.TH mcedit 1 "30 January 1997" .\"SKIP_SECTION" .SH NAME mcedit \- Full featured terminal text editor for Unix-like systems. .\"SKIP_SECTION" .SH USAGE .B mcedit [[+number] file [\-bcCdfhstVx?]] .SH DESCRIPTION .LP Mcedit is a link to .B mc, the Midnight Commander, forcing it to immediately start its internal editor. The editor is a terminal version of the .B cooledit standalone X Window editor. .\".\"DONT_SPLIT" .SH OPTIONS .TP .I "+number" Go to the line specified by number (do not insert a space between the "+" sign and the number). .TP .I "\-b" Forces black and white display. .TP .I "\-c" Force color mode on terminals where .B mcedit defaults to black and white. .TP .I "\-C =,:= ..." Used to specify a different color set, where .I keyword is one of normal, selected, marked, markselect, errors, reverse menu, menusel, menuhot, menuhotsel and gauge. The colors are optional and are one of black, gray, red, brightred, green, brightgreen, brown, yellow, blue, brightblue, magenta, brightmagenta, cyan, brightcyan, lightgray and white. See the .B Colors section in .B mc.1 for more information. .TP .I "\-d" Disables mouse support. .TP .I "\-f" Displays the compiled-in search paths for Midnight Commander files. .TP .I "\-t" Used only if the code was compiled with Slang and terminfo: it makes the Midnight Commander use the value of the .B TERMCAP variable for the terminal information instead of the information on the system wide terminal database .TP .I "\-V" Displays the version of the program. .TP .I "\-x" Forces xterm mode. Used when running on xterm-capable terminals (two screen modes, and able to send mouse escape sequences). .PP .SH Features The internal file editor provides most of the features of common full screen editors. It has an extendable file size limit of sixteen megabytes and edits binary files flawlessly. The features it presently supports are: Block copy, move, delete, cut, paste; .I "key for key undo"; pull-down menus; file insertion; macro definition; regular expression search and replace (and our own scanf-printf search and replace); shift-arrow MSW-MAC text highlighting (for the linux console only); insert-overwrite toggle; word-wrap; a variety of tabbing options; syntax highlighting for various file types; and an option to pipe text blocks through shell commands like indent and ispell. .PP .SH Keys The editor is very easy to use and requires no tutoring. To see what keys do what, just consult the appropriate pull-down menu. Other keys are: Shift movement keys do text highlighting (Linux console only). .B Ctrl-Ins copies to the file .BR ~/.mc/cedit/cooledit.clip, and .B Shift-Ins pastes from .BR ~/.mc/cedit/cooledit.clip. .B Shift-Del cuts to .BR ~/.mc/cedit/cooledit.clip, and .B Ctrl-Del deletes highlighted text - all linux console only. Mouse highlighting also works, and you can override the mouse as usual by holding down the shift key while dragging the mouse to let normal terminal mouse highlighting work. .PP The completion key (usually .B "Alt-Tab" or .BR "Espace-Tab") completes the word under the cursor using the words used earlier in the file. .PP To define a macro, press .B Ctrl-R and then type out the key strokes you want to be executed. Press .B Ctrl-R again when finished. You can then assign the macro to any key you like by pressing that key. The macro is executed when you press .B Ctrl-A and then the assigned key. The macro is also executed if you press Meta, Ctrl, or Esc and the assigned key, provided that the key is not used for any other function. Once defined, the macro commands go into the file .BR ~/.mc/cedit/cooledit.macros. Do NOT edit this file if you are going to use macros again in the same editing session, because .B mcedit caches macro key defines in memory. .B Mcedit now overwrites a macro if a macro with the same key already exists, so you won't have to edit this file. You will also have to restart other running editors for macros to take effect. .P .B F19 will format C, C++, Java or HTML code when it is highlighted. An executable file called .B ~/.mc/cedit/edit.indent.rc will be created for you from the default template. Feel free to edit it if you need. .PP .B C-p will run ispell on a block of text in a similar way. The script file will be called .B ~/.mc/cedit/edit.spell.rc . .PP .SH Redefining Keys Keys may be redefined from the Midnight Commander options menu. .PP .SH SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING As of version 3.6.0, \fBcooledit\fP has syntax highlighting. This means that keywords and contexts (like C comments, string constants, etc) are highlighted in different colors. The following section explains the format of the file \fB~/.mc/cedit/Syntax\fP. The file \fB~/.mc/cedit/Syntax\fP is rescanned on opening of a any new editor file. The file contains rules for highlighting, each of which is given on a separate line, and define which keywords will be highlighted to what color. The file is also divided into sections, each beginning with a line with the \fBfile\fP command, followed by a regular expression. The regular expression dictates the file name that that set of rules applies to. Following this is a description to be printed on the left of the editor window explaining the file type to the user. A third optional argument is a regular expression to match the first line of text of the file. If either the file name matches, or the first line of text, then those rules will be loaded. A section ends with the start of a new section. Each section is divided into contexts, and each context contains rules. A context is a scope within the text that a particular set of rules belongs to. For instance, the region within a C style comment (i.e. between \fB/*\fP and \fB*/\fP) has its own color. This is a context, although it will have no further rules inside it because there is probably nothing that we want highlighted within a C comment. A trivial C programming section might look like this: .PP .nf file .\\*\\\\.c C\\sProgram\\sFile (#include|/\\\\\\*) wholechars abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_ # default colors context default keyword whole if 24 keyword whole else 24 keyword whole for 24 keyword whole while 24 keyword whole do 24 keyword whole switch 24 keyword whole case 24 keyword whole static 24 keyword whole extern 24 keyword { 14 keyword } 14 keyword '*' 6 # C comments context /\\* \\*/ 22 # C preprocessor directives context linestart # \\n 18 keyword \\\\\\n 24 # C string constants context " " 6 keyword %d 24 keyword %s 24 keyword %c 24 keyword \\\\" 24 .fi .PP Each context starts with a line of the form: .br \fBcontext\fP [\fBexclusive\fP] [\fBwhole\fP|\fBwholeright\fP|\fBwholeleft\fP] [\fBlinestart\fP] \fIdelim\fP [\fBlinestart\fP] \fIdelim\fP [\fIforeground\fP] [\fIbackground\fP] .br One exception is the first context. It must start with the command .br \fBcontext\fP \fBdefault\fP [\fIforeground\fP] [\fIbackground\fP] .br or else \fBcooledit\fP will return an error. The \fBlinestart\fP option dictates that \fIdelim\fP must start at the beginning of a line. The \fBwhole\fP option tells that delim must be a whole word. What constitutes a whole word are a set of characters that can be changed at any point in the file with the \fBwholechars\fP command. The \fBwholechars\fP command at the top just sets the set exactly to its default and could therefore have been omitted. To specify that a word must be whole on the left only, you can use the \fBwholeleft\fP option, and similarly on the right. The left and right set of characters can be set separately with, .br \fBwholechars\fP [\fBleft\fP|\fBright\fP] \fIcharacters\fP The \fBexclusive\fP option causes the text between the delimiters to be highlighted, but not the delimiters themselves. Each rule is a line of the form: .br \fBkeyword\fP [\fBwhole\fP|\fBwholeright\fP|\fBwholeleft\fP] [\fBlinestart\fP] \fIstring\fP \fIforeground\fP [\fIbackground\fP] .br Context or keyword strings are interpreted, so that you can include tabs and spaces with the sequences \\t and \\s. Newlines and the \\ are specified with \\n and \\\\ respectively. Since whitespace is used as a separator, it may not be used as is. Also, \\* must be used to specify a *. The * itself is a wildcard that matches any length of characters. For example, .nf keyword '*' 6 .fi colors all C single character constants green. You could also have used .nf keyword "*" 6 .fi to color string constants, except that the matched string may not cross newlines. \fIThe wildcard may be used within context delimiters as well\fP, but you \fBcannot have a wildcard as the last or first character\fP. Important to note is the line .nf keyword \\\\\\n 24 .fi This line defines a keyword containing the \\ and newline characters. Because keywords have a higher precedence than context delimiters, this keyword prevents the context from ending at the end of a line if the line ends in a \\ thus allowing C preprocessor directive to continue across multiple lines. The colors themselves are numbered 0 to 26 and are explained below in \fBFURTHER BEHAVIORAL OPTIONS\fP. You can also use \fBany\fP of the named colors specified in \fB/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt\fP, though only one word versions of them. It is better to stick to the numerical colors to limit use of the color palette. Comments may be included on a line of there own and begin with a #. Because of the simplicity of the implementation, there are a few intricacies that will not be coped with correctly but these are a minor irritation. On the whole, a broad spectrum of quite complicated situations are handled with these simple rules. It is a good idea to take a look at the syntax file to see some of the nifty tricks you can do with a little imagination. If you can't get by with the rules I have coded, and you think you have a rule that would be useful, please email me with your request. However, do not ask for regular expression support, because this is flatly impossible. A useful hint is to work with as much as possible with the things you \fIcan\fP do rather than try to do things that this implementation can't cope with. Also remember that the aim of syntax highlighting is to make programming less prone to error, \fInot\fP to make code look pretty. .PP .SH COLORS The default colors may be changed by appending to the \fBMC_COLOR_TABLE\fP environment variable. Foreground and background colors pairs may be specified for example with: .PP .nf MC_COLOR_TABLE="$MC_COLOR_TABLE:\\ editnormal=lightgray,black:\\ editbold=yellow,black:\\ editmarked=black,cyan" .fi .PP .SH OPTIONS Most options can now be set from the editors options dialog box. See the \fBOptions\fP menu. The following options are defined in \fB~/.mc/ini\fP and have obvious counterparts in the dialog box. You can modify them to change the editor behavior, by editing the file. Unless specified, a 1 sets the option to on, and a 0 sets it to off, as is usual. .TP .I use_internal_edit This option is ignored when invoking .B mcedit. .TP .I editor_key_emulation 1 for .B Emacs keys, and 0 for normal .B Cooledit keys. .TP .I editor_tab_spacing Interpret the tab character as being of this length. Default is 8. You should avoid using other than 8 since most other editors and text viewers assume a tab spacing of 8. Use .B editor_fake_half_tabs to simulate a smaller tab spacing. .TP .I editor_fill_tabs_with_spaces Never insert a tab space. Rather insert spaces (ascii 20h) to fill to the desired tab size. .TP .I editor_return_does_auto_indent Pressing return will tab across to match the indentation of the first line above that has text on it. .TP .I editor_backspace_through_tabs Make a single backspace delete all the space to the left margin if there is no text between the cursor and the left margin. .TP .I editor_fake_half_tabs This will emulate a half tab for those who want to program with a tab spacing of 4, but do not want the tab size changed from 8 (so that the code will be formatted the same when displayed by other programs). When editing between text and the left margin, moving and tabbing will be as though a tab space were 4, while actually using spaces and normal tabs for an optimal fill. When editing anywhere else, a normal tab is inserted. .TP .I editor_option_save_mode (0, 1 or 2.) The save mode (see the options menu also) allows you to change the method of saving a file. Quick save (0) saves the file by immediately, truncating the disk file to zero length (i.e. erasing it) and the writing the editor contents to the file. This method is fast, but dangerous, since a system error during a file save will leave the file only partially written, possibly rendering the data irretrievable. When saving, the safe save (1) option enables creation of a temporary file into which the file contents are first written. In the event of an problem, the original file is untouched. When the temporary file is successfully written, it is renamed to the name of the original file, thus replacing it. The safest method is create backups (2). Where a backup file is created before any changes are made. You can specify your own backup file extension in the dialog. Note that saving twice will replace your backup as well as your original file. .PP .SH Miscellaneous (Scanf search and replace have previously not worked properly. With this release, problems with search and replace have been fixed.) You can use scanf search and replace to search and replace a C format string. First take a look at the .B sscanf and .B sprintf man pages to see what a format string is and how it works. An example is as follows: Suppose you want to replace all occurrences of say, an open bracket, three comma separated numbers, and a close bracket, with the word .I apples, the third number, the word .I oranges and then the second number, you would fill in the Replace dialog box as follows: .nf .B Enter search string (%d,%d,%d) .B Enter replace string apples %d oranges %d .B Enter replacement argument order 3,2 .fi The last line specifies that the third and then the second number are to be used in place of the first and second. It is advisable to use this feature with Prompt On Replace on, because a match is thought to be found whenever the number of arguments found matches the number given, which is not always a real match. Scanf also treats whitespace as being elastic. Note that the scanf format %[ is very useful for scanning strings, and whitespace. The editor also displays non-us characters (160+). When editing binary files, you should set .B display bits to 7 bits in the Midnight Commander options menu to keep the spacing clean. .PP .SH FILES @prefix@/share/mc/mc.hlp .IP The help file for the program. .PP @prefix@/share/mc/mc.ini .IP The default system-wide setup for the Midnight Commander, used only if the user lacks his own ~/.mc/ini file. .PP @prefix@/share/mc/mc.lib .IP Global settings for the Midnight Commander. Settings in this file are global to any Midnight Commander, it is useful to define site-global .\"LINK2 terminal settings. .\"Terminal databases" .PP $HOME/.mc/ini .IP User's own setup. If this file is present then the setup is loaded from here instead of the system-wide startup file. .PP $HOME/.mc/cedit/ .IP User's own temporary directory where block commands are processed and saved. .PP .\"SKIP_SECTION" .SH LICENSE This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. See the built-in help of the Midnight Commander for details on the License and the lack of warranty. .SH AVAILABILITY The latest version of this program can be found at ftp://ftp.gnome.org/mirror/gnome.org/stable/sources/mc/ and on the mirrors listed on the GNOME site http://www.gnome.org/. .SH SEE ALSO cooledit(1), mc(1), gpm(1), terminfo(1), scanf(3). .PP .SH AUTHORS Paul Sheer (psheer@obsidian.co.za) is the developer of the Midnight Commander's internal editor. .PP .SH BUGS Bugs should be reported to mc-devel@gnome.org