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XEDIT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: xedit 1.2.0
Index Return to Main Contents

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NAME

xedit - simple text editor for X  

SYNTAX

xedit [ -toolkitoption ... ] [ filename ... ]  

DESCRIPTION

Xedit provides a window consisting of the following four areas:

Commands Section

A set of commands that allow you to exit xedit, save the file, or load a new file into the edit window.

Message Window

Displays xedit messages. In addition, this window can be also used as a scratch pad.

Filename Display

Displays the name of the file currently being edited, and whether this file is Read-Write or Read Only.

Edit Window

Displays the text of the file that you are editing or creating.

 

OPTIONS

Xedit accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options (see X(7)). The order of the command line options is not important.

filename

Specifies the file(s) that are to be loaded during start-up. This is the file which will be edited. If a file is not specified, xedit lets you load files or create new files after it has started up.

 

EDITING

The Athena Text widget is used for the three sections of this application that allow text input. The characters typed will go to the Text widget that has the input focus, or the Text widget that the pointer cursor is currently over.

The following keystroke combinations are defined:

Ctrl-a    Beginning Of Line   Meta-b         Backward Word
Ctrl-b    Backward Character  Meta-f         Forward Word
Ctrl-d    Delete Next Character              Meta-iInsert File
Ctrl-e    End Of Line         Meta-k         Kill To End Of Paragraph
Ctrl-f    Forward Character   Meta-q         Form Paragraph
Ctrl-g    Keyboard Reset      Meta-v         Previous Page
Ctrl-h    Delete Previous Character          Meta-yInsert Current Selection
Ctrl-j    Newline And Indent  Meta-z         Scroll One Line Down
Ctrl-k    Kill To End Of Line Meta-d         Delete Next Word
Ctrl-l    Redraw Display      Meta-D         Kill Word
Ctrl-m    Newline             Meta-h         Delete Previous Word
Ctrl-n    Next Line           Meta-H         Backward Kill Word
Ctrl-o    Newline And Backup  Meta-<         Beginning Of File
Ctrl-p    Previous Line       Meta->         End Of File
Ctrl-r    Search/Replace Backward            Meta-]Forward Paragraph
Ctrl-s    Search/Replace Forward             Meta-[Backward Paragraph
Ctrl-t    Transpose Characters
Ctrl-u [number]               Multiply by 4 or numberMeta-DeleteDelete Previous Word
Ctrl-v    Next Page           Meta-Shift DeleteKill Previous Word
Ctrl-w    Kill Selection      Meta-Backspace Delete Previous Word
Ctrl-y    Unkill              Meta-Shift BackspaceKill Previous Word
Ctrl-z    Scroll One Line Up  Meta-z         Scroll One Line Down
Ctrl-_    Undo
Escape    Line Edit Mode

In addition, the pointer may be used to cut and paste text:

     Button 1 Down  Start Selection
     Button 1 MotionAdjust Selection
     Button 1 Up    End Selection (cut)

     Button 2 Down  Insert Current Selection (paste)

     Button 3 Down  Extend Current Selection
     Button 3 MotionAdjust Selection
     Button 3 Up    End Selection (cut)

 

LINE EDIT MODE

Line edit mode enables several shortcut commands for searching and replacing text in a xedit buffer. Line edit mode commands have the format:

     [line-number[,line-number]]command[parameters]

Line number may be specified as:

.

The current text line.

$

The last line of the file.

number

The literal line number.

- or ^

The previous line. Equivalent to -1.

-number or ^number

The current line minus number.

+

The next line. Equivalent to +1.

+number

The current line plus number.

, or %

From the first to the last line. Equivalent to 1,$.

;

From the current to the last line. Equivalent to .,$.

Command may be specified as:

s

Substitute text in the specified lines.

/re/

Search forward for the regular expression pattern re.

?re?

Search backward for the regular expression pattern re.

Parameters may be specified as:

/re/

Works as a parameter to i or as a command.

/re/text/

Search forward for re and substitute by text.

Options may follow or be parameters, known values are:

i

Case insensitive search.

g

Global match when replacing text. Unless specified, only the nth, that defaults to 1, match will be replaced.

c

Confirm before replacing text.

number

Replace only the occurrence referenced by number.

Commands accept some variations, examples:

     /pattern/i
     i/pattern/
     i/pattern

Search forward for pattern.

     ,sc/pattern/text
     ,sc/pattern/text/
     ,s/pattern/text/c

Search the entire buffer and ask confirmation to replace pattern with text.

     ,s/pattern/text/number

Replace the match number in the text line. If not specified, defaults to the first occurrence.

When searching for text, type <Return> to go to the next match. When interactively replacing text, type y or Y to accept the change, and n or N to ignore it and go to the next match.

 

COMMANDS

Quit

Quits the current editing session. If any changes have not been saved, xedit displays a warning message, allowing the user to save them.

Save

If file backups are enabled (see RESOURCES, below) xedit stores a copy of the original, unedited file in <prefix>file<suffix>, then overwrites the file with the contents of the edit window. The filename is retrieved from the Text widget directly to the right of the Load button.

Load

Loads the file named in the text widget immediately to the right of the this button and displays it in the Edit window.

 

RESOURCES

For xedit the available resources are:

tagsName (Class TagsName)

Specifies the name of the tags file to search when loading a new file. Default value is tags.

loadTags (Class LoadTags)

Boolean value to enable or disabling searching for tags files. Default is True.

enableBackups (Class EnableBackups)

Specifies that, when edits made to an existing file are saved, xedit is to copy the original version of that file to <prefix>file<suffix> before it saves the changes. The default value for this resource is ``on,'' stating that backups should be created.

backupNamePrefix (Class BackupNamePrefix)

Specifies a string that is to be prepended to the backup filename. The default is that no string shall be prepended.

backupNameSuffix (Class BackupNameSuffix)

Specifies a string that is to be appended to the backup filename. The default is to use ``~'' as the suffix.

positionFormat (Class Format)

Specifies a format string used to display the cursor position. This string uses printf(3) like notation, where %l prints the line number, %c prints the column number, %p prints the insert position offset, and %s prints the current file size. It is also allowed to specify field sizes, with the notation %-?[0-9]+ . The default format string is ``L%l'', which shows the character ``L'' followed by the line number.

hints (Class Hints)

Specifies a list of strings, separated by new lines, that will be displayed in the bc_label window.

hintsInterval (Class Interval)

Specifies the interval in seconds, which the hint string in the bc_label window will be changed.

changedBitmap (Class Bitmap)

Specifies the name of the Bitmap that will be displayed in the fileMenu, when the file being edited is changed.

autoReplace (Class Replace)

This resource is useful to automatically correct common misspelling errors, but can also be used to create simple macros. The format is {non-blanks}{blanks}[{string}]. Fields are separated by newlines. Example of use:

nto    not\n\
/macro some long string with \\\n newlines \\\n

Will automatically replace the word nto by not, and /macro by some long string with
 newlines when you type that words.

ispell.dictionaries (Class ispell.Dictionary)

Specifies a list of dictionary names, separated by spaces, available to the ispell program. The default value is "american americamed+ english".

ispell.dictionary (Class ispell.Dictionary)

Specifies the default dictionary to use.

ispell*<DICTIONARY>.wordChars (Class ispell*Chars)

Specifies a set of characters that can be part of a legal word. The <DICTIONARY> field is one of the dictionaries specified in the dictionaries resource.

ispell.ispellCommand (Class ispell.CommandLine)

The path to the ispell program, and possibly, additional arguments. You don't need to specify the ``-w'' option, neither the ``-a'' option. Refer to the ispell(1) manpage for more information on ispell options.

ispell.formatting (Class ispell.TextFormat)

Specifies which text formatting to use while spell checking the file. The available formats are text and html.

ispell*text.skipLines (Class ispell*text.Skip)

Lines starting with one of the characters in this string will not be spell checked. This resource is only used in text mode.

ispell.terseMode (Class ispell.Terse)

When enabled, runs ispell in terse mode, not asking user interaction for words generated through compound formation (when using the ispell ``-C'' option), or words generated through affix removal. The default value is False.

ispell.lookCommand (Class ispell.CommandLine)

The path to the program to search for alternate words, and possibly, additional arguments. The default program used is /usr/bin/egrep.

ispell.wordsFile (Class ispell.Words)

The path to the file[s] to search for alternate words. The default file is /usr/share/dict/words.

ispell.guessLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when ispell returns a guess list of one or more words. The default value is Guess.

ispell.missLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when ispell returns a list of one or more words to match a misspelled one. The default value is Miss.

ispell.rootLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when the word is not in the dictionary, but it can be formed through a root one. The default value is Root:, and is followed by a space and the root word.

ispell.noneLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when there is no near misses. The default value is None.

ispell.compoundLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when the word being checked is formed by concatenation of two words. The default value is Compound.

ispell.okLabel (Class ispell.Status)

String displayed in the ispell status bar when the checked word is in the dictionary. This string is only displayed when using the check button in the xedit ispell interface. The default value is Ok.

ispell.eofLabel (Class ispell.Status)

The string displayed in the ispell status bar when the end of the file is reached. The default value is End Of File.

ispell.repeatLabel (Class ispell.Status)

The string displayed in the ispell status bar when two identical words are found together in the file. The default value is Repeat.

ispell.lookLabel (Class ispell.Status)

The string displayed in the ispell status bar after displaying the results of the Look command. If no results are found, the value of the ispell.noneLabel resource is shown.

ispell.workingLabel (Class ispell.Status)

The string displayed in the ispell status bar while xedit is communicating with ispell. The default value is ....

 

WIDGETS

In order to specify resources, it is useful to know the hierarchy of the widgets which compose xedit. In the notation below, indentation indicates hierarchical structure. The widget class name is given first, followed by the widget instance name.

Xedit  xedit
     Paned  paned
          Paned  buttons
               Command  quit
               Command  save
               Command  load
               Text     filename
          Label  bc_label
          Text   messageWindow
          Label  labelWindow
          Text   editWindow

 

ENVIRONMENT

DISPLAY

to get the default host and display number.

XENVIRONMENT

to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

 

FILES

/etc/X11/app-defaults/Xedit

specifies required resources

 

SEE ALSO

X(7), xrdb(1), Athena Widget Set  

RESTRICTIONS

Xedit is not a replacement to Emacs.  

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1988, Digital Equipment Corporation.
Copyright 1989, X Consortium
Copyright 1998, The XFree86 Project
See X(7) for a full statement of rights and permissions.  

AUTHORS

Chris D. Peterson, MIT X Consortium
Paulo Cesar Pereira de Andrade, The XFree86 Project

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Index

NAME

SYNTAX

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

EDITING

LINE EDIT MODE

COMMANDS

RESOURCES

WIDGETS

ENVIRONMENT

FILES

SEE ALSO

RESTRICTIONS

COPYRIGHT

AUTHORS

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