C/C++ Users Group Library 1996 July/C-C++ Users Group Library July 1996.iso/vol_300/399_01/mined.hel

Text File | 1993-08-03 | 23.0 KB | 533 lines

MINED                EDITOR                MINED


NAME
    mined - a text editor

SYNTAX
    mined [ -<options> ] [ +linenumber ] [ filename ] [ more filenames ... ]


DESCRIPTION
    An easy-to-use and natural in appearance text editor.
    Its original version was designed for Andrew S Tanenbaum's operating
    system Minix.

    Startup features:
    - with given file name (as usual) or multiple file names
    - without given file name
    - reading from a pipe (reading text from standard input)
    - writing into a pipe (writing edited text to standard output)
    Examples:
    mined x        - edits the file x
    mined x y z    - edits files x, y, and z
    cmd | mined    - edits the output of "cmd", file name for saving
              can be given later
    mined x > y    - takes the contents of file x and edits it
              for writing into y
    mined | mail nn    - edits a text to be mailed
    cmd1 | mined | cmd2 - modifies text in between a pipe from
                program cmd1 (output) to cmd2 (as input)
    Startup options:
    +number    Mined positions to the given line number.
    -v    Mined starts in view only mode. The text cannot be modified.
    -m    ESC ESC does not exit mined, but proceed to the next file.
        (currently default setting)
    -p    Enables provisions for proportional display fonts. (I have
        not yet encountered a terminal emulation which handles this
        well, see comments in mined.new.)
    -r    Ignore CR characters (so strip them at line ends).
        I.e., read MSDOS text on Unix machines.
    -R    Take CR only for newline. I.e., read MacIntosh text on
        MSDOS or Unix machines.
    -C    Enables use of Chinese or other 16-bit character set. A byte
        with high bit set is regarded as the first of a two-byte
        character sequence and will not be separated in certain
        mined operations. This works well, e.g., with the Chinese
        xterm version, cxterm.
    -B    Backspace deletes left, Delete deletes right.
    -W    Select WordStar key function layout. This includes many
        functions of the ^K, ^O, and ^Q menus.
    -s    Display option: Stay with cursor in top line after page down
        or bottom line after page up instead of center line.
    -S    Display option: Use scrolling for page up/down.
    -dn    Display option: Apply delay between lines of page output to
        achieve nice effective display build-up, starting from the
        new cursor position proceeding to the screen edges.
        If n lies between '0' and '9', the respective number of
        milliseconds is applied between display of two lines.
        If n='0', still an output flush is performed.
        If n='-', no delay at all is applied though still the order
        of display output is from cursor position to edges.
        Default: '-' in the Unix version, '9' in the MSDOS version.
        To achieve paging speed at the keyboard repeat rate but still
        have a taste of the build-up effect, a value of '5' or '6'
        is suitable on my MSDOS system.
    These options are also looked for in the environment variable MINED.
    Some options can also be set by the existence of further variables:
    MINEDPROP    sets -p
    MINEDCHIN    sets -C
    MINEDMAC    sets -R
    MINEDWS        sets -W

  Basic functionality
    Mined is always in insert mode. Commands are single control characters,
    double key commands starting with ESCAPE, and a collection of function
    keys (currently installed for the VT220, SUN, and Iris terminals).
    As a specialty, note the prefixing 'HOP KEY' which stretches the effect
    of some cursor and screen motion commands just as you would expect; this
    provides for more command flexibility without too much key remembering.
    Control key layout in the current version is 'geographically' oriented
    on the left side of the keyboard for the main motion commands, an idea
    probably originating from the 'WordMaster' and 'WordStar' editors.
    On SUN terminals, also the right-hand cursor block is assigned the
    most important movement functions as follows:
                        +------+-------+------+
                        | LnDn |   ^   | PgUp |
                        +------+-------+------+
                        |  <-  |  HOP  |  ->  |
                        +------+-------+------+
                        | LnUp |   v   | PgDn |
                        +------+-------+------+

    Note that line-feeds (end-of-line character) are treated like any
    ordinary character except that they cannot occur in search strings.
    This drawback (not to be able to search / replace lineends naturally)
    seems to be a tradition of line-oriented unix tools and I was not
    willing to spend that much time going into very special parts of mined.

    Every care has been taken to prevent loss of the edited text in case
    of save errors or accidental quit commands etc. Also, if a command is
    given to write to a file not previously read in, mined prompts for
    confirmation.
    In the "write to standard output" mode, only one save to standard output
    can be performed, so there is a problem in the case that more than one
    saving actions occur; the first save (whether by a write, edit,
    or suspend command) of the buffer is written to standard output,
    any subsequent one is treated as usual (with empty file name).

    Before regarding the command keys and their functions,
    note the following general remarks:

  The HOP function
    This function, triggered by any of the HOP keys, fortifies (or modifies)
    functions as follows. To achieve the combined function, first press
    any key that is assigned the HOP function, then any key assigned
    the second function:

    HOP - char left            move cursor to start of current line
    HOP - char right            move cursor to end of current line
    HOP - line up            move cursor to top of screen
    HOP - line down            move cursor to bottom of screen
    HOP - scroll up            scroll half a screen up
    HOP - scroll down            scroll half a screen down
    HOP - page up            move to start of file
    HOP - page down            move to end of file
    HOP - word left            move cursor to previous ";" or "."
    HOP - word right            move cursor to next ";" or "."
    HOP - delete tail of line/lineend    delete whole line
    HOP - delete whole line        delete tail of line
    HOP - delete previous character    delete beginning of line
    HOP - set mark            go to mark
    HOP - search            search for current identifier
    HOP - search next            repeat previous (last but one) search
    HOP - copy/cut            copy or cut, but append to buffer
    HOP - save buffer            save buffer, but append to file
    HOP - paste buffer            paste "inter-window buffer",
            which is the last saved buffer by any invocation
            of mined on the same machine by the same user.
    HOP - edit next file        edit last file
    HOP - edit previous file        edit first file
    HOP - suspend            suspend without writing file

  Typing in 8-bit characters in absence of appropriate keyboard
    Some function keys can be used as prefix keys to change the character
    assigned to the following key to a diacritic or special character.
    (MSDOS remark: the prefix and compose functions have been defined as
    appropriate for the "Codepage" 850. Some of the characters shown below
    are meaningless as letters in the "default Codepage" 437.)

    Six diacritic prefix functions are provided:
    grave: adds grave accent where applicable: αΦ∞≥∙ └╚╠╥┘
    R1 (sun)
    shift-F6 (pc)
    circumflex: adds circumflex accent where applicable: ΓΩε⌠√ ┬╩╬╘█
    R2 (sun)
    cntrl-F6 (pc)
    acute: adds acute accent where applicable: ßΘφ≤·² ┴╔═╙┌▌
    R3 (sun)
    F6 (pc)
    diaeresis: adds diaeresis where applicable: Σδ∩÷ⁿ  ─╦╧╓▄
    R4 (sun)
    F7 (pc)
    F6 (vt100)
    tilde: adds tilde where applicable: π±⌡ ├╤╒
    R5 (sun)
    shift-F7 (pc)
    angstrom: a╗σ, A╗┼, e╗µ, E╗╞, o╗°, O╗╪
    R6 (sun)
    cntrl-F7 (pc)
    Where these rules do not apply, any of these prefix keys makes the
    following default transformations:
    s╗▀, c╗τ, C╗╟, n╗±, N╗╤, d╗≡, D╗╨, p╗■, P╗▐, m╗╡,
    l╗ú, L╗ú, /╗ó, $╗ó, Y╗Ñ, X╗ñ, &╗º, #╗╢, !╗í, ?╗┐,
    <╗½, >╗╗, x╗╫, :╗≈, +╗▒, 0╗░, 1╗╣, 2╗▓, 3╗│,
    *╗╖, .╗╖, ,╗╕, "╗¿, '╗┤, _╗», -╗¡, \╗¼, |╗ª

    In addition, the enter-control-code prefix (^V (WS: ^P)) has been
    extended to compose characters if the first following key typed in
    is a character resembling an accent mark ("'`^░~). The accent
    is placed on the second character keyed in or the default diacritic
    transformation applied to it.

    If you have an appropriate keyboard, you can of course also type in
    any 8-bit character directly or using the Compose/Combine key.


  Summary of mined commands
  =========================
   Alternative commands or functions keys are listed in further lines
   with an indentation for better orientation.

  Cursor and screen motion
  ------------------------
   ^E            Move cursor 1 line up
    up-arrow
   ^X            Move cursor 1 line down
    down-arrow
   ^S ^H        Move cursor 1 character left
            ^H can also be set to delete left
    left-arrow
   ^D            Move cursor 1 character right
    right-arrow
   ^A            Move backward to start of previous word
    Ctrl-left (MSDOS)
   ^F            Move forward to start of next word
    Ctrl-right (MSDOS)
   ^R            Scroll backward 1 page (Top line becomes bottom line)
    PrevScreen (vt100)
    PgUp (R9, sun)
    PgUp (MSDOS)
   ^C            Scroll forward 1 page (Bottom line becomes top line)
    NextScreen
    PgDn (R15, sun)
    PgDn (MSDOS)
   ^W            Scroll screen backward 1 line
    PF2 (vt100)
    Home (R7, sun)
    Ctrl-PgUp (MSDOS)
   ^Z            Scroll screen forward 1 line
    PF3 (vt100)
    End (R13, sun)
    Ctrl-PgDn (MSDOS)
   ^Gnn            Move to a line (prompts for line number)
   ^Gnn%        Move to position in text determined by percentage
    if ^G is not immediately followed by a digit, it works as HOP key
    for the following command if applicable.
   ESC g        Goto line/percentage/Hop (same as ^G)
   ESC ]    ^G ^]    Move to the position previously marked by ^]

   ^Q            HOP key
    ^G    (if not followed by a digit)
    PF1 (vt100)
    "5" (R11, sun)
    "5" (MSDOS)
    F10 (MSDOS)
    ESC (especially MSDOS, not recommended as an alternative HOP key
        where function keys may start with ESC)

   On terminals or windows which can transform mouse button pressings into
   key sequences, direct positioning on the current screen is also available:
    (e.g. crttool)
   left button        position only
   middle button    position and set mark (^] (WS: ^K^B) command)
   right button        position and copy text (^Y (WS: ^K^K^K^C) command)

  Modifying text
  --------------
   <printable char>  Insert the character,
   <RET or LF char>  linefeed (newline),
   <TAB char>         or tab at cursor position
   ^V <char>         Enter control character (also in prompted input)
   ^O             Make new line at current position
   <DEL char>         Delete previous character
             <DEL> can also be set to delete right (next character)
   ^B             Delete next character
   ^T             Delete next word
   ^^             Delete previous word
   ^K             Delete tail of line; if at end of line, delete linefeed

   ESC X    Replace current character with its hexadecimal representation.
   ESC O    Replace current character with its octal representation.
   ESC D    Replace current character with its decimal representation.
   ESC j    ("Justify") Format paragraph by word-wrapping according to
        the currently set left and right margin values.
   ESC <    Set left margin for justification.
   ESC >    Set right margin for justification.

  Text block and buffer operations
  --------------------------------
   ^]            Set mark (to remember the current location)
    Select (vt100)
    Stop (L1, sun)
    Pos1 (MSDOS)
   ^U            Cut text between and current position; save in buffer
    Remove (vt100)
    Cut (L10, sun)
    Ctrl-End (MSDOS)
   ^Y            Copy text between mark and current position into buffer
    Do (vt100)
    Copy (L6, sun)
    End (MSDOS)
   ^P            Paste contents of buffer to current position
    InsertHere (vt100)
    Paste (L8, sun)
    Ins (sun)
    Ins (MSDOS)
   ESC b        Copy contents of buffer into a file
   ESC i        Insert file at current position
   ESC p        Print contents of buffer (to default printer)
   ESC c        Perform command (prompted for) with buffer as input
    For modifications of the "cut", "copy", "paste" and
    "copy buffer to file" commands by the HOP function see above.

  Search
  ------
   ESC /  Find    Search forward (prompt for regular expression)
    F8 (sun)
    F8 (MSDOS)
   ESC \    Search backward (prompt for regular expression)
   ^N        Search for next occurence (previous expression and direction)
    Find (vt100)
    Find (L9, sun)
    F9 (sun)
    F9 (MSDOS)
   ESC s    (Global) Substitute str1 by str2 (prompts for each string)
   ESC r    (Global) Replace str1 by str2 with confirmation prompting
   ESC R    (Line Replace) Substitute string1 by string2

  Special functions in a search string:
    .    matches any character.
    ^    (at begin of pattern) restricts match to the begin of a line.
    $    (at end of pattern) restricts match to the end of a line.
    [<cset>] matches any one of a set of characters;
        the set may be given by listing elements,
        denoting a range <c1>-<c2>,
        or negating the whole set [^<cset>].
    \<c>    matches character <c> literally.
    <pat>*    where <pat> is any one of the defined patterns,
        matches a (zero or more times) repetition of this pattern.
  Special function in a replacement string:
    &    is replaced by the matched pattern to be replaced.


  Miscellaneous
  -------------
   ESC w    Save (write back) current text to file (only if modified).
   ESC W    Save (write back) current text to file (unconditionally).
   ESC e    Edit another file (prompt for save if current text changed).
   ESC v    View another file (prompt for save if current text changed).
   ESC q    Quit the editor (prompt for save if current text changed).
   ESC ESC    Exit editing current text (save first if changed), continue
        with next file if multiple files were specified.
   ESC +    Edit the next file in the list of file names.
   ESC -    Edit the previous file in the list of file names.
   ESC #    Ask for index into the list of file names and edit that file.
   ESC = count    Repeat a command count times (prompts for count).
   ESC count    Repeat a command count times (prompts for rest of count).
   ^\        Abort current command (also while prompting or searching).
   ESC ?    Print the current status of the file.
   ESC d    Show working directory / change to another one.
   ESC n    Change file name associated with edited text (does not
        affect the text currently being edited, just detaches it
        from the file previously read in).
   ESC .    Redraw the screen.
   ESC z    Suspend editor process; first write back file if modified
        (no write if HOPped or given empty file name on prompting).
   ESC !    Fork off a shell and wait for it to finish.
   ESC h    Show (this) help file.
    Help (vt100 / sun)

   ESC        While a command is active and prompting, aborts the
        current command.
   ESC ' '    (Escape Blank) Do nothing, so blank aborts the ESC command.

   F1        \
   shift-F1     \ (MSDOS) Show function key menu line.
   control-F1     / Function key assignments are not completely listed above.
   alt-F1    /

   When entering file names, the leading ~/ notation is accepted.

  MSDOS only:
   ESC m    Change video mode to the mode with the next smaller
        total resolution (lines * columns). This depends on a
        table contained in the source file minedmp.c. Since there
        exists font/mode substitution software for MSDOS which
        may change font style along with screen size, the actual
        change effective may occasionally be unexpected.
   ESC M    Change video mode to the mode with the next higher
        total resolution.
   ESC l    Change video lines mode to the mode with the next smaller
        number of lines but same number of columns. The previous
        remark holds as well so this command may even have less
        expected results than ESC m/M (e.g., using VGAMAX).
        Actually the number of lines is first tried to be
        decreased within the current video mode, if it is lowest,
        the next video mode is chosen.
   ESC L    Change video lines mode to the mode with the next higher
        number of lines but same number of columns.
   HOP ESC m/M/l/L    Several other video mode settings (experimental).
   Alt-F9 / Ctrl-F9    Switch between highest and lowest /
            circle through all line number modes within
            the current basic screen mode.

ENVIRONMENT
  Concerning some especially stupid terminal drivers /
  Enabling soft handshake
    If there is a need to ignore ^S and ^Q keys (in case of stupid keyboard
    drivers which use them, but don't filter them out), the environment
    variable NoCtrlSQ or NoControlSQ must be set. The tty channel soft
    handshake setting will then also not be disabled in case this would
    affect remote connection behaviour.

  Help display selection
    Mined looks up the environment variable PAGER or uses 'more' for showing
    the help file. The complete command to show it can be changed by setting
    the environment variable MINEDHELP (e.g. to 'less .../mined.help').
    A "%s" within the MINEDHELP variable will be replaced by the directory
    mined was started from.

  Print direction
    The environment variable MINEDPRINT may contain a print command to be
    used instead of the default (which is operating system dependant). The
    variable must contain the string %s in the place for the filename.

  Line contents indications
    Lines which are too long for the screen are usually indicated by a
    '╗' or '>' character. This can be changed by setting the environment
    variable MINEDSHIFT. If this variable contains a second character,
    that one will be used to indicate lines shifted out left off the screen.

    If an environment variable MINEDRET is set, its contents (one character)
    is placed as an indicator at the end of every text line on screen.
    If MINEDRET contains another character it is used to fill the rest of
    the screen lines, leaving out the position for the MINEDSHIFT mark,
    which can however be filled with a third character from MINEDRET.
    I recommend to set MINEDRET to '½' for people who want to see line ends
    or '╖╖' (or '╖╖╖' or '╖╖½') for people who like Siemens terminals.
    Try also '½░', '½¿', or '╢¼', and others.

    If visible display of TAB characters is desired, the environment
    variable MINEDTAB can be set (e.g. to '╖').

  Buffer file names
    For the paste buffer, the inter-window paste buffer, and the panic file,
    environment information as usual on the respective operating system is
    used to build the names. (Unix: TMPDIR, USER; VMS: SYS$SCRATCH, SYS$LOGIN,
    USER; MSDOS: TEMP, TMP)

  Terminal type
    The Unix terminal type is determined from the environment variable TERM.

  Highlight mode (MSDOS only)
    The ANSI codes for selecting normal and exposed display can be chosen
    with the environment variable MINEDCOL. The two selections are separated
    by a space. Each selection is a semicolon-separated list of the code
    values. The default behaviour corresponds to the setting
    set MINEDCOL=7 27
    Example: Green on red text, red on green status: set MINEDCOL=34;42 32;44

More special MSDOS notes:
    To make use of the cursor block "5" key which is very practical to
    hold the fortifying HOP function, you will have to use either an
    enhanced keyboard driver (or an appropriate Bios) or a suitable
    keyboard extension TSR program (e.g., ENHKBD.COM). The usual PC
    keyboard drivers are so ignorant to forbid you to use that key.

    The default colour setting depends on an extended ANSI driver
    (like NNANSI) as does the scroll down function anyway. Unfortunately,
    there is no way to find out the current colour setting nor is there an
    inverse video mode in many ANSI drivers (only a fixed black on white
    mode) so that it is impossible to implement just inverse display for
    highlighting. Therefore, if mined thinks to see an ANSI driver of the
    simpler kind, it will change its colour setting defaults. In any case,
    these can be overridden with the MINEDCOL variable.

    Mined finds out the current screen size on startup.

    Mined tries to analyse the ANSI drivers capabilities by checking the
    control sequences for colour setting, line insert/delete. This
    already depends, however, on the ANSI driver's ability to send
    cursor position reports. If it cannot do that, a faked pseudo-report
    should be stuffed into mined as its first input (with some key-stuffing
    program) and mined will use no further cursor position requests. It
    will also assume a simple ANSI driver then. The faked report should
    consist of the screen size in lines and columns, embedded at the
    positions of the ANSI cursor report sequence but with different
    surrounding characters. For an invocation of mined on a 25 lines and
    80 columns screen a batch file for this would look like:
    keypress xx25x80xx
    mined %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

    PCDOS has this well-hated memory limitation which limits the size of
    editable files to currently ca. 300K at an average line length of ca.
    50 characters, ca. 500K can be loaded with all lines of maximal length,
    and down to ca. 200K with short lines of ca. 20 characters.
    Compilation with a compiler making use of extended memory would probably
    remove this problem.
    Moreover, with Turbo-C, I experienced the effect that mined uses about
    twice the amount of memory as would be expected (length of lines plus
    13/16 bytes per line). This is also not very nice. Can someone help?

DIAGNOSTICS
    In all cases where it is considered sensible, the appropriate message
    of a system error occurred is displayed (instead of printing numerical
    hieroglyphs or indistinguished commonplace messages as many other
    UNIX commands do).

BUGS
    When lines are shifted on the display while moving around in a very
    small window, positioning errors and display garbage may occur. This
    bug has probably been extinguished except when less than 8 character
    columns can be displayed in the window.

    Mined always completes the last text line with a newline when it
    writes back the file even if there was none before.

    (Unix:) Mined cannot edit a pipe file and hangs if you try to do so.
    (But it can insert from, or write to, a pipe and is interruptable
    by ^\ then.)
    Mined can neither edit nor insert or write to device files such as tty.

    (MSDOS:) Pipe input does not work. I don't know why.

    (MSDOS:) Typing of control-P while display output is active (i.e.,
    during screen paging) can hang the system. Typing of control-C or
    control-Break while display output is active can at least leave some
    garbage on the screen. Typing of control-P, control-C, or control-Break
    while a search operation is active can be desastrous. Can anyone please
    tell me how to disable BIOS/MSDOS interpretation of these characters
    from Turbo-C?

FILES
  Unix:
    /usr/man/catl/mined.l        This help file
    $TMPDIR/minedbuf.USER.PID.NN    Temporary file for buffer
    $TMPDIR/minedbuf.USER        File for inter-window buffer
    $TMPDIR/minedpanic.USER.PID        Panic file to rescue text before crash
    If $TMPDIR is not available, /tmp is used.
  VMS:
    SYS$SCRATCH:$MINEDBUF$user.pid.nn    Buffer
    SYS$SCRATCH:$MINEDBUF$user        Inter-window buffer
    SYS$SCRATCH:$MINEDPANIC$user.pid    Panic file
    If SYS$SCRATCH is not available, SYS$LOGIN is used instead.
  MSDOS:
    %TEMP%\minedbuf.nn        Buffer
    %TEMP%\minedbuf        Inter-window buffer
    %TEMP%\mined-pa.nic        Panic file
    If %TEMP% is not available, %TMP% or \ are used.

COMMENTS and IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS
    [e-mail]