1 .. $Id: help.etx,v 1.48 2003/05/25 15:55:35 edg Exp $
2 .. NOTE: Remember to supply 'version' variable on setext command line.
3 .. For example, setext -m -v "version=NEdit Version 6.0".
5 .. The following are variable definitions for the various titles below
6 .. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 .. |>title=Nirvana Editor (NEdit) Help Documentation<|
8 .. |>ttlMk==========================================<|
9 .. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
24 .. .. This table of contents is only for the HTML version of this document.
31 Basic Operation Macro/Shell Extensions
32 Selecting_Text_ Shell_Commands_and_Filters_
33 Finding_and_Replacing_Text_ Learn/Replay_
34 Cut_and_Paste_ Macro_Language_
35 Using_the_Mouse_ Macro_Subroutines_
36 Keyboard_Shortcuts_ Highlighting_Information_
37 Shifting_and_Filling_ Range_Sets_
38 File_Format_ Action_Routines_
40 Features for Programming Customizing_NEdit_
41 Programming_with_NEdit_ Preferences_
42 Tabs/Emulated_Tabs_ X_Resources_
43 Auto/Smart_Indent_ Key_Binding_
44 Syntax_Highlighting_ Highlighting_Patterns_
45 Finding_Declarations_(ctags)_ Smart_Indent_Macros_
48 Regular Expressions NEdit_Command_Line_
49 Basic_Regular_Expression_Syntax_ Client/Server_Mode_
50 Metacharacters_ Crash_Recovery_
51 Parenthetical_Constructs_ Version_
52 Advanced_Topics_ Distribution_Policy_
53 Example_Regular_Expressions_ Mailing_Lists_
62 .. .. What appears below will always print whether or not NEDITDOC is defined.
65 NEdit is a standard GUI (Graphical User Interface) style text editor for
66 programs and plain-text files. Users of Macintosh and MS Windows based text
67 editors should find NEdit a familiar and comfortable environment. NEdit
68 provides all of the standard menu, dialog, editing, and mouse support, as
69 well as all of the standard shortcuts to which the users of modern GUI based
70 environments are accustomed. For users of older style Unix editors, welcome
71 to the world of mouse-based editing!
74 .. NEdit is freely distributed under the terms of the Gnu General Public
77 .. .. This stuff will always be invisible, unless NEDITDOC is defined
82 .. NEdit is a single stand-alone executable file which can be installed by simply
83 .. copying the appropriate executable "nedit" for your system. Both sources and
84 .. executables are available from http://www.nedit.org. The optional "nc" (NEdit
85 .. Client) program is also available for users who want to run nedit in
86 .. client/server mode.
92 Help sections of interest to new users are listed under the "Basic Operation"
93 heading in the top-level Help menu:
96 Finding_and_Replacing_Text_
100 Shifting_and_Filling_
102 Programmers should also read the introductory section under the "Features for
103 Programming" section:
105 Programming_with_NEdit_
107 If you get into trouble, the Undo command in the Edit menu can reverse any
108 modifications that you make. NEdit does not change the file you are editing
109 until you tell it to Save.
111 3>Editing an Existing File
113 To open an existing file, choose Open... from the file menu. Select the file
114 that you want to open in the pop-up dialog that appears and click on OK. You
115 may open any number of files at the same time. Each file will appear in its
116 own editor window. Using Open... rather than re-typing the NEdit command and
117 running additional copies of NEdit, will give you quick access to all of the
118 files you have open via the Windows menu, and ensure that you don't
119 accidentally open the same file twice. NEdit has no "main" window. It
120 remains running as long as at least one editor window is open.
122 3>Creating a New File
124 If you already have an empty (Untitled) window displayed, just begin typing
125 in the window. To create a new Untitled window, choose New from the File
126 menu. To give the file a name and save its contents to the disk, choose Save
127 or Save As... from the File menu.
131 NEdit maintains periodic backups of the file you are editing so that you can
132 recover the file in the event of a problem such as a system crash, network
133 failure, or X server crash. These files are saved under the name `~filename`
134 (on Unix) or `_filename` (on VMS), where filename is the name of the file you
135 were editing. If an NEdit process is killed, some of these backup files may
136 remain in your directory. (To remove one of these files on Unix, you may
137 have to prefix the `~' (tilde) character with a (backslash) to prevent the
138 shell from interpreting it as a special character.)
142 As you become more familiar with NEdit, substitute the control and function
143 keys shown on the right side of the menus for pulling down menus with the
146 Dialogs are also streamlined so you can enter information quickly and without
147 using the mouse*. To move the keyboard focus around a dialog, use the tab
148 and arrow keys. One of the buttons in a dialog is usually drawn with a
149 thick, indented, outline. This button can be activated by pressing Return or
150 Enter. The Cancel or Dismiss button can be activated by pressing escape.
151 For example, to replace the string "thing" with "things" type:
153 <ctrl-r>thing<tab>things<return>
155 To open a file named "whole_earth.c", type:
159 (how much of the filename you need to type depends on the other files in the
160 directory). See the section called "Keyboard_Shortcuts_" for more details.
162 * Users who have set their keyboard focus mode to "pointer" should set
163 "Popups Under Pointer" in the Default Settings menu to avoid the additional
164 step of moving the mouse into the dialog.
165 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
173 NEdit has two general types of selections, primary (highlighted text), and
174 secondary (underlined text). Selections can cover either a simple range of
175 text between two points in the file, or they can cover a rectangular area of
176 the file. Rectangular selections are only useful with non-proportional (fixed
179 To select text for copying, deleting, or replacing, press the left mouse
180 button with the pointer at one end of the text you want to select, and drag
181 it to the other end. The text will become highlighted. To select a whole
182 word, double click (click twice quickly in succession). Double clicking and
183 then dragging the mouse will select a number of words. Similarly, you can
184 select a whole line or a number of lines by triple clicking or triple
185 clicking and dragging. Quadruple clicking selects the whole file. After
186 releasing the mouse button, you can still adjust a selection by holding down
187 the shift key and dragging on either end of the selection. To delete the
188 selected text, press delete or backspace. To replace it, begin typing.
190 To select a rectangle or column of text, hold the Ctrl key while dragging the
191 mouse. Rectangular selections can be used in any context that normal
192 selections can be used, including cutting and pasting, filling, shifting,
193 dragging, and searching. Operations on rectangular selections automatically
194 fill in tabs and spaces to maintain alignment of text within and to the right
195 of the selection. Note that the interpretation of rectangular selections by
196 Fill Paragraph is slightly different from that of other commands, the section
197 titled "Shifting_and_Filling_" has details.
199 The middle mouse button can be used to make an additional selection (called
200 the secondary selection). As soon as the button is released, the contents of
201 this selection will be copied to the insert position of the window where the
202 mouse was last clicked (the destination window). This position is marked by a
203 caret shaped cursor when the mouse is outside of the destination window. If
204 there is a (primary) selection, adjacent to the cursor in the window, the new
205 text will replace the selected text. Holding the shift key while making the
206 secondary selection will move the text, deleting it at the site of the
207 secondary selection, rather than copying it.
209 Selected text can also be dragged to a new location in the file using the
210 middle mouse button. Holding the shift key while dragging the text will copy
211 the selected text, leaving the original text in place. Holding the control
212 key will drag the text in overlay mode.
214 Normally, dragging moves text by removing it from the selected position at
215 the start of the drag, and inserting it at a new position relative to to the
216 mouse. Dragging a block of text over existing characters, displaces the
217 characters to the end of the selection. In overlay mode, characters which are
218 occluded by blocks of text being dragged are simply removed. When dragging
219 non-rectangular selections, overlay mode also converts the selection to
220 rectangular form, allowing it to be dragged outside of the bounds of the
223 The section "Using_the_Mouse_" sumarizes the mouse commands for making primary
224 and secondary selections. Primary selections can also be made via keyboard
225 commands, see "Keyboard_Shortcuts_".
226 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
228 Finding and Replacing Text
229 --------------------------
231 The Search menu contains a number of commands for finding and replacing text.
233 The Find... and Replace... commands present dialogs for entering text for
234 searching and replacing. These dialogs also allow you to choose whether you
235 want the search to be sensitive to upper and lower case, or whether to use
236 the standard Unix pattern matching characters (regular expressions).
237 Searches begin at the current text insertion position.
239 Find Again and Replace Again repeat the last find or replace command without
240 prompting for search strings. To selectively replace text, use the two
241 commands in combination: Find Again, then Replace Again if the highlighted
242 string should be replaced, or Find Again again to go to the next string.
244 Find Selection searches for the text contained in the current primary
245 selection (see Selecting_Text_). The selected text does not have to be in the
246 current editor window, it may even be in another program. For example, if
247 the word dog appears somewhere in a window on your screen, and you want to
248 find it in the file you are editing, select the word dog by dragging the
249 mouse across it, switch to your NEdit window and choose Find Selection from
252 Find Incremental is yet another variation on searching, where every character
253 typed triggers a new search. Incremental searching is generally the quickest
254 way to find something in a file, because it gives you the immediate feedback
255 of seeing how your search is progressing, so you never need to type more than
256 the minimally sufficient search string to reach your target.
258 3>Searching Backwards
260 Holding down the shift key while choosing any of the search or replace
261 commands from the menu (or using the keyboard shortcut), will search in the
262 reverse direction. Users who have set the search direction using the buttons
263 in the search dialog, may find it a bit confusing that Find Again and Replace
264 Again don't continue in the same direction as the original search (for
265 experienced users, consistency of the direction implied by the shift key is
268 3>Selective Replacement
270 To replace only some occurrences of a string within a file, choose Replace...
271 from the Search menu, enter the string to search for and the string to
272 substitute, and finish by pressing the Find button. When the first
273 occurrence is highlighted, use either Replace Again (^T) to replace it, or
274 Find Again (^G) to move to the next occurrence without replacing it, and
275 continue in such a manner through all occurrences of interest.
277 To replace all occurrences of a string within some range of text, select the
278 range (see Selecting_Text_), choose Replace... from the Search menu, type the
279 string to search for and the string to substitute, and press the "R. in
280 Selection" button in the dialog. Note that selecting text in the Replace...
281 dialog will unselect the text in the window.
282 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
287 The easiest way to copy and move text around in your file or between windows,
288 is to use the clipboard, an imaginary area that temporarily stores text and
289 data. The Cut command removes the selected text (see Selecting_Text_) from
290 your file and places it in the clipboard. Once text is in the clipboard, the
291 Paste command will copy it to the insert position in the current window. For
292 example, to move some text from one place to another, select it by dragging
293 the mouse over it, choose Cut to remove it, click the pointer to move the
294 insert point where you want the text inserted, then choose Paste to insert
295 it. Copy copies text to the clipboard without deleting it from your file.
296 You can also use the clipboard to transfer text to and from other Motif
297 programs and X programs which make proper use of the clipboard.
299 There are many other methods for copying and moving text within NEdit windows
300 and between NEdit and other programs. The most common such method is
301 clicking the middle mouse button to copy the primary selection (to the
302 clicked position). Copying the selection by clicking the middle mouse button
303 in many cases is the only way to transfer data to and from many X programs.
304 Holding the Shift key while clicking the middle mouse button moves the text,
305 deleting it from its original position, rather than copying it. Other
306 methods for transferring text include secondary selections, primary selection
307 dragging, keyboard-based selection copying, and drag and drop. These are
308 described in detail in the sections: "Selecting_Text_", "Using_the_Mouse_",
309 and "Keyboard_Shortcuts_".
310 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
315 Mouse-based editing is what NEdit is all about, and learning to use the more
316 advanced features like secondary selections and primary selection dragging
317 will be well worth your while.
319 If you don't have time to learn everything, you can get by adequately with
320 just the left mouse button: Clicking the left button moves the cursor.
321 Dragging with the left button makes a selection. Holding the shift key while
322 clicking extends the existing selection, or begins a selection between the
323 cursor and the mouse. Double or triple clicking selects a whole word or a
326 This section will make more sense if you also read the section called,
327 "Selecting_Text_", which explains the terminology of selections, that is,
328 what is meant by primary, secondary, rectangular, etc.
331 3>Button and Modifier Key Summary
333 General meaning of mouse buttons and modifier keys:
337 Button 1 (left) Cursor position and primary selection
339 Button 2 (middle) Secondary selections, and dragging and
340 copying the primary selection
342 Button 3 (right) Quick-access programmable menu and pan
347 Shift On primary selections, (left mouse button):
348 Extends selection to the mouse pointer
349 On secondary and copy operations, (middle):
350 Toggles between move and copy
352 Ctrl Makes selection rectangular or insertion
355 Alt* (on release) Exchange primary and secondary
361 The left mouse button is used to position the cursor and to make primary
364 Click Moves the cursor
366 Double Click Selects a whole word
368 Triple Click Selects a whole line
370 Quad Click Selects the whole file
372 Shift Click Adjusts (extends or shrinks) the
373 selection, or if there is no existing
374 selection, begins a new selection
375 between the cursor and the mouse.
377 Ctrl+Shift+ Adjusts (extends or shrinks) the
378 Click selection rectangularly.
380 Drag Selects text between where the mouse
381 was pressed and where it was released.
383 Ctrl+Drag Selects rectangle between where the
384 mouse was pressed and where it was
390 The right mouse button posts a programmable menu for frequently used commands.
392 Click/Drag Pops up the background menu (programmed
393 from Preferences -> Default Settings ->
394 Customize Menus -> Window Background).
396 Ctrl+Drag Pan scrolling. Scrolls the window
397 both vertically and horizontally, as if
398 you had grabbed it with your mouse.
401 3>Middle Mouse Button
403 The middle mouse button is for making secondary selections, and copying and
404 dragging the primary selection.
406 Click Copies the primary selection to the
409 Shift+Click Moves the primary selection to the
410 clicked position, deleting it from its
413 Drag 1) Outside of the primary selection:
414 Begins a secondary selection.
415 2) Inside of the primary selection:
416 Moves the selection by dragging.
418 Ctrl+Drag 1) Outside of the primary selection:
419 Begins a rectangular secondary
421 2) Inside of the primary selection:
422 Drags the selection in overlay
425 When the mouse button is released after creating a secondary selection:
427 No Modifiers If there is a primary selection,
428 replaces it with the secondary
429 selection. Otherwise, inserts the
430 secondary selection at the cursor
433 Shift Move the secondary selection, deleting
434 it from its original position. If
435 there is a primary selection, the move
436 will replace the primary selection
437 with the secondary selection.
438 Otherwise, moves the secondary
439 selection to to the cursor position.
441 Alt* Exchange the primary and secondary
445 While moving the primary selection by dragging with the middle mouse button:
447 Shift Leaves a copy of the original
448 selection in place rather than
449 removing it or blanking the area.
451 Ctrl Changes from insert mode to overlay
454 Escape Cancels drag in progress.
456 Overlay Mode: Normally, dragging moves text by removing it from the selected
457 position at the start of the drag, and inserting it at a new position
458 relative to to the mouse. When you drag a block of text over existing
459 characters, the existing characters are displaced to the end of the
460 selection. In overlay mode, characters which are occluded by blocks of text
461 being dragged are simply removed. When dragging non-rectangular selections,
462 overlay mode also converts the selection to rectangular form, allowing it to
463 be dragged outside of the bounds of the existing text.
465 Mouse buttons 4 and 5 are usually represented by a mouse wheel nowadays.
466 They are used to scroll up or down in the text window.
468 * The Alt key may be labeled Meta or Compose-Character on some keyboards.
469 Some window managers, including default configurations of mwm, bind
470 combinations of the Alt key and mouse buttons to window manager operations.
471 In NEdit, Alt is only used on button release, so regardless of the window
472 manager bindings for Alt-modified mouse buttons, you can still do the
473 corresponding NEdit operation by using the Alt key AFTER the initial mouse
474 press, so that Alt is held while you release the mouse button. If you find
475 this difficult or annoying, you can re-configure most window managers to skip
476 this binding, or you can re-configure NEdit to use a different key
478 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
483 Most of the keyboard shortcuts in NEdit are shown on the right hand sides of
484 the pull-down menus. However, there are more which are not as obvious. These
485 include; dialog button shortcuts; menu and dialog mnemonics; labeled keyboard
486 keys, such as the arrows, page-up, page-down, and home; and optional Shift
487 modifiers on accelerator keys, like [Shift]Ctrl+F.
492 Pressing the key combinations shown on the right of the menu items is a
493 shortcut for selecting the menu item with the mouse. Some items have the shift
494 key enclosed in brackets, such as [Shift]Ctrl+F. This indicates that the shift
495 key is optional. In search commands, including the shift key reverses the
496 direction of the search. In Shift commands, it makes the command shift the
497 selected text by a whole tab stop rather than by single characters.
502 Pressing the Alt key in combination with one of the underlined characters in
503 the menu bar pulls down that menu. Once the menu is pulled down, typing the
504 underlined characters in a menu item (without the Alt key) activates that
505 item. With a menu pulled down, you can also use the arrow keys to select menu
506 items, and the Space or Enter keys to activate them.
509 3>Keyboard Shortcuts within Dialogs
511 One button in a dialog is usually marked with a thick indented outline.
512 Pressing the Return or Enter key activates this button.
514 All dialogs have either a Cancel or Dismiss button. This button can be
515 activated by pressing the Escape (or Esc) key.
517 Pressing the tab key moves the keyboard focus to the next item in a dialog.
518 Within an associated group of buttons, the arrow keys move the focus among the
519 buttons. Shift+Tab moves backward through the items.
521 Most items in dialogs have an underline under one character in their name.
522 Pressing the Alt key along with this character, activates a button as if you
523 had pressed it with the mouse, or moves the keyboard focus to the associated
526 You can select items from a list by using the arrow keys to move the
527 selection and space to select.
529 In file selection dialogs, you can type the beginning characters of the file
530 name or directory in the list to select files
533 3>Labeled Function Keys
535 The labeled function keys on standard workstation and PC keyboards, like the
536 arrows, and page-up and page-down, are active in NEdit, though not shown in the
539 Holding down the control key while pressing a named key extends the scope of
540 the action that it performs. For example, Home normally moves the insert
541 cursor the beginning of a line. Ctrl+Home moves it to the beginning of the
542 file. Backspace deletes one character, Ctrl+Backspace deletes one word.
544 Holding down the shift key while pressing a named key begins or extends a
545 selection. Combining the shift and control keys combines their actions. For
546 example, to select a word without using the mouse, position the cursor at the
547 beginning of the word and press Ctrl+Shift+RightArrow. The Alt key modifies
548 selection commands to make the selection rectangular.
550 Under X and Motif, there are several levels of translation between keyboard
551 keys and the actions they perform in a program. The "Customizing_NEdit_", and
552 "X_Resources_" sections of the Help menu have more information on this subject.
553 Because of all of this configurability, and since keyboards and standards for
554 the meaning of some keys vary from machine to machine, the mappings may be
555 changed from the defaults listed below.
557 3>Modifier Keys (in general)
559 Ctrl Extends the scope of the action that the key
560 would otherwise perform. For example, Home
561 normally moves the insert cursor to the beginning
562 of a line. Ctrl+Home moves it to the beginning of
563 the file. Backspace deletes one character, Ctrl+
564 Backspace deletes one word.
566 Shift Extends the selection to the cursor position. If
567 there's no selection, begins one between the old
568 and new cursor positions.
570 Alt When modifying a selection, makes the selection
573 (For the effects of modifier keys on mouse button presses, see the section
574 titled "Using_the_Mouse_")
578 Escape Cancels operation in progress: menu
579 selection, drag, selection, etc. Also
580 equivalent to cancel button in dialogs.
582 Backspace Delete the character before the cursor
584 Ctrl+BS Delete the word before the cursor
588 Left Move the cursor to the left one character
590 Ctrl+Left Move the cursor backward one word
591 (Word delimiters are settable, see
592 "Customizing_NEdit_", and "X_Resources_")
594 Right Move the cursor to the right one character
596 Ctrl+Right Move the cursor forward one word
598 Up Move the cursor up one line
600 Ctrl+Up Move the cursor up one paragraph.
601 (Paragraphs are delimited by blank lines)
603 Down Move the cursor down one line.
605 Ctrl+Down Move the cursor down one paragraph.
607 Ctrl+Return Return with automatic indent, regardless
608 of the setting of Auto Indent.
610 Shift+Return Return without automatic indent,
611 regardless of the setting of Auto Indent.
613 Ctrl+Tab Insert an ASCII tab character, without
614 processing emulated tabs.
616 Alt+Ctrl+<c> Insert the control-code equivalent of
619 Ctrl+/ Select everything (same as Select
624 Ctrl+U Delete to start of line
626 3>PC Standard Keyboard
628 Ctrl+Insert Copy the primary selection to the
629 clipboard (same as Copy menu item or ^C)
630 for compatibility with Motif standard key
633 Insert Copy the primary selection to the cursor
636 Delete Delete the character before the cursor.
637 (Can be configured to delete the character
638 after the cursor, see "Customizing_NEdit_",
641 Ctrl+Delete Delete to end of line.
643 Shift+Delete Cut, remove the currently selected text
644 and place it in the clipboard. (same as
645 Cut menu item or ^X) for compatibility
646 with Motif standard key binding
648 Delete Cut the primary selection to the cursor
651 Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the
654 Ctrl+Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the
657 End Move the cursor to the end of the line
659 Ctrl+End Move the cursor to the end of the file
661 PageUp Scroll and move the cursor up by one page.
663 Ctrl+PageUp Scroll and move the cursor left by one
665 PageDown Scroll and move the cursor down by one
668 Ctrl+PageDown Scroll and move the cursor right by one
671 F10 Make the menu bar active for keyboard
672 input (Arrow Keys, Return, Escape,
675 3>Specialty Keyboards
677 On machines with different styles of keyboards, generally, text editing
678 actions are properly matched to the labeled keys, such as Remove,
679 Next-screen, etc.. If you prefer different key bindings, see the section
680 titled "Key_Binding_" under the Customizing heading in the Help menu.
681 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
686 3>Shift Left, Shift Right
688 While shifting blocks of text is most important for programmers (See Features
689 for Programming), it is also useful for other tasks, such as creating
692 To shift a block of text one tab stop to the right, select the text, then
693 choose Shift Right from the Edit menu. Note that the accelerator keys for
694 these menu items are Ctrl+9 and Ctrl+0, which correspond to the right and
695 left parenthesis on most keyboards. Remember them as adjusting the text in
696 the direction pointed to by the parenthesis character. Holding the Shift key
697 while selecting either Shift Left or Shift Right will shift the text by one
700 It is also possible to shift blocks of text by selecting the text
701 rectangularly, and dragging it left or right (and up or down as well). Using
702 a rectangular selection also causes tabs within the selection to be
703 recalculated and substituted, such that the non-whitespace characters remain
704 stationary with respect to the selection.
709 Text filling using the Fill Paragraph command in the Edit menu is one of the
710 most important concepts in NEdit. And it will be well worth your while to
711 understand how to use it properly.
713 In plain text files, unlike word-processor files, there is no way to tell
714 which lines are continuations of other lines, and which lines are meant to be
715 separate, because there is no distinction in meaning between newline
716 characters which separate lines in a paragraph, and ones which separate
717 paragraphs from other text. This makes it impossible for a text editor like
718 NEdit to tell parts of the text which belong together as a paragraph from
719 carefully arranged individual lines.
721 In continuous wrap mode (Preferences -> Wrap -> Continuous), lines
722 automatically wrap and unwrap themselves to line up properly at the right
723 margin. In this mode, you simply omit the newlines within paragraphs and let
724 NEdit make the line breaks as needed. Unfortunately, continuous wrap mode is
725 not appropriate in the majority of situations, because files with extremely
726 long lines are not common under Unix and may not be compatible with all
727 tools, and because you can't achieve effects like indented sections, columns,
728 or program comments, and still take advantage of the automatic wrapping.
730 Without continuous wrapping, paragraph filling is not entirely automatic.
731 Auto-Newline wrapping keeps paragraphs lined up as you type, but once
732 entered, NEdit can no longer distinguish newlines which join wrapped text,
733 and newlines which must be preserved. Therefore, editing in the middle of a
734 paragraph will often leave the right margin messy and uneven.
736 Since NEdit can't act automatically to keep your text lined up, you need to
737 tell it explicitly where to operate, and that is what Fill Paragraph is for.
738 It arranges lines to fill the space between two margins, wrapping the lines
739 neatly at word boundaries. Normally, the left margin for filling is inferred
740 from the text being filled. The first line of each paragraph is considered
741 special, and its left indentation is maintained separately from the remaining
742 lines (for leading indents, bullet points, numbered paragraphs, etc.).
743 Otherwise, the left margin is determined by the furthest left non-whitespace
744 character. The right margin is either the Wrap Margin, set in the
745 preferences menu (by default, the right edge of the window), or can also be
746 chosen on the fly by using a rectangular selection (see below).
748 There are three ways to use Fill Paragraph. The simplest is, while you are
749 typing text, and there is no selection, simply select Fill Paragraph (or type
750 Ctrl+J), and NEdit will arrange the text in the paragraph adjacent to the
751 cursor. A paragraph, in this case, means an area of text delimited by blank
754 The second way to use Fill Paragraph is with a selection. If you select a
755 range of text and then chose Fill Paragraph, all of the text in the selection
756 will be filled. Again, continuous text between blank lines is interpreted as
757 paragraphs and filled individually, respecting leading indents and blank
760 The third, and most versatile, way to use Fill Paragraph is with a
761 rectangular selection. Fill Paragraph treats rectangular selections
762 differently from other commands. Instead of simply filling the text inside
763 the rectangular selection, NEdit interprets the right edge of the selection
764 as the requested wrap margin. Text to the left of the selection is not
765 disturbed (the usual interpretation of a rectangular selection), but text to
766 the right of the selection is included in the operation and is pulled in to
767 the selected region. This method enables you to fill text to an arbitrary
768 right margin, without going back and forth to the wrap-margin dialog, as well
769 as to exclude text to the left of the selection such as comment bars or other
771 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
776 While plain-text is probably the simplest and most interchangeable file
777 format in the computer world, there is still variation in what plain-text
778 means from system to system. Plain-text files can differ in character set,
779 line termination, and wrapping.
781 While character set differences are the most obvious and pose the most
782 challenge to portability, they affect NEdit only indirectly via the same font
783 and localization mechanisms common to all X applications. If your system is
784 set up properly, you will probably never see character-set related problems
785 in NEdit. NEdit can not display Unicode text files, or any multi-byte
788 The primary difference between an MS DOS format file and a Unix format file,
789 is how the lines are terminated. Unix uses a single newline character. MS
790 DOS uses a carriage-return and a newline. NEdit can read and write both file
791 formats, but internally, it uses the single character Unix standard. NEdit
792 auto-detects MS DOS format files based on the line termination at the start
793 of the file. Files are judged to be DOS format if all of the first five line
794 terminators, within a maximum range, are DOS-style. To change the format in
795 which NEdit writes a file from DOS to Unix or visa versa, use the Save As...
796 command and check or un-check the MS DOS Format button.
798 Wrapping within text files can vary among individual users, as well as from
799 system to system. Both Windows and MacOS make frequent use of plain text
800 files with no implicit right margin. In these files, wrapping is determined
801 by the tool which displays them. Files of this style also exist on Unix
802 systems, despite the fact that they are not supported by all Unix utilities.
803 To display this kind of file properly in NEdit, you have to select the wrap
804 style called Continuous. Wrapping modes are discussed in the sections:
805 Customizing -> Preferences, and Basic Operation -> Shifting and Filling.
807 The last and most minute of format differences is the terminating newline.
808 Some Unix compilers and utilities require a final terminating newline on all
809 files they read and fail in various ways on files which do not have it. Vi
810 and approximately half of Unix editors enforce the terminating newline on all
811 files that they write; Emacs does not enforce this rule. Users are divided
812 on which is best. NEdit makes the final terminating newline optional
813 (Preferences -> Default Settings -> Terminate with Line Break on Save).
814 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
816 Features for Programming
817 ========================
819 Programming with NEdit
820 ----------------------
822 Though general in appearance, NEdit has many features intended specifically
823 for programmers. Major programming-related topics are listed in separate
824 sections under the heading: "Features for Programming": Syntax_Highlighting_,
825 Tabs/Emulated_Tabs_, Finding_Declarations_(ctags)_, Calltips_, and
826 Auto/Smart_Indent_. Minor topics related to programming are discussed below:
830 When NEdit initially reads a file, it attempts to determine whether the file
831 is in one of the computer languages that it knows about. Knowing what language
832 a file is written in allows NEdit to assign highlight patterns and smart indent
833 macros, and to set language specific preferences like word delimiters, tab
834 emulation, and auto-indent. Language mode can be recognized from both the file
835 name and from the first 200 characters of content. Language mode recognition
836 and language-specific preferences are configured in: Preferences -> Default
837 Settings -> Language Modes....
839 You can set the language mode manually for a window, by selecting it from the
840 menu: Preferences -> Language Modes.
842 3>Backlighting [EXPERIMENTAL]
844 NEdit can be made to set the background color of particular classes of
845 characters to allow easy identification of those characters. This is
846 particularly useful if you need to be able to distiguish between tabs
847 and spaces in a file where the difference is important. The colors used
848 for backlighting are specified by a resource, "nedit*backlightCharTypes".
849 You can turn backlighting on and off through the
850 Preferences -> Apply Backlighting menu entry.
852 If you prefer to have backlighting turned on for all new windows, use
853 the Preferences -> Default Settings -> Apply Backlighting menu entry.
854 This settings can be saved along with other preferences using
855 Preferences -> Save Defaults.
857 **Important:** In future versions of NEdit, the backlighting feature will be
858 extended and reworked such that it becomes easier to configure. The current
859 way of controlling it through a resource is generally considered to be below
860 NEdit's usability standards. These future changes are likely to be
861 incompatible with the current format of the "nedit*backlightCharTypes"
862 resource, though. Therefore, it is expected that there will be no automatic
863 migration path for users who customize the resource.
867 To find a particular line in a source file by line number, choose Goto Line
868 #... from the Search menu. You can also directly select the line number text
869 in the compiler message in the terminal emulator window (xterm, decterm,
870 winterm, etc.) where you ran the compiler, and choose Goto Selected from the
873 To find out the line number of a particular line in your file, turn on
874 Statistics Line in the Preferences menu and position the insertion point
875 anywhere on the line. The statistics line continuously updates the line number
876 of the line containing the cursor.
878 To go to a specific column on a given line, choose Goto Line #... from the
879 Search menu and enter a line number and a column number separated by a
880 comma. (e.g. Enter "100,12" for line 100 column 12.) If you want to go to
881 a column on the current line just leave out the line number. (e.g. Enter
882 ",45" to go the column 45 on the current line.)
884 3>Matching Parentheses
886 To help you inspect nested parentheses, brackets, braces, quotes, and other
887 characters, NEdit has both an automatic parenthesis matching mode, and a Goto
888 Matching command. Automatic parenthesis matching is activated when you type,
889 or move the insertion cursor after a parenthesis, bracket, or brace. It
890 momentarily highlights either the opposite character ('Delimiter') or the
891 entire expression ('Range') when the opposite character is visible in the
892 window. To find a matching character anywhere in the file, select it or
893 position the cursor after it, and choose Goto Matching from the Search menu.
894 If the character matches itself, such as a quote or slash, select the first
895 character of the pair. NEdit will match {, (, [, <, ", ', `, /, and \.
896 Holding the Shift key while typing the accelerator key (Shift+Ctrl+M, by
897 default), will select all of the text between the matching characters.
899 When syntax highlighting is enabled, the matching routines can optionally
900 make use of the syntax information for improved accuracy. In that case,
901 a brace inside a highlighted string will not match a brace inside a comment,
904 3>Opening Included Files
906 The Open Selected command in the File menu understands the C preprocessor's
907 #include syntax, so selecting an #include line and invoking Open Selected will
908 generally find the file referred to, unless doing so depends on the settings of
909 compiler switches or other information not available to NEdit.
911 3>Interface to Programming Tools
913 Integrated software development environments such as SGI's CaseVision and
914 Centerline Software's Code Center, can be interfaced directly with NEdit via
915 the client server interface. These tools allow you to click directly on
916 compiler and runtime error messages and request NEdit to open files, and select
917 lines of interest. The easiest method is usually to use the tool's interface
918 for character-based editors like vi, to invoke nc, but programmatic interfaces
919 can also be derived using the source code for nc.
921 There are also some simple compile/review, grep, ctree, and ctags browsers
922 available in the NEdit contrib directory on ftp.nedit.org.
923 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
928 3>Changing the Tab Distance
930 Tabs are important for programming in languages which use indentation to show
931 nesting, as short-hand for producing white-space for leading indents. As a
932 programmer, you have to decide how to use indentation, and how or whether tab
933 characters map to your indentation scheme.
935 Ideally, tab characters map directly to the amount of indent that you use to
936 distinguish nesting levels in your code. Unfortunately, the Unix standard
937 for interpretation of tab characters is eight characters (probably dating
938 back to mechanical capabilities of the original teletype), which is usually
939 too coarse for a single indent.
941 Most text editors, NEdit included, allow you to change the interpretation of
942 the tab character, and many programmers take advantage of this, and set their
943 tabs to 3 or 4 characters to match their programming style. In NEdit you set
944 the hardware tab distance in Preferences -> Tabs... for the current window,
945 or Preferences -> Default Settings -> Tabs... (general), or Preferences ->
946 Default Settings -> Language Modes... (language-specific) to change the
947 defaults for future windows.
949 Changing the meaning of the tab character makes programming much easier while
950 you're in the editor, but can cause you headaches outside of the editor,
951 because there is no way to pass along the tab setting as part of a plain-text
952 file. All of the other tools which display, print, and otherwise process
953 your source code have to be made aware of how the tabs are set, and must be
954 able to handle the change. Non-standard tabs can also confuse other
955 programmers, or make editing your code difficult for them if their text
956 editors don't support changes in tab distance.
960 An alternative to changing the interpretation of the tab character is tab
961 emulation. In the Tabs... dialog(s), turning on Emulated Tabs causes the Tab
962 key to insert the correct number of spaces and/or tabs to bring the cursor
963 the next emulated tab stop, as if tabs were set at the emulated tab distance
964 rather than the hardware tab distance. Backspacing immediately after entering
965 an emulated tab will delete the fictitious tab as a unit, but as soon as you
966 move the cursor away from the spot, NEdit will forget that the collection of
967 spaces and tabs is a tab, and will treat it as separate characters. To enter
968 a real tab character with "Emulate Tabs" turned on, use Ctrl+Tab.
970 It is also possible to tell NEdit not to insert ANY tab characters at all in
971 the course of processing emulated tabs, and in shifting and rectangular
972 insertion/deletion operations, for programmers who worry about the
973 misinterpretation of tab characters on other systems.
974 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
978 .. The following Tabs Dialog and Customize Window Title Dialog sections
979 .. should only appear in the online documentation, and not in any of
980 .. the other possible forms. The rationale is that they are not directly
981 .. obtained from the Help menu, but are buried in preference dialogs.
987 .. The Tabs dialog controls both the operation of the Tab key, and
988 .. the interpretation of tab characters within a file.
990 .. The first field, Tab Spacing, controls how NEdit responds to
991 .. tab characters in a file. On most Unix and VMS systems the
992 .. conventional interpretation of a tab character is to advance the
993 .. text position to the nearest multiple of eight characters (a tab
994 .. spacing of 8). However, many programmers of C and other
995 .. structured languages, when given the choice, prefer a tab
996 .. spacing of 3 or 4 characters. Setting a three or four character
997 .. hardware tab spacing is useful and convenient as long as your
998 .. other software tools support it. Unfortunately, on Unix and VMS
999 .. systems, system utilities, such as more, and printing software
1000 .. can't always properly display files with other than eight
1003 .. Selecting "Emulate Tabs" will cause the Tab key to insert the
1004 .. correct number of spaces or tabs to reach the next tab stop, as
1005 .. if the tab spacing were set at the value in the "Emulated tab
1006 .. spacing" field. Backspacing immediately after entering an
1007 .. emulated tab will delete it as a unit, but as soon as you move
1008 .. the cursor away from the spot, NEdit will forget that the
1009 .. collection of spaces and tabs is a tab, and will treat it as
1010 .. separate characters. To enter a real tab character with
1011 .. "Emulate Tabs" turned on, use Ctrl+Tab.
1013 .. In generating emulated tabs, and in Shift Left, Paste Column,
1014 .. and some rectangular selection operations, NEdit inserts blank
1015 .. characters (spaces or tabs) to preserve the alignment of
1016 .. non-blank characters. The bottom toggle button in the Tabs
1017 .. dialog instructs NEdit whether to insert tab characters as
1018 .. padding in such situations. Turning this off, will keep NEdit
1019 .. from automatically inserting tabs. Some software developers
1020 .. prefer to keep their source code free of tabs to avoid its
1021 .. misinterpretation on systems with different tab character
1023 .. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1025 .. Customize Window Title Dialog
1026 .. -----------------------------
1028 .. The Customize Window Title dialog allows you to customize
1029 .. and test the way information will be displayed in each window's
1032 .. **Definition of the title**
1034 .. The upper half of the dialog can be used to select the various
1035 .. components that should be displayed in the title. The layout can be
1036 .. fine-tuned by editing the printf() like format string below the
1037 .. component buttons: additional characters can be entered, or the
1038 .. order can be changed.
1040 .. The following sequences are interpreted in the format string:
1042 .. %c ClearCase view tag (only relevant when NEdit is
1043 .. used together with ClearCase)
1044 .. %[n]d directory, with one optional numeric digit n
1045 .. specifying the maximum number of trailing directory
1046 .. components to display. Skipped components are
1047 .. replaced by an ellipsis (...).
1048 .. %f file name, without the path name
1050 .. %s NEdit server name (server mode only)
1051 .. %[*]S file status, either verbose (%S) or brief (%*S).
1052 .. In verbose mode the file status is spelled out:
1053 .. read-only, locked, and modified. In brief mode,
1054 .. abbreviations and an asterisk are used for the
1055 .. respective states: RO, LO, *.
1058 .. The format string and the component buttons are continously synchronized.
1060 .. The default format is:
1062 .. {%c} [%s] %f (%S) - %d
1064 .. The resulting title will only contain elements with
1065 .. a value. Hence, the title is compressed as follows:
1067 .. * Elements with no value are removed.
1069 .. * Empty parenthesis pairs i.e. (), [] or {}, or parenthesis
1070 .. pairs containing only space(s), are removed.
1072 .. * Sequences of spaces are replaced with one space.
1074 .. * Leading spaces and dashes are removed.
1076 .. * Trailing spaces and dashes are removed.
1078 .. If the server name and the ClearCase view tag are identical, only
1079 .. the first one specified in the format string will be displayed.
1081 .. **Previewing the settings**
1083 .. The lower part of the dialog can be used to test the selected title
1084 .. under various conditions. For some of the components that are selected
1085 .. for display, various states can be enforced on the preview.
1087 .. For instance, components that are not always active (such the
1088 .. NEdit server name) can be turned on or off in the preview.
1095 Programmers who use structured languages usually require some form of
1096 automatic indent, so that they don't have to continually re-type the
1097 sequences of tabs and/or spaces needed to maintain lengthy running indents.
1098 NEdit therefore offers "smart" indent, in addition to the traditional
1099 automatic indent which simply lines up the cursor position with the previous
1104 Smart indent macros are only available by default for C and C++, and while
1105 these can easily be configured for different default indentation distances,
1106 they may not conform to everyone's exact C programming style. Smart indent
1107 is programmed in terms of macros in the NEdit macro language which can be
1108 entered in: Preferences -> Default Settings -> Indent -> Program Smart
1109 Indent. Hooks are provided for intervening at the point that a newline is
1110 entered, either via the user pressing the Enter key, or through
1111 auto-wrapping; and for arbitrary type-in to act on specific characters typed.
1113 To type a newline character without invoking smart-indent when operating in
1114 smart-indent mode, hold the Shift key while pressing the Return or Enter key.
1118 With Indent set to Auto (the default), NEdit keeps a running indent. When
1119 you press the Return or Enter key, spaces and tabs are inserted to line up
1120 the insert point under the start of the previous line.
1122 Regardless of indent-mode, Ctrl+Return always does the automatic indent;
1123 Shift+Return always does a return without indent.
1125 3>Block Indentation Adjustment
1127 The Shift Left and Shift Right commands as well as rectangular dragging can
1128 be used to adjust the indentation for several lines at once. To shift a
1129 block of text one character to the right, select the text, then choose Shift
1130 Right from the Edit menu. Note that the accelerator keys for these menu
1131 items are Ctrl+9 and Ctrl+0, which correspond to the right and left
1132 parenthesis on most keyboards. Remember them as adjusting the text in the
1133 direction pointed to by the parenthesis character. Holding the Shift key
1134 while selecting either Shift Left or Shift Right will shift the text by one
1135 tab stop (or by one emulated tab stop if tab emulation is turned on). The
1136 help section "Shifting and Filling" under "Basic Operation" has details.
1137 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1142 Syntax Highlighting means using colors and fonts to help distinguish language
1143 elements in programming languages and other types of structured files.
1144 Programmers use syntax highlighting to understand code faster and better, and
1145 to spot many kinds of syntax errors more quickly.
1147 To use syntax highlighting in NEdit, select Highlight Syntax in the
1148 Preferences menu. If NEdit recognizes the computer language that you are
1149 using, and highlighting rules (patterns) are available for that language, it
1150 will highlight your text, and maintain the highlighting, automatically, as
1153 If NEdit doesn't correctly recognize the type of the file you are editing,
1154 you can manually select a language mode from Language Modes in the
1155 Preferences menu. You can also program the method that NEdit uses to
1156 recognize language modes in Preferences -> Default Settings -> Language
1159 If no highlighting patterns are available for the language that you want to
1160 use, you can create new patterns relatively quickly. The Help section
1161 "Highlighting_Patterns_" under "Customizing", has details.
1163 If you are satisfied with what NEdit is highlighting, but would like it to
1164 use different colors or fonts, you can change these by selecting Preferences
1165 -> Default Settings -> Syntax Highlighting -> Text Drawing Styles.
1166 Highlighting patterns are connected with font and color information through a
1167 common set of styles so that colorings defined for one language will be
1168 similar across others, and patterns within the same language which are meant
1169 to appear identical can be changed in the same place. To understand which
1170 styles are used to highlight the language you are interested in, you may need
1171 to look at "Highlighting_Patterns_" section, as well.
1173 Syntax highlighting is CPU intensive, and under some circumstances can affect
1174 NEdit's responsiveness. If you have a particularly slow system, or work with
1175 very large files, you may not want to use it all of the time. Syntax
1176 highlighting introduces two kinds of delays. The first is an initial parsing
1177 delay, proportional to the size of the file. This delay is also incurred
1178 when pasting large sections of text, filtering text through shell commands,
1179 and other circumstances involving changes to large amounts of text. The
1180 second kind of delay happens when text which has not previously been visible
1181 is scrolled in to view. Depending on your system, and the highlight patterns
1182 you are using, this may or may not be noticeable. A typing delay is also
1183 possible, but unlikely if you are only using the built-in patterns.
1184 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1186 Finding Declarations (ctags)
1187 ----------------------------
1189 NEdit can process tags files generated using the Unix _ctags command or the
1190 Exuberant Ctags program. Ctags creates index files correlating names of
1191 functions and declarations with their locations in C, Fortran, or Pascal source
1192 code files. (See the ctags manual page for more information). Ctags produces a
1193 file called "tags" which can be loaded by NEdit. NEdit can manage any number
1194 of tags files simultaneously. Tag collisions are handled with a popup menu to
1195 let the user decide which tag to use. In 'Smart' mode NEdit will automatically
1196 choose the desired tag based on the scope of the file or module. Once loaded,
1197 the information in the tags file enables NEdit to go directly to the
1198 declaration of a highlighted function or data structure name with a single
1199 command. To load a tags file, select "Load Tags File" from the File menu and
1200 choose a tags file to load, or specify the name of the tags file on the NEdit
1205 NEdit can also be set to load a tags file automatically when it starts up.
1206 Setting the X resource nedit.tagFile to the name of a tag file tells NEdit to
1207 look for that file at startup time (see "Customizing_NEdit_"). The file name
1208 can be either a complete path name, in which case NEdit will always load the
1209 same tags file, or a file name without a path or with a relative path, in
1210 which case NEdit will load it starting from the current directory. The
1211 second option allows you to have different tags files for different projects,
1212 each automatically loaded depending on the directory you're in when you start
1213 NEdit. Setting the name to "tags" is an obvious choice since this is the
1214 name that ctags uses. NEdit normally evaluates relative path tag file
1215 specifications every time a file is opened. All accessible tag files are
1216 loaded at this time. To disable the automatic loading of tag files specified
1217 as relative paths, set the X resource nedit.alwaysCheckRelativeTagsSpecs to
1220 To unload a tags file, select "Un-load Tags File" from the File menu and
1221 choose from the list of tags files. NEdit will keep track of tags file updates
1222 by checking the timestamp on the files, and automatically update the tags
1225 To find the definition of a function or data structure once a tags file is
1226 loaded, select the name anywhere it appears in your program (see
1227 "Selecting_Text_") and choose "Find Definition" from the Search menu.
1228 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1233 Calltips are little yellow boxes that pop up to remind you what the arguments
1234 and return type of a function are. More generally, they're a UI mechanism to
1235 present a small amount of crucial information in a prominent location. To
1236 display a calltip, select some text and choose "Show Calltip" from the Search
1237 menu. To kill a displayed calltip, hit Esc.
1239 Calltips get their information from one of two places -- either a tags file (see
1240 "Finding_Declarations_(ctags)_") or a calltips file. First, any loaded calltips
1241 files are searched for a definition, and if nothing is found then the tags
1242 database is searched. If a tag is found that matches the hilighted text then
1243 a calltip is displayed with the first few lines of the definition -- usually
1244 enough to show you what the arguments of a function are.
1246 You can load a calltips file by using choosing "Load Calltips File" from the
1247 File menu. You can unload a calltips file by selecting it from the
1248 "Unload Calltips File" submenu of the File menu. You can also choose one or
1249 more default calltips files to be loaded for each language mode using the
1250 "Default calltips file(s)" field of the Language Modes dialog.
1252 The calltips file format is very simple. calltips files are organized in blocks
1253 separated by blank lines. The first line of the block is the key, which is the
1254 word that is matched when a calltip is requested. The rest of the block is
1255 displayed as the calltip.
1257 Almost any text at all can appear in a calltip key or a calltip. There are no
1258 special characters that need to be escaped. The only issues to note are that
1259 trailing whitespace is ignored, and you cannot have a blank line inside a
1260 calltip. (Use a single period instead -- it'll be nearly invisible.) You should
1261 also avoid calltip keys that begin and end with '@*' characters, since those are
1262 used to mark special blocks.
1264 There are five special block types--comment, include, language, alias, and
1265 version--which are distinguished by their first lines, "@* comment @*",
1266 "@* include @*", "@* language @*", "@* alias @*", and "@* version @*" respectively
1269 Comment blocks are ignored when reading calltips files.
1271 Include blocks specify additional calltips files to load, one per line. The ~
1272 character can be used for your $HOME directory, but other shell shortcuts like
1273 @* and ? can't be used. Include blocks allow you to make a calltips file for your
1274 project that includes, say, the calltips files for C, Motif, and Xt.
1276 Language blocks specify which language mode the calltips should be used with.
1277 When a calltip is requested it won't match tips from languages other than the
1278 current language mode. Language blocks only affect the tips listed after the
1281 Alias blocks allow a calltip to have multiple keys. The first line of the block
1282 is the key for the calltip to be displayed, and the rest of the lines are
1283 additional keys, one per line, that should also show the calltip.
1285 Version blocks are ignored for the time being.
1287 You can use calltips in your own macros using the calltip() and kill_calltip()
1288 macro subroutines and the $calltip_ID macro variable. See the
1289 Macro_Subroutines_ section for details.
1290 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1295 Basic Regular Expression Syntax
1296 -------------------------------
1298 Regular expressions (regex's) are useful as a way to match inexact sequences
1299 of characters. They can be used in the `Find...' and `Replace...' search
1300 dialogs and are at the core of Color Syntax Highlighting patterns. To specify
1301 a regular expression in a search dialog, simply click on the `Regular
1302 Expression' radio button in the dialog.
1304 A regex is a specification of a pattern to be matched in the searched text.
1305 This pattern consists of a sequence of tokens, each being able to match a
1306 single character or a sequence of characters in the text, or assert that a
1307 specific position within the text has been reached (the latter is called an
1308 anchor.) Tokens (also called atoms) can be modified by adding one of a number
1309 of special quantifier tokens immediately after the token. A quantifier token
1310 specifies how many times the previous token must be matched (see below.)
1312 Tokens can be grouped together using one of a number of grouping constructs,
1313 the most common being plain parentheses. Tokens that are grouped in this way
1314 are also collectively considered to be a regex atom, since this new larger
1315 atom may also be modified by a quantifier.
1317 A regex can also be organized into a list of alternatives by separating each
1318 alternative with pipe characters, `|'. This is called alternation. A match
1319 will be attempted for each alternative listed, in the order specified, until a
1320 match results or the list of alternatives is exhausted (see Alternation_
1323 3>The 'Any' Character
1325 If a dot (`.') appears in a regex, it means to match any character exactly
1326 once. By default, dot will not match a newline character, but this behavior
1327 can be changed (see help topic Parenthetical_Constructs_, under the
1328 heading, Matching Newlines).
1332 A character class, or range, matches exactly one character of text, but the
1333 candidates for matching are limited to those specified by the class. Classes
1334 come in two flavors as described below:
1336 [...] Regular class, match only characters listed.
1337 [^...] Negated class, match only characters NOT listed.
1339 As with the dot token, by default negated character classes do not match
1340 newline, but can be made to do so.
1342 The characters that are considered special within a class specification are
1343 different than the rest of regex syntax as follows. If the first character in
1344 a class is the `]' character (second character if the first character is `^')
1345 it is a literal character and part of the class character set. This also
1346 applies if the first or last character is `-'. Outside of these rules, two
1347 characters separated by `-' form a character range which includes all the
1348 characters between the two characters as well. For example, `[^f-j]' is the
1349 same as `[^fghij]' and means to match any character that is not `f', `g',
1354 Anchors are assertions that you are at a very specific position within the
1355 search text. NEdit regular expressions support the following anchor tokens:
1359 < Left word boundary
1360 > Right word boundary
1361 \B Not a word boundary
1363 Note that the \B token ensures that the left and right characters are both
1364 delimiter characters, or that both left and right characters are
1365 non-delimiter characters. Currently word anchors check only one character,
1366 e.g. the left word anchor `<' only asserts that the left character is a word
1367 delimiter character. Similarly the right word anchor checks the right
1372 Quantifiers specify how many times the previous regular expression atom may
1373 be matched in the search text. Some quantifiers can produce a large
1374 performance penalty, and can in some instances completely lock up NEdit. To
1375 prevent this, avoid nested quantifiers, especially those of the maximal
1376 matching type (see below.)
1378 The following quantifiers are maximal matching, or "greedy", in that they
1379 match as much text as possible.
1381 * Match zero or more
1385 The following quantifiers are minimal matching, or "lazy", in that they match
1386 as little text as possible.
1388 *? Match zero or more
1389 +? Match one or more
1390 ?? Match zero or one
1392 One final quantifier is the counting quantifier, or brace quantifier. It
1393 takes the following basic form:
1395 {min,max} Match from `min' to `max' times the
1396 previous regular expression atom.
1398 If `min' is omitted, it is assumed to be zero. If `max' is omitted, it is
1399 assumed to be infinity. Whether specified or assumed, `min' must be less
1400 than or equal to `max'. Note that both `min' and `max' are limited to
1401 65535. If both are omitted, then the construct is the same as `*'. Note
1402 that `{,}' and `{}' are both valid brace constructs. A single number
1403 appearing without a comma, e.g. `{3}' is short for the `{min,min}' construct,
1404 or to match exactly `min' number of times.
1406 The quantifiers `{1}' and `{1,1}' are accepted by the syntax, but are
1407 optimized away since they mean to match exactly once, which is redundant
1408 information. Also, for efficiency, certain combinations of `min' and `max'
1409 are converted to either `*', `+', or `?' as follows:
1415 Note that {0} and {0,0} are meaningless and will generate an error message at
1416 regular expression compile time.
1418 Brace quantifiers can also be "lazy". For example {2,5}? would try to match
1419 2 times if possible, and will only match 3, 4, or 5 times if that is what is
1420 necessary to achieve an overall match.
1424 A series of alternative patterns to match can be specified by separating them
1425 with vertical pipes, `|'. An example of _alternation would be `a|be|sea'.
1426 This will match `a', or `be', or `sea'. Each alternative can be an
1427 arbitrarily complex regular expression. The alternatives are attempted in
1428 the order specified. An empty alternative can be specified if desired, e.g.
1429 `a|b|'. Since an empty alternative can match nothingness (the empty string),
1430 this guarantees that the expression will match.
1434 Comments are of the form `(?#<comment text>)' and can be inserted anywhere
1435 and have no effect on the execution of the regular expression. They can be
1436 handy for documenting very complex regular expressions. Note that a comment
1437 begins with `(?#' and ends at the first occurrence of an ending parenthesis,
1438 or the end of the regular expression... period. Comments do not recognize
1439 any escape sequences.
1440 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1445 3>Escaping Metacharacters
1447 In a regular expression (regex), most ordinary characters match themselves.
1448 For example, `ab%' would match anywhere `a' followed by `b' followed by `%'
1449 appeared in the text. Other characters don't match themselves, but are
1450 metacharacters. For example, backslash is a special metacharacter which
1451 'escapes' or changes the meaning of the character following it. Thus, to
1452 match a literal backslash would require a regular expression to have two
1453 backslashes in sequence. NEdit provides the following escape sequences so
1454 that metacharacters that are used by the regex syntax can be specified as
1455 ordinary characters.
1457 \( \) \- \[ \] \< \> \{ \}
1458 \. \| \^ \$ \* \+ \? \& \\
1460 3>Special Control Characters
1462 There are some special characters that are difficult or impossible to type.
1463 Many of these characters can be constructed as a sort of metacharacter or
1464 sequence by preceding a literal character with a backslash. NEdit recognizes
1465 the following special character sequences:
1469 \e ASCII escape character (***)
1470 \f form feed (new page)
1476 *** For environments that use the EBCDIC character set,
1477 when compiling NEdit set the EBCDIC_CHARSET compiler
1478 symbol to get the EBCDIC equivalent escape
1481 3>Octal and Hex Escape Sequences
1483 Any ASCII (or EBCDIC) character, except null, can be specified by using
1484 either an octal escape or a hexadecimal escape, each beginning with \0 or \x
1485 (or \X), respectively. For example, \052 and \X2A both specify the `*'
1486 character. Escapes for null (\00 or \x0) are not valid and will generate an
1487 error message. Also, any escape that exceeds \0377 or \xFF will either cause
1488 an error or have any additional character(s) interpreted literally. For
1489 example, \0777 will be interpreted as \077 (a `?' character) followed by `7'
1490 since \0777 is greater than \0377.
1492 An invalid digit will also end an octal or hexadecimal escape. For example,
1493 \091 will cause an error since `9' is not within an octal escape's range of
1494 allowable digits (0-7) and truncation before the `9' yields \0 which is
1497 3>Shortcut Escape Sequences
1499 NEdit defines some escape sequences that are handy shortcuts for commonly
1500 used character classes.
1503 \l letters a-z, A-Z, and locale dependent letters
1504 \s whitespace \t, \r, \v, \f, and space
1505 \w word characters letters, digits, and underscore, `_'
1507 \D, \L, \S, and \W are the same as the lowercase versions except that the
1508 resulting character class is negated. For example, \d is equivalent to
1509 `[0-9]', while \D is equivalent to `[^0-9]'.
1511 These escape sequences can also be used within a character class. For
1512 example, `[\l_]' is the same as `[a-zA-Z@_]', extended with possible locale
1513 dependent letters. The escape sequences for special characters, and octal
1514 and hexadecimal escapes are also valid within a class.
1516 3>Word Delimiter Tokens
1518 Although not strictly a character class, the following escape sequences
1519 behave similarly to character classes:
1521 \y Word delimiter character
1522 \Y Not a word delimiter character
1524 The `\y' token matches any single character that is one of the characters
1525 that NEdit recognizes as a word delimiter character, while the `\Y' token
1526 matches any character that is NOT a word delimiter character. Word delimiter
1527 characters are dynamic in nature, meaning that the user can change them through
1528 preference settings. For this reason, they must be handled differently by the
1529 regular expression engine. As a consequence of this, `\y' and `\Y' can not be
1530 used within a character class specification.
1531 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1533 Parenthetical Constructs
1534 ------------------------
1536 3>Capturing Parentheses
1538 Capturing Parentheses are of the form `(<regex>)' and can be used to group
1539 arbitrarily complex regular expressions. Parentheses can be nested, but the
1540 total number of parentheses, nested or otherwise, is limited to 50 pairs.
1541 The text that is matched by the regular expression between a matched set of
1542 parentheses is captured and available for text substitutions and
1543 backreferences (see below.) Capturing parentheses carry a fairly high
1544 overhead both in terms of memory used and execution speed, especially if
1545 quantified by `*' or `+'.
1547 3>Non-Capturing Parentheses
1549 Non-Capturing Parentheses are of the form `(?:<regex>)' and facilitate
1550 grouping only and do not incur the overhead of normal capturing parentheses.
1551 They should not be counted when determining numbers for capturing parentheses
1552 which are used with backreferences and substitutions. Because of the limit
1553 on the number of capturing parentheses allowed in a regex, it is advisable to
1554 use non-capturing parentheses when possible.
1556 3>Positive Look-Ahead
1558 Positive look-ahead constructs are of the form `(?=<regex>)' and implement a
1559 zero width assertion of the enclosed regular expression. In other words, a
1560 match of the regular expression contained in the positive look-ahead
1561 construct is attempted. If it succeeds, control is passed to the next
1562 regular expression atom, but the text that was consumed by the positive
1563 look-ahead is first unmatched (backtracked) to the place in the text where
1564 the positive look-ahead was first encountered.
1566 One application of positive look-ahead is the manual implementation of a
1567 first character discrimination optimization. You can include a positive
1568 look-ahead that contains a character class which lists every character that
1569 the following (potentially complex) regular expression could possibly start
1570 with. This will quickly filter out match attempts that can not possibly
1573 3>Negative Look-Ahead
1575 Negative look-ahead takes the form `(?!<regex>)' and is exactly the same as
1576 positive look-ahead except that the enclosed regular expression must NOT
1577 match. This can be particularly useful when you have an expression that is
1578 general, and you want to exclude some special cases. Simply precede the
1579 general expression with a negative look-ahead that covers the special cases
1580 that need to be filtered out.
1582 3>Positive Look-Behind
1584 Positive look-behind constructs are of the form `(?<=<regex>)' and implement
1585 a zero width assertion of the enclosed regular expression in front of the
1586 current matching position. It is similar to a positive look-ahead assertion,
1587 except for the fact the the match is attempted on the text preceeding the
1588 current position, possibly even in front of the start of the matching range
1589 of the entire regular expression.
1591 A restriction on look-behind expressions is the fact that the expression
1592 must match a string of a bounded size. In other words, `*', `+', and `{n,}'
1593 quantifiers are not allowed inside the look-behind expression. Moreover,
1594 matching performance is sensitive to the difference between the upper and
1595 lower bound on the matching size. The smaller the difference, the better the
1596 performance. This is especially important for regular expressions used in
1599 Another (minor) restriction is the fact that look-**ahead** patterns, nor
1600 any construct that requires look-ahead information (such as word boundaries)
1601 are supported at the end of a look-behind pattern (no error is raised, but
1602 matching behaviour is unspecified). It is always possible to place these
1603 look-ahead patterns immediately after the look-behind pattern, where they
1604 will work as expected.
1606 Positive look-behind has similar applications as positive look-ahead.
1608 3>Negative Look-Behind
1610 Negative look-behind takes the form `(?<!<regex>)' and is exactly the same as
1611 positive look-behind except that the enclosed regular expression must
1612 NOT match. The same restrictions apply.
1614 Note however, that performance is even more sensitive to the distance
1615 between the size boundaries: a negative look-behind must not match for
1616 **any** possible size, so the matching engine must check **every** size.
1620 There are two parenthetical constructs that control case sensitivity:
1622 (?i<regex>) Case insensitive; `AbcD' and `aBCd' are
1625 (?I<regex>) Case sensitive; `AbcD' and `aBCd' are
1628 Regular expressions are case sensitive by default, that is, `(?I<regex>)' is
1629 assumed. All regular expression token types respond appropriately to case
1630 insensitivity including character classes and backreferences. There is some
1631 extra overhead involved when case insensitivity is in effect, but only to the
1632 extent of converting each character compared to lower case.
1636 NEdit regular expressions by default handle the matching of newlines in a way
1637 that should seem natural for most editing tasks. There are situations,
1638 however, that require finer control over how newlines are matched by some
1639 regular expression tokens.
1641 By default, NEdit regular expressions will NOT match a newline character for
1642 the following regex tokens: dot (`.'); a negated character class (`[^...]');
1643 and the following shortcuts for character classes:
1645 `\d', `\D', `\l', `\L', `\s', `\S', `\w', `\W', `\Y'
1647 The matching of newlines can be controlled for the `.' token, negated
1648 character classes, and the `\s' and `\S' shortcuts by using one of the
1649 following parenthetical constructs:
1651 (?n<regex>) `.', `[^...]', `\s', `\S' match newlines
1653 (?N<regex>) `.', `[^...]', `\s', `\S' don't match
1656 `(?N<regex>)' is the default behavior.
1658 3>Notes on New Parenthetical Constructs
1660 Except for plain parentheses, none of the parenthetical constructs capture
1661 text. If that is desired, the construct must be wrapped with capturing
1662 parentheses, e.g. `((?i<regex))'.
1664 All parenthetical constructs can be nested as deeply as desired, except for
1665 capturing parentheses which have a limit of 50 sets of parentheses,
1666 regardless of nesting level.
1670 Backreferences allow you to match text captured by a set of capturing
1671 parenthesis at some later position in your regular expression. A
1672 backreference is specified using a single backslash followed by a single
1673 digit from 1 to 9 (example: \3). Backreferences have similar syntax to
1674 substitutions (see below), but are different from substitutions in that they
1675 appear within the regular expression, not the substitution string. The number
1676 specified with a backreference identifies which set of text capturing
1677 parentheses the backreference is associated with. The text that was most
1678 recently captured by these parentheses is used by the backreference to
1679 attempt a match. As with substitutions, open parentheses are counted from
1680 left to right beginning with 1. So the backreference `\3' will try to match
1681 another occurrence of the text most recently matched by the third set of
1682 capturing parentheses. As an example, the regular expression `(\d)\1' could
1683 match `22', `33', or `00', but wouldn't match `19' or `01'.
1685 A backreference must be associated with a parenthetical expression that is
1686 complete. The expression `(\w(\1))' contains an invalid backreference since
1687 the first set of parentheses are not complete at the point where the
1688 backreference appears.
1692 Substitution strings are used to replace text matched by a set of capturing
1693 parentheses. The substitution string is mostly interpreted as ordinary text
1696 The escape sequences described above for special characters, and octal and
1697 hexadecimal escapes are treated the same way by a substitution string. When
1698 the substitution string contains the `&' character, NEdit will substitute the
1699 entire string that was matched by the `Find...' operation. Any of the first
1700 nine sub-expressions of the match string can also be inserted into the
1701 replacement string. This is done by inserting a `\' followed by a digit from
1702 1 to 9 that represents the string matched by a parenthesized expression
1703 within the regular expression. These expressions are numbered left-to-right
1704 in order of their opening parentheses.
1706 The capitalization of text inserted by `&' or `\1', `\2', ... `\9' can be
1707 altered by preceding them with `\U', `\u', `\L', or `\l'. `\u' and `\l'
1708 change only the first character of the inserted entity, while `\U' and `\L'
1709 change the entire entity to upper or lower case, respectively.
1710 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1717 Regular expression substitution can be used to program automatic editing
1718 operations. For example, the following are search and replace strings to find
1719 occurrences of the `C' language subroutine `get_x', reverse the first and
1720 second parameters, add a third parameter of NULL, and change the name to
1723 Search string: `get_x *\( *([^ ,]*), *([^\)]*)\)'
1724 Replace string: `new_get_x(\2, \1, NULL)'
1728 If a regular expression could match two different parts of the text, it will
1729 match the one which begins earliest. If both begin in the same place but
1730 match different lengths, or match the same length in different ways, life
1731 gets messier, as follows.
1733 In general, the possibilities in a list of alternatives are considered in
1734 left-to-right order. The possibilities for `*', `+', and `?' are considered
1735 longest-first, nested constructs are considered from the outermost in, and
1736 concatenated constructs are considered leftmost-first. The match that will be
1737 chosen is the one that uses the earliest possibility in the first choice that
1738 has to be made. If there is more than one choice, the next will be made in
1739 the same manner (earliest possibility) subject to the decision on the first
1740 choice. And so forth.
1742 For example, `(ab|a)b*c' could match `abc' in one of two ways. The first
1743 choice is between `ab' and `a'; since `ab' is earlier, and does lead to a
1744 successful overall match, it is chosen. Since the `b' is already spoken for,
1745 the `b*' must match its last possibility, the empty string, since it must
1746 respect the earlier choice.
1748 In the particular case where no `|'s are present and there is only one `*',
1749 `+', or `?', the net effect is that the longest possible match will be
1750 chosen. So `ab*', presented with `xabbbby', will match `abbbb'. Note that
1751 if `ab*' is tried against `xabyabbbz', it will match `ab' just after `x', due
1752 to the begins-earliest rule. (In effect, the decision on where to start the
1753 match is the first choice to be made, hence subsequent choices must respect
1754 it even if this leads them to less-preferred alternatives.)
1758 An excellent book on the care and feeding of regular expressions is
1760 Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
1761 Jeffrey E. F. Friedl
1762 2002, O'Reilly & Associates
1764 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1766 Example Regular Expressions
1767 ---------------------------
1769 The following are regular expression examples which will match:
1777 * Whitespace on a line.
1780 * Whitespace across lines.
1783 * Whitespace that spans at least two lines. Note minimal matching `*?' quantifier.
1786 * IP address (not robust).
1787 ! (?:\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})
1789 * Two character US Postal state abbreviations (includes territories).
1790 ! [ACDF-IK-PR-W][A-Z]
1793 ! (?:http://)?www\.\S+
1795 * Case insensitive double words across line breaks.
1796 ! (?i(?n<(\S+)\s+\1>))
1798 * Upper case words with possible punctuation.
1801 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1803 Macro/Shell Extensions
1804 ======================
1806 Shell Commands and Filters
1807 --------------------------
1809 The Shell menu (Unix versions only) allows you to execute Unix shell commands
1810 from within NEdit. You can add items to the menu to extend NEdit's command
1811 set or to incorporate custom automatic editing features using shell commands
1812 or editing languages like awk and sed. To add items to the menu, select
1813 Preferences -> Default Settings Customize Menus -> Shell Menu. NEdit comes
1814 pre-configured with a few useful Unix commands like spell and sort, but we
1815 encourage you to add your own custom extensions.
1817 Filter Selection... prompts you for a Unix command to use to process the
1818 currently selected text. The output from this command replaces the contents
1821 Execute Command... prompts you for a Unix command and replaces the current
1822 selection with the output of the command. If there is no selection, it
1823 deposits the output at the current insertion point. In the Shell Command
1824 field, the % character expands to the name (including directory path), and
1825 the # character expands to the current line number of the file in the window.
1826 To include a % or # character in the command, use %% or ##, respectively.
1828 Execute Command Line uses the position of the cursor in the window to
1829 indicate a line to execute as a shell command line. The cursor may be
1830 positioned anywhere on the line. This command allows you to use an NEdit
1831 window as an editable command window for saving output and saving commands
1832 for re-execution. Note that the same character expansions described above
1833 in Execute Command also occur with this command.
1835 The X resource called nedit.shell (See "Customizing_NEdit_") determines which
1836 Unix shell is used to execute commands. The default value for this resource
1838 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1843 Selecting Learn Keystrokes from the Macro menu puts NEdit in learn mode. In
1844 learn mode, keystrokes and menu commands are recorded, to be played back
1845 later, using the Replay Keystrokes command, or pasted into a macro in the
1846 Macro Commands dialog of the Default Settings menu in Preferences.
1848 Note that only keyboard and menu commands are recorded, not mouse clicks or
1849 mouse movements since these have no absolute point of reference, such as
1850 cursor or selection position. When you do a mouse-based operation in learn
1851 mode, NEdit will beep (repeatedly) to remind you that the operation was not
1854 Learn mode is also the quickest and easiest method for writing macros. The
1855 dialog for creating macro commands contains a button labeled "Paste Learn /
1856 Replay Macro", which will deposit the last sequence learned into the body of
1859 3>Repeating Actions and Learn/Replay Sequences
1861 You can repeat the last (keyboard-based) command, or learn/replay sequence
1862 with the Repeat... command in the Macro menu. To repeat an action, first do
1863 the action (that is, insert a character, do a search, move the cursor), then
1864 select Repeat..., decide how or how many times you want it repeated, and
1865 click OK. For example, to move down 30 lines through a file, you could type:
1866 <Down Arrow> Ctrl+, 29 <Return>. To repeat a learn/replay sequence, first
1867 learn it, then select Repeat..., click on Learn/Replay and how you want it
1868 repeated, then click OK.
1870 If the commands you are repeating advance the cursor through the file, you
1871 can also repeat them within a range of characters, or from the current cursor
1872 position to the end of the file. To iterate over a range of characters, use
1873 the primary selection (drag the left mouse button over the text) to mark the
1874 range you want to operate on, and select "In Selection" in the Repeat dialog.
1876 When using In "Selection" or "To End" with a learned sequence, try to do
1877 cursor movement as the last step in the sequence, since testing of the cursor
1878 position is only done at the end of the sequence execution. If you do cursor
1879 movement first, for example searching for a particular word then doing a
1880 modification, the position of the cursor won't be checked until the sequence
1881 has potentially gone far beyond the end of your desired range.
1883 It's easy for a repeated command to get out of hand, and you can easily
1884 generate an infinite loop by using range iteration on a command which doesn't
1885 progress. To cancel a repeating command in progress, type Ctrl+. (period),
1886 or select Cancel Macro from the Macro menu.
1887 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1892 Macros can be called from Macro menu commands, window background menu
1893 commands, within the smart-indent framework, from the autoload macro file and
1894 from the command line.
1895 Macro menu and window background menu commands are defined under Preferences
1896 -> Default Settings -> Customize Menus. Help on creating items in these
1897 menus can be found in the section, Help -> Customizing -> Preferences.
1899 The autoload macro file is a file of macro commands and definitions which
1900 NEdit will automatically execute when it is first started. Its location is
1901 dependent on your environment:
1903 * The default place for the file is '$HOME/.nedit/autoload.nm',
1904 * if the variable $NEDIT_HOME is set in your environment it is located at '$NEDIT_HOME/autoload.nm',
1905 * if you are using old-style run control files (i.e. $HOME/.nedit is a regular file) it is located in '$HOME/.neditmacro'.
1907 (For VMS, the file is in '$NEDIT_HOME/autoload.nm' if $NEDIT_HOME is set, in
1908 'SYS$LOGIN:.neditmacro' otherwise.)
1910 NEdit's macro language is a simple interpreter with integer arithmetic,
1911 dynamic strings, and C-style looping constructs (very similar to the
1912 procedural portion of the Unix awk program). From the macro language, you
1913 can call the same action routines which are bound to keyboard keys and menu
1914 items, as well additional subroutines for accessing and manipulating editor
1915 data, which are specific to the macro language (these are listed in the
1916 sections titled "Macro_Subroutines_", and "Action_Routines_").
1921 An NEdit macro language program consists of a list of statements, each
1922 terminated by a newline. Groups of statements which are executed together
1923 conditionally, such as the body of a loop, are surrounded by curly braces
1926 Blank lines and comments are also allowed. Comments begin with a "#" and end
1927 with a newline, and can appear either on a line by themselves, or at the end
1930 Statements which are too long to fit on a single line may be split across
1931 several lines, by placing a backslash "\" character at the end of each line
1937 The NEdit macro language recognizes only three data types, dynamic character
1938 strings, integer values and associative arrays. In general strings and
1939 integers can be used interchangeably. If a string represents an integer
1940 value, it can be used as an integer. Integers can be compared and
1941 concatenated with strings. Arrays may contain integers, strings, or arrays.
1942 Arrays are stored key/value pairs. Keys are always stored as strings.
1946 Integers are non-fractional numbers in the range of -2147483647 to
1947 2147483647. Integer constants must be in decimal. For example:
1952 4>Character String Constants
1954 Character string constants are enclosed in double quotes. For example:
1957 dialog("Hi there!", "Dismiss")
1959 Strings may also include C-language style escape sequences:
1961 \\ Backslash \t Tab \f Form feed
1962 \" Double quote \b Backspace \a Alert
1963 \n Newline \r Carriage return \v Vertical tab
1965 For example, to send output to the terminal from which NEdit was started, a
1966 newline character is necessary because, like printf, t_print requires
1967 explicit newlines, and also buffers its output on a per-line basis:
1969 t_print("a = " a "\n")
1974 Variable names must begin either with a letter (local variables), or a $
1975 (global variables). Beyond the first character, variables may also contain
1976 numbers and underscores `_'. Variables are called in to existence just by
1977 setting them (no explicit declarations are necessary).
1979 Local variables are limited in scope to the subroutine (or menu item
1980 definition) in which they appear. Global variables are accessible from all
1981 routines, and their values persist beyond the call which created them, until
1984 4>Built-in Variables
1986 NEdit has a number of permanently defined variables, which are used to access
1987 global editor information and information about the the window in which the
1988 macro is executing. These are listed along with the built in functions in
1989 the section titled "Macro_Subroutines_".
1992 3>Functions and Subroutines
1994 The syntax of a function or subroutine call is:
1996 function_name(arg1, arg2, ...)
1998 where arg1, arg2, etc. represent up to 9 argument values which are passed to
1999 the routine being called. A function or subroutine call can be on a line by
2000 itself, as above, or if it returns a value, can be invoked within a character
2001 or numeric expression:
2003 a = fn1(b, c) + fn2(d)
2004 dialog("fn3 says: " fn3())
2006 Arguments are passed by value. This means that you can not return values via
2007 the argument list, only through the function value or indirectly through
2008 agreed-upon global variables.
2010 4>Built-in Functions
2012 NEdit has a wide range of built in functions which can be called from the
2013 macro language. These routines are divided into two classes, macro-language
2014 functions, and editor action routines. Editor action routines are more
2015 flexible, in that they may be called either from the macro language, or bound
2016 directly to keys via translation tables. They are also limited, however, in
2017 that they can not return values. Macro language routines can return values,
2018 but can not be bound to keys in translation tables.
2020 Nearly all of the built-in subroutines operate on an implied window, which is
2021 initially the window from which the macro was started. To manipulate the
2022 contents of other windows, use the focus_window subroutine to change the
2023 focus to the ones you wish to modify. focus_window can also be used to
2024 iterate over all of the currently open windows, using the special keyword
2025 names, "last" and "next".
2027 For backwards compatibility, hyphenated action routine names are allowed, and
2028 most of the existing action routines names which contain underscores have an
2029 equivalent version containing hyphens ('-') instead of underscores. Use of
2030 these names is discouraged. The macro parser resolves the ambiguity between
2031 '-' as the subtraction/negation operator, and - as part of an action routine
2032 name by assuming subtraction unless the symbol specifically matches an action
2035 4>User Defined Functions
2037 Users can define their own macro subroutines, using the define keyword:
2039 define subroutine_name {
2040 < body of subroutine >
2043 Macro definitions can not appear within other definitions, or within macro
2044 menu item definitions (usually they are found in the autoload macro file).
2046 The arguments with which a user-defined subroutine or function was invoked,
2047 are presented as $1, $2, ... , $9. The number of arguments can be read from
2050 To return a value from a subroutine, and/or to exit from the subroutine
2051 before the end of the subroutine body, use the return statement:
2053 return <value to return>
2056 3>Operators and Expressions
2058 Operators have the same meaning and precedence that they do in C, except for
2059 ^, which raises a number to a power (y^x means y to the x power), rather than
2060 bitwise exclusive OR. The table below lists operators in decreasing order of
2063 Operators Associativity
2069 > >= < <= == != left to right
2074 (concatenation) left to right
2075 = += -= *= /= %=, &= |= right to left
2077 The order in which operands are evaluated in an expression is undefined,
2078 except for && and ||, which like C, evaluate operands left to right, but stop
2079 when further evaluation would no longer change the result.
2081 4>Numerical Operators
2083 The numeric operators supported by the NEdit macro language are listed below:
2086 - subtraction or negation
2094 Increment (++) and decrement (--) operators can also be appended or prepended
2095 to variables within an expression. Prepended increment/decrement operators
2096 act before the variable is evaluated. Appended increment/decrement operators
2097 act after the variable is evaluated.
2099 4>Logical and Comparison Operators
2101 Logical operations produce a result of 0 (for false) or 1 (for true). In a
2102 logical operation, any non-zero value is recognized to mean true. The
2103 logical and comparison operators allowed in the NEdit macro language are
2113 == equal (integers and/or strings)
2114 != not equal (integers and/or strings)
2116 4>Character String Operators
2118 The "operator" for concatenating two strings is the absence of an operator.
2119 Adjoining character strings with no operator in between means concatenation:
2122 t_print("the value of a is: " a)
2124 Comparison between character strings is done with the == and != operators,
2125 (as with integers). There are a number of useful built-in routines for
2126 working with character strings, which are listed in the section called
2127 "Macro_Subroutines_".
2129 4>Arrays and Array Operators
2131 Arrays may contain either strings, integers, or other arrays. Arrays are
2132 associative, which means that they relate two pieces of information, the key
2133 and the value. The key is always a string; if you use an integer it is
2134 converted to a string.
2136 To determine if a given key is in an array, use the 'in' keyword.
2141 If the left side of the in keyword is an array, the result is true if every
2142 key in the left array is in the right array. Array values are not compared.
2144 To iterate through all the keys of an array use the 'for' looping construct.
2145 Keys are not guaranteed in any particular order:
2150 Elements can be removed from an array using the delete command:
2152 delete x[3] # deletes element with key 3
2153 delete x[] # deletes all elements
2155 The number of elements in an array can be determined by referencing the
2156 array with no indices:
2158 dialog("array x has " x[] " elements", "OK")
2160 Arrays can be combined with some operators. All the following operators only
2161 compare the keys of the arrays.
2163 result = x + y (Merge arrays)
2165 The 'result' is a new array containing keys from both x and y. If
2166 duplicates are present values from y are used.
2168 result = x - y (Remove keys)
2170 The 'result' is a new array containing all keys from x that are not in y.
2172 result = x & y (Common keys)
2174 The 'result' is a new array containing all keys which are in both x and y.
2175 The values from y are used.
2177 result = x | y (Unique keys)
2179 The 'result' is a new array containing keys which exist in either x or y,
2182 When duplicate keys are encountered using the + and & operators, the values
2183 from the array on the right side of the operators are used for the result.
2184 All of the above operators are array only, meaning both the left and right
2185 sides of the operator must be arrays. The results are also arrays.
2187 Array keys can also contain multiple dimensions:
2189 x[1, 1, 1] = "string"
2191 These are used in the expected way, e.g.:
2193 for (i = 1; i < 3; i++)
2195 for (j = 1; j < 3; j++)
2201 gives the following array:
2208 Internally all indices are part of one string, separated by the string
2209 $sub_sep (ASCII 0x18). The first key in the above example is in fact
2213 If you need to extract one of the keys, you can use split(), using
2214 $sub_sep as the separator.
2216 You can also check for the existence of multi-dimensional array by
2217 looking for $sub_sep in the key.
2219 Last, you need $sub_sep if you want to use the 'in' keyword.
2221 if ((1,2) in myArray)
2226 if (("1" $sub_sep "2") in myArray)
2231 3>Looping and Conditionals
2233 NEdit supports looping constructs: for and while, and conditional statements:
2234 if and else, with essentially the same syntax as C:
2236 for (<init>, ...; <condition>; <increment>, ...) <body>
2238 while (<condition>) <body>
2240 if (<condition>) <body>
2242 if (<condition>) <body> else <body>
2244 <body>, as in C, can be a single statement, or a list of statements enclosed
2245 in curly braces ({}). <condition> is an expression which must evaluate to
2246 true for the statements in <body> to be executed. for loops may also contain
2247 initialization statements, <init>, executed once at the beginning of the
2248 loop, and increment/decrement statements (or any arbitrary statement), which
2249 are executed at the end of the loop, before the condition is evaluated again.
2253 for (i=0; i<100; i++)
2256 for (i=0, j=20; i<20; i++, j--) {
2272 Loops may contain break and continue statements. A break statement causes an
2273 exit from the innermost loop, a continue statement transfers control to the
2275 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2280 3>Built in Variables
2282 These variables are read-only and can not be changed.
2285 Index of the current pane.
2288 Contains the current preference for auto indent.
2289 Can be "off", "on" or "auto".
2292 Equals the ID of the currently displayed calltip, or 0 if no calltip is
2296 Position of the cursor in the current window.
2299 Column number of the cursor position in the current window.
2302 Width of the current pane in pixels.
2305 If tab emulation is turned on in the Tabs...
2306 dialog of the Preferences menu, value is the
2307 distance between emulated tab stops. If tab
2308 emulation is turned off, value is -1.
2311 An array with no elements. This can be used to initialize
2312 an array to an empty state.
2315 Current newline format that the file will be saved with. Can
2316 be "unix", "dos" or "macintosh".
2319 Name of the file being edited in the current
2320 window, stripped of directory component.
2323 Directory component of file being edited in the current window.
2326 Contains the current plain text font name.
2329 Contains the current bold text font name.
2331 **$font_name_bold_italic**
2332 Contains the current bold-italic text font name.
2334 **$font_name_italic**
2335 Contains the current italic text font name.
2337 **$highlight_syntax**
2338 Whether syntax highlighting is turned on.
2340 **$incremental_backup**
2341 Contains 1 if incremental auto saving is on, otherwise 0.
2343 **$incremental_search_line**
2344 Has a value of 1 if the preference is
2345 selected to always show the incremental search line, otherwise 0.
2348 Name of language mode set in the current window.
2351 Line number of the cursor position in the current window.
2354 True if the file has been locked by the user.
2356 **$make_backup_copy**
2357 Has a value of 1 if original file is kept in a
2358 backup file on save, otherwise 0.
2361 The maximum font width of all the active styles.
2362 Syntax highlighting styles are only considered if syntax highlighting
2366 The minimum font width of all the active styles.
2367 Syntax highlighting styles are only considered if syntax highlighting
2371 True if the file in the current window has
2372 been modified and the modifications have not
2375 **$n_display_lines**
2376 The number of lines visible in the currently active pane.
2379 The number of panes in the current window.
2382 True if in Overtype mode.
2385 True if the file is read only.
2387 **$selection_start, $selection_end**
2388 Beginning and ending positions of the
2389 primary selection in the current window, or
2390 -1 if there is no text selected in the current window.
2392 **$selection_left, $selection_right**
2393 Left and right character offsets of the rectangular (primary) selection in
2394 the current window, or -1 if there is no selection or it is not rectangular.
2397 Name of the current NEdit server.
2399 **$show_line_numbers**
2400 Whether line numbers are shown next to the text.
2403 Contains the current preference for showing matching pairs,
2404 such as "[]" and "{}" pairs. Can be "off", "delimiter", or "range".
2406 **$match_syntax_based**
2407 Whether pair matching should use syntax information, if available.
2409 **$statistics_line**
2410 Has a value of 1 if the statistics line is shown, otherwise 0.
2413 Contains the value of the array sub-script separation string.
2416 The distance between tab stops for a
2417 hardware tab character, as set in the
2418 Tabs... dialog of the Preferences menu.
2421 The length of the text in the current window.
2424 The line number of the top line of the currently active pane.
2427 Whether the user is allowing the NEdit to insert tab characters to maintain
2428 spacing in tab emulation and rectangular dragging operations. (The setting of
2429 the "Use tab characters in padding and emulated tabs" button in the Tabs...
2430 dialog of the Preferences menu.)
2433 The right margin in the current window for text wrapping and filling.
2436 The current wrap text mode. Values are "none", "auto" or "continuous".
2438 ..Disabled for 5.4 release.
2439 ..**$backlight_string**
2440 .. The current value of the window's backlighting specification. This is empty
2441 .. if backlighting is turned off. It can be changed through calls to the
2442 .. built-in macro function set_backlight_string().
2445 3>Built-in Subroutines
2447 **append_file( string, filename )**
2448 Appends a string to a named file. Returns 1 on successful write, or 0 if
2454 **calltip( "text_or_key" [, mode [, pos [, position_modifier ...]]] )**
2455 Pops up a calltip. <pos> is an optional position in the buffer where the tip
2456 will be displayed. Passing -1 for <pos> is equivalent to not specifying a
2457 position, and it guarantees that the tip will appear on-screen somewhere even
2458 if the cursor is not. The upper-left corner of the calltip will appear below
2459 where the cursor would appear if it were at this position. <mode> is one of
2460 "tipText" (default), "tipKey", or "tagKey". "tipText" displays the text as-is,
2461 "tagKey" uses it as the key to look up a tag, then converts the tag to a
2462 calltip, and "tipKey" uses it as the key to look up a calltip, then falls back
2463 to "tagKey" behavior if that fails. You'll usually use "tipKey" or "tipText".
2464 Finally, you can modify the placement of the calltip relative to the cursor
2465 position (or <pos>) with one or more of these optional position modifiers:
2466 "center" aligns the center of the calltip with the position. "right" aligns
2467 the right edge of the calltip with the position. ("center" and "right" may
2468 not both be used.) "above" places the calltip above the position. "strict"
2469 does not allow the calltip to move from its position in order to avoid going
2470 off-screen or obscuring the cursor. Returns the ID of the calltip if it was
2471 found and/or displayed correctly, 0 otherwise.
2473 **clipboard_to_string()**
2474 Returns the contents of the clipboard as a macro string. Returns empty
2477 **dialog( message, btn_1_label, btn_2_label, ... )**
2478 Pop up a dialog for querying and presenting information to the user. First
2479 argument is a string to show in the message area of the dialog. Up to eight
2480 additional optional arguments represent labels for buttons to appear along
2481 the bottom of the dialog. Returns the number of the button pressed (the
2482 first button is number 1), or 0 if the user closed the dialog via the window
2485 **focus_window( window_name )**
2486 Sets the window on which subsequent macro commands operate. window_name can
2487 be either a fully qualified file name, or one of "last" for the last window
2488 created, or "next" for the next window in the chain from the currently
2489 focused window (the first window being the one returned from calling
2490 focus_window("last"). Returns the name of the newly-focused window, or an
2491 empty string if the requested window was not found.
2493 **get_character( position )**
2494 Returns the single character at the position
2495 indicated by the first argument to the routine from the current window.
2497 **get_range( start, end )**
2498 Returns the text between a starting and ending position from the current
2502 Returns a string containing the text currently selected by the primary
2503 selection either from the current window (no keyword), or from anywhere on
2504 the screen (keyword "any").
2507 Gets the value of an environment variable.
2509 **kill_calltip( [calltip_ID] )**
2510 Kills any calltip that is being displayed in the window in which the macro is
2511 running. If there is no displayed calltip this does nothing. If a calltip
2512 ID is supplied then the calltip is killed only if its ID is calltip_ID.
2514 **length( string )**
2515 Returns the length of a string
2517 **list_dialog( message, text, btn_1_label, btn_2_label, ... )**
2518 Pop up a dialog for prompting the user to choose a line from the given text
2519 string. The first argument is a message string to be used as a title for the
2520 fixed text describing the list. The second string provides the list data:
2521 this is a text string in which list entries are separated by newline
2522 characters. Up to seven additional optional arguments represent labels for
2523 buttons to appear along the bottom of the dialog. Returns the line of text
2524 selected by the user as the function value (without any newline separator) or
2525 the empty string if none was selected, and number of the button pressed (the
2526 first button is number 1), in $list_dialog_button. If the user closes the
2527 dialog via the window close box, the function returns the empty string, and
2528 $list_dialog_button returns 0.
2530 **max( n1, n2, ... )**
2531 Returns the maximum value of all of its arguments
2533 **min( n1, n2, ... )**
2534 Returns the minimum value of all of its arguments
2536 **read_file( filename )**
2537 Reads the contents of a text file into a string. On success, returns 1 in
2538 $read_status, and the contents of the file as a string in the subroutine
2539 return value. On failure, returns the empty string "" and an 0 $read_status.
2541 **replace_in_string( string, search_for, replace_with [, type, "copy"] )**
2542 Replaces all occurrences of a search string in a string with a replacement
2543 string. Arguments are 1: string to search in, 2: string to search for, 3:
2544 replacement string. There are two optional arguments. One is a search type,
2545 either "literal", "case", "word", "caseWord", "regex", or "regexNoCase".
2546 The default search type is "literal". If the optional "copy" argument is
2547 specified, a copy of the input string is returned when no replacements were
2548 performed. By default an empty string ("") will be returned in this case.
2549 Returns a new string with all of the replacements done.
2551 **replace_range( start, end, string )**
2552 Replaces all of the text in the current window between two positions.
2554 **replace_selection( string )**
2555 Replaces the primary-selection selected text in the current window.
2557 **replace_substring( string, start, end, replace_with )**
2558 Replacing a substring between two positions in a string within another string.
2560 **search( search_for, start [, search_type, wrap, direction] )**
2561 Searches silently in a window without dialogs, beeps, or changes to the
2562 selection. Arguments are: 1: string to search for, 2: starting position.
2563 Optional arguments may include the strings: "wrap" to make the search wrap
2564 around the beginning or end of the string, "backward" or "forward" to change
2565 the search direction ("forward" is the default), "literal", "case", "word",
2566 "caseWord", "regex", or "regexNoCase" to change the search type (default is
2567 "literal"). Returns the starting position of the match, or -1 if nothing
2568 matched. Also returns the ending position of the match in $search_end.
2570 **search_string( string, search_for, start [, search_type, direction] )**
2572 Built-in macro subroutine for searching a string. Arguments are 1: string to
2573 search in, 2: string to search for, 3: starting position. Optional arguments
2574 may include the strings: "wrap" to make the search wrap around the beginning
2575 or end of the string, "backward" or "forward" to change the search direction
2576 ("forward" is the default), "literal", "case", "word", "caseWord", "regex",
2577 or "regexNoCase" to change the search type (default is "literal"). Returns
2578 the starting position of the match, or -1 if nothing matched. Also returns
2579 the ending position of the match in $search_end.
2581 **select( start, end )**
2582 Selects (with the primary selection) text in the current buffer between a
2583 starting and ending position.
2585 **select_rectangle( start, end, left, right )**
2586 Selects a rectangular area of text between a starting and ending position,
2587 and confined horizontally to characters displayed between positions "left",
2590 ..Disabled for 5.4 release.
2591 ..**set_backlight_string( [string] )**
2592 .. Applies the given string, which should be in the format of the
2593 .. nedit*backlightCharTypes X resource, to the current text window, turning on
2594 .. backlighting. If the value of the string passed is "default", or if no
2595 .. parameter is passed, the nedit.backlightCharTypes X resource's own value will
2596 .. be used. If the empty string, "", is passed, backlighting will be turned
2599 **set_cursor_pos( position )**
2600 Set the cursor position for the current window.
2602 **shell_command( command, input_string )**
2603 Executes a shell command, feeding it input from input_string. On completion,
2604 output from the command is returned as the function value, and the command's
2605 exit status is returned in the global variable $shell_cmd_status.
2607 **split(string, separation_string [, search_type])**
2608 Splits a string using the separator specified. Optionally the search_type
2609 argument can specify how the separation_string is interpreted. The default
2610 is "literal". The returned value is an array with keys beginning at 0.
2612 **string_dialog( message, btn_1_label, btn_2_label, ... )**
2613 Pops up a dialog prompting the user to enter information. The first argument
2614 is a string to show in the message area of the dialog. Up to nine additional
2615 optional arguments represent labels for buttons to appear along the bottom of
2616 the dialog. Returns the string entered by the user as the function value,
2617 and number of the button pressed (the first button is number 1), in
2618 $string_dialog_button. If the user closes the dialog via the window close
2619 box, the function returns the empty string, and $string_dialog_button returns
2622 **string_compare(string1, string2 [, consider-case])**
2623 Compare two strings and return 0 if they are equal, -1 if string1 is less
2624 than string2 or 1 if string1 is greater than string2. The values for the
2625 optional consider-case argument is either "case" or "nocase". The default
2626 is to do a case sensitive comparison.
2628 **string_to_clipboard( string )**
2629 Copy the contents of a macro string to the clipboard.
2631 **substring( string, start, end )**
2632 Returns the portion of a string between a starting and ending position.
2634 **t_print( string1, string2, ... )**
2635 Writes strings to the terminal (stdout) from which NEdit was started.
2637 **tolower( string )**
2638 Return an all lower-case version of string.
2640 **toupper( string )**
2641 Return an all upper-case version of string.
2643 **valid_number( string )**
2644 Returns 1 if the string can be converted to a number without error
2645 following the same rules that the implicit conversion would. Otherwise 0.
2647 **write_file( string, filename )**
2648 Writes a string (parameter 1) to a file named in parameter 2. Returns 1 on
2649 successful write, or 0 if unsuccessful.
2652 3>Deprecated Functions
2654 Some functions are included only for supporting legacy macros. You should not
2655 use any of these functions in any new macro you write. Among these are all
2656 action routines with hyphens in their names; use underscores instead
2657 ('find-dialog' -> 'find_dialog').
2660 **DEPRECATED** Use select_to_matching() instead.
2662 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2667 The user can create range sets, identified by opaque integers. A range set
2668 contains ranges, defined by start and end positions in the text buffer.
2669 These ranges are adjusted when modifications are made to the text buffer:
2670 they shuffle around when characters are added or deleted. However, ranges
2671 within a set will coalesce if the characters between them are removed, or
2672 a new range is added to the set which bridges or overlaps others.
2674 Using range sets allows non-contiguous bits of the text to be identified as a
2677 Range sets can be assigned a background color: characters within a range of a
2678 range set will have the background color of the range set. If more than one
2679 rangeset includes a given character, its background color will be that of the
2680 most recently created range set which has a color defined.
2682 Range sets must be created using the rangeset_create() function, which
2683 will return an identifier for the newly-created rangeset. This identifier
2684 is then passed to the other rangeset functions to manipulate the range set.
2686 There is a limit to the number of range sets which can exist at any time -
2687 up to 63 in each text buffer. Care should be taken to destroy any rangesets
2688 which are no longer needed, by using the rangeset_destroy() function.
2690 Warnings: A range set is manipulated ONLY through macro routines. Range sets
2691 can easily become very large, and may exceed the capacity of the running
2692 process. Coloring relies on proper color names or specifications (such as
2693 the "#rrggbb" hexadecimal digit strings), and appropriate hardware support.
2694 Behaviours set using rangeset_set_mode() are still experimental.
2698 3>Range set read-only variables
2701 array of active rangeset identifiers, with integer keys starting at 0,
2702 in the order the rangesets were defined.
2705 3>Range set functions
2707 **rangeset_create()**
2708 **rangeset_create( n )**
2709 Creates one or more new range sets. The first form creates a single range
2710 set and returns its identifier; if there are no range sets available it
2711 returns 0. The second form creates n new range sets, and returns an array
2712 of the range set identifiers with keys beginning at 0. If the requested
2713 number of range sets is not available it returns an empty array.
2715 **rangeset_destroy( r )**
2716 **rangeset_destroy( array )**
2717 Deletes all information about a range set or a number of range sets. The
2718 first form destroys the range set identified by r. The second form should
2719 be passed an array of rangeset identifiers with keys beginning at 0 (i.e.
2720 the same form of array returned by rangeset_create(n); it destroys all the
2721 range sets appearing in the array. If any of the range sets do not exist,
2722 the function continues without errors. Does not return a value.
2724 **rangeset_add( r, [start, end] )**
2725 **rangeset_add( r, r0 )**
2726 Adds to the range set r. The first form adds the range identified by the
2727 current primary selection to the range set, unless start and end are defined,
2728 in which case the range they define is added. The second form adds all
2729 ranges in the range set r0 to the range set r. Returns the index of the
2730 newly-added range within the rangeset.
2732 **rangeset_subtract( r, [start, end] )**
2733 **rangeset_subtract( r, r0 )**
2734 Removes from the range set r. The first form removes the range identified by
2735 the current primary selection from the range set, unless start and end are
2736 defined, in which case the range they define is removed. The second form
2737 removes all ranges in the range set r0 from the range set r. Does not return
2740 **rangeset_invert( r )**
2741 Changes the range set r so that it contains all ranges not in r. Does not
2744 **rangeset_info( r )**
2745 Returns an array containing information about the range set r. The array
2746 has the following keys: **defined** (whether a range set with identifier
2747 r is defined), **count** (the number of ranges in the range set), **color**
2748 (the current background color of the range set, an empty string if the
2749 range set has no color), and **mode** (the name of the modify-response
2750 mode of the range set).
2752 **rangeset_range( r, [index] )**
2753 Returns details of a specific range in the range set r. The range is
2754 specified by index, which should be between 1 and n (inclusive), where
2755 n is the number of ranges in the range set. The return value is an array
2756 containing the keys **start** (the start position of the range) and **end**
2757 (the end position of the range). If index is not supplied, the region
2758 returned is the span of the entire range set (the region starting at the
2759 start of the first range and ending at the end of the last). If index
2760 is outside the correct range of values, the function returns an empty array.
2762 **rangeset_includes( r, pos )**
2763 Returns the index of the range in range set r which includes pos; returns
2764 0 if pos is not contained in any of the ranges of r. This can also be used
2765 as a simple true/false function which returns true if pos is contained in
2768 **rangeset_set_color( r, color )**
2769 Attempts to apply the color as a background color to the ranges of r. If
2770 color is at empty string, removes the coloring of r. No check is made
2771 regarding the validity of color: if the color is invalid (a bad name,
2772 or not supported by the hardware) this has unpredictable effects.
2774 **rangeset_set_mode( r, type )**
2775 Changes the behaviour of the range set r when modifications to the text
2776 buffer occur. type can be one of the following: "maintain" (the default),
2777 "break", "include", "exclude", "ins_del" or "del_ins". (The differences are
2781 Highlighting Information
2782 ------------------------
2784 The user can interrogate the current window to determine the color
2785 highlighting used on a particular piece of text. The following functions
2786 provide information on the highlighting pattern against which text at a
2787 particular position has been matched, its style, color and font attributes
2788 (whether the font is supposed to be bold and/or italic).
2790 These macro functions permit macro writers to generate formatted output which
2791 allows NEdit highlighting to be reproduced. This is suitable for the
2792 generation of HTML or Postscript output, for example.
2794 Note that if any of the functions is used while in Plain mode or while syntax
2795 highlighting is off, the behaviour is undefined.
2797 **get_pattern( pos )**
2798 **get_pattern( pattern_name )**
2799 Returns an array containing the pattern attributes of the character at
2800 position 'pos' or for pattern 'pattern_name'. The elements in this array are:
2802 * **pattern** -- Highlight pattern name
2803 * **style** -- Highlight style name
2804 * **extension** -- The length in the text which uses the same highlighting pattern. NOTE: This element is not set if the function's parameter is a pattern name.
2806 If 'position' or 'pattern_name' is invalid, an empty array is returned.
2808 **get_style( pos )**
2809 **get_style( style_name )**
2810 Returns an array containing the style attributes of the character at
2811 position 'pos' or for style 'style_name'. The elements in this array are:
2813 * **style** -- Name of the highlight style
2814 * **bold** -- '1' if style is bold, '0' otherwise
2815 * **italic** -- '1' if style is italic, '0' otherwise
2816 * **color** -- Name of the style's color
2817 * **rgb** -- Color's RGB values ('#rrggbb')
2818 * **background** -- Name of the background color, if any
2819 * **back_rgb** -- Background color's RGB values ('#rrggbb')
2821 There are two things to consider with regard to the colors: First, the values
2822 for 'color' and/or 'background' are empty if the color values are specified
2823 using RGB values. Second, the values for 'rgb' and 'back_rgb' do contain the
2824 actual color values as allocated by the X server. This may not be the value
2825 listed for your color in rgb.txt.
2827 If 'position' or 'style_name' is invalid, an empty array is returned.
2829 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2834 All of the editing capabilities of NEdit are represented as a special type of
2835 subroutine, called an action routine, which can be invoked from both macros
2836 and translation table entries (see "Key_Binding_" in the
2837 Customizing section of the Help menu).
2840 3>Actions Representing Menu Commands
2842 File Menu Search Menu
2843 ----------------------- -------------------------
2845 open() find_dialog()
2846 open_dialog() find_again()
2847 open_selected() find_selection()
2849 save() replace_dialog()
2850 save_as() replace_all()
2851 save_as_dialog() replace_in_selection()
2852 revert_to_saved() replace_again()
2853 include_file() goto_line_number()
2854 include_file_dialog() goto_line_number_dialog()
2855 load_macro_file() goto_selected()
2856 load_macro_file_dialog() mark()
2857 load_tags_file() mark_dialog()
2858 load_tags_file_dialog() goto_mark()
2859 unload_tags_file() goto_mark_dialog()
2860 print() goto_matching()
2861 print_selection() select_to_matching()
2862 exit() find_definition()
2864 Edit Menu Shell Menu
2865 ----------------------- -------------------------
2866 undo() filter_selection_dialog()
2867 redo() filter_selection()
2868 delete() execute_command()
2869 select_all() execute_command_dialog()
2870 shift_left() execute_command_line()
2871 shift_left_by_tab() shell_menu_command()
2873 shift_right_by_tab() Macro Menu
2874 uppercase() -------------------------
2875 lowercase() macro_menu_command()
2876 fill_paragraph() repeat_macro()
2877 control_code_dialog() repeat_dialog()
2880 -------------------------
2884 An action representing a menu command is named the same as its corresponding
2885 menu item except that all punctuation is removed, all letters are changed to
2886 lower case, and spaces are replaced with underscores. To present a dialog to
2887 ask the user for input, use the actions with the `_dialog` suffix. Actions
2888 without the `_dialog` suffix take the information from the routine's
2889 arguments (see below).
2891 3>Menu Action Routine Arguments
2893 Arguments are text strings enclosed in quotes. Below are the menu action
2894 routines which take arguments. Optional arguments are enclosed in [].
2896 **close**( ["prompt" | "save" | "nosave"] )
2898 **execute_command**( shell-command )
2900 **filter_selection**( shell-command )
2902 **find**( search-string [, ~search-direction~] [, ~search-type~]
2905 **find_again**( [~search-direction~] [, ~search-wrap~] )
2907 **find_definition**( [tag-name] )
2909 **find_dialog**( [~search-direction~] [, ~search-type~]
2912 **find_selection**( [~search-direction~] [, ~search-wrap~]
2913 [, ~non-regex-search-type~] )
2915 **goto_line_number**( [~line-number~] [, ~column-number~] )
2917 **goto_mark**( ~mark-letter~ )
2919 **include_file**( ~filename~ )
2921 **load_tags_file**( ~filename~ )
2923 **macro_menu_command**( ~macro-menu-item-name~ )
2925 **mark**( ~mark-letter~ )
2927 **open**( ~filename~ )
2929 **replace**( search-string, replace-string,
2930 [, ~search-direction~] [, ~search-type~] [, ~search-wrap~] )
2932 **replace_again**( [~search-direction~] [, ~search-wrap~] )
2934 **replace_all**( search-string, replace-string [, ~search-type~] )
2936 **replace_dialog**( [~search-direction~] [, ~search-type~]
2939 **replace_in_selection**( search-string,
2940 replace-string [, ~search-type~] )
2942 **save_as**( ~filename~ )
2944 **shell_menu_command**( ~shell-menu-item-name~ )
2946 **unload_tags_file**( ~filename~ )
2948 **----------- Some notes on argument types above -----------**
2950 ~filename~ Path names are relative to the directory from
2951 which NEdit was started. Shell interpreted
2952 wildcards and `~' are not expanded.
2954 ~keep-dialog~ Either "keep" or "nokeep".
2956 ~mark-letter~ The mark command limits users to single
2957 letters. Inside of macros, numeric marks are
2958 allowed, which won't interfere with marks set
2961 ~macro-menu-item-name~
2962 Name of the command exactly as specified in
2963 the Macro Menu dialogs.
2965 ~non-regex-search-type~
2966 Either "literal", "case", "word", or
2970 Either "forward" or "backward".
2972 ~search-type~ Either "literal", "case", "word",
2973 "caseWord", "regex", or "regexNoCase".
2975 ~search-wrap~ Either "wrap" or "nowrap".
2977 ~shell-menu-item-name~
2978 Name of the command exactly as specified in
2979 the Shell Menu dialogs.
2981 3>Window Preferences Actions
2983 **set_auto_indent( "off" | "on" | "smart" )**
2984 Set auto indent mode for the current window.
2986 **set_em_tab_dist( em-tab-distance )**
2987 Set the emulated tab size. An em-tab-distance value of
2988 0 or -1 translates to no emulated tabs. Em-tab-distance must
2989 be smaller than 1000.
2991 **set_fonts( font-name, italic-font-name, bold-font-name, bold-italic-font-name )**
2992 Set all the fonts used for the current window.
2994 **set_highlight_syntax( [0 | 1] )**
2995 Set syntax highlighting mode for the current window.
2996 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
2997 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
2999 **set_incremental_backup( [0 | 1] )**
3000 Set incremental backup mode for the current window.
3001 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3002 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3004 **set_incremental_search_line( [0 | 1] )**
3005 Show or hide the incremental search line for the current window.
3006 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3007 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3009 **set_language_mode( language-mode )**
3010 Set the language mode for the current window. If the language mode is
3011 "" or unrecognized, it will be set to Plain.
3013 **set_locked( [0 | 1] )**
3014 This only affects the locked status of a file, not it's read-only
3015 status. Permissions are NOT changed.
3016 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3017 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3019 **set_make_backup_copy( [0 | 1] )**
3020 Set whether backup copies are made during saves for the current window.
3021 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3022 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3024 **set_overtype_mode( [0 | 1] )**
3025 Set overtype mode for the current window.
3026 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3027 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3029 **set_show_line_numbers( [0 | 1] )**
3030 Show or hide line numbers for the current window.
3031 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3032 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3034 **set_show_matching( "off" | "delimiter" | "range" )**
3035 Set show matching (...) mode for the current window.
3037 **set_match_syntax_based( [0 | 1] )**
3038 Set whether matching should be syntax based for the current window.
3040 **set_statistics_line( [0 | 1] )**
3041 Show or hide the statistics line for the current window.
3042 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3043 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3045 **set_tab_dist( tab-distance )**
3046 Set the size of hardware tab spacing. Tab-distance must
3047 must be a value greater than 0 and no greater than 20.
3049 **set_use_tabs( [0 | 1] )**
3050 Set whether tabs are used for the current window.
3051 A value of 0 turns it off and a value of 1 turns it on.
3052 If no parameters are supplied the option is toggled.
3054 **set_wrap_margin( wrap-width )**
3055 Set the wrap width for text wrapping of the current window. A value
3056 of 0 means to wrap at window width.
3058 **set_wrap_text( "none" | "auto" | "continuous" )**
3059 Set wrap text mode for the current window.
3061 3>Keyboard-Only Actions
3063 In addition to the arguments listed in the call descriptions below, any
3064 routine involving cursor movement can take the argument "extend", meaning,
3065 adjust the primary selection to the new cursor position. Routines which take
3066 the "extend" argument as well as mouse dragging operations for both primary
3067 and secondary selections can take the optional keyword "rect", meaning, make
3068 the selection rectangular. Any routine that accepts the "scrollbar" argument
3069 will move the display but not the cursor or selection. Routines that accept
3070 the "nobell" argument will fail silently without beeping, when that argument
3073 **backward_character( ["nobell"] )**
3074 Moves the cursor one character to the left.
3076 **backward_paragraph(["nobell"] )**
3077 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph, or
3078 if the cursor is already at the beginning of a paragraph, moves the cursor to
3079 the beginning of the previous paragraph. Paragraphs are defined as regions
3080 of text delimited by one or more blank lines.
3082 **backward_word( ["nobell"] )**
3083 Moves the cursor to the beginning of a word, or, if the
3084 cursor is already at the beginning of a word, moves the cursor to the
3085 beginning of the previous word. Word delimiters are user-settable, and
3086 defined by the X resource wordDelimiters.
3088 **beginning_of_file( ["scrollbar"] )**
3089 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the file.
3091 **beginning_of_line( ["absolute"] )**
3092 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. If
3093 "absolute" is given, always moves to the absolute beginning of line,
3094 regardless of the text wrapping mode.
3096 **beginning_of_selection()**
3097 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the selection
3098 without disturbing the selection.
3100 **copy_clipboard()**
3101 Copies the current selection to the clipboard.
3104 Copies the primary selection to the cursor.
3107 If a secondary selection exists, copies the secondary selection to
3108 the cursor. If no secondary selection exists, copies the primary selection
3109 to the pointer location.
3111 **copy_to_or_end_drag()**
3112 Completes either a secondary selection operation, or a
3113 primary drag. If the user is dragging the mouse to adjust a secondary
3114 selection, the selection is copied and either inserted at the cursor
3115 location, or, if pending-delete is on and a primary selection exists in the
3116 window, replaces the primary selection. If the user is dragging a block of
3117 text (primary selection), completes the drag operation and leaves the text at
3118 it's current location.
3121 Deletes the text in the primary selection and places it in
3125 Copies the primary selection to the cursor and deletes it at
3126 its original location.
3128 **delete_selection()**
3129 Deletes the contents of the primary selection.
3131 **delete_next_character( ["nobell"] )**
3132 If a primary selection exists, deletes its contents.
3133 Otherwise, deletes the character following the cursor.
3135 **delete_previous_character( ["nobell"] )**
3136 If a primary selection exists, deletes its
3137 contents. Otherwise, deletes the character before the cursor.
3139 **delete_next_word( ["nobell"] )**
3140 If a primary selection exists, deletes its contents.
3141 Otherwise, deletes the word following the cursor.
3143 **delete_previous_word( ["nobell"] )**
3144 If a primary selection exists, deletes its contents.
3145 Otherwise, deletes the word before the cursor.
3147 **delete_to_start_of_line( ["nobell", "wrap"] )**
3148 If a primary selection exists, deletes its contents. Otherwise, deletes the
3149 characters between the cursor and the start of the line. If "wrap" is
3150 given, deletes to the previous wrap point or beginning of line, whichever
3153 **delete_to_end_of_line( ["nobell", "absolute"] )**
3154 If a primary selection exists, deletes its contents.
3155 Otherwise, deletes the characters between the cursor and the end of the line.
3156 If "absolute" is given, always deletes to the absolute end of line, regardless
3157 of the text wrapping mode.
3160 De-selects the primary selection.
3162 **end_of_file( ["scrollbar"] )**
3163 Moves the cursor to the end of the file.
3165 **end_of_line( ["absolute"] )**
3166 Moves the cursor to the end of the line. If
3167 "absolute" is given, always moves to the absolute end of line, regardless
3168 of the text wrapping mode.
3170 **end_of_selection()**
3171 Moves the cursor to the end of the selection without
3172 disturbing the selection.
3174 **exchange( ["nobell"] )**
3175 Exchange the primary and secondary selections.
3178 Attached mouse-movement events to begin a selection between
3179 the cursor and the mouse, or extend the primary selection to the mouse
3183 Completes a primary drag-selection operation.
3186 Begins a selection between the cursor and the mouse. A
3187 drag-selection operation can be started with either extend_start or
3190 **focus_pane( [relative-pane] | [positive-index] | [negative-index] )**
3191 Move the focus to the requested pane.
3192 Arguments can be specified in the form of a relative-pane
3193 ("first", "last", "next", "previous"), a positive-index
3194 (numbers greater than 0, 1 is the same as "first") or a
3195 negative-index (numbers less than 0, -1 is the same as "last").
3197 **forward_character()**
3198 Moves the cursor one character to the right.
3200 **forward_paragraph( ["nobell"] )**
3201 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph.
3202 Paragraphs are defined as regions of text delimited by one or more blank
3205 **forward_word( ["tail"] ["nobell"] )**
3206 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word. Word
3207 delimiters are user-settable, and defined by the X resource wordDelimiters.
3208 If the "tail" argument is supplied the cursor will be moved to
3209 the end of the current word or the end of the next word, if the
3210 cursor is between words.
3213 Moves the cursor to the mouse pointer location, and prepares for
3214 a possible drag-selection operation (bound to extend_adjust), or multi-click
3215 operation (a further grab_focus action). If a second invocation of grab
3216 focus follows immediately, it selects a whole word, or a third, a whole line.
3218 **insert_string( "string" )**
3219 If pending delete is on and the cursor is inside the
3220 selection, replaces the selection with "string". Otherwise, inserts "string"
3221 at the cursor location.
3223 **key_select( "direction" [,"nobell"] )**
3224 Moves the cursor one character in "direction"
3225 ("left", "right", "up", or "down") and extends the selection. Same as
3226 forward/backward-character("extend"), or process-up/down("extend"), for
3227 compatibility with previous versions.
3229 **move-destination()**
3230 Moves the cursor to the pointer location without
3231 disturbing the selection. (This is an unusual way of working. We left it in
3232 for compatibility with previous versions, but if you actually use this
3233 capability, please send us some mail, otherwise it is likely to disappear in
3237 If a secondary selection exists, deletes the contents of the
3238 secondary selection and inserts it at the cursor, or if pending-delete is on
3239 and there is a primary selection, replaces the primary selection. If no
3240 secondary selection exists, moves the primary selection to the pointer
3241 location, deleting it from its original position.
3243 **move_to_or_end_drag()**
3244 Completes either a secondary selection operation, or a
3245 primary drag. If the user is dragging the mouse to adjust a secondary
3246 selection, the selection is deleted and either inserted at the cursor
3247 location, or, if pending-delete is on and a primary selection exists in the
3248 window, replaces the primary selection. If the user is dragging a block of
3249 text (primary selection), completes the drag operation and deletes the text
3250 from it's current location.
3253 Inserts a newline character. If Auto Indent is on, lines up the
3254 indentation of the cursor with the current line.
3256 **newline_and_indent()**
3257 Inserts a newline character and lines up the indentation
3258 of the cursor with the current line, regardless of the setting of Auto
3261 **newline_no_indent()**
3262 Inserts a newline character, without automatic
3263 indentation, regardless of the setting of Auto Indent.
3265 **next_page( ["stutter"] ["column"] ["scrollbar"] ["nobell"] )**
3266 Moves the cursor and scroll forward one page.
3267 The parameter "stutter" moves the cursor to the bottom of the display,
3268 unless it is already there, otherwise it will page down.
3269 The parameter "column" will maintain the preferred column while
3272 **page_left( ["scrollbar"] ["nobell"] )**
3273 Move the cursor and scroll left one page.
3275 **page_right( ["scrollbar"] ["nobell"] )**
3276 Move the cursor and scroll right one page.
3278 **paste_clipboard()**
3279 Insert the contents of the clipboard at the cursor, or if
3280 pending delete is on, replace the primary selection with the contents of the
3283 **previous_page( ["stutter"] ["column"] ["scrollbar"] ["nobell"] )**
3284 Moves the cursor and scroll backward one page.
3285 The parameter "stutter" moves the cursor to the top of the display,
3286 unless it is already there, otherwise it will page up.
3287 The parameter "column" will maintain the preferred column while
3291 Same as secondary_or_drag_start for compatibility with previous versions.
3293 **process_cancel()**
3294 Cancels the current extend_adjust, secondary_adjust, or
3295 secondary_or_drag_adjust in progress.
3297 **process_down( ["nobell", "absolute"] )**
3298 Moves the cursor down one line. If "absolute" is given, always moves to the
3299 next line in the text buffer, regardless of wrapping.
3301 **process_return()**
3302 Same as newline for compatibility with previous versions.
3304 **process_shift_down( ["nobell", "absolute"] )**
3305 Same as process_down("extend") for compatibility with previous versions.
3307 **process_shift_up( ["nobell", "absolute"] )**
3308 Same as process_up("extend") for compatibility with previous versions.
3311 If tab emulation is turned on, inserts an emulated tab,
3312 otherwise inserts a tab character.
3314 **process_up( ["nobell", "absolute"] )**
3315 Moves the cursor up one line. If "absolute" is given, always moves to the
3316 previous line in the text buffer, regardless of wrapping.
3318 **raise_window([relative-window] | [positive-index] | [negative-index])**
3319 Raise the current focused window to the front if no argument is supplied.
3320 Arguments can be specified in the form of a relative-window
3321 ("first", "last", "next", "previous"), a positive-index
3322 (numbers greater than 0, 1 is the same as "last") or a
3323 negative-index (numbers less than 0, -1 is the same as "first").
3325 **scroll_down(nLines)**
3326 Scroll the display down (towards the end of the file) by nLines.
3328 **scroll_left( nPixels )**
3329 Scroll the display left by nPixels.
3331 **scroll_right( nPixels )**
3332 Scroll the display right by nPixels.
3334 **scroll_up( nLines )**
3335 Scroll the display up (towards the beginning of the file) by nLines.
3337 **scroll_to_line( lineNum )**
3338 Scroll to position line number lineNum at the top of
3339 the pane. The first line of a file is line 1.
3341 **secondary_adjust()**
3342 Attached mouse-movement events to extend the secondary
3343 selection to the mouse position.
3345 **secondary_or_drag_adjust()**
3346 Attached mouse-movement events to extend the
3347 secondary selection, or reposition the primary text being dragged. Takes two
3348 optional arguments, "copy", and "overlay". "copy" leaves a copy of the
3349 dragged text at the site at which the drag began. "overlay" does the drag in
3350 overlay mode, meaning the dragged text is laid on top of the existing text,
3351 obscuring and ultimately deleting it when the drag is complete.
3353 **secondary_or_drag_start()**
3354 To be attached to a mouse down event. Begins drag
3355 selecting a secondary selection, or dragging the contents of the primary
3356 selection, depending on whether the mouse is pressed inside of an existing
3359 **secondary_start()**
3360 To be attached to a mouse down event. Begin drag selecting
3361 a secondary selection.
3364 Select the entire file.
3367 To be attached to a key-press event, inserts the character
3368 equivalent of the key pressed.
3370 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3378 NEdit can be customized many different ways. The most important
3379 user-settable options are presented in the Preferences menu, including all
3380 options that users might need to change during an editing session. Options
3381 set in the Default Settings sub-menu of the Preferences menu can be preserved
3382 between sessions by selecting Save Defaults, which writes the changes to the
3383 preferences file. See the section titled "Preferences_" for more details.
3385 User defined commands can be added to NEdit's Shell, Macro, and window
3386 background menus. Dialogs for creating items in these menus can be found
3387 under Customize Menus in the Default Settings sub menu of the Preferences
3390 For users who depend on NEdit every day and want to tune every excruciating
3391 detail, there are also X resources for tuning a vast number of such details,
3392 down to the color of each individual button. See the section "X_Resources_"
3393 for more information, as well as a list of selected resources.
3395 The most common reason customizing your X resources for NEdit, however, is
3396 key binding. While limited key binding can be done through Preferences
3397 settings (Preferences -> Default Settings -> Customize Menus), you can really
3398 only add keys this way, and each key must have a corresponding menu item.
3399 Any significant changes to key binding should be made via the Translations
3400 resource and menu accelerator resources. The sections titled "Key_Binding_"
3401 and "X_Resources_" have more information.
3402 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3407 The Preferences menu allows you to set options for both the current editing
3408 window, and default values for newly created windows and future NEdit
3409 sessions. Options in the Preferences menu itself (not in the Default
3410 Settings sub-menu) take effect immediately and refer to the current window
3411 only. Options in the Default Settings sub-menu provide initial settings for
3412 future windows created using the New or Open commands; options affecting all
3413 windows are also set here.
3414 Preferences set in the Default Settings sub-menu can be saved in a file that
3415 is automatically read by NEdit at startup time, by selecting Save Defaults.
3419 **Default Settings**
3420 Menu of initial settings for future windows. Generally the same as the
3421 options in the main part of the menu, but apply as defaults for future
3422 windows created during this NEdit session. These settings can be saved using
3423 the Save Defaults command below, to be loaded automatically each time NEdit
3427 Save the default options as set under Default Settings for future NEdit
3431 Show the full file name, line number, and length of the file being edited.
3433 **Incremental Search Line**
3434 Keep the incremental search bar (Search -> Find Incremental) permanently
3435 displayed at the top of the window.
3437 **Show Line Numbers**
3438 Display line numbers to the right of the text.
3441 Tells NEdit what language (if any) to assume, for selecting language-specific
3442 features such as highlight patterns and smart indent macros, and setting
3443 language specific preferences like word delimiters, tab emulation, and
3444 auto-indent. See Features for Programming -> Programming_with_NEdit_ for
3448 Setting Auto Indent "on" maintains a running indent (pressing the Return key
3449 will line up the cursor with the indent level of the previous line). If
3450 smart indent macros are available for the current language mode, smart indent
3451 can be selected and NEdit will attempt to guess proper language indentation
3452 for each new line. See Help -> Features for Programming -> Automatic Indent
3453 for more information.
3456 Choose between two styles of automatic wrapping or none. Auto Newline wrap,
3457 wraps text at word boundaries when the cursor reaches the right margin, by
3458 replacing the space or tab at the last word boundary with a newline
3459 character. Continuous Wrap wraps long lines which extend past the right
3460 margin. Continuous Wrap mode is typically used to produce files where
3461 newlines are omitted within paragraphs, to make text filling automatic (a
3462 kind of poor-man's word processor). Text of this style is common on Macs and
3463 PCs but is not necessarily supported very well under Unix (except in programs
3464 which deal with e-mail, for which it is often the format of choice).
3467 Set margin for Auto Newline Wrap, Continuous Wrap, and Fill Paragraph. Lines
3468 may, be wrapped at the right margin of the window, or the margin can be set
3469 at a specific column.
3472 Set the tab distance (number of characters between tab stops) for tab
3473 characters, and control tab emulation and use of tab characters in padding
3477 Change the font(s) used to display text (fonts for menus and dialogs must be
3478 set using X resources for the text area of the window). See below for more
3483 Change the colors used to display text. The "Matching (..)" fields change
3484 the colors that matching parens, brackets and braces are flashed when the
3485 "Show Matching (..)" option is enabled. Note that the foreground colors for
3486 plain text, selected text, and matching paren flashing only apply when syntax
3487 highlighting is disabled. When syntax highlighting is enabled, text (even
3488 text that appears plain) will always be colored according to its
3489 highlighting style. (For information on changing syntax highlighting styles
3490 and matching patterns use see Help -> Features for Programming ->
3491 Syntax_Highlighting_.)
3493 **Highlight Syntax**
3494 If NEdit recognizes the language being edited, and highlighting patterns are
3495 available for that language, use fonts and colors to enhance viewing of the
3496 file. (See Help -> Features for Programming -> Syntax Highlighting for more
3499 **Make Backup Copy**
3500 On Save, write a backup copy of the file as it existed before the Save
3501 command with the extension .bck (Unix only).
3503 **Incremental Backup**
3504 Periodically make a backup copy of the file being edited under the name
3505 `~filename` on Unix or `_filename` on VMS (see Crash_Recovery_).
3507 **Show Matching (..)**
3508 Momentarily highlight matching parenthesis, brackets, and braces, or the
3509 range between them, when one of these characters is typed, or when the
3510 insertion cursor is positioned after it. Delimiter only highlights the
3511 matching delimiter, while Range highlights the whole range of text between
3512 the matching delimiters.
3514 Optionally, the matching can make use of syntax information if syntax
3515 highlighting is enabled. Alternatively, the matching is purely character
3516 based. In general, syntax based matching results in fewer false matches.
3519 In overtype mode, new characters entered replace the characters in front of
3520 the insertion cursor, rather than being inserted before them.
3523 Lock the file against accidental modification. This temporarily prevents the
3524 file from being modified in this NEdit session. Note that this is different
3525 from setting the file protection.
3527 3>Preferences -> Default Settings Menu
3529 Options in the Preferences -> Default Settings menu have the same meaning as
3530 those in the top-level Preferences menu, except that they apply to future
3531 NEdit windows and future NEdit sessions if saved with the Save Defaults
3532 command. Additional options which appear in this menu are:
3535 Define language recognition information (for determining language mode from
3536 file name or content) and set language specific preferences.
3539 How to react to multiple tags for the same name. Tags are described in the
3540 section: Features for Programmers -> Finding Declarations (ctags). In Show
3541 All mode, all matching tags are displayed in a dialog. In Smart mode, if one
3542 of the matching tags is in the current window, that tag is chosen, without
3543 displaying the dialog.
3546 Add/remove items from the Shell, Macro, and window background menus (see
3549 **Customize Window Title**
3550 Opens a dialog where the information to be displayed in the window's title
3551 field can be defined and tested. The dialog contains a Help button, providing
3552 further information about the options available.
3555 Options for controlling the behavior of Find and Replace commands:
3558 Presents search results in dialog form, asks before wrapping a
3559 search back around the beginning (or end) of the file
3560 (unless Beep On Search Wrap is turned on).
3563 Search and Replace operations wrap around the beginning (or end) of the file.
3565 ~Beep On Search Wrap~ -
3566 Beep when Search and Replace operations wrap around the beginning (or end) of
3567 the file (only if Wrap Around is turned on).
3570 Don't pop down Replace and Find boxes after searching.
3572 ~Default Search Style~ -
3573 Initial setting for search type in Find and Replace dialogs.
3575 ~Default Replace Scope~ -
3576 [THIS OPTION IS ONLY PRESENT WHEN NEDIT WAS COMPILED WITH THE
3577 -DREPLACE_SCOPE FLAG TO SELECT AN ALTERNATIVE REPLACE DIALOG LAYOUT.]
3579 Initial setting for the scope in the Replace/Find dialog, when a selection
3580 exists. It can be either "In Window", "In Selection", or "Smart". "Smart"
3581 results in "In Window" if the size of the selection is smaller than 1 line,
3582 and to "In Selection" otherwise.
3584 **Syntax Highlighting**
3585 Program and configure enhanced text display for new or supported languages
3586 (See Features for Programming -> Syntax_Highlighting_).
3588 **Terminate with Line Break on Save**
3589 Some UNIX tools expect that files end with a line feed. If this option is
3590 activated, NEdit will append one if required.
3592 **Sort Open Prev. Menu**
3593 Option to order the File -> Open Previous menu alphabetically, versus in
3594 order of last access.
3596 **Popups Under Pointer**
3597 Display pop-up dialogs centered on the current mouse position, as opposed to
3598 centered on the parent window. This generally speeds interaction, and is
3599 essential for users who users who set their window managers so keyboard focus
3603 Options for controlling the popping up of warning dialogs:
3605 ~File Modified Externally~ -
3606 Pop up a warning dialog when files get changed external to NEdit.
3608 ~Check Modified File Contents~ -
3609 If external file modification warnings are requested, also check the file
3610 contents iso. only the modification date.
3613 Ask before exiting when two or more files are open in an NEdit session.
3615 **Initial Window Size**
3616 Default size for new windows.
3620 The font used to display text in NEdit is set under Preferences -> Text Font
3621 (for the current window), or Preferences -> Default Settings Text Font (for
3622 future windows). These dialogs also allow you to set fonts for syntax
3623 highlighting. If you don't intend to use syntax highlighting, you can ignore
3624 most of the dialog, and just set the field labeled Primary Font.
3626 Unless you are absolutely certain about the types of files that you will be
3627 editing with NEdit, you should choose a fixed-spacing font. Many, if not
3628 most, plain-text files are written expecting to be viewed with fixed
3629 character spacing, and will look wrong with proportional spacing. NEdit's
3630 filling, wrapping, and rectangular operations will also work strangely if you
3631 choose a proportional font.
3633 Note that in the font browser (the dialog brought up by the Browse...
3634 button), the subset of fonts which are shown is narrowed depending on the
3635 characteristics already selected. It is therefore important to know that you
3636 can unselect characteristics from the lists by clicking on the selected items
3639 Fonts for syntax highlighting should ideally match the primary font in both
3640 height and spacing. A mismatch in spacing will result in similar distortions
3641 as choosing a proportional font: column alignment will sometimes look wrong,
3642 and rectangular operations, wrapping, and filling will behave strangely. A
3643 mismatch in height will cause windows to re-size themselves slightly when
3644 syntax highlighting is turned on or off, and increase the inter- line spacing
3645 of the text. Unfortunately, on some systems it is hard to find sets of fonts
3646 which match exactly in height.
3650 You can add or change items in the Shell, Macro, and window background menus
3651 under Preferences -> Default Settings -> Customize Menus. When you choose
3652 one of these, you will see a dialog with a list of the current
3653 user-configurable items from the menu on the left. To change an existing
3654 item, select it from the list, and its properties will appear in the
3655 remaining fields of the dialog, where you may change them. Selecting the
3656 item "New" from the list allows you to enter new items in the menu.
3658 Hopefully most of the characteristics are self explanatory, but here are a
3661 Accelerator keys are keyboard shortcuts which appear on the right hand side
3662 of the menus, and allow you avoid pulling down the menu and activate the
3663 command with a single keystroke. Enter accelerators by typing the keys
3664 exactly as you would to activate the command.
3666 Mnemonics are a single letter which should be part of the menu item name,
3667 which allow users to traverse and activate menu items by typing keys when the
3668 menu is pulled down.
3670 In the Shell Command field of the Shell Commands dialog, the % character
3671 expands to the name (including directory path) of the file in the window. To
3672 include a % character in the command, use %%.
3674 The Menu Entry field can contain special characters for constructing
3675 hierarchical sub-menus, and for making items which appear only in certain
3676 language modes. The right angle bracket character ">" creates a sub-menu.
3677 The name of the item itself should be the last element of the path formed
3678 from successive sub-menu names joined with ">". Menu panes are called in to
3679 existence simply by naming them as part of a Menu Entry name. To put several
3680 items in the same sub-menu, repeat the same hierarchical sequence for each.
3681 For example, in the Macro Commands dialog, two items with menu entries: a>b>c
3682 and a>b>d would create a single sub menu under the macro menu called "a",
3683 which would contain a single sub-menu, b, holding the actual items, c and d:
3690 To qualify a menu entry with a language mode, simply add an at-sign "@@" at
3691 the end of the menu command, followed (no space) by a language mode name. To
3692 make a menu item which appears in several language modes, append additional
3693 @@s and language mode names. For example, an item with the menu entry:
3695 Make C Prototypes@@C@@C++
3697 would appear only in C and C++ language modes, and:
3699 Make Class Template@@C++
3701 would appear only in C++ mode.
3703 Menu items with no qualification appear in all language modes.
3705 If a menu item is followed by the single language qualification "@@*", that
3706 item will appear only if there are no applicable language-specific items of
3707 the same name in the same submenu. For example, if you have the following
3708 three entries in the same menu:
3710 Make Prototypes@@C@@C++
3711 Make Prototypes@@Java
3714 The first will be available when the language mode is C or C++, the second
3715 when the language mode is Java, and for all other language modes (including
3716 the "Plain" non-language mode). If the entry:
3720 also exists, this will always appear, meaning that the menu will always have
3721 two "Make Prototypes" entries, whatever the language mode.
3723 3>The NEdit Preferences File
3725 The NEdit saved preferences file is an X resource file, and its contents can
3726 be moved into another X resource file (see X_Resources_). One reason for
3727 doing so would be to attach server specific preferences, such as a default
3728 font to a particular X server. Another reason for moving preferences into the
3729 X resource file would be to keep preferences menu options and resource
3730 settable options together in one place.
3731 Though the files are the same format, additional resources should not be added
3732 to the preference file since NEdit modifies this file by overwriting it
3733 completely. Note also that the contents of the preference file take
3734 precedence over the values of X resources.
3735 Using Save Defaults after moving the contents of your preference file to your
3736 .Xdefaults file will re-create the preference file, interfering with the
3737 options that you have moved.
3738 The location of NEdit's preferences file depends on your environment:
3740 * The default place for the file is '$HOME/.nedit/nedit.rc',
3741 * if the variable $NEDIT_HOME is set in your environment it is located at '$NEDIT_HOME/nedit.rc',
3742 * you may also use old-style run control files; in this case, the preferences are stored in $HOME/.nedit.
3744 (For VMS, the file is in '$NEDIT_HOME/nedit.rc' if $NEDIT_HOME is set, in
3745 'SYS$LOGIN:.nedit' otherwise.)
3747 3>Sharing Customizations with Other NEdit Users
3749 If you have written macro or shell menu commands, highlight patterns, or
3750 smart-indent macros that you want to share with other NEdit users, you can
3751 make a file which they can load into their NEdit environment.
3753 To load such a file, start NEdit with the command:
3755 nedit -import <file>
3757 In the new NEdit session, verify that the imported patterns or macros do what
3758 you want, then select Preferences -> Save Defaults. Saving incorporates the
3759 changes into the nedit preferences file, so the next time you run NEdit, you
3760 will not have to import the distribution file.
3762 Loading a customization file is automated, but creating one is not. To
3763 produce a file to be imported by other users, you must make a copy of your own
3764 NEdit configuration file, and edit it, by hand, to remove everything but the
3765 few items of interest to the recipient. Leave only the individual
3766 resource(s), and within those resources, only the particular macro, pattern,
3767 style, etc, that you wish to exchange.
3769 For example, to share a highlighting pattern set, you would include the
3770 patterns, any new styles you added, and language mode information only if the
3771 patterns are intended to support a new language rather than updating an
3772 existing one. For example:
3774 nedit.highlightPatterns:\
3776 Comment:"#":"$"::Comment::\n\
3777 Loop Header:"^[ \\t]*loop:":::Loop::\n\
3779 nedit.languageModes: My Language:.my::::::
3780 nedit.styles: Loop:blue:Bold
3782 Resources are in the format of X resource files, but the format of text
3783 within multiple-item resources like highlight patterns, language modes,
3784 macros, styles, etc., are private to NEdit. Each resource is a string which
3785 ends at the first newline character not escaped with \, so you must be
3786 careful about how you treat ends of lines. While you can generally just cut
3787 and paste indented sections, if something which was originally in the middle
3788 of a resource string is now at the end, you must remove the \ line
3789 continuation character(s) so it will not join the next line into the
3790 resource. Conversely, if something which was originally at the end of a
3791 resource is now in the middle, you'll have to add continuation character(s)
3792 to make sure that the resource string is properly continued from beginning to
3793 end, and possibly newline character(s) (\n) to make sure that it is properly
3794 separated from the next item.
3795 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3800 NEdit has additional options to those provided in the Preferences menu which
3801 are set using X resources. Like most other X programs, NEdit can be
3802 customized to vastly unnecessary proportions, from initial window positions
3803 down to the font and shadow colors of each individual button (A complete
3804 discussion of how to do this is left to books on the X Window System). Key
3805 binding (see "Key_Binding_" is one of the most useful of these resource
3808 X resources are usually specified in a file called .Xdefaults or .Xresources
3809 in your home directory (on VMS this is sys$login:decw$xdefaults.dat). On
3810 some systems, this file is read and its information attached to the X server
3811 (your screen) when you start X. On other systems, the .Xdefaults file is
3812 read each time you run an X program. When X resource values are attached to
3813 the X server, changes to the resource file are not available to application
3814 programs until you either run the xrdb program with the appropriate file as
3815 input, or re-start the X server.
3817 3>Selected X Resource Names
3819 The following are selected NEdit resource names and default values for NEdit
3820 options not settable via the Preferences menu (for preference resource names,
3821 see your NEdit preference file):
3823 **nedit.tagFile**: (not defined)
3825 This can be the name of a file, or multiple files separated by a colon (:)
3826 character, of the type produced by Exuberant Ctags or the Unix ctags
3827 command, which NEdit will load at startup time (see ctag_support_ ). The tag
3828 file provides a database from which NEdit can automatically open files
3829 containing the definition of a particular subroutine or data type.
3831 **nedit.alwaysCheckRelativeTagsSpecs: True**
3833 When this resource is set to True, and there are tag files specified (with
3834 the nedit.tagFile resource, see above) as relative paths, NEdit will evaluate
3835 these tag value paths whenever a file is opened. All accessible tag files
3836 will be loaded at this time. When this resource value is False, relative path
3837 tag specifications will only be evaluated at NEdit startup time.
3839 **nedit.shell**: /bin/csh
3841 (Unix systems only) The Unix shell (command interpreter) to use for executing
3842 commands from the Shell menu
3844 **nedit.wordDelimiters**: .,/\\`'!@@#%^&*()-=+{}[]":;<>?
3846 The characters, in addition to blanks and tabs, which mark the boundaries
3847 between words for the move-by-word (Ctrl+Arrow) and select-word (double
3848 click) commands. Note that this default value may be overridden by the
3849 setting in Preferences -> Default Settings -> Language Modes....
3851 **nedit.remapDeleteKey**: False
3853 Setting this resource to True forcibly maps the delete key to backspace. This
3854 can be helpful on systems where the bindings have become tangled, and in
3855 environments which mix systems with PC style keyboards and systems with DEC
3856 and Macintosh keyboards. Theoretically, these bindings should be made using
3857 the standard X/Motif mechanisms, outside of NEdit. In practice, some
3858 environments where users access several different systems remotely, can be
3859 very hard to configure. If you've given up and are using a backspace key
3860 halfway off the keyboard because you can't figure out the bindings, set this
3863 **nedit.typingHidesPointer**: False
3865 Setting this resource to True causes the mouse pointer to be hidden when you
3866 type in the text area. As soon as the mouse pointer is moved, it will
3867 reappear. This is useful to stop the mouse pointer from obscuring text.
3869 **nedit.overrideDefaultVirtualKeyBindings**: Auto
3871 Motif uses a virtual key binding mechanism that shares the bindings between
3872 different Motif applications. When a first Motif application is started, it
3873 installs some default virtual key bindings and any other Motif application
3874 that runs afterwards, simply reuses them. Obviously, if the first
3875 application installs an invalid set, all others applications may have
3878 In the past, NEdit has been the victim of invalid bindings installed by other
3879 applications several times. Through this resource, NEdit can be instructed
3880 to ignore the bindings installed by other applications, and use its own
3881 private bindings. By default, NEdit tries to detect invalid bindings
3882 and ignore them automatically (Auto). Optionally, NEdit can be told to
3883 always keep the installed bindings (Never), or to always override them
3886 **nedit.stdOpenDialog**: False
3888 Setting this resource to True restores the standard Motif style of Open
3889 dialog. NEdit file open dialogs are missing a text field at the bottom of
3890 the dialog, where the file name can be entered as a string. The field is
3891 removed in NEdit to encourage users to type file names in the list, a
3892 non-standard, but much faster method for finding files.
3894 **nedit.bgMenuButton**: @~Shift@~Ctrl@~Meta@~Alt<Btn3Down>
3896 Specification for mouse button / key combination to post the background menu
3897 (in the form of an X translation table event specification). The event
3898 specification should be as specific as possible, since it will override less
3899 specific translation table entries.
3901 **nedit.maxPrevOpenFiles**: 30
3903 Number of files listed in the Open Previous sub-menu of the File menu.
3904 Setting this to zero disables the Open Previous menu item and maintenance of
3905 the NEdit file history file.
3907 **nedit.printCommand**: (system specific)
3909 Command used by the print dialog to print a file, such as, lp, lpr, etc..
3910 The command must be capable of accepting input via stdin (standard input).
3912 **nedit.printCopiesOption**: (system specific)
3914 Option name used to specify multiple copies to the print command. If the
3915 option should be separated from its argument by a space, leave a trailing
3916 space. If blank, no "Number of Copies" item will appear in the print dialog.
3918 **nedit.printQueueOption**: (system specific)
3920 Option name used to specify a print queue to the print command. If the
3921 option should be separated from its argument by a space, leave a trailing
3922 space. If blank, no "Queue" item will appear in the print dialog.
3924 **nedit.printNameOption**: (system specific)
3926 Option name used to specify a job name to the print command. If the option
3927 should be separated from its argument by a space, leave a trailing space. If
3928 blank, no job or file name will be attached to the print job or banner page.
3930 **nedit.printHostOption**: (system specific)
3932 Option name used to specify a host name to the print command. If the option
3933 should be separated from its argument by a space, leave a trailing space. If
3934 blank, no "Host" item will appear in the print dialog.
3936 **nedit.printDefaultQueue**: (system specific)
3938 The name of the default print queue. Used only to display in the print
3939 dialog, and has no effect on printing.
3941 **nedit.visualID**: Best
3943 If your screen supports multiple visuals (color mapping models), this
3944 resource allows you to manually choose among them. The default value of
3945 "Best" chooses the deepest (most colors) visual available. Since NEdit does
3946 not depend on the specific characteristics of any given color model, Best
3947 probably IS the best choice for everyone, and the only reason for setting
3948 this resource would be to patch around some kind of X server problem. The
3949 resource may also be set to "Default", which chooses the screen's default
3950 visual (often a color-mapped, PseudoColor, visual for compatibility with
3951 older X applications). It may also be set to a numeric visual-id value (use
3952 xdpyinfo to see the list of visuals supported by your display), or a visual
3953 class name: PseudoColor, DirectColor, TrueColor, etc..
3955 If you are running under a themed environment (like KDE or CDE) that places
3956 its colors in a shallow visual, and you'd rather have that color scheme
3957 instead of more colors available, then you may need set the visual to
3958 "Default" so that NEdit doesn't choose one with more colors. (The reason
3959 for this is: if the "best" visual is not the server's default, then NEdit
3960 cannot use the colors provided by your environment. NEdit will fall back to
3961 its own default color scheme.)
3963 **nedit.installColormap**: False
3965 Force the installation of a private colormap. If you have a humble 8-bit
3966 color display, and netscape is hogging all of the color cells, you may want
3967 to try turning this on. On most systems, this will result in colors flashing
3968 wildly when you switch between NEdit and other applications. But a few
3969 systems (SGI) have hardware support for multiple simultaneous colormaps, and
3970 applications with installed colormaps are well behaved.
3972 **nedit.findReplaceUsesSelection**: False
3974 Controls if the Find and Replace dialogs are automatically loaded with the
3975 contents of the primary selection.
3977 **nedit.stickyCaseSenseButton**: True
3979 Controls if the "Case Sensitive" buttons in the Find and Replace dialogs and
3980 the incremental search bar maintain a separate state for literal and regular
3981 expression searches. Moreover, when set to True, by default literal searches
3982 are case insensitive and regular expression searches are case sensitive. When
3983 set to False, the "Case Sensitive" buttons are independent of the "Regular
3986 **nedit.printDefaultHost**: (system specific)
3988 The node name of the default print host. Used only to display in the print
3989 dialog, and has no effect on printing.
3991 **nedit.multiClickTime**: (system specific)
3993 Maximum time in milliseconds allowed between mouse clicks within double and
3994 triple click actions.
3996 **nedit@*scrollBarPlacement**: BOTTOM_LEFT
3998 How scroll bars are placed in NEdit windows, as well as various lists and
3999 text fields in the program. Other choices are: BOTTOM_RIGHT, TOP_LEFT, or
4002 **nedit@*text.autoWrapPastedText**: False
4004 When Auto Newline Wrap is turned on, apply automatic wrapping (which
4005 normally only applies to typed text) to pasted text as well.
4007 **nedit@*text.heavyCursor**: False
4009 For monitors with poor resolution or users who have difficulty seeing the
4010 cursor, makes the cursor in the text editing area of the window heavier and
4013 **nedit@*text.cursorVPadding**: 0
4015 Number of lines to keep the cursor away from the top or bottom line of the
4016 window. Keyboard operations that would cause the cursor to get closer than
4017 this distance cause the window to scroll up or down instead, except at the
4018 beginning of the file. Mouse operations are not affected.
4020 **nedit@*text.blinkRate**: 500
4022 Blink rate of the text insertion cursor in milliseconds. Set to zero to stop
4025 **nedit@*text.Translations**:
4027 Modifies key bindings (see below).
4029 **nedit@*foreground**: black
4031 Default foreground color for menus, dialogs, scroll bars, etc..
4033 **nedit@*background**: #b3b3b3
4035 Default background color for menus, dialogs, scroll bars, etc..
4037 **nedit@*calltipForeground**: black
4039 Foreground color for calltips
4041 **nedit@*calltipBackground**: LemonChiffon1
4043 Background color for calltips
4045 **nedit@*fontList**: helvetica medium 12 points
4047 Default font for menus, dialogs, scroll bars, etc..
4049 **nedit.helpFont**: helvetica medium 12 points
4051 Font used for displaying online help.
4053 **nedit.boldHelpFont**: helvetica bold 12 points
4055 Bold font for online help.
4057 **nedit.italicHelpFont**: helvetica italic 12 points
4059 Italic font for online help.
4061 **nedit.fixedHelpFont**: courier medium 12 points
4063 Fixed font for online help.
4065 **nedit.boldFixedHelpFont**: courier bold 12 points
4067 Fixed bold for online help.
4069 **nedit.italicFixedHelpFont**: courier italic 12 points
4071 Fixed italic font for online help.
4073 **nedit.h1HelpFont**: helvetica bold 14 points
4075 Font for level-1 titles in help text.
4077 **nedit.h2HelpFont**: helvetica bold italic 12 points
4079 Font for level-2 titles in help text.
4081 **nedit.h3HelpFont**: courier bold 12 points
4083 Font for level-3 titles in help text.
4085 **nedit.helpLinkFont**: helvetica medium 12 points
4087 Font for hyperlinks in the help text
4089 **nedit.helpLinkColor**: #009900
4091 Color for hyperlinks in the help text
4093 **nedit.backlightCharTypes**: 0-8,10-31,127:red;9:#dedede;32-126,160-255:#f0f0f0;128-159:orange
4095 **NOTE: backlighting is ~experimental~** (see "Programming_with_NEdit_").
4097 A string specifying character classes as ranges of ASCII values followed by
4098 the color to be used as their background colors. The format is:
4100 low[-high]{,low[-high]}:color{;low-high{,low[-high]}:color}
4102 where low and high are ASCII values.
4105 32-255:#f0f0f0;1-31,127:red;128-159:orange;9-13:#e5e5e5
4108 .. The macro built-in function set_backlight_string() allows these strings to be
4109 .. set for a particular window.
4111 **nc.autoStart**: True
4113 Whether the nc program should automatically start an NEdit server (without
4114 prompting the user) if an appropriate server is not found.
4116 **nc.serverCommand**: nedit -server
4118 Command used by the nc program to start an NEdit server.
4122 Basic time-out period used in communication with an NEdit server (seconds).
4124 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4125 ~The following are Selected widget names (to which you may append~
4126 ~.background, .foreground, .fontList, etc., to change colors, fonts~
4127 ~ and other characteristics):~
4129 **nedit@*statsAreaForm**
4131 Statistics line and incremental search bar. To get consistent results across
4132 the entire stats line and the incremental search bar, use '*' rather than '.'
4133 to separate the resource name. For example, to set the foreground color of
4134 both components use:
4135 nedit*statsAreaForm*foreground
4137 nedit*statsAreaForm.foreground
4141 Top-of-window menu-bar.
4143 **nedit@*textHorScrollBar**
4145 Horizontal scroll bar.
4147 **nedit@*textVertScrollBar**
4149 Vertical scroll bar.
4150 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4155 There are several ways to change key bindings in NEdit. The easiest way to
4156 add a new key binding in NEdit is to define a macro in Preferences -> Default
4157 Settings -> Customize Menus -> Macro Menu. However, if you want to change
4158 existing bindings or add a significant number of new key bindings you will
4159 need to do so via X resources.
4161 Before reading this section, you must understand how to set X resources (see
4162 the help section "X_Resources_"). Since setting X resources is tricky, it is
4163 also helpful when working on key-binding, to set some easier-to-verify
4164 resource at the same time, as a simple check that the NEdit program is
4165 actually seeing your changes. The appres program is also very helpful in
4166 checking that the resource settings that you make, actually reach the program
4167 for which they are intended in the correct form.
4169 3>Key Binding in General
4171 Keyboard commands are associated with editor action routines through two
4172 separate mechanisms in NEdit. Commands which appear in pull-down menus have
4173 individual resources designating a keyboard equivalent to the menu command,
4174 called an accelerator key. Commands which do not have an associated menu
4175 item are bound to keys via the X toolkit translation mechanism. The methods
4176 for changing these two kinds of bindings are quite different.
4178 3>Key Binding Via Translations
4180 The most general way to bind actions to keys in NEdit is to use the
4181 translation table associated with the text widget. To add a binding to Alt+Y
4182 to insert the string "Hi!", for example, add lines similar to the following
4183 to your X resource file:
4185 NEdit*text.Translations: #override \n\
4186 Alt<Key>y: insert_string("Hi!") \n
4188 The Help topic "Action_Routines_" lists the actions available to be bound.
4190 Translation tables map key and mouse presses, window operations, and other
4191 kinds of events, to actions. The syntax for translation tables is
4192 simplified here, so you may need to refer to a book on the X window system
4193 for more detailed information.
4195 Note that accelerator resources (discussed below) override translations, and
4196 that most Ctrl+letter and Alt+letter combinations are already bound to an
4197 accelerator key. To use one of these combinations from a translation table,
4198 therefore, you must first un-bind the original menu accelerator.
4200 A resource for changing a translation table consists of a keyword; #override,
4201 #augment, or #replace; followed by lines (separated by newline characters)
4202 pairing events with actions. Events begin with modifiers, like Ctrl, Shift,
4203 or Alt, followed by the event type in <>. BtnDown, Btn1Down, Btn2Down,
4204 Btn1Up, Key, KeyUp are valid event types. For key presses, the event type is
4205 followed by the name of the key. You can specify a combination of events,
4206 such as a sequence of key presses, by separating them with commas. The other
4207 half of the event/action pair is a set of actions. These are separated from
4208 the event specification by a colon and from each other by spaces. Actions
4209 are names followed by parentheses, optionally containing one or more
4210 parameters separated by comas.
4212 3>Changing Menu Accelerator Keys
4214 The menu shortcut keys shown at the right of NEdit menu items can also be
4215 changed via X resources. Each menu item has two resources associated with
4216 it, accelerator, the event to trigger the menu item; and acceleratorText, the
4217 string shown in the menu. The form of the accelerator resource is the same
4218 as events for translation table entries discussed above, though multiple keys
4219 and other subtleties are not allowed. The resource name for a menu is the
4220 title in lower case, followed by "Menu", the resource name of menu item is
4221 the name in lower case, run together, with words separated by caps, and all
4222 punctuation removed. For example, to change Cut to Ctrl+X, you would add the
4223 following to your .Xdefaults file:
4225 nedit*editMenu.cut.accelerator: Ctrl<Key>x
4226 nedit*editMenu.cut.acceleratorText: Ctrl+X
4228 Accelerator keys with optional shift key modifiers, like Find..., have an
4229 additional accelerator resource with Shift appended to the name. For
4232 nedit*searchMenu.find.acceleratorText: [Shift]Alt+F
4233 nedit*searchMenu.find.accelerator: Alt<Key>f
4234 nedit*searchMenu.findShift.accelerator: Shift Alt<Key>f
4235 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4237 Highlighting Patterns
4238 ---------------------
4240 3>Writing Syntax Highlighting Patterns
4242 Patterns are the mechanism by which language syntax highlighting is
4243 implemented in NEdit (see Syntax_Highlighting_ under the heading of Features
4244 for Programming). To create syntax highlighting patterns for a new
4245 language, or to modify existing patterns, select "Recognition Patterns" from
4246 "Syntax Highlighting" sub-section of the "Default Settings" sub-menu of the
4249 First, a word of caution. As with regular expression matching in general, it
4250 is quite possible to write patterns which are so inefficient that they
4251 essentially lock up the editor as they recursively re-examine the entire
4252 contents of the file thousands of times. With the multiplicity of patterns,
4253 the possibility of a lock-up is significantly increased in syntax
4254 highlighting. When working on highlighting patterns, be sure to save your
4257 NEdit's syntax highlighting is unusual in that it works in real-time (as you
4258 type), and yet is completely programmable using standard regular expression
4259 notation. Other syntax highlighting editors usually fall either into the
4260 category of fully programmable but unable to keep up in real-time, or
4261 real-time but limited programmability. The additional burden that NEdit
4262 places on pattern writers in order to achieve this speed/flexibility mix, is
4263 to force them to state self-imposed limitations on the amount of context that
4264 patterns may examine when re-parsing after a change. While the "Pattern
4265 Context Requirements" heading is near the end of this section, it is not
4266 optional, and must be understood before making any any serious effort at
4269 In its simplest form, a highlight pattern consists of a regular expression to
4270 match, along with a style representing the font an color for displaying any
4271 text which matches that expression. To bold the word, "highlight", wherever
4272 it appears the text, the regular expression simply would be the word
4273 "highlight". The style (selected from the menu under the heading of
4274 "Highlight Style") determines how the text will be drawn. To bold the text,
4275 either select an existing style, such as "Keyword", which bolds text, or
4276 create a new style and select it under Highlight Style.
4278 The full range of regular expression capabilities can be applied in such a
4279 pattern, with the single caveat that the expression must conclusively match
4280 or not match, within the pre-defined context distance (as discussed below
4281 under Pattern Context Requirements).
4283 To match longer ranges of text, particularly any constructs which exceed the
4284 requested context, you must use a pattern which highlights text between a
4285 starting and ending regular expression match. To do so, select "Highlight
4286 text between starting and ending REs" under "Matching", and enter both a
4287 starting and ending regular expression. For example, to highlight everything
4288 between double quotes, you would enter a double quote character in both the
4289 starting and ending regular expression fields. Patterns with both a
4290 beginning and ending expression span all characters between the two
4291 expressions, including newlines.
4293 Again, the limitation for automatic parsing to operate properly is that both
4294 expressions must match within the context distance stated for the pattern
4297 With the ability to span large distances, comes the responsibility to recover
4298 when things go wrong. Remember that syntax highlighting is called upon to
4299 parse incorrect or incomplete syntax as often as correct syntax. To stop a
4300 pattern short of matching its end expression, you can specify an error
4301 expression, which stops the pattern from gobbling up more than it should.
4302 For example, if the text between double quotes shouldn't contain newlines,
4303 the error expression might be "$". As with both starting and ending
4304 expressions, error expressions must also match within the requested context
4307 4>Coloring Sub-Expressions
4309 It is also possible to color areas of text within a regular expression
4310 match. A pattern of this type associates a style with sub-expressions
4311 references of the parent pattern (as used in regular expression substitution
4312 patterns, see the NEdit Help menu item on Regular_Expressions_).
4313 Sub-expressions of both the starting and ending patterns may be colored. For
4314 example, if the parent pattern has a starting expression "\<", and end
4315 expression "\>", (for highlighting all of the text contained within angle
4316 brackets), a sub-pattern using "&" in both the starting and ending expression
4317 fields could color the brackets differently from the intervening text. A
4318 quick shortcut to typing in pattern names in the Parent Pattern field is to
4319 use the middle mouse button to drag them from the Patterns list.
4321 4>Hierarchical Patterns
4323 A hierarchical sub-pattern, is identical to a top level pattern, but is
4324 invoked only between the beginning and ending expression matches of its
4325 parent pattern. Like the sub-expression coloring patterns discussed above,
4326 it is associated with a parent pattern using the Parent Pattern field in the
4327 pattern specification. Pattern names can be dragged from the pattern list
4328 with the middle mouse button to the Parent Pattern field.
4330 After the start expression of the parent pattern matches, the syntax
4331 highlighting parser searches for either the parent's end pattern or a
4332 matching sub-pattern. When a sub-pattern matches, control is not returned to
4333 the parent pattern until the entire sub-pattern has been parsed, regardless
4334 of whether the parent's end pattern appears in the text matched by the
4337 The most common use for this capability is for coloring sub-structure of
4338 language constructs (smaller patterns embedded in larger patterns).
4339 Hierarchical patterns can also simplify parsing by having sub-patterns "hide"
4340 special syntax from parent patterns, such as special escape sequences or
4343 There is no depth limit in nesting hierarchical sub-patterns, but beyond the
4344 third level of nesting, automatic re-parsing will sometimes have to re-parse
4345 more than the requested context distance to guarantee a correct parse (which
4346 can slow down the maximum rate at which the user can type if large sections
4347 of text are matched only by deeply nested patterns).
4349 While this is obviously not a complete hierarchical language parser it is
4350 still useful in many text coloring situations. As a pattern writer, your
4351 goal is not to completely cover the language syntax, but to generate
4352 colorings that are useful to the programmer. Simpler patterns are usually
4353 more efficient and also more robust when applied to incorrect code.
4355 4>Deferred (Pass-2) Parsing
4357 NEdit does pattern matching for syntax highlighting in two passes. The first
4358 pass is applied to the entire file when syntax highlighting is first turned
4359 on, and to new ranges of text when they are initially read or pasted in. The
4360 second pass is applied only as needed when text is exposed (scrolled in to
4363 If you have a particularly complex set of patterns, and parsing is beginning
4364 to add a noticeable delay to opening files or operations which change large
4365 regions of text, you can defer some of that parsing from startup time, to
4366 when it is actually needed for viewing the text. Deferred parsing can only
4367 be used with single expression patterns, or begin/end patterns which match
4368 entirely within the requested context distance. To defer the parsing of a
4369 pattern to when the text is exposed, click on the Pass-2 pattern type button
4370 in the highlight patterns dialog.
4372 Sometimes a pattern can't be deferred, not because of context requirements,
4373 but because it must run concurrently with pass-1 (non-deferred) patterns. If
4374 they didn't run concurrently, a pass-1 pattern might incorrectly match some
4375 of the characters which would normally be hidden inside of a sequence matched
4376 by the deferred pattern. For example, C has character constants enclosed in
4377 single quotes. These typically do not cross line boundaries, meaning they
4378 can be parsed entirely within the context distance of the C pattern set and
4379 should be good candidates for deferred parsing. However, they can't be
4380 deferred because they can contain sequences of characters which can trigger
4381 pass-one patterns. Specifically, the sequence, '\"', contains a double quote
4382 character, which would be matched by the string pattern and interpreted as
4383 introducing a string.
4385 4>Pattern Context Requirements
4387 The context requirements of a pattern set state how much additional text
4388 around any change must be examined to guarantee that the patterns will match
4389 what they are intended to match. Context requirements are a promise by NEdit
4390 to the pattern writer, that the regular expressions in his/her patterns will
4391 be matched against at least <line context> lines and <character context>
4392 characters, around any modified text. Combining line and character
4393 requirements guarantee that both will be met.
4395 Automatic re-parsing happens on EVERY KEYSTROKE, so the amount of context
4396 which must be examined is very critical to typing efficiency. The more
4397 complicated your patterns, the more critical the context becomes. To cover
4398 all of the keywords in a typical language, without affecting the maximum rate
4399 at which users can enter text, you may be limited to just a few lines and/or
4400 a few hundred characters of context.
4402 The default context distance is 1 line, with no minimum character
4403 requirement. There are several benefits to sticking with this default. One
4404 is simply that it is easy to understand and to comply with. Regular
4405 expression notation is designed around single line matching. To span lines
4406 in a regular expression, you must explicitly mention the newline character
4407 "\n", and matches which are restricted to a single line are virtually immune
4408 to lock-ups. Also, if you can code your patterns to work within a single
4409 line of context, without an additional character-range context requirement,
4410 the parser can take advantage the fact that patterns don't cross line
4411 boundaries, and nearly double its efficiency over a one-line and 1-character
4412 context requirement. (In a single line context, you are allowed to match
4413 newlines, but only as the first and/or last character.)
4414 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4419 Smart indent macros can be written for any language, but are usually more
4420 difficult to write than highlighting patterns. A good place to start, of
4421 course, is to look at the existing macros for C and C++.
4423 Smart indent macros for a language mode consist of standard NEdit macro
4424 language code attached to any or all of the following three activation
4425 conditions: 1) When smart indent is first turned on for a text window
4426 containing code of the language, 2) When a newline is typed and smart indent
4427 is expected, 3) after any character is typed. To attach macro code to any of
4428 these code "hooks", enter it in the appropriate section in the Preferences ->
4429 Default Settings -> Auto Indent -> Program Smart Indent dialog.
4431 Typically most of the code should go in the initialization section, because
4432 that is the appropriate place for subroutine definitions, and smart indent
4433 macros are complicated enough that you are not likely to want to write them
4434 as one monolithic run of code. You may also put code in the Common/Shared
4435 Initialization section (accessible through the button in the upper left
4436 corner of the dialog). Unfortunately, since the C/C++ macros also reside in
4437 the common/shared section, when you add code there, you run some risk of
4438 missing out on future upgrades to these macros, because your changes will
4439 override the built-in defaults.
4441 The newline macro is invoked after the user types a newline, but before the
4442 newline is entered in the buffer. It takes a single argument ($1) which is
4443 the position at which the newline will be inserted. It must return the
4444 number of characters of indentation the line should have, or -1. A return
4445 value of -1 means to do a standard auto-indent. You must supply a newline
4446 macro, but the code: "return -1" (auto-indent), or "return 0" (no indent) is
4449 The type-in macro takes two arguments. $1 is the insert position, and $2 is
4450 the character just inserted, and does not return a value. You can do just
4451 about anything here, but keep in mind that this macro is executed for every
4452 keystroke typed, so if you try to get too fancy, you may degrade performance.
4453 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4458 .. ? help !!#ifndef VMS
4459 **nedit** [-**read**] [-**create**] [-**line** n | +n] [-**server**]
4460 [-**do** command] [-**tags** file] [-**tabs** n] [-**wrap**]
4461 [-**nowrap**] [-**autowrap**] [-**autoindent**] [-**noautoindent**]
4462 [-**autosave**] [-**noautosave**] [-**rows** n] [-**columns** n]
4463 [-**font** font] [-**lm** languagemode] [-**geometry** geometry]
4464 [-**iconic**] [-**noiconic**] [-**display** [host]:server[.screen]
4465 [-**xrm** resourcestring] [-**svrname** name] [-**import** file]
4466 [-**background** color] [-**foreground** color] [-**V**|-**version**]
4470 Open the file Read Only regardless of the actual file protection.
4473 Don't warn about file creation when a file doesn't exist.
4479 Designate this session as an NEdit server, for processing commands from the
4480 nc program. nc can be used to interface NEdit to code development
4481 environments, mailers, etc., or just as a quick way to open files from the
4482 shell command line without starting a new NEdit session.
4485 Execute an NEdit macro or action. On each file following the -do argument on
4486 the command line. -do is particularly useful from the nc program, where nc
4487 -do can remotely execute commands in an NEdit -server session.
4490 Load a file of directions for finding definitions of program subroutines and
4491 data objects. The file must be of the format gen- erated by Exuberant Ctags,
4492 or the standard Unix ctags command.
4495 Set tab stops every n characters.
4498 Wrap long lines at the right edge of the window rather than continuing them
4499 past it. (Continuous Wrap mode)
4501 **-autowrap, -noautowrap**
4502 Wrap long lines when the cursor reaches the right edge of the window by
4503 inserting newlines at word boundaries. (Auto Newline Wrap mode)
4505 **-autoindent, -noautoindent**
4506 Maintain a running indent.
4508 **-autosave, -noautosave**
4509 Maintain a backup copy of the file being edited under the name '~filename'.
4512 Default height in characters for an editing window.
4515 Default width in characters for an editing window.
4517 **-font font (or -fn font)**
4518 Font for text being edited (Font for menus and dialogs can be set with -xrm
4521 **-lm languagemode**
4522 Initial language mode used for editing succeeding files.
4524 **-geometry geometry (or -g geometry)**
4525 The initial size and/or location of editor windows. The argument geometry
4528 [<width>x<height>][+|-][<xoffset>[+|-]<yoffset>]
4530 where <width> and <height> are the desired width and height of the window,
4531 and <xoffset> and <yoffset> are the distance from the edge of the screen to
4532 the window, + for top or left, - for bottom or right. -geometry can be
4533 specified for individual files on the command line.
4535 **-iconic, -noiconic**
4536 Initial window state for succeeding files.
4538 **-display [host]:server[.screen]**
4539 The name of the X server to use. host specifies the machine, server
4540 specifies the display server number, and screen specifies the screen number.
4541 host or screen can be omitted and default to the local machine, and screen 0.
4543 **-background color (or -bg color)**
4544 User interface background color. (Background color for text can be set
4545 separately with -xrm "nedit.textFgColor: color" or using the Preferences ->
4548 **-foreground color (or -fg color)**
4549 User interface foreground color. (Foreground color for text can be set
4550 separately with -xrm "nedit*text.textBgColor: color" or using the Preferences
4553 **-xrm resourcestring**
4554 Set the value of an X resource to override a default
4555 value (see "Customizing_NEdit_").
4558 When starting NEdit in server mode, name the server, such that it responds to
4559 requests only when nc is given a corresponding -svrname argument. By naming
4560 servers, you can run several simultaneously, and direct files and commands
4561 specifically to any one.
4564 Loads an additional preferences file on top of the existing defaults saved in
4565 your preferences file. To incorporate macros, language modes, and highlight
4566 patterns and styles written by other users, run NEdit with -import <file>,
4567 then re-save your preference file with Preferences -> Save Defaults.
4570 Prints out the NEdit version information. The -V option is synonymous.
4573 Treats all subsequent arguments as file names, even if they start with a
4574 dash. This is so NEdit can access files that begin with the dash character.
4579 .. This documentation for VMS NEdit usage should only appear in the
4580 .. generated help code, not in any of the printed documentation.
4581 .. Reasoning is that VMS usage is diminishing and there is a desire
4582 .. to not clutter up the printed documentation here.
4584 NEDIT [filespec[,...]]
4586 The following qualifiers are accepted:
4589 Open the file Read Only regardless of the actual file protection.
4592 Don't warn about file creation when a file doesn't exist.
4598 Designate this session as an NEdit server for processing commands from the nc
4599 program. The nc program can be used to interface NEdit to code development
4600 environments, mailers, etc., or just as a quick way to open files from the
4601 shell command line without starting a new NEdit session.
4604 Execute an NEdit action routine. on each file following the /do argument on
4605 the command line. /do is particularly useful from the nc program, where nc
4606 /do can remotely execute commands in an nedit /server session.
4609 Load a file of directions for finding definitions of program subroutines and
4610 data objects. The file must be of the format generated by the Unix ctags
4614 Wrap long lines at the right edge of the window rather than continuing them
4615 past it. (Continuous Wrap mode)
4617 **/autowrap, /noautowrap**
4618 Wrap long lines when the cursor reaches the right edge of the window by
4619 inserting newlines at word boundaries. (Auto Newline Wrap mode)
4621 **/autoindent, /noautoindent**
4622 Maintain a running indent.
4624 **/autosave, /noautosave**
4625 Maintain a backup copy of the file being edited under the name '_filename'.
4628 Default width in characters for an editing window.
4631 Default height in characters for an editing window.
4633 **/font=font (or /fn=font)**
4634 Font for text being edited (Font for menus and dialogs can be set with
4635 /xrm="*fontList:font").
4637 **/display [host]:server[.screen]**
4638 The name of the X server to use. host specifies the machine, server
4639 specifies the display server number, and screen specifies the screen number.
4640 host or screen can be omitted and default to the local machine, and screen 0.
4642 **/geometry=geometry (or /g=geometry)**
4643 The initial size and/or location of editor windows. The argument geometry
4646 [<width>x<height>][+|-][<xoffset>[+|-]<yoffset>]
4648 where <width> and <height> are the desired width and height of the window,
4649 and <xoffset> and <yoffset> are the distance from the edge of the screen to
4650 the window, + for top or left, - for bottom or right.
4652 **/background=color (or /bg=color)**
4654 Background color. (background color for text can be set separately with
4655 /xrm="nedit:textBgColor color" or using the Preferences ->
4658 **/foreground=color (or /fg=color)**
4659 Foreground color. (foreground color for text can be set separately with
4660 /xrm="nedit:textFgColor color" or using the Preferences ->
4663 **/xrm=resourcestring**
4664 Set the value of an X resource to override a default value
4665 (see Customizing NEdit).
4668 When starting nedit in server mode, name the server, such that it responds to
4669 requests only when nc is given a corresponding -svrname argument. By naming
4670 servers, you can run several simultaneously, and direct files and commands
4671 specifically to any one.
4674 Loads an additional preferences file on top of the existing defaults saved in
4675 your .nedit file. To incorporate macros, language modes, and highlight
4676 patterns and styles written by other users, run nedit with /import=<file>,
4677 then re-save your .nedit file with Preferences -> Save Defaults.
4679 Unix-style command lines (but not file names) are also acceptable:
4681 nedit -rows 20 -wrap file1.c file2.c
4685 nedit /rows=20/wrap file1.c, file2.c",
4688 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4693 NEdit can be operated on its own, or as a two-part client/server
4694 application. Client/server mode is useful for integrating NEdit with
4695 software development environments, mailers, and other programs; or just as a
4696 quick way to open files from the shell command line without starting a new
4699 To run NEdit in server mode, type:
4703 NEdit can also be started in server mode via the Nedit Client (nc) program
4704 when no servers are available.
4706 The nc program, which is distributed along with NEdit,
4707 sends commands to an nedit server to open files, select lines, or execute
4708 editor actions. It accepts a limited set of the nedit command line options:
4709 -read, -create, -line (or +n), -do, and a list of file names. Listing a file
4710 on the nc command line means, open it if it is not already open and bring the
4711 window to the front. -read and -create affect only newly opened files, but
4712 -line and -do can also be used on files which are already open
4713 (See "NEdit_Command_Line_" for more information).
4715 In typical Unix style, arguments affect the files which follow them on the
4716 command line, for example:
4718 incorrect: nc file.c -line 25
4719 correct: nc -line 25 file.c
4721 -read, -create, and -line affect all of the files which follow them on the
4722 command line. The -do macro is executed only once, on the next file on the
4723 line. -do without a file following it on the command line, executes the
4724 macro on the first available window (presumably when you give a -do command
4725 without a corresponding file or window, you intend it to do something
4726 independent of the window in which it happens to execute).
4728 nc also accepts one command line option of its own, -noask (or -ask), which
4729 instructs it whether to automatically start a server if one is not
4730 available. This is also settable via the X resource, nc.autoStart
4731 (See "X_Resources_" section).
4733 Sometimes it is useful to have more than one NEdit server running, for
4734 example to keep mail and programming work separate. The option, -svrname, to
4735 both nedit and nc, allows you to start, and communicate with, separate named
4736 servers. A named server responds only to requests with the corresponding
4737 -svrname argument. If you use ClearCase and are within a ClearCase view, the
4738 server name will default to the name of the view (based on the value of the
4739 CLEARCASE_ROOT environment variable).
4741 Communication between nc and nedit is through the X display. So as long as
4742 the X Window System is set up and working properly, nc will work properly as
4743 well. nc uses the DISPLAY environment variable, the machine name and your
4744 user name to find the appropriate server, meaning, if you have several
4745 machines sharing a common file system, nc will not be able to find a server
4746 that is running on a machine with a different host name, even though it may
4747 be perfectly appropriate for editing a given file.
4749 The command which nc uses to start an nedit server is settable via the X
4750 resource nc.serverCommand, by default, "nedit -server".
4751 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4756 If a system crash, network failure, X server crash, or program error should
4757 happen while you are editing a file, you can still recover most of your
4758 work. NEdit maintains a backup file which it updates periodically (every 8
4759 editing operations or 80 characters typed). This file has the same name
4760 as the file that you are editing, but with the character `~' (tilde) on Unix
4761 or `_' (underscore) on VMS prefixed to the name. To recover a file after a
4762 crash, simply rename the file to remove the tilde or underscore character,
4763 replacing the older version of the file. (Because several of the Unix shells
4764 consider the tilde to be a special character, you may have to prefix the
4765 character with a `\' (backslash) when you move or delete an NEdit backup
4768 Example, to recover the file called "help.c" on Unix type the command:
4772 A minor caveat, is that if the file you were editing was in MS DOS format,
4773 the backup file will be in Unix format, and you will need to open the backup
4774 file in NEdit and change the file format back to MS DOS via the Save As...
4775 dialog (or use the Unix unix2dos command outside of NEdit).
4776 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4787 .. There is build time versioning information that is handled specially
4788 .. inside help.c for this section. It needs to have a '%s' string
4789 .. made available for it to appear in the on-line help.
4793 .. ======================================================================
4794 .. The policy for credit so far is this:
4796 .. You get "written by" credit if you have contributed significant
4797 .. code or effort to the project.
4799 .. You get a syntax/indent credit if your pattern is compiled into the
4801 .. ======================================================================
4803 NEdit was written by Mark Edel, Joy Kyriakopulos, Christopher Conrad,
4804 Jim Clark, Arnulfo Zepeda-Navratil, Suresh Ravoor, Tony Balinski, Max
4805 Vohlken, Yunliang Yu, Donna Reid, Arne Førlie, Eddy De Greef, Steve
4806 LoBasso, Alexander Mai, Scott Tringali, Thorsten Haude, Steve Haehn,
4809 The regular expression matching routines used in NEdit are adapted (with
4810 permission) from original code written by Henry Spencer at the
4811 University of Toronto.
4813 Syntax highlighting patterns and smart indent macros were contributed by:
4814 Simon T. MacDonald, Maurice Leysens, Matt Majka, Alfred Smeenk,
4815 Alain Fargues, Christopher Conrad, Scott Markinson, Konrad Bernloehr,
4816 Ivan Herman, Patrice Venant, Christian Denat, Philippe Couton,
4817 Max Vohlken, Markus Schwarzenberg, Himanshu Gohel, Steven C. Kapp,
4818 Michael Turomsha, John Fieber, Chris Ross, Nathaniel Gray, Joachim Lous,
4819 Mike Duigou, Seak Teng-Fong, Joor Loohuis, Mark Jones,
4820 and Niek van den Berg.
4822 NEdit sources, executables, additional documentation, and contributed
4823 software are available from the NEdit web site at http://www.nedit.org_.
4825 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
4826 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
4827 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
4828 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
4830 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
4831 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
4832 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
4833 GNU General Public License in the Help section "Distribution_Policy_"
4835 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4840 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
4842 Version 2, June 1991
4844 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Mass Ave,
4845 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute
4846 verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
4850 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to
4851 share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended
4852 to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the
4853 software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to
4854 most of the Free Software Foundation's software and to any other program
4855 whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation
4856 software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You
4857 can apply it to your programs, too.
4859 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our
4860 General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom
4861 to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you
4862 wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you
4863 can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that
4864 you know you can do these things.
4866 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to
4867 deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These
4868 restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute
4869 copies of the software, or if you modify it.
4871 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or
4872 for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You
4873 must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you
4874 must show them these terms so they know their rights.
4876 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2)
4877 offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute
4878 and/or modify the software.
4880 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain that
4881 everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the
4882 software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to
4883 know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced
4884 by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.
4886 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We
4887 wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will
4888 individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program
4889 proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be
4890 licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
4892 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification
4895 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND
4898 0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice
4899 placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms
4900 of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such
4901 program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program
4902 or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing
4903 the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or
4904 translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included
4905 without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as
4908 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered
4909 by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program
4910 is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its
4911 contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been
4912 made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the
4915 1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code
4916 as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
4917 appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and
4918 disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this
4919 License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of
4920 the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
4922 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may
4923 at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
4925 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it,
4926 thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such
4927 modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you
4928 also meet all of these conditions:
4930 a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating
4931 that you changed the files and the date of any change.
4933 b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or
4934 in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be
4935 licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of
4938 c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run,
4939 you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the
4940 most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an
4941 appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or
4942 else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute
4943 the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy
4944 of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does
4945 not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is
4946 not required to print an announcement.)
4948 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable
4949 sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably
4950 considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License,
4951 and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as
4952 separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole
4953 which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be
4954 on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to
4955 the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
4957 Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your
4958 rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the
4959 right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on
4962 In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with
4963 the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or
4964 distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this
4967 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under
4968 Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1
4969 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
4971 a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source
4972 code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above
4973 on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
4975 b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to
4976 give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically
4977 performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the
4978 corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1
4979 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
4981 c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to
4982 distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for
4983 noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object
4984 code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b
4987 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
4988 modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all
4989 the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface
4990 definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and
4991 installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source
4992 code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in
4993 either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel,
4994 and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that
4995 component itself accompanies the executable.
4997 If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to
4998 copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the
4999 source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code,
5000 even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the
5003 4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as
5004 expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify,
5005 sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically
5006 terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received
5007 copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses
5008 terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
5010 5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it.
5011 However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the
5012 Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you
5013 do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the
5014 Program (or any work based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of
5015 this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying,
5016 distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.
5018 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program),
5019 the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to
5020 copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions.
5021 You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of
5022 the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance
5023 by third parties to this License.
5025 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
5026 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
5027 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
5028 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse
5029 you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to
5030 satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other
5031 pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the
5032 Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit
5033 royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies
5034 directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both
5035 it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the
5038 If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any
5039 particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply and
5040 the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.
5042 It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents
5043 or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims;
5044 this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free
5045 software distribution system, which is implemented by public license
5046 practices. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of
5047 software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent
5048 application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or
5049 she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee
5050 cannot impose that choice.
5052 This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a
5053 consequence of the rest of this License.
5055 8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain
5056 countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original
5057 copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an
5058 explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so
5059 that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded.
5060 In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the
5061 body of this License.
5063 9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of
5064 the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be
5065 similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address
5066 new problems or concerns.
5068 Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
5069 specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later
5070 version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of
5071 that version or of any later version published by the Free Software
5072 Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License,
5073 you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
5075 10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs
5076 whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for
5077 permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software
5078 Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make
5079 exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of
5080 preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of
5081 promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
5085 11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR
5086 THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE
5087 STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE
5088 PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
5089 INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
5090 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND
5091 PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE,
5092 YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
5094 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
5095 WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
5096 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
5097 INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
5098 OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
5099 LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR
5100 THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
5101 PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
5102 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
5104 END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
5105 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
5110 There are two separate mailing lists for nedit users, and one for developers.
5111 Users may post to the developer mailing list to report defects and communicate
5112 with the nedit developers. Remember that nedit is entirely a volunteer
5113 effort, so please ask questions first to the discussion list, and do your
5114 share to answer other users questions as well.
5118 General discussion, questions and answers among NEdit users and developers.
5120 announce@@nedit.org_
5122 A low-volume mailing list for announcing new versions.
5126 Communication among and with NEdit developers.
5127 Developers should also subscribe to the discuss list.
5129 To subscribe, send mail to <majordomo@@nedit.org> with one or more of the
5130 following in the body of the message:
5135 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
5140 3>Solutions to Common Problems
5142 For a much more comprehensive list of common problems and solutions, see the
5143 NEdit FAQ. The latest version of the FAQ can always be found on the NEdit
5146 http://www.nedit.org_.
5148 **P: No files are shown in the "Files" list in the Open... dialog.**
5150 S: When you use the "Filter" field, include the file specification or a
5151 complete directory specification, including the trailing "/" on Unix.
5152 (See Help in the Open... dialog).
5154 **P: Find Again and Replace Again don't continue in the same direction as the original Find or Replace.**
5156 S: Find Again and Replace Again don't use the direction of the original
5157 search. The Shift key controls the direction: Ctrl+G means forward,
5158 Shift+Ctrl+G means backward.
5160 **P: Preferences specified in the Preferences menu don't seem to get saved when I select Save Defaults.**
5162 S: NEdit has two kinds of preferences: 1) per-window preferences, in the
5163 Preferences menu, and 2) default settings for preferences in newly created
5164 windows, in the Default Settings sub-menu of the Preferences menu.
5165 Per-window preferences are not saved by Save Defaults, only Default
5168 **P: Columns and indentation don't line up.**
5170 S: NEdit is using a proportional width font. Set the font to a fixed style
5171 (see Preferences menu).
5173 **P: NEdit performs poorly on very large files.**
5175 S: Turn off Incremental Backup. With Incremental Backup on, NEdit
5176 periodically writes a full copy of the file to disk.
5178 **P: Commands added to the Shell Commands menu (Unix only) don't output anything until they are finished executing.**
5180 S: If the command output is directed to a dialog, or the input is from a
5181 selection, output is collected together and held until the command
5182 completes. De-select both of the options and the output will be shown
5183 incrementally as the command executes.
5185 **P: Dialogs don't automatically get keyboard focus when they pop up.**
5187 S: Most X Window managers allow you to choose between two categories of
5188 keyboard focus models: pointer focus, and explicit focus. Pointer focus
5189 means that as you move the mouse around the screen, the window under the
5190 mouse automatically gets the keyboard focus. NEdit users who use this
5191 focus model should set "Popups Under Pointer" in the Default Settings sub
5192 menu of the preferences menu in NEdit. Users with the explicit focus
5193 model, in some cases, may have problems with certain dialogs, such as Find
5194 and Replace. In MWM this is caused by the mwm resource startupKeyFocus
5195 being set to False (generally a bad choice for explicit focus users).
5196 NCDwm users should use the focus model "click" instead of "explicit",
5197 again, unless you have set it that way to correct specific problems, this
5198 is the appropriate setting for most explicit focus users.
5200 **P: The Backspace key doesn't work, or deletes forward rather than backward.**
5202 S: While this is an X/Motif binding problem, and should be solved outside of
5203 NEdit in the Motif virtual binding layer (or possibly xmodmap or
5204 translations), NEdit provides an out. If you set the resource:
5205 nedit.remapDeleteKey to True, NEdit will forcibly map the delete key to
5206 backspace. The default setting of this resource recently changed, so
5207 users who have been depending on this remapping will now have to set it
5208 explicitly (or fix their bindings).
5210 **P: NEdit crashes when I try to paste text in to a text field in a dialog (like Find or Replace) on my SunOS system.**
5212 S: On many SunOS systems, you have to set up an nls directory before various
5213 inter-client communication features of Motif will function properly.
5214 There are instructions in README.sun in /pub/v5_0_2/individual/README.sun on
5215 ftp.nedit.org, as well as a tar file containing a complete nls
5216 directory: ftp://ftp.nedit.org/pub/v5_0_2/nls.tar.
5217 README.sun contains directions for setting up an nls directory, which
5218 is required by Motif for handling copy and paste to Motif text fields.
5222 Below is the list of known defects which affect NEdit. The defects your copy
5223 of NEdit will exhibit depend on which system you are running and with which
5224 Motif libraries it was built. Note that there are now Motif 1.2 and/or 2.0
5225 libraries available on ALL supported platforms, and as you can see below
5226 there are far fewer defects in Motif 1.2, so it is in your best interest to
5227 upgrade your system.
5232 Operations between rectangular selections on overlapping lines do nothing.
5235 None. These operations are very complicated and rarely used.
5238 Cut and Paste menu items fail, or possibly crash,
5239 for very large (multi-megabyte) selections.
5242 Use selection copy (middle mouse button click)
5243 for transferring larger quantities of data.
5244 Cut and Paste save the copied text in server
5245 memory, which is usually limited.
5249 Submit bugs through the web at:
5251 http://sf.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=11005&atid=111005
5253 Please include the first few lines from Help > Version, which identifes
5254 NEdit's version and other system attributes important for diagnosing your
5257 The NEdit developers subscribe to both discuss@@nedit.org and
5258 develop@@nedit.org, either of which may be used for reporting defects. If
5259 you're not sure, or you think the report might be of interest to the general
5260 NEdit user community, send the report to discuss@@nedit.org_. If it's
5261 something obvious and boring, like we misspelled "anemometer" in the on-line
5262 help, send it to develop@@nedit.org_. If you don't want to subscribe to the
5263 Mailing_Lists_, please add a note to your mail about cc'ing you on responses.
5267 .. Hyperlinks for this document ==============================================
5269 .. _discuss@@nedit.org mailto:discuss@@nedit.org
5270 .. _announce@@nedit.org mailto:announce@@nedit.org
5271 .. _develop@@nedit.org mailto:develop@@nedit.org
5272 .. _http://www.nedit.org http://www.nedit.org
5273 .. _ctag_support #ctags
5274 .. _Alternation #alternation
5276 .. =============================================================================
5278 .. Below is what is used to guide the generation of 'C'-Motif menus.
5279 .. Indentation is SIGNIFICANT in the "Menu" directive lines below. It
5280 .. is used to determine under which menu element another item will belong.
5281 .. The number of spaces indented is not significant, but items to be placed
5282 .. in the same menu panel MUST line up at the same indent level.
5283 .. ALL nodes of this menu "tree" should have help name qualifiers.
5284 .. These are used to produce the internal lists used by NEdit help code.
5286 .. By default, the first character of the menu element will be used as a
5287 .. menu mneumonic key. To use another character in the menu element for this
5288 .. purpose, surround the character with underscores (eg. I w_a_nt 'a').
5290 .. The menu title MUST match the one found in the actual help text (sans
5291 .. special mneumonic key character marking). The help text title may include
5292 .. underlines (for spaces) when it is a hyperlink target.
5294 .. The Help-name is used to generate various data structure names. For
5295 .. instance, the 'start' help name will be used to generate the HelpTopic
5296 .. enumeration value HELP_START and the character array htxt_start which
5297 .. holds the actual help text used in the menu dialogs. Consequently, these
5298 .. names need to be unique and contain only the characters that a 'C'
5299 .. compiler can digest.
5301 .. Menu separator lines use a dash (-) character for the Menu Title. They
5302 .. should also have a unique Help-name.
5304 .. A numerical value following the Help-name (separated from the name by
5305 .. a comma and/or spaces) is part of a menu element hiding scheme implemented
5306 .. in buildHelpMenu (found in 'menu.c'). When the number matches the hideIt
5307 .. value found in the procedure, that element will effectively become invisible.
5308 .. This mechanism was created for particular menu features that are not
5309 .. available to all incarnations of NEdit (in this case, the VMS version).
5311 .. A "Help" directive is used for all other text used as NEdit help, but
5312 .. does not show up in the Help menu.
5314 .. Menu Title # Help-name
5315 .. ------------------------------------------------------------
5316 .. Menu: Getting Started # start
5317 .. Menu: Basic Operation # basicOp
5318 .. Menu: Selecting Text # select
5319 .. Menu: Finding and Replacing Text # search
5320 .. Menu: Cut and Paste # clipboard
5321 .. Menu: Using the Mouse # mouse
5322 .. Menu: Keyboard Shortcuts # keyboard
5323 .. Menu: S_h_ifting and Filling # fill
5324 .. Menu: F_i_le Format # format
5326 .. Menu: Features for Programming # features
5327 .. Menu: Programming with NEdit # programmer
5328 .. Menu: Tabs/Emulated Tabs # tabs
5329 .. Menu: Auto/Smart Indent # indent
5330 .. Menu: Syntax Highlighting # syntax
5331 .. Menu: Finding Declarations (ctags) # tags
5332 .. Menu: Calltips # calltips
5334 .. Menu: Regular Expressions # regex
5335 .. Menu: Basic Regular Expression Syntax # basicSyntax
5336 .. Menu: Metacharacters # escapeSequences
5337 .. Menu: Parenthetical Constructs # parenConstructs
5338 .. Menu: Advanced Topics # advancedTopics
5339 .. Menu: Example Regular Expressions # examples
5341 .. Menu: Macro/Shell Extensions # extensions
5342 .. Menu: Shell Commands and Filters # shell, 1
5343 .. Menu: Learn/Replay # learn
5344 .. Menu: Macro Language # macro_lang
5345 .. Menu: M_a_cro Subroutines # macro_subrs
5346 .. Menu: Range Sets # rangeset
5347 .. Menu: Highlighting Information # hiliteInfo
5348 .. Menu: Action Routines # actions
5350 .. Menu: Customizing # customizing
5351 .. Menu: Customizing NEdit # customize
5352 .. Menu: Preferences # preferences
5353 .. Menu: X Resources # resources
5354 .. Menu: Key Binding # binding
5355 .. Menu: Highlighting Patterns # patterns
5356 .. Menu: Smart Indent Macros # smart_indent
5358 .. Menu: NEdit Command Line # command_line
5359 .. Menu: Client/Server Mode # server
5360 .. Menu: Cr_a_sh Recovery # recovery
5361 .. Menu: ---------------------------------- # separator1
5362 .. Menu: Version # version
5363 .. Menu: Distribution Policy # distribution
5364 .. Menu: Mailing _L_ists # mailing_list
5365 .. Menu: Problems/Defects # defects
5366 .. ------------------------------------------------------------
5367 .. Help: Tabs Dialog # tabs_dialog
5368 .. Help: Customize Window Title Dialog # custom_title_dialog