. ScrollUp <Ctrl W> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Scrolls the text one line at a time toward the beginning of the file. The cursor remains on the same line of text until it reaches the bottom of the screen. SetAutoIndentMode ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Sets AutoIndent mode ON. To set AutoIndent mode OFF, do the following: SetAutoIndentMode ToggleIndent SetCtabwidth <Esc><O><C> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the cursor tab width. This is the width that is used when the TabRt or TabLt commands are executed and Fixed Tabs mode is in effect. SetEGA25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Switches a monitor with an EGA or VGA card to 25-line mode. This command has no effect if the video card is not an EGA or VGA type. SetEGA43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Switches a monitor with an EGA card to 43-line mode, or a monitor with a VGA card to 50-line mode. This command has no effect if the video card is not an EGA or VGA type. SetInsMode ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Sets Insert mode ON. To set Insert mode OFF (that is, set overwrite mode ON), do the following: SetInsMode ToggleInsert SetPrintBotMargin <Alt P><O> or <Esc><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the number of lines that are left blank at the bottom of each page during printing. SetPrintDevice <Alt P><D> or <Esc><D> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Allows the setting of the default print device. Choices include PRN, LPT1 through LPT3, or any valid DOS filename. When executed, the following menu is displayed: + Print Device =+ |#Prn###########| | lpt1 | | lpt2 | | lpt3 | | disk File... | +===============+ SetPrintLeftMargin <Alt P><L> or <Esc><L> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the number of spaces that are printed as a left margin at the beginning of each line. The default is zero. SetPrintLineSpacing <Alt P><S> or <Esc><S> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Allows the setting of the print line spacing, up to a value of 200. 1 = single-space, 2 = double-space, 3 = triple-space, etc. SetPrintPageSize <Alt P> or <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the number of lines to be printed per page before sending a formfeed. A value of zero allows continuous printing (no formfeeds sent). SetPrintTopMargin <Alt P><T> or <Esc><T> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the number of lines that are left blank at the top of each page during printing. SetPtabwidth <Esc><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the Physical Tab Width. This determines the width to which physical tab characters found in files are expanded if Physical Tab Expansion is set ON. It also determines the number of spaces to be used for Tabs Out mode. Refer to the ToggleTabsExpand and ToggleTabsOut commands in this chapter for more information. SetRmargin <Ctrl OR> or <Esc><O><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sets the right margin for word-wrap and paragraph reformatting. WordWrap mode is automatically switched ON whenever the right margin is set using this command. SetScreenOff ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Turns screen updating OFF. You must turn screen updating back ON before your macro prompts for input, or if there is some output from the macro that you want displayed on the screen. NOTE: QEdit AUTOMATICALLY turns screen updating back ON when the macro is finished executing. Thus, it is not necessary to issue the SetScreenOn command at the end of the macro. SetScreenOn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Turns screen updating ON (see SetScreenOff). SetSoundOff ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Disables the tone sounded by the editor on failed searches. SetSoundOn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Enables the tone sounded by the editor on failed searches. SetTabType <Esc><O><Y> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Determines the behavior of the tab key based on the tab type selected. Choices are Fixed, Smart, and Variable. (Refer to the "Modes" section of Chapter 1.) When executed, the following menu is displayed: +== Tab Type ===+ |#Fixed#########| | Smart | | Variable | +===============+ SetVarTabStops <Esc><O><V> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Allows the setting of the tab stops used when Variable tab type is selected. SetWordWrapMode ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command is intended for use only within macros. Sets WordWrap mode ON. To set WordWrap mode OFF, do the following: SetWordWrapMode ToggleWordWrap Shell <F9> or <Alt F><O> or <Esc><F><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Invokes a DOS shell. While in the shell, you can execute DOS and other commands. When you are ready to leave the shell, type "exit" and press <Enter>. This places you back in QEdit, exactly where you left off. +QEdit Tip:-------------------------------------------------+ | You should NOT execute any TSR (terminate and stay | | resident) programs from QEdit's Shell command. This | | includes the DOS print and graph commands, and memory | | resident programs such as Sidekick and Superkey. | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ ShiftLeft <Shift F7> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shifts the contents of the currently marked Block (or the cursor line, if the cursor is not in a marked Block) one position to the left. If you issue this command when the leftmost character(s) of the line(s) being shifted is in column 1, that character(s) is deleted to allow the remainder of the line to shift left one position. ShiftRight <Shift F8> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shifts the contents of the currently marked Block (or the cursor line, if the cursor does not reside in a marked Block) one position to the right. If you issue this command when the rightmost character(s) of the line(s) being shifted is in column 1000, that character(s) is deleted to allow the remainder of the line to shift right one position. ShowEntryScreen <Alt F10> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Displays the original DOS screen as it appeared upon initial execution of the editor. Press any key to return to the edit screen. To use this command, the option "Do you want the original screen restored upon termination (Y/N)?" must be set to "Y" (the standard setting). This option is set via the QCONFIG program, under "Colors/screen." ShrinkWindow <Ctrl OS> or <Esc><W><R> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes the size of the current window, if there are multiple windows on the screen. Sort <Shift F3> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorts a range of lines. The sort key is determined by a marked column Block. The lines spanned by the column Block determines the range of lines to be sorted. For more information about column Blocks, refer to the MarkColumn command in this chapter. Whether the lines are sorted in ascending or descending order is determined by the ToggleSortDescending command. Ignoring or respecting differences in case is determined by the ToggleSortCaseInSensitive command. (The initial state of both of these toggles can be set via the configuration program. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2.) The Sort command can only be used with a single, nonzoomed window on the screen. SpacesToTabs <Esc><O><M> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Compresses occurrences of multiple spaces to tabs, where appropriate. Spaces within quotes (single and double) are not compressed. If the cursor is within a marked Block when this command is executed, only spaces within the Block are compressed; otherwise, this common operates on the entire file. SplitLine <Alt S> or <Esc><E><S> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Splits the current cursor line at the cursor position. Any text to the right of and including the cursor position is placed on a new line following the current line. If the cursor is past the last character on the line, then a blank line is added following the current line. The cursor position does not change. StoreScrbuff <Ctrl BS> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copies the currently marked Block to the named Scratch Buffer. The editor prompts for the name of the Scratch Buffer. The contents of all Scratch Buffers are lost when the editor is terminated. TabLt <Shift Tab> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the previous tab position, as defined by the tab width. If Insert mode is ON, the text to the right, including the character at the cursor position, shifts left. QEdit can be configured so that if Insert mode is ON, AND the cursor is inside a marked Block, the entire Block shifts left by the current cursor tab width. For more information on this option, refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2. TabRt <Tab> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the next tab position, as defined by the cursor tab width. If Insert mode is ON, the text to the right, including the character at the cursor position, shifts right. QEdit can be configured so that if Insert mode is ON, AND the cursor is inside a marked Block, the entire Block shifts right by the current cursor tab width. For more information on this option, refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2. TabsToSpaces <Esc><O><X> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Expands tab characters to the appropriate number of spaces. Tabs within quotes (single and double) are not expanded. If the cursor is within a marked Block when this command is executed, only tabs within the Block are expanded; otherwise, this command operates on the entire file. ToggleBakups <Esc><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) file backups. If ON, QEdit creates a backup file using the ".bak" file extension whenever a modified file is saved. ToggleBoxDraw <Shift F1> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Box Drawing mode. If ON, the cursor movement keys (up, down, right, left) "draw" lines in the text, both up/down and right/left. Very useful for creating charts and tables. The letter "B" appears on the StatusLine when this mode is ON. ToggleBoxType <Alt F1> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This command prompts the User to select from different line drawing styles for use with Box Drawing mode. The options are: Single, Double Top, Double Side, Double, and Eraser. ToggleCenterFinds <Esc><S><C> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Find centering. If ON, this causes the Find and FindReplace commands to center the found text vertically on the screen. If OFF, the initial row the cursor was on when the command was initiated does not change. ToggleEGA43 <Ctrl F1> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles an EGA monitor between 25-line and 43-line mode or a VGA monitor between 25-line and 50-line mode. This command has no effect if the video card is not an EGA or VGA type. ToggleEnterMatching <Esc><O><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) EnterMatching mode. If ON, the double quote, parenthesis, and square bracket keys all automatically enter the matching right-hand character when the left-hand character is entered. For example, typing the "[" key automatically enters a "]" immediately following. ToggleIndent <Ctrl QI> or <Esc><O><A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) AutoIndent mode. If ON, the cursor is positioned at the current left margin whenever the <Enter> key is pressed. The current left margin is determined by the first non-blank character on the immediately preceding line. Paragraph reformatting and word-wrapping also use the current left margin when AutoIndent mode is ON. The letter "A" appears on the StatusLine when this mode is ON. ToggleInsert <Ins> or <Esc><O> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Insert mode. If ON, text to the right of the cursor on the cursor line is shifted whenever characters, spaces, the Backspace command, the TabLt command, or the TabRt command is entered. Also, executing the Return command causes the current line to split at the cursor position. The letter "I" appears on the StatusLine when this mode is ON. TogglePrintLineNumbers <Alt P><N> or <Esc><N> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) the printing of line numbers. TogglePrintPause <Alt P> or <Esc> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) pausing between pages while printing. If ON, the editor pauses and requires a key press to continue after every page is printed. This is useful with single sheet printers. When OFF, the editor prints continuously without pausing. ToggleShowCurrChar <Esc><O><H> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) the display of the ASCII and Hexadecimal values of the current character on the StatusLine. When ON, the ASCII and Hex values of the current character are displayed in the far right portion of the StatusLine. If the cursor is past the end of the text on the line, <EOL> is displayed. ToggleSmartTabs <Ctrl QT> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Smart Tabs mode. If ON, the TabRt and TabLt commands place the cursor beneath the beginning of the next (or previous) word on the first nonblank line preceding the current cursor line. ToggleSortCaseInsensitive <Esc> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) case-insensitive sorting. When ON, upper and lower case letters are sorted as if they are of the same case. When OFF, upper and lower case letters are sorted strictly by their ASCII value, which places all upper case letters before the lower case letters. ToggleSortDescending <Esc><N> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) descending sorting. When ON, sorting is performed from highest value to lowest value (descending). When OFF, sorting is performed from lowest value to highest value (ascending). ToggleSwap <Esc><O><S> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) swapping to expanded memory or disk when the Shell <F9> and Dos <Alt F9> commands are executed. (You can specify a default for swapping, using the configuration program. Refer to the "Advanced Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information.) If ON, QEdit swaps itself out of DOS memory and to expanded memory or disk when a shell command is executed. This leaves a small 2K kernel of QEdit in DOS memory, freeing up the rest of DOS memory for running other applications out of the shell such as compilers or spreadsheets. While you are in a shell, QEdit maintains a file with a ".SWP" file extension in your root directory. It is very important that you do not delete this file while in the shell. ToggleTabsExpand <Alt V> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Physical Tab Expansion mode. If ON, physical tab characters (ASCII 9) found in a file are expanded into spaces according to the Physical Tab Width set in the configuration program. If OFF, physical tabs are displayed on the screen and a physical tab character is placed in the text each time the TabRt command is entered. ToggleTabsOut <Alt I> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Tabs Out mode. If ON, continuous spaces in a line of text are replaced with physical tabs (ASCII 9) according to the Physical Tab Width set in the configuration program. Only spaces in edited lines are replaced with physical tabs. Spaces falling between single or double quotes are not replaced. ToggleVarTabs <Esc><O><Y><V> -------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) Variable Tabs mode. When ON, tab stops are set to those specified by the SetVarTabStop command, or by the default set by the configuration program. When OFF, tab stops are set to a fixed tab width, as specified by the SetCTabWidth command. ToggleWordwrap <Ctrl OW> or <Esc><O><W> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles (ON and OFF) WordWrap mode. If ON, the cursor, along with the word currently being typed, automatically advances to the next line whenever a character is typed beyond the right margin. The right margin can be permanently set using the configuration program (refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2) or temporarily changed using the SetRmargin command. The letter "W" appears on the StatusLine when this mode is ON. UndoCursorline <Ctrl QL> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reverses any changes made to the current cursor line (except changes made with the FindReplace command). If the cursor has been moved from the changed line or a file or window command is executed, the changes cannot be undone. UnKill <Ctrl U> or <Esc><E> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Recovers the last deleted entry from the current file's Kill Buffer. Deleted Blocks and lines are inserted immediately before the current cursor line, and deleted words are inserted immediately before the current cursor position. The number of lines saved in the Kill Buffer may be set with the configuration program. Refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2 for more information. UnmarkBlock <Alt U> or <Esc> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Unmarks the currently marked Block. Upper <Alt 1> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes all characters in a marked Block to upper case. The cursor must be within the marked Block. If the cursor is outside of the marked Block or if no Block is marked, the character at the current cursor position is changed to upper case. WordLeft <Ctrl Cursor Left> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the first character of the previous word. WordRight <Ctrl Cursor Right> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Positions the cursor at the first character of the following word. WrapPara <Alt B> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reformats text from the current cursor position until a blank line or end of file is encountered. If AutoIndent is ON, the line below the cursor line is used for the left margin. Otherwise, a left margin of zero is used. The right margin is determined by the configuration program (refer to the "General Options" section of Chapter 2), or interactively set by the SetRmargin command. WriteBlock <Alt W> or <Alt F><W> or <Esc><F><W> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Writes the currently marked Block to the named file. The editor prompts for the name of the file. A Save-As-Filename feature is possible with the WriteBlock command, allowing you to save your current file under a different name. To use this feature, execute the WriteBlock <Alt W> command with no marked Blocks in the file. QEdit prompts with: +--------------------------------------------------------------+ |File to write: | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ Enter the new filename. If the filename you specify already exists, QEdit prompts with: +======= Choose ========+ | Overlay existing file | | Append to file | +=======================+ Select the desired option, or press <Esc> to cancel. If there is a marked Block in the file, the WriteBlock command operates as usual, and writes the currently marked Block to the named file. ZoomWindow <Ctrl OZ> or <Esc><W><Z> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggles Zoom mode ON and OFF. If there are multiple windows on the screen, entering the ZoomWindow command causes the current window to fill the entire screen. Press ZoomWindow again to restore the other windows to the screen.