SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Introduction Introduction SEDT is a text editor that supports the Digital Rainbow microcomputer under CP/M and MS/DOS, IBM PC, IBM PC/XT, IBM PS/AT, compatibles and VAX/VMS. For ease of learning SEDT offers keyboard layouts similar to EDT and WPS+. SEDT offers many features not normally found on microcomputer editors. Some of these are: unlimited file size, unlimited paste buffer size, the ability to edit up to four files at the same time with two windows in the screen, fully programmable keyboard layout and horizontal scrolling. Also, by offering totally compatible editing environments on both microcomputers and superminicomputers SEDT offers a single editor for individuals that often move between these environments. This guide has been written for Digital keyboards. If you have an IBM PC or IBM AT keyboard refer to appendix A for a translation from Digital to IBM keys. Alternately read the file SEDTINTR.PC. If you have an IBM PC or IBM PC/XT with a Digital keyboard you must include -D in the command line when activating SEDT. SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Entering and leaving SEDT Entering and leaving SEDT Activate the SEDT program by typing SEDT file-specification On an IBM PC or IBM PC/XT with a Digital keyboard activate SEDT by typing SEDT file-specification -D specifying the file you want to edit. For instance, to create a file called FROGS.TXT on the disk in drive B, you would type SEDT B:FROGS.TXT At this point the screen goes blank and is completely redrawn. Two lines at the top of the screen and two lines at the bottom are reserved for information about the state of the editing job and for communication with the program; the file you are editing will be displayed in the twenty lines in the middle of the screen, which constitute a "window" into the file. To start off with, the first line of your file will be positioned in the middle of the screen, with the cursor at the left edge. (If you are creating a completely new file, the window will be empty.) The name of the file you are editing will appear in the upper left-hand corner of the screen, and the line just below it indicates the positions of the left and right margins that SEDT will use and the locations of the preassigned tab stops. At the bottom of the screen, you will first see the message "Could not open input file" (if you are creating a new file), then (in any case) the copyright notice. As you now start typing, every character you type will be displayed on the screen immediately. As you type, the text will scroll upwards so that the cursor always remains on the middle line of the screen; the cursor stays on that line throughout all of SEDT's text-editing operations, with the surrounding text scrolling in whichever direction is necessary to ensure this. If you move beyond the right margin of the screen SEDT will repaint the contents of the window shifted half a screen to the left. SEDT will alwys ensure that the character that the cursor is positioned on is visible the screen by shifting the text to either side. A help facility is provided for guidance while you are actually editing your program. To activate it, press (near the top of the Digital keyboard, in the fourth group of gray keys). (The key on the numeric keypad has the same effect, as in EDT.) The text you are editing will disappear from view temporarily, but you can restore it by pressing the space bar. SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Entering and leaving SEDT When you have finished editing your file, you can leave SEDT and save your work by first pressing (that is, the key at the top of the numeric keypad -- it is colored gold on some versions of the Digital keyboard) and then typing the letter . To leave SEDT without saving your work (which you might want to do if the results of your editing are unsatisfactory), press , then . You can also save your work without leaving SEDT; this is done by pressing , then , and responding to the prompt "Save onto File:" by pressing . SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Moving the cursor Moving the cursor There are several SEDT commands that move the cursor backwards or forwards on its line, or shift the text being edited upwards or downwards in the window to bring a different line under the cursor. The most commonly used cursor-movement commands are as follows: Single position in any direction. Each of the gray arrow keys to the right of the key moves the cursor in the direction indicated by the arrow if possible. Holding the key down should cause the movement to be repeated until the key is released. Pressing the up arrow when the cursor is on the first line of the file, or the down arrow when it is on the last line, produces a beep and an error message ("Beginning of buffer reached" or "End of buffer reached"); pressing the left arrow when the cursor is at the left end of a line causes it to retreat to the right end of the preceding line, and pressing the right arrow when the cursor is at the right end of a line causes it to advance to the left end of the following line. Half-screen up or down. The and keys, which are also in the group of gray keys to the right of the key, cause the cursor to move ten lines upwards or downwards in the file, respectively. Top of file, bottom of file. At any point you can move to the first line of your file by pressing , then the <5> key on the numeric keypad. Similarly, followed by numeric keypad <4> moves you to the last line of the file. SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Moving the cursor Search for specific string. You can instruct SEDT to search through your file, starting from the current cursor position, until it finds a particular combination of characters. Press , then the key (in the group of gray keys to the right of the key); SEDT will ask you to type in the string of characters that you want it to search for, ending with . It will then position the cursor over the next occurrence of that string (or give you an error message indicating that it could find no such occurrence). To repeat the search without having to specify the search string again, press (without ). (Note to EDT users: You can use instead of in these operations, just as in EDT.). The search algorith used is case insensitive. Fast scrolling. Pressing , then the left or right arrow, scrolls the text continuously downwards or upwards until you press any key to halt it. Since the key you press may itself have some effect on the screen or on the text being edited, the best idea is probably to halt it by pressing (in the lower right corner of the numeric keypad), which has no SEDT function. Undo previous command. If you make a mistake and move the cursor incorrectly, undoes the most recent cursor-movement operation, taking the cursor back to where it was before. SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Insertion and deletion Insertion and deletion For the most part, you add text to a file just by moving the cursor to the point at which you want to make the insertion and typing it in. There is one special insertion command in SEDT: Open line. This command "opens up" a line at the present cursor position. If you press and then the <0> key on the numeric keypad when the cursor is at the end of a line, a blank line is created, but the cursor is not moved onto it; if you perform the same operation when the cursor is in the middle of a text line, the effect is that of pressing (namely, the line is broken into two lines at the position of the cursor) except that the cursor does not advance to the new line. There are several ways of deleting text using SEDT. The first three are for deleting text to the left of the cursor, the next four, text from the cursor position rightwards; the eighth operation ("Deleting a selected passage") requires you to mark both ends of the proposed deletion, and the last three are for recovering text that has been deleted. Delete previous character. The key marked with a boxed X in the upper right-hand corner of the typewriter part of the keyboard directs SEDT to remove the character immediately to the left of the cursor. Delete back to beginning of word. (the third key from the left in the third group of gray keys at the top of the keyboard, also marked ) removes the word or partial word immediately to the left of the cursor. Delete back to beginning of line. Holding down the key and pressing removes everything between the cursor and the left end of the line it is on. If the cursor is already at the left end of a line, this operation deletes the previous line. SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Insertion and deletion Delete current character. The <,> key on the numeric keypad removes the character that the cursor is sitting on. The "Delete previous character" operation is more useful when one is typing in a lot of text for the first time; "Delete current character" is easier to use when one is revising a file and fixing misspellings. Delete to beginning of next word. The <-> key on the numeric keypad removes a word, or part of a word, starting from the character that the cursor is sitting on and moving right to the beginning of the next word (including any blanks). Delete to end of line. Pressing and then <2> on the numeric keypad deletes everything from the character that the cursor is sitting on to the end of the line. Delete to beginning of next line. deletes everything from the character that the cursor is sitting on to the end of the line, including any line break that may be there (so it runs the next line onto the current one). Delete a selected passage. If you want to knock out a large, irregular region of text in one blow, you can begin by positioning the cursor at the beginning of the part to be deleted and then pressing and the new cursor position, including the former but not the latter, will be removed. (Note to EDT users: <.> and <6> on the numeric keypad can be used in this operation instead of (or, as in EDT, <.>). SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Insertion and deletion Undelete a character. Pressing and then the <,> key on the numeric keypad will restore the character most recently deleted by a "Delete previous character" or "Delete current character"operation. (The character will be placed at the current cursor position, which may be different from the position it originally occupied.) Undelete a word. Pressing and then the <-> key on the numeric keypad will restore the word or partial word most recently deleted with a "Delete back to beginning of word" or "Delete to beginning of next word" operation, placing it at the current cursor position. Undelete a line. will restore the line or partial line most recently deleted with a "Delete back to beginning of line," "Delete to end of line," or "Delete to beginning of next line" operation, placing it at the current cursor position. Undelete a selected passage. The key, in the group of gray keys to the right of the key, will restore the swatch of text most recently deleted with a "Delete a selected passage" operation, placing it at the current cursor position. (Note to EDT users: You can also use the EDT PASTE command -- <6> -- to achieve the same effect.) SEDT primer, Version 3.0 Moving and copying text Moving and copying text Besides the main buffer that holds the text you are working on, the SEDT editor is equipped with several side buffers that can be made to hold bits and pieces of text that you want to move from one place to another. There is a character buffer that holds one character, a word buffer that holds one word, a line buffer that holds one line, and a so-called "paste" buffer that can hold as much text as the main buffer can. Whenever you delete a character, word, line, or chunk of text, it is stored in the relevant buffer -- out of sight, as far as the viewer of the screen is concerned, but not out of mind, as far as SEDT is concerned. This is why you can always undo a change, using <,>, <->, , or . Now, the buffers will continue to hold their text even if the cursor is moved around on the screen! This means that you can pick up a bit of text in one of the buffers, move the cursor, and then reinsert that bit of text in a different position. Most often this facility is used to move a big chunk of text. The procedure, from beginning to end, is this: 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the chunk you want to move. 2. Press