THE


COMMAND REFERENCE


ADD - add blank line

Syntax:
Add [n]

Description:
The ADD command inserts n blank lines after the current line , if issued from the command line or after the focus line , if issued from the filearea or prefix area .

If SET NEWLINES is set to ALIGNED, the cursor is positioned in the column corresponding to the first column not containing a space in the line above.

If SET NEWLINES is set to LEFT, the cursor is positioned in the first column.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
SOS ADDLINE

Status:
Complete


ALERT - display a user configurable dialog box with notification

Syntax:
ALERT /prompt/ [EDITfield [/val/]] [TITLE /title/] [OK|OKCANCEL|YESNO|YESNOCANCEL] [DEFBUTTON n]

Description:
The ALERT command is identical to the DIALOG command except that if SET BEEP is on, a beep is played.

On exit from the ALERT command, the following Rexx variables are set:

ALERT.0 - 2
ALERT.1 - value of 'EDITfield'
ALERT.2 - button selected as specified in the call to the command.

The colours for the alert box are the same as for a dialog box, except the prompt area which uses the colour set by SET COLOR ALERT.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible. Does not support bitmap icons or font options.

See Also:
POPUP, DIALOG, READV, SET COLOR

Status:
Complete.


ALL - select and display restricted set of lines

Syntax:
ALL [rtarget]

Description:
The ALL command allows for the selective display, and editing (subject to SET SCOPE ) of lines that match the specified target. This target consists of any number of individual targets separated by '&' (logical and) or '|' (logical or).

For example, to display all lines in a file that contain the strings 'ball' and 'cat' on the same line or the named lines .fred or .bill, use the following command

ALL /ball/ & /cat/ | .fred | .bill

Logical operators act left to right, with no precedence for &.

rtarget can also be specified as a regular expression. The syntax of this is "Regexp /re/". eg ALL R /[0-9].*$/

ALL without any arguments, is the equivalent of setting the selection level of all lines in your file to 0 and running SET DISPLAY 0 0.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SET SCOPE, SET DISPLAY, SET SELECT

Status:
Complete.


BACKWARD - scroll backward by number of screens or lines

Syntax:
BAckward [n|*|HALF] [Lines]

Description:
The BACKWARD command scrolls the file contents backwards n screens or n lines if the optional Lines argument is specified.

If * is specified, the Top-File line becomes the current line .

If HALF is specified, the file contents are scrolled one half of a screen.

If 0 is specified as the number of lines or screens to scroll, the last line of the file becomes the current line .

If the BACKWARD command is issued while the current line is the Top-of-File line and SET PAGEWRAP is ON, the last line of the file becomes the current line .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible

Default:
1

See Also:
FORWARD, TOP, SET PAGEWRAP

Status:
Complete


BOTTOM - move to the bottom of the file

Syntax:
Bottom

Description:
The BOTTOM command moves to the very end of the current file. The last line of the file is set to the current line .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FORWARD, TOP

Status:
Complete


CANCEL - quit from all files in the ring

Syntax:
CANcel [SAVE]

Description:
The CANCEL command exits from THE quickly by executing a QQUIT command for every file in the ring that does not have any outstanding alterations and saving files with alterations if SAVE is specified.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
CCANCEL

Status:
Complete.


CAPPEND - append text after column pointer

Syntax:
CAppend [text]

Description:
The CAPPEND command moves the column pointer to the end of the focus line and appends the specified text .

If no text is specified, the column pointer moves to the first trailing space.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
CLAST

Status:
Complete.


CCANCEL - qquit from all files in the ring

Syntax:
CCancel

Description:
The CCANCEL command exits from THE quickly by executing the QQUIT command for every file in the ring. Any changes made to any of the files since the last SAVE will be lost.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
CANCEL

Status:
Complete.


CDELETE - delete text starting at column pointer

Syntax:
CDelete [column target]

Description:
The CDELETE command deletes characters starting from the current column pointer for the specified column target .

If no column target is specified, the character at the column pointer is deleted.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CFIRST - move column pointer to beginning of zone

Syntax:
CFirst

Description:
The CFIRST command moves the column pointer to the beginning of the zone.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SET ZONE

Status:
Complete.


CHANGE - change one string to another

Syntax:
Change [/string1/string2/ [target] [n] [m]]

Description:
The CHANGE command changes one string of text to another.

The first parameter to the change command is the old and new string values, separated by delimiters. The first non alphabetic character after the 'change' command is the delimiter.

target specifies how many lines are to be searched for occurrences of string1 to be changed.

n determines how many occurrences of string1 are to be changed to string2 on each line. n may be specified as '*' which will result in all occurrences of string1 will be changed. '*' is equivalent to the current WIDTH of the line.

m determines from which occurrence of string1 on the line changes are to commence.

If no arguments are supplied to the CHANGE command, the last change command, if any, is re-executed.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible. ARBCHAR not supported however.
KEDIT: Compatible. ARBCHAR not supported however.

Default:
1 1 1

See Also:
SCHANGE

Status:
Complete.


CINSERT - insert text starting at the column pointer

Syntax:
CInsert text

Description:
The CINSERT command inserts text starting at the column position.

text can include leading or trailing space characters. Thus CINSERT immediately followed by 5 spaces, will insert 4 space characters. The first space character is the command separator.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CLAST - move the column pointer to end of zone

Syntax:
CLAst

Description:
The CLAST command moves the column pointer to the end of the zone.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SET ZONE

Status:
Complete.


CLIPBOARD - manipulate system clipboard

Syntax:
CLIPBOARD COPY|CUT|PASTE|CLEAR

Description:
The CLIPBOARD COPY command copies the text in the marked block into the system clipboard. The CLIPBOARD CUT command copies the text in the marked block into the system clipboard and then deletes the marked block. The CLIPBOARD PASTE command copies the text in the system clipboard into the current file at the cursor position. The CLIPBOARD CLEAR command clears the contents of the system clipboard.

Only text objects in the system clipboard can be manipulated.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A.
KEDIT: Compatible. Does not support APPEND or PUT options.

Status:
Complete.


CLOCATE - move the column pointer

Syntax:
CLocate [column target]

Description:
The CLOCATE command scans the file for the specified column target beginning with the column following (or preceding) the column pointer.

Column targets can be specified as absolute targets, relative targets or string targets.

If no column target is supplied, the last target used in the last CLOCATE command (if any) is used.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CMATCH - find matching bracket character

Syntax:
CMATCH

Description:
The CMATCH command searches for the matching bracket character to the character under the cursor.

It handles nested sets of matching pairs. The matching character pairs are []{}<>().

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CMSG - display text on command line

Syntax:
CMSG [text]

Description:
The CMSG command, primarily used in macros, displays text on the command line. The cursor is placed after the last character displayed.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
EMSG, MSG

Status:
Complete.


COMMAND - execute a command without translation

Syntax:
COMMAND command [options]

Description:
The COMMAND command executes the specified command without synonym or macro translation. THE does not attempt to execute the command as a macro even if SET IMPMACRO is ON. The command will be passed to the operating system if SET IMPOS is ON.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


COMPRESS - reduce spaces to tabs

Syntax:
COMPress [target]

Description:
The COMPRESS command reduces multiple occurrences of spaces and replaces them with tab characters in the target lines. The current tab columns (set by SET TABS ) are used in determining where tab characters will replaces spaces.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
EXPAND, SET TABS

Status:
Complete.


CONTROLCHAR - allow control characters to be entered

Syntax:
CONTROLChar

Description:
The CONTROLCHAR command prompts the user to enter a control character; an ASCII character between 1 and 31 inclusive.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

Status:
Complete.


COPY - copies text from one position to another

Syntax:
COPY target1 target2

COPY BLOCK [RESET]

Description:
With the first form of the COPY command, text is copied from target1 to the line specified by target2 . Text can only be copied within the same view of the file.

The second form of the COPY command copies text within the currently marked block to the current cursor position. The text can be in the same file or a different file.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: COPY BLOCK not available.
KEDIT: Adds extra functionality with [RESET] option.
With the cursor in the marked block this command in KEDIT
acts like DUPLICATE BLOCK.

Status:
Complete.


COVERLAY - overlay text starting at the column pointer

Syntax:
COVerlay text

Description:
The COVERLAY command overlays the supplied text onto the characters following the column position.

Spaces in the text do not destroy the existing characters.

An underscore character "_" in the text places a space in the corresponding character position. Therefore you cannot use the COVERLAY command to place underscores in a line.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CREPLACE - replace text starting at the column pointer

Syntax:
CReplace text

Description:
The CREPLACE command replaces the current characters after the column pointer with the supplied text .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


CURSOR - move cursor to specified position

Syntax:
CURsor Column [Priority priority]

CURsor Screen UP|DOWN|LEFT|RIGHT [Priority priority]

CURsor Screen row [col] [Priority priority]

CURsor [Escreen] UP|DOWN [Priority priority]

CURsor [Escreen|Kedit] LEFT|RIGHT [Priority priority]

CURsor [Escreen] row [col] [Priority priority]

CURsor CUA UP|DOWN|LEFT|RIGHT [Priority priority]

CURsor CMdline [n] [Priority priority]

CURsor HOME [SAVE] [Priority priority]

CURsor File line [col] [Priority priority]

CURsor GOTO line col [Priority priority]

CURsor Mouse [Priority priority]

CURsor Prefix [Priority priority]

Description:
The CURSOR command allows the user to specify where the cursor is to be positioned.

CURSOR Column moves the cursor to the current column of the focus line .

CURSOR Screen UP | DOWN | LEFT | RIGHT moves the cursor in the indicated direction one line or column. If the cursor is positioned on the first or last line of the screen, the cursor wraps to the first or last enterable line. If the cursor is positioned on the left or right edges of the screen, the cursor moves to the left or right edge of the screen on the same line.

CURSOR Screen row [ col ] is similar to CURSOR Escreen row [ col ], but all coordinates are relative the the top left corner of the screen, not the top left corner of the filearea . Hence, 1,1 would be an invalid cursor position because it would result in the cursor being moved to the idline . Specification of row and/or col outside the boundaries of the logical window is regarded as an error.

CURSOR [ Escreen ] UP | DOWN | LEFT | RIGHT is similar to CURSOR Screen UP | DOWN | LEFT | RIGHT , except that where scrolling of the window is possible, then scrolling will take place.

CURSOR [ Escreen ] row [ col ] moves the cursor to the specified row / col position within the filearea . The top left corner of the filearea is 1,1. row and col may be specified as '=' , which will default to the current row and/or column position. If row or col are greater than the maximum number of rows or columns in the filearea , the cursor will move to the last row/column available. If the specified row is a reserved line , scale line or tab line an error will be displayed. If the row specified is above the Top-of-File line or below the Bottom-of-File line the cursor will be placed on the closest one of these lines.

CURSOR Kedit LEFT | RIGHT mimics the default behaviour of CURL and CURR in KEDIT.

CURSOR CUA UP | DOWN | LEFT | RIGHT moves the cursor in the indicated direction one line or column. The behaviour of the cursor at the the end of a line and at the start of a line is consistent with the Common User Access (CUA) definition.

CURSOR CMdline moves the cursor to the indicated column of the command line .

CURSOR HOME moves the cursor to the first column of the command line (if not on the command line), or to the last row/column of the filearea if on the command line . With the [ SAVE ] option, the cursor will move to the last row/column of the filearea or prefix area (which ever was the last position) if on the command line .

CURSOR File moves the cursor to the line and column of the file. If the line and/or column are not currently displayed, an error message is displayed.

CURSOR GOTO moves the cursor to the specified line and column of the file, whether the row and column are currently displayed or not. If the line and col are currently displayed, then this command behaves just like CURSOR File . If not, then the current line will be changed to the specified line .

CURSOR Mouse moves the cursor to the position where a mouse button was last activated. This command is specific to THE.

CURSOR PREFIX moves the cursor to the first column of the prefix area (if not in the prefix area), or to the first column of the filearea if in the prefix area . This command has no effect if run from the command line . This command replaces TABPRE.

The optional Priority argument is included for compatibility with XEDIT. The value of the priority argument must be between 0 and 256, but otherwise it is ignored.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible. Priority is ignored.
KEDIT: Compatible. Added GOTO and PREFIX option.

Status:
Complete.


DEFINE - assign one or many commands to a key or mouse event

Syntax:
DEFine key-name [REXX] [command [args] [[#command [args]...]]]

DEFine mouse-key-definition IN window [REXX] [command [args] [[#command [args]...]]]

Description:
The DEFINE command allows the user to assign one or many commands and optional parameter(s) to a key or a mouse button specification.

Commands may be abbreviated.

If multiple commands are assigned, then the LINEND setting must be ON and the LINEND character must match the character that delimits the commands at the time that the DEFINE command is executed. LINEND can be OFF at the time the key is pressed.

With no arguments, any existing definition for that key is removed and the key reverts back to its default assignation (if it had any).

key-name corresponds to the key name shown with the SHOWKEY command.

If the optional keyword; REXX , is supplied, the remainder of the command line is treated as a Rexx macro and is passed onto the Rexx interpreter (if you have one) for execution.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT does not allow multiple commands except as KEXX
macros.

See Also:
SHOWKEY, SET LINEND

Status:
Complete.


DELETE - delete lines from a file

Syntax:
DELete [target]

Description:
The DELETE command removes lines from the current file. The number of lines removed depends on the target specified. Lines are removed starting with the focus line .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
SOS DELLINE

Status:
Complete.


DIALOG - display a user configurable dialog box

Syntax:
DIALOG /prompt/ [EDITfield [/val/]] [TITLE /title/] [OK|OKCANCEL|YESNO|YESNOCANCEL] [DEFBUTTON n]

Description:
The DIALOG command displays a dialog box in the middle of the screen with user-configurable settings.

The mandatory prompt parameter is the text of a prompt displayed near the top of the dialog window. Up to 100 lines can be displayed by separating lines with a character (decimal 10).

EDITfield creates a user enterable field, with a default value of val , if supplied. While the cursor is in the editfield, "normal" edit keys are in effect. See READV for more details on keys that are useable in the editfield. The same keys that exit from the READV command also exit the editfield. On exit from the editfield, the first button becomes active.

title specifies optional text to be displayed on the border of the dialog box.

The type of button combination can be specifed as one of the following:

OK - just an OK button is displayed
OKCANCEL - an OK and a CANCEL button are displayed
YESNO - a YES and a NO button are displayed
YESNOCANCEL - a YES, a NO and a CANCEL button are displayed

If no button combination is selected, an OK button is displayed.

If DEFBUTTON is specified, it indicates which of the buttons is to be set as the active button. This is a number between 1 and the number of buttons displayed. By default, button 1 is active. If EDITfield is specified, no active button is set.

The active button can be selected by pressing the TAB key; to exit from the DIALOG, press the RETURN or ENTER key, or click the first mouse button on the required button.

On exit from the DIALOG command, the following Rexx variables are set:

DIALOG.0 - 2
DIALOG.1 - value of 'EDITfield'
DIALOG.2 - button selected as specified in the call to the command.

The colours used for the dialog box are:

Border - SET COLOR DIALOGBORDER
Prompt area - SET COLOR DIALOG
Editfield - SET COLOR DIALOGEDITFIELD
Inactive button - SET COLOR DIALOGBUTTON
Active button - SET COLOR DIALOGABUTTON

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible. Does not support bitmap icons or font options.

See Also:
POPUP, ALERT, READV, SET COLOR

Status:
Complete.


DIRECTORY - list the specified directory as an editable file

Syntax:
DIRectory [file specification]

Description:
The DIRECTORY command displays all files matching the specified file specification .

When no parameter is supplied, all files in the current directory are displayed subject to any SET DIRINCLUDE restrictions.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
LS, SET DIRINCLUDE

Status:
Complete.


DOS - execute an operating system command

Syntax:
DOS [command]

Description:
The DOS command executes the supplied operating system command or runs an interactive shell if no command is supplied.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
OS, !

Status:
Complete.


DOSNOWAIT - execute an operating system command - no prompt

Syntax:
DOSNowait command

Description:
The DOSNOWAIT command executes the supplied operating system command not waiting for the user to be prompted once the command has completed.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
OSNOWAIT

Status:
Complete.


DOSQUIET - execute an operating system command quietly

Syntax:
DOSQuiet command

Description:
The DOSQUIET command executes the supplied operating system command as quietly as possible.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
OSQUIET

Status:
Complete.


DOWN - move forward in the file a number of lines

Syntax:
Down [relative target]

Description:
The DOWN command moves the current line forwards the number of lines specified by the relative target . This relative target can only be a positive integer or the character "*".

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
NEXT, UP

Status:
Complete.


DUPLICATE - duplicate lines

Syntax:
DUPlicate [n [target|BLOCK]]

Description:
The DUPLICATE command copies the number of lines extrapolated from target or the marked BLOCK , n times.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Equivalent of DUPLICAT command.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


EDIT - edit another file or switch to next file

Syntax:
Edit [file]

Description:
The EDIT command allows the user to edit another file . The new file is placed in the file ring . The previous file being edited remains in memory. Several files can be edited at once, and all files are arranged in a ring, with subsequent EDIT commands moving through the ring, one file at a time.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not provide options switches.
KEDIT: Does not provide options switches.

See Also:
THE, XEDIT, KEDIT

Status:
Complete.


EDITV - set and retrieve persistent macro variables

Syntax:
EDITV GET|PUT|GETF|PUTF var1 [var2 ...]

EDITV SET|SETF var1 value1 [var2 value2 ...]

EDITV SETL|SETLF|SETFL var1 value1

EDITV LIST|LISTF [var1 ...]

Description:
The EDITV command manipulates variables for the lifetime of the edit session or the file, depending on the subcommand used.

Edit variables are useful for maintaining variable values from one execution of a macro to another.

EDITV GET, PUT, GETF and PUTF are only valid from within a macro as they reference Rexx variables. All other subcommands are valid from within a macro or from the command line.

EDITV GET sets a Rexx macro variable, with the same name as the edit variable, to the value of the edit variable.

EDITV PUT stores the value of a Rexx macro variable as an edit variable.

EDITV SET stores an edit variable with a value.

EDITV SET can only work with variable values comprising a single space-separated word. To specify a variable value that contains spaces, use EDITV SETL.

EDITV LIST displays the values of the specified edit variables, or all variables if no edit variables are specified.

EDITV GETF, PUTF, SETF, SETLF, SETFL, and LISTF all work the same way as their counterparts without the F, but the variables are only available while the particular file is the current file. This enables you to use the same edit variable name but with different values for different files.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible

Status:
Complete.


EMSG - display message

Syntax:
EMSG [message]

Description:
The EMSG command displays an message on the message line . This command is usually issued from a macro file.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not support [mmmnnns text] option
KEDIT: Compatible

See Also:
CMSG, MSG

Status:
Complete.


ENTER - execute a command

Syntax:
ENTER [CUA]

Description:
If the cursor is currently on the command line , the ENTER command executes the command currently displayed.

If the cursor is in the filearea , the ENTER command results in a new line being added after the focus line , and the cursor placed on the next line depending on the value of SET NEWLINES . If SET READONLY is ON, then no new lines is added and the cursor is moved to the first column of the next line.

If the cursor is in the prefix area , any pending prefix commands will be executed.

With the optional CUA argument, when in the filearea , the enter command acts like the SPLIT .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
SOS EXECUTE, SET NEWLINES, SET READONLY

Status:
Complete.


EXPAND - expand tab characters to spaces

Syntax:
EXPand [target]

Description:
The EXPAND command converts all tab characters to spaces in the target depending on the size of a tab determined by the SET TABS command.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
COMPRESS, SET TABS

Status:
Complete.


EXTRACT - obtain various internal information about THE

Syntax:
EXTract /item/[...]

Description:
The EXTRACT command is used to relay information about settings within THE from within a Rexx macro. EXTRACT is only valid within a Rexx macro.

The '/' in the syntax clause represents any delimiter character.

For a complete list of 'item's that can be extracted, see the section; QUERY, EXTRACT and STATUS .'

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


FFILE - force a FILE of the current file to disk

Syntax:
FFile [filename]

Description:
The FFILE command writes the current file to disk to the current file name or to the supplied filename . Unlike the FILE command, if the optional filename exists, this command will overwrite the file.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
With no parameters, the current file is written.

See Also:
FILE, SAVE, SSAVE

Status:
Complete


FILE - write the current file to disk and remove from ring

Syntax:
FILE [filename]

Description:
The FILE command writes the current file to disk to the current file name or to the supplied filename . Unlike the FFILE command, if the optional filename exists, this command will not overwrite the file.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
With no parameters, the current file is written.

See Also:
FFILE, SAVE, SSAVE

Status:
Complete


FILLBOX - fill the marked block with a character

Syntax:
FILLbox [c]

Description:
The FILLBOX command fills the marked block with the specified character, c . If no parameters are supplied and the command is run from the command line, then the block will be filled with spaces. If the command is not run from the command line, the user is prompted for a character to fill the box.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete


FIND - locate forwards the line which begins with the supplied string

Syntax:
Find [string]

Description:
The FIND command attempts to locate a line towards the end of the file that begins with string . If the optional string is not supplied the last string used in any of the family of find commands is used.

string can contain two special characters:

space - this will match any single character in the target line
underscore - this will match any single space in the target line

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FINDUP, NFIND, NFINDUP

Status:
Complete


FINDUP - locate backwards the line which begins with the supplied string

Syntax:
FINDUp [string]

Description:
The FINDUP command attempts to locate a line towards the start of the file that begins with string . If the optional string is not supplied the last string used in any of the family of find commands is used.

string can contain two special characters:

space - this will match any single character in the target line
underscore - this will match any single space in the target line

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FIND, NFIND, NFINDUP, FUP

Status:
Complete


FORWARD - scroll forward by number of screens or lines

Syntax:
FOrward [n|*|HALF] [Lines]

Description:
The FORWARD command scrolls the file contents forwards n screens or n lines if the optional Lines argument is specified.

If * is specified, the Bottom-of-File line becomes the current line .

If HALF is specified, the file contents are scrolled one half of a screen.

If 0 is specified as the number of lines or screens to scroll, the Top-of-File line becomes the current line .

If the FORWARD command is issued while the current line is the Bottom-of-File line and SET PAGEWRAP is ON, the Top-of-File line becomes the current line .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
BACKWARD, TOP, SET PAGEWRAP

Status:
Complete


FUP - locate backwards the line which begins with the supplied string

Syntax:
FUp [string]

Description:
The FUP command is a synonym for the FINDUP command.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FIND, NFIND, NFINDUP, FINDUP

Status:
Complete


GET - insert into file the contents of specified file

Syntax:
GET [filename] [fromline] [numlines]

GET CLIP: [STREAM|BOX|LINE]

Description:
The GET command reads a file into the current file, inserting lines after the current line.

When no filename is supplied the temporary file generated by the last PUT or PUTD command is used.

When fromline is specified, reading of the file begins at the line number specified. If fromline is not specifed, reading begins at line 1.

When numlines is specified, reading of the file ends when the specified number of lines has been read. If numlines is not specified, or numlines is specified as '*' , all files from the fromline to the end of file are read.

The second form implements interaction with the system clipboard. The optional parameter indicates how the contents of the clipboard is to be inserted into the file. If not supplied the contents of the clipboard is treated as a LINE block. This option only available for X11, OS/2 and Win32 ports of THE. (Incomplete)

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
CLIP: option extra.
KEDIT: Compatible.
CLIP: option extra.

See Also:
PUT, PUTD

Status:
Complete


HELP - edit help file for THE

Syntax:
HELP

Description:
The HELP command displays help for the editor. Uses THE_HELP_FILE environment variable to point to the help file. See Appendix 1 for details on this and other environment variables.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Similar in concept.
KEDIT: Similar in concept.

Status:
Complete.


HIT - simulate hitting of the named key

Syntax:
HIT key

Description:
The HIT command enables the simulation of hitting the named key . This is most useful from within a macro.

Be very careful when using the HIT command with the DEFINE command. If you assign the HIT command to a key, DO NOT use the same key name. e.g. DEFINE F1 HIT F1 This will result in an infinite processing loop.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Similar, but more like the MACRO command.

Status:
Complete.


INPUT - insert the command line contents into the file

Syntax:
Input [string]

Description:
The INPUT command inserts the string specified on the command line into the current file after the current line .

If SET INPUTMODE FULL is in effect, and the INPUT command is entered on the command line with no arguments, THE is put into full input mode. If the prefix area is on, it is turned off, the cursor moved to the filearea and blank lines inserted into the file from the current line to the end of the screen.

To get out of full input mode, press the key assigned to the CURSOR HOME [SAVE] command.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not provide full input mode option.
KEDIT: Does not provide full input mode option.

Status:
Complete. Except for full input mode capability.


JOIN - join a line with the line following

Syntax:
Join [ALigned] [Column|CURSOR]

Description:
The JOIN command makes one line out of the focus line and the line following.

If Aligned is specified, any leading spaces in the following line are ignored. If Aligned is not specified, all characters, including spaces are added.

If Column (the default) is specified, the current line is joined at the current column location.

If CURSOR is specified, the focus line is joined at the cursor position.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
Does not support Colno option
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SPLIT, SPLTJOIN

Status:
Complete.


KEDIT - edit another file or switch to next file

Syntax:
Kedit [file]

Description:
The KEDIT command allows the user to edit another file . The new file is placed in the file ring . The previous file being edited remains in memory and can be returned to by issuing a KEDIT command without any parameters. Several files can be edited at once, and all files are arranged in a ring, with subsequent KEDIT commands moving through the ring, one file at a time.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not provide options switches.
KEDIT: Does not provide options switches.

See Also:
EDIT, THE, XEDIT

Status:
Complete.


LEFT - scroll the screen to the left

Syntax:
LEft [n|HALF|FULL]

Description:
The LEFT command scrolls the screen to the left.

If n is supplied, the screen scrolls by that many columns.

LEFT 0 is equivalent to SET VERIFY 1

If HALF is specified the screen is scrolled by half the number of columns in the filearea .

If FULL is specified the screen is scrolled by the number of columns in the filearea .

If no parameter is supplied, the screen is scrolled by one column.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
RIGHT, RGTLEFT, SET VERIFY

Status:
Complete.


LOCATE - search for a target

Syntax:
[Locate] target [command]

Description:
The LOCATE command searches for the next or previous occurrence of the specified target . If no parameter is supplied, LOCATE uses the the last target specified. If no prior target has been specified, an error message is displayed.

target can also be specified as a regular expression. The syntax of this is "Regexp /re/". eg LOCATE RE /[0-9].*$/

With an optional command , this command is executed after finding the target .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


LOWERCASE - change uppercase characters to lowercase

Syntax:
LOWercase [target]

Description:
The LOWERCASE command changes all uppercase characters in all lines up to the target line to lowercase. All other characters remain untouched.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Equivalent of LOWERCAS command.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
UPPERCASE

Status:
Complete.


LS - list the specified directory as an editable file

Syntax:
LS [file specification]

Description:
The LS command displays all files matching the specified file specification .

When no parameter is supplied, all files in the current directory are displayed subject to any SET DIRINCLUDE restrictions.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
DIRECTORY, SET DIRINCLUDE

Status:
Complete.


MACRO - execute a macro command file

Syntax:
MACRO [?] filename [arguments ...]

Description:
The MACRO command executes the contents of the specified filename as command line commands. The filename can contain either a series of THE commands, or can be a Rexx program. The filename is considered a macro .

Rexx macros can be passed optional arguments .

With the optional ? parameter, interactive tracing of the Rexx macro is possible, but this does not set interactive tracing on;

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


MARK - mark a portion of text

Syntax:
MARK Box [line1 col1 line2 col2]

MARK Line [line1 line2]

MARK Stream [line1 col1 line2 col2]

MARK Column [col1 col2]

MARK Word [line1 col1]

MARK CUA [LEFT|RIGHT|UP|DOWN|START|END|FOrward|BAckward|TOP|Bottom|MOUSE]

Description:
The MARK command marks a portion of text for later processing by a COPY , MOVE or DELETE command. This marked area is known as a block .

When the MARK command is executed with the optional line/column arguments, these values are used to specify the position of the marked block . Without the optional arguments, the position of the cursor is used to determine which portion of text is marked.

line1 and line2 specify the first or last line of the marked block.

col1 and col2 specify the first or last column of the marked block.

Any currently marked block will be unmarked or extended depending on the arguments supplied.

When marking a word block , line1 and col1 refer to any position within the word.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Adds CUA, WORD, and COLUMN options and position specifiers.

Status:
Complete.


MODIFY - display current SET command for alteration

Syntax:
MODify set-command

Description:
The MODIFY command displays the current setting of a SET command on the command line enabling the user to change that setting.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SET, QUERY

Status:
Complete.


MOVE - move a portion of text

Syntax:
MOVE target1 target2

MOVE BLOCK [RESET]

Description:
The MOVE command copies the contents of a portion of the file to the same or a different file, and deletes the marked portion from the original file.

The first form of the MOVE command, moves the portion of the file specified by target1 to the line specified by target2 in the same file.

The second form of the MOVE command moves the contents of the marked block to the current cursor position. If the optional [ RESET ] argument is supplied, the marked block is reset as though a RESET BLOCK command had been issued.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Adds extra functionality with [RESET] option.

Status:
Incomplete. First form is not supported.


MSG - display message on error line

Syntax:
MSG [message]

Description:
The MSG command displays a message on the message line . This command is usually issued from a macro file. This is similar to EMSG , but MSG does not sound the bell if SET BEEP is on.

If the number of messages displayed on the message line exceeds the number of lines defined in the message line as set by SET MSGLINE , a prompt will be displayed. If a macro is being executed, the prompt will indicate that the user may terminate the macro by pressing the SPACE bar or any other key to continue execution of the macro.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
CMSG, EMSG, SET MSGLINE

Status:
Complete.


NEXT - move forward in the file a number of lines

Syntax:
Next [relative target]

Description:
The NEXT command moves the current line forwards the number of lines specified by the relative target . This relative target can only be a positive integer or the character "*".

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
DOWN, UP

Status:
Complete.


NEXTWINDOW - switch focus of editing session to another file

Syntax:
NEXTWindow

Description:
The NEXTWINDOW command moves the focus of the editing session to the other screen (if SET SCREEN 2 is in effect) or to the next file in the ring .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
PREVWINDOW, EDIT, SET SCREEN

Status:
Complete.


NFIND - locate forwards the line which does NOT begin with the supplied string

Syntax:
NFind [string]

Description:
The NFIND command attempts to locate a line towards the end of the file that does NOT begin with string . If the optional string is not supplied the last string used in any of the family of find commands is used.

string can contain two special characters:

space - this will match any single character in the target line
underscore - this will match any single space in the target line

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FIND, FINDUP, NFINDUP

Status:
Complete


NFINDUP - locate backwards the line which does NOT begin with the supplied string

Syntax:
NFINDUp [string]

Description:
The NFINDUP command attempts to locate a line towards the start of the file that does NOT begin with string . If the optional string is not supplied the last string used in any of the family of find commands is used.

string can contain two special characters:

space - this will match any single character in the target line
underscore - this will match any single space in the target line

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FIND, FINDUP, NFIND, NFUP

Status:
Complete


NFUP - locate backwards the line which does NOT begin with the supplied string

Syntax:
NFUp [string]

Description:
The NFUP command is a synonym for the NFINDUP command.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
FIND, FINDUP, NFIND, NFINDUP

Status:
Complete


NOMSG - execute a command suppressing any messages

Syntax:
NOMSG command [arguments]

Description:
The NOMSG command executes the supplied command but suppresses messages that would normally be displayed as a result of the command.

Optional arguments may be passed to the command .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


NOP - no operation command

Syntax:
NOP

Description:
The NOP command does nothing. It is used as a means of turning off an assignment to a key.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
DEFINE

Status:
Complete.


OS - execute an operating system command

Syntax:
OS [command]

Description:
The OS command executes the supplied operating system command or runs an interactive shell if no command is supplied.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Equivalent to DOS command.

See Also:
DOS, !

Status:
Complete.


OSNOWAIT - execute an operating system command - no prompt

Syntax:
OSNowait command

Description:
The OSNOWAIT command executes the supplied operating system command not waiting for the user to be prompted once the command has completed.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Equivalent of DOSNOWAIT command.

See Also:
DOSNOWAIT

Status:
Complete.


OSQUIET - execute an operating system command quietly

Syntax:
OSQuiet command

Description:
The OSQUIET command executes the supplied operating system command as quietly as possible.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Equivalent of DOSQUIET command.

See Also:
DOSQUIET

Status:
Complete.


OSREDIR - execute an operating system command and capture output

Syntax:
OSRedir filename command [arguments ...]

Description:
The OSREDIR command executes the supplied operating system command and redirects output destined for STDOUT and STDERR to the specified filename .

Optional arguments may be supplied to the command .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
OS, OSQUIET, OSNOWAIT

Status:
Complete.


OVERLAYBOX - overlay marked block on current cursor position

Syntax:
OVERLAYBox

Description:
The OVERLAYBOX command overlays the contents of the marked block ; box block or line block , over the characters or lines at the focus line and focus column .

This command implies that only box block s are handled. This used to be the case, and for compatibility reasons the name remains.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
MOVE, COPY

Status:
Complete.


POPUP - display popup menu

Syntax:
POPUP [MOUSE|TEXT|CENTER|CENTRE|BELOW|ABOVE] [INITIAL n] [ESCAPE keyname] [KEYS keyname,keyname,...] /item1[/item2/...]

Description:
The POPUP command allows the user to create and display a popup menu containing a list of selectable options.

The location of the popup menu is specified by the first parameter.

MOUSE specifies that the top left corner of the popup menu is to be displayed where the mouse cursor currently is displayed. This option is only valid if the popup window is initiated from a macro assigned to a mouse event.

TEXT specifies that the top left corner of the popup menu is to be displayed where the text cursor is displayed. If the text starts with a dash, then a divider line is inserted.

ABOVE specifies that the bottom row of the popup window is to be displayed above the line where the text cursor is displayed. The popup window will use at most from the line above the text cursor to the top of the screen.

BELOW specifies that the top row of the popup window is to be displayed below the line where the text cursor is displayed. The popup window will use at most from the line below the text cursor to the bottom of the screen.

CENTRE or CENTER specifies that the popup window is centred in the middle of the screen. This option will use all of the screen to display the popup window if necessary.

If the location is not specified, then the default is CENTRE

INITIAL specifies the item to be highlighted when the popup window is first displayed. This value must be within the bounds of the items specified.

ESCAPE specifies the keyname that can be used to quit from the popup window without making a selection. By default 'q' will quit. Only keynames that are valid with the DEFINE command are allowed.

KEYS specifies a list of keynames that can be used to exit from the popup with a selection. Only keynames that are valid with the DEFINE command are allowed. A maximum of 20 keynames can be specified.

On return from the popup menu, the following Rexx variables are set:

popup.0 = 4
popup.1 = Item selected or empty string if no item selected.
popup.2 = Item number selected or zero if no item selected.
popup.3 = Item number on which the cursor was last positioned.
popup.4 = The index into the list of 'KEYS' that terminated the popup or 0 if ENTER used.

If mouse support is available, an item is selectable by clicking the first mouse button on the item. To quit from the popup window without making a selection, click the mouse outside the popup window, or on the border of the window.

Keyboard keys that take effect in the POPUP command are CURU, CURD, CURL, CURR, PGUP, PGDN and ENTER.

The colours used for the popup are:

Border - SET COLOR POPUPBORDER
Non-current line - SET COLOR POPUP
Current line - SET COLOR POPUPCURLINE
Divider line - SET COLOR POPUPDIVIDER

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: KEDIT does not support INITIAL, ESCAPE, KEYS, ABOVE or BELOW options.

See Also:
DIALOG, ALERT

Status:
Complete.


PRESERVE - save various editor settings

Syntax:
PREServe

Description:
The PRESERVE command saves various editing settings at the time the command is issued. These settings can then be restored by using the RESTORE command.

The following view level settings are saved: ARBCHAR ARROW CASE CMDLINE CURLINE DISPLAY HEX HEXSHOW HIGHLIGHT IDLINE IMPMACRO IMPOS INPUTMODE LINEND MACRO MARGINS MSGLINE MSGMODE NEWLINES NUMBER POSITION PREFIX SCALE SCOPE SHADOW STAY SYNONYM TABLINE TABS THIGHLIGHT TOFEOF VERIFY VERSHIFT WORD WORDWRAP WRAP ZONE

The following file level settings are saved: AUTOSAVE BACKUP COLOUR/COLOR COLOURING/COLORING ECOLOUR/ECOLOR EOLOUT TABSOUT TRAILING

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
RESTORE

Status:
Complete.


PREVWINDOW - switch focus of editing session to another file

Syntax:
PREVWindow

Description:
The PREVWINDOW command moves the focus of the editing session to the other screen (if SET SCREEN 2 is in effect) or to the previous file in the ring .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
NEXTWINDOW, EDIT, SET SCREEN

Status:
Complete.


PRINT - send text to default printer or print spooler

Syntax:
PRint [target] [n]

PRint LINE [text]

PRint STRING [text]

PRint FORMfeed

PRint CLOSE

Description:
The PRINT command writes a portion of the current file to the default printer or print spooler, or text entered on the command line.

PRINT [ target ] [ n ] Sends text from the file contents up to the target to the printer followed by a CR/LF (DOS) or LF(UNIX) after each line. When [ n ] is specified, this sends a formfeed after [ n ] successive lines of text. PRINT LINE [ text ] Sends the remainder of the text on the command line to the printer followed by a LF(UNIX), CR(MAC) or CR/LF (DOS). PRINT STRING [ text ] Sends the remainder of the text on the command line to the printer without any trailing line terminator. PRINT FORMfeed Sends a formfeed (^L) character to the printer. PRINT CLOSE Closes the printer spooler.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SET PRINTER

Status:
Complete.


PUT - write part of a file to another

Syntax:
PUT [target] [filename]

Description:
The PUT command writes a portion of the current file, defined by target to another file, either explicit or temporary.

When no filename is supplied the temporary file used for PUT and GET commands is overwritten.

When a filename is supplied the portion of the file written out is appended to the specified file.

If 'CLIP:' is used in place of filename , the portion of the file specified by target is written to the clipboard. This option only available for X11, OS/2 and Win32 ports of THE.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
PUTD, GET

Status:
Complete.


PUTD - write part of a file to another and delete

Syntax:
PUTD [target] [filename]

Description:
The PUTD command writes a portion of the current file, defined by target to another file, either explicit or temporary, and then deletes the lines written.

When no filename is supplied the temporary file used for PUT and GET commands is overwritten.

When a filename is supplied the portion of the file written out is appended to the specified file.

If 'CLIP:' is used in place of filename , the portion of the file specified by target is written to the clipboard. This option only available for X11, OS/2 and Win32 ports of THE.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
PUT, GET

Status:
Complete.


QQUIT - exit from the current file without saving changes

Syntax:
QQuit

Description:
The QQUIT command exits the user from the current file, whether changes made to the file have been saved or not.

The previous file in the ring then becomes the current file.

If the current file is the only file in the ring , THE terminates.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
QUIT

Status:
Complete


QUERY - display various option settings

Syntax:
Query item

Description:
The QUERY command displays the various settings for options set by THE.

For a complete list of 'item's that can be extracted, see the section; QUERY, EXTRACT and STATUS .'

Results of the QUERY command are displayed at the top of the display window, and ignore the setting of SET MSGLINE .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible functionality, but not all options.
KEDIT: Compatible functionality, but not all options.

See Also:
STATUS, MODIFY

Status:
Complete.


QUIT - exit from the current file if no changes made

Syntax:
QUIT

Description:
The QUIT command exits the user from the current file, provided that any changes made to the file have been saved, otherwise an error message is displayed.

The previous file in the ring then becomes the current file.

If the current file is the only file in the ring , THE terminates.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not support return code option.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
QQUIT

Status:
Complete


READV - read keystrokes and pass to macro

Syntax:
READV Cmdline [initial text]

READV KEY

Description:
The READV command allows a Rexx macro to interact with the user by accepting either individual keystrokes ( KEY ) or a complete line of text ( Cmdline ).

The READV Cmdline can take optional initial text to be displayed on the command line.

The 'macro' obtains the entered information by setting Rexx variables. These are set as follows.

KEY option:

readv.0 = 4
readv.1 = name of key (empty if unknown)
readv.2 = ASCII value of key (null if not an ASCII code)
readv.3 = curses key value (or ASCII code if an ASCII code)
readv.4 = shift status (see below)

CMDLINE option:

readv.0 = 1
readv.1 = contents of command line

While editing the command in READV Cmdline , any key redefinitions you have made will be in effect. Therefore you can use your "normal" editing keys to edit the line. THE will allow the following commands to be executed while in READV Cmdline :

CURSOR LEFT, CURSOR RIGHT, CURSOR DOWN, CURSOR UP,
SOS FIRSTCHAR , SOS ENDCHAR , SOS STARTENDCHAR ,
SOS DELEND , SOS DELCHAR , SOS DELCHAR ,
SOS TABB , SOS TABF , SOS TABWORDB , SOS TABWORDF ,
SOS UNDO , SOS DELWORD , SET INSERTMODE , TEXT

Either of the keys, TAB, ENTER, RETURN and NUMENTER will terminate READV Cmdline , irrespective of what THE commands have been assigned.

The shift status of the key is an eight character string of 0 or 1; each position represented by the following.

Position 1 1 if INSERTMODE is ON 2 always 0 3 always 0 4 always 0 5 1 if ALT key pressed 6 1 if CTRL key pressed 7 1 if SHIFT key pressed 8 same as position 7

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Similar to READ CMDLINE option.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


RECORD - records all keystrokes into a macro file

Syntax:
RECORD stop_key filename

Description:
The RECORD command allows the user to record all keystrokes from the time that RECORD is executed until the first time that the specified stop_key is hit. All commands associated with each keystroke are stored into the specified filename as THE commands. This filename can then be run with the MACRO command.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
MACRO

Status:
InComplete.


RECOVER - recover changed or deleted lines

Syntax:
RECover [n|*]

Description:
The RECOVER command restores the last n , or all * changed or deleted lines back into the body of the file.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Also recovers changes to lines, not just lines deleted.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


REDIT - re-edit the current file

Syntax:
REDIT

Description:
The REDIT command removes the current file from ring, discarding any changes since the file was last saved explicitly with the SAVE or SSAVE command or the original file version and loads the file back into the ring.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
CANCEL, SAVE

Status:
Complete.


REDRAW - redraw the current screen

Syntax:
REDRAW

Description:
The REDRAW command redraws the current contents of the screen. This is usually used when some outside influence has affected the display.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
REFRESH

Status:
Complete.


REFRESH - refresh the contents of the current screen

Syntax:
REFRESH

Description:
The REFRESH command refreshes what is being displayed on the screen. This is usually used from within a macro to indicate the progress of the macro .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
REDRAW

Status:
Complete.


REPEAT - repeat the last command

Syntax:
REPEat [target]

Description:
The REPEAT command advances the current line and executes the last command. It is equivalent to NEXT 1 (or UP 1) and = for the specified number of times specified by target .

To determine how many lines on which to execute the last command, THE uses the target to determine how many lines from the current position to the target. This is the number of times the last command is executed.

If the last command to be executed, changes the current line, (because it has a target specification), the next execution of the last command will begin from where the previous execution of last command ended.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete


REPLACE - replace the current line with supplied text

Syntax:
Replace [text]

Description:
The REPLACE command replaces the focus line with the supplied text .

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


RESET - cancel the marked block or prefix commands or both

Syntax:
RESet ALL|Block|Prefix|THIGHlight

Description:
The RESET command unmarks any marked block or outstanding prefix commands, the text highlight area or all or the above.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Adds Block, All and THIGHlight options.
KEDIT: Missing some features.

Status:
Complete.


RESTORE - restore various editor settings

Syntax:
REStore

Description:
The RESTORE command restores various editing settings at the time the command is issued. These settings must have been saved with the PRESERVE command.

If an attempt is made to restore settings that have not been preserved, an error results.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
PRESERVE

Status:
Complete.


REXX - execute Rexx instructions

Syntax:
REXX rexx instructions

Description:
The REXX command allows the user to enter Rexx instructions from the command line.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
MACRO

Status:
Complete.


RGTLEFT - scroll the screen to the left or right

Syntax:
RGTLEFT [n]

Description:
The RGTLEFT command scrolls the screen n columns to the right if the value of vershift is less than or equal to 0, or if the value of vershift is greater than 0, the screen is scrolled n columns to the left.

If n is not specified, the screen scrolls by three quarters the number of columns displayed.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
LEFT, RIGHT

Status:
Complete.


RIGHT - scroll the screen to the right

Syntax:
RIght [n|HALF|FULL]

Description:
The RIGHT command scrolls the screen to the right.

If n is supplied, the screen scrolls by that many columns.

RIGHT 0 is equivalent to SET VERIFY 1

If HALF is specified the screen is scrolled by half the number of columns in the filearea .

If FULL is specified the screen is scrolled by the number of columns in the filearea .

If no parameter is supplied, the screen is scrolled by one column.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
LEFT, RGTLEFT, SET VERIFY

Status:
Complete.


SAVE - save changes to current file

Syntax:
SAVE [filename]

Description:
The SAVE command writes the current file to disk. If a filename is supplied, the current file is saved in that file, unless the file already exists which will result in an error message being displayed. Both 'Alterations' counters on the idline are reset to zero.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SSAVE, FILE, FFILE

Status:
Complete


SCHANGE - selectively change strings

Syntax:
SCHange /string1/string2/ [target] [n] [m]

Description:
The SCHANGE command changes one string of text to another only after confirming each individual change with the user.

The first parameter to the change command is the old and new string values, separated by delimiters. The allowable delimiters are '/' '\' and '@' .

The second parameter is the target ; how many lines are to be searched for occurrences of string1 to be changed.

n determines how many occurrences of string1 are to be changed to string2 on each line.

m determines from which occurrence of string1 on the line changes are to commence.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Functionally compatible, but syntax different.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1 1 1

See Also:
CHANGE

Status:
Complete.


SEARCH - locate a string

Syntax:
SEArch string target

Description:
The SEARCH command searches for the next or previous occurrence of the specified string target . If no parameter is supplied, SEARCH uses the the last target specified. If no prior target has been specified, an error message is displayed.

The SEARCH command is similar to the LOCATE command, but it only locates strings or regular expressions. The advantage of SEARCH over LOCATE is that targets are searched from the current focus line and focus column and if the found target is not currently in view, it will change the view to make the target visible. This behaviour is more compatible with other editors than the behaviour of LOCATE .

When searching backwards, not only is the search done from the focus line to the end of file, but the searching within a line is done from right to left.

string target can also be specified as a regular expression. The syntax of this is "Regexp /re/". eg SEARCH RE /[0-9].*$/

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
LOCATE

Status:
Complete.


SET - execute various set commands

Syntax:
SET set_command [set_command parameter(s) ...]

Description:
The SET command is a front end to existing SET commands. It treats the first parameter it receives as a command and executes it.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


SHIFT - move text left or right

Syntax:
SHift Left|Right [n] [target]

Description:
The SHIFT command moves text in the direction specified the number of columns n for the specified target lines.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


SHOWKEY - display current key value and command assignation

Syntax:
SHOWkey [ALL]

Description:

With no parameter, the SHOWKEY command prompts the user to enter a key and responds with the key name and associated command (if applicable). To exit from SHOWKEY, press the space bar.

With ALL specified, a new file is added to the ring with all default key mappings and any key mappings assigned with the DEFINE command shown. The key mappings are displayed as DEFINE commands.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

Status:
Complete.


SORT - sort selected lines in a file

Syntax:
SORT target [[sort field 1] [...] [sort field 1000]]

Description:
The SORT command sorts a portion of a file based on the sort field specifications.

A sort field specification consists of:

order flag - [Ascending|Descending]
left column - left column of field to sort on
right column - right column of field to sort on

If the 'order flag' is omitted for a sort field , the 'order flag' for the previous sort field is used. If no 'order flag' is specified, all sort fields are sorted in acending order. Therefore SORT * D 1 1 2 2 A 3 3 4 4 is the same as SORT * D 1 1 D 2 2 A 3 3 A 4 4

The right column MUST be >= left column.

1000 sort fields are allowed.

target can be any valid target including ALL, *, -*, and BLOCK.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: XEDIT only allows ordering flag for all fields
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


SOS - execute various sos commands

Syntax:
SOS sos_command [sos_command ...]

Description:
The SOS command is a front end to existing SOS commands. It treats each parameter it receives as a command and executes it.

The SOS command will execute each command until the list of commands has been exhausted, or until one of the commands returns a non-zero return code.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: XEDIT only permits 1 command
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


SPLIT - split a line into two lines

Syntax:
SPlit [ALigned] [Column|CURSOR]

Description:
The SPLIT command splits the focus line into two lines.

If Aligned is specified, the first non-blank character of the new line is positioned under the first non-blank character of the focus line .

If Aligned is not specified, the text of the new line starts in column 1.

If Column (the default) is specified, the current line is split at the current column location.

If CURSOR is specified, the focus line is split at the cursor position.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
Does not support Before/After/Colno options
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
JOIN, SPLTJOIN

Status:
Complete.


SPLTJOIN - split/join two lines

Syntax:
spltjoin

Description:
The SPLTJOIN command splits the focus line into two or joins the focus line with the next line depending on the position of the cursor.

If the cursor is after the last column of a line, the JOIN command is executed, otherwise the SPLIT command is executed.

The text in the new line is aligned with the text in the focus line .

This command can only be used by assigning it to a function key.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
JOIN, SPLIT

Status:
Complete.


SSAVE - force SAVE to specified file

Syntax:
SSave [filename]

Description:
The SSAVE command writes the current file to disk. If a filename is supplied, the current file is saved in that file, otherwise the current name of the file is used.

If a filename is supplied and that filename already exists, the previous contents of that filename will be replaced with the current file.

Both 'Alterations' counters on the idline are reset to zero.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
SAVE, FILE, FFILE

Status:
Complete


STATUS - display current settings of various variables

Syntax:
STATus [filename]

Description:
The STATUS command, without the optional filename , displays a full screen of current settings for various variables.

With the filename , the STATUS command creates a file containing a series of SET commands with the current values of these settings.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible. KEDIT does not support [ filename ] option.

See Also:
QUERY, EXTRACT, MODIFY

Status:
Complete


SUSPEND - suspend THE and return to operating system

Syntax:
SUSPend

Description:
The SUSPEND command suspends the current editing session and returns control to the operating system. Under DOS and OS/2 this is the equivalent of OSNOWAIT . Under UNIX, the process gets placed in the background until it is brought to the foreground.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
OSNOWAIT

Status:
Complete


TABFILE - edit the file under the file tab or shift FILETABS view

Syntax:
TABFILE [+|-]

Description:
The TABFILE makes the file pointed to by the mouse in the FILETABS window the current file.

If run from the command line, without a parameter, the leftmost file displayed in the FILETABS window will be made the current file.

TABFILE -, shifts the files in the FILETABS window one file to the right. TABFILE +, shifts the files in the FILETABS window one file to the left.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

See Also:
SET FILETABS

Status:
Complete.


TAG - displays lines matching target in different colour

Syntax:
TAG [More|Less] [rtarget|Focus]

Description:
The TAG command is similar to the ALL command, in that it allows lines that match the specified target to be displayed. Where it differs from ALL is that the lines that don 't match are still displayed, but the lines that do match are displayed in the colour specified by SET COLOUR HIGHLIGHT. This target consists of any number of individual targets separated by ' & ' (logical and) or ' | ' (logical or).'

For example, to display all lines in a file that contain the strings 'ball' and 'cat' on the same line or the named lines .fred or .bill, use the following command

TAG /ball/ & /cat/ | .fred | .bill

Logical operators act left to right, with no precedence for &.

TAG without any arguments displays all lines without any highlighting.

If SET HIGHLIGHT is not set to TAGGED, then if the specified rtarget is found, SET HIGHLIGHT is set to TAGGED.

When the optional More argument is specified, all lines that match the rtarget are highlighted in addition to those already highlighted.

When the optional Less argument is specified, all lines that match the rtarget and are currently highlighted have their highlighting removed.

If FOCUS is specified in place of rtarget , the focus line is tagged.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.
FOCUS is a THE enhancement.

See Also:
ALL, SET HIGHLIGHT, SET COLOUR

Status:
Complete.


TEXT - simulate keyboard entry of characters

Syntax:
TEXT text

Description:
The TEXT command simulates the entry of text from the keyboard. This command is actually called when you enter text from the keyboard.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Compatible.
Does not allow trailing spaces in text.

Status:
Complete.


THE - edit another file or switch to next file

Syntax:
THE [filename]

Description:
The THE command allows the user to edit another 'file' . The new file is placed in the file ring . The previous file being edited remains in memory. Several files can be edited at once, and all files are arranged in a ring, with subsequent THE commands moving through the ring, one file at a time.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not provide options switches.
KEDIT: Does not provide options switches.

See Also:
XEDIT, EDIT, KEDIT

Status:
Complete.


TOASCII - convert the target from EBCDIC to ASCII

Syntax:
TOASCII [target]

Description:
The TOASCII command converts the characters in the target from EBCDIC encoding to ASCII coding.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: N/A

Status:
Complete.


TOP - move to the top of the file

Syntax:
TOP

Description:
The TOP command moves to the very start of the current file. The Top-of-File line is set to the current line .

TOP is equivalent to BACKWARD *.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
BACKWARD, BOTTOM

Status:
Complete


UP - move backward in the file a number of lines

Syntax:
Up [relative target]

Description:
The UP command moves the current line backwards the number of lines specified by the relative target . This relative target can only be a positive integer or the character "*".

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Default:
1

See Also:
NEXT, DOWN

Status:
Complete.


UPPERCASE - change lowercase characters to uppercase

Syntax:
UPPercase [target]

Description:
The UPPERCASE command changes all lowercase characters in all lines up to the target line to uppercase. All other characters remain untouched.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Equivalent of UPPERCAS
KEDIT: Compatible.

See Also:
LOWERCASE

Status:
Complete.


XEDIT - edit another file or switch to next file

Syntax:
Xedit [file]

Description:
The XEDIT command allows the user to edit another file . The new file is placed in the file ring . The previous file being edited remains in memory. Several files can be edited at once, and all files are arranged in a ring, with subsequent XEDIT commands moving through the ring, one file at a time.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not provide options switches.
KEDIT: Does not provide options switches.

See Also:
EDIT, THE, KEDIT

Status:
Complete.


? - retrieve - return the next/prior command on the command line

Syntax:
?[+|?...]

Description:
The ? command returns the next or prior command from the command line ring and displays it on the command line.

With the [ + ] argument, the next command in the command ring is retrieved.

With no arguments, the previous command entered on the command line is retrieved.

With multiple, concatenated ?s as argument, the previous command entered on the command line is retrieved corresponding to the number of ?s entered.

For Example: The command; ????? will retrieve the fifth last command entered.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible. Support for +.
KEDIT: See below..
This command is bound to the up and down arrows when on the
command line depending on the setting of SET CMDARROWS .

See Also:
SET CMDARROWS

Status:
Complete.


= - re-execute the last command issued on the command line

Syntax:
=

Description:
The = command retrieves the most recently issued command from the command line and re-executes it.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Does not support optional [subcommand] option.
KEDIT: Does not support optional [command] option.

Status:
Complete.


! - execute an operating system command

Syntax:
! [command]

Description:
The ! command executes the supplied operating system command or runs an interactive shell if no command is supplied.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: N/A
KEDIT: Equivalent to DOS command.

See Also:
DOS, OS

Status:
Complete.


& - execute and re-display command

Syntax:
&[command]

Description:
The & command executes the supplied command in the normal way, but when the command completes, instead of clearing the THE command line, the command, and the & are re-displayed. This makes it easy to repeat the same command, or make changes to it.

Compatibility:
XEDIT: Compatible.
KEDIT: Compatible.

Status:
Complete.


The Hessling Editor is Copyright © Mark Hessling, 1990-2022 <mark@rexx.org>
Generated on: 10 Apr 2022

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