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.TH "@PACKAGE@" 7 \
    "@DATE@" \
    "@PACKAGE_NAME@ Version @PACKAGE_VERSION@"
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.SH NAME
@PACKAGE@ \-\-
Language reference for the \*(ST text editor and language
.
.
.SH INTRODUCTION
.
\*(ST is a powerful editor and interactive programming language
following an unique paradigm of text editing.
It is both different from popular screen editors like \fIex\fP and
traditional command-based editors like \fIed\fP.
Both of these paradigms can be understood as language-based.
Screen editors use simple languages based on commands that closely
correspond with key presses (keyboard commands) while command-based
editors use more complex, often turing-complete languages.
Screen editors interpret their language immediately while command-based
editors do so only after complete input of an expression.
Some editors like \fIVi\fP or \fIemacs\fP support both screen-editing
and command-lines in different modes of operation.
While such editors represent a compromise between both paradigms
(they support both paradigms to some extent), \*(ST represents a
.BR synthesis .
In \*(ST the screen-editing and command languages are the same!
The \*(ST language can be interpreted interactively and commands
can be as simple as single key presses or as complex as nested
high-level structured programming constructs.
While screen-editors often support an undo-stack to undo simple
operations, \*(ST supports undoing on a per-character, per-command
or user-configurable level undoing most of the side-effects
on the overall editor state.
.LP
\*(ST is a member of the TECO family of text editor languages,
invented by Dan Murphy in the 1960s.
TECO was initially a purely command-driven editor that evolved
screen editing features later on, culminating in the invention of
Emacs as a TECO customization (macro package) in the 1970s.
Emacs later became an independent program that eventually
dropped TECO as its scripting language in favour of Lisp.
\*(ST is not the first attempt to devise a TECO-based interactive
screen editor.
It is very similar to \fIVideoTECO\fP, a little known editor
that pioneered the concept.
When \fIVideoTECO\fP wanted to \(lqoutdo classic TECOs in every way\(rq,
\*(ST wants to outdo \fIVideoTECO\fP in every way.
.LP
When using \*(ST in interactive mode, it is important to know exactly
how \*(ST translates and processes user input.
Generally speaking, the user inputs TECO code that is parsed and executed
on the fly by a stream parser/executor with the possibility to rub out
code from the end of the input stream, reversing its side-effects.
The input stream is called command line macro.
The language of the command-line macro is basically the same
as the language used in batch processing, with the exception
of some commands that depend on the command line macro or
undo-capabilities that are disabled in batch mode.
To add to or remove from the command line macro, \*(ST supports
a number of special keys called immediate editing commands.
The key-processing for immediate editing commands is described in the
next two sections.
While immediate editing commands can be understood as yet another -
albeit limited - language for screen editing, \*(ST also supports
regular commands for command-line editing.
.
.
.SH KEY TRANSLATION
.
When the user presses a key or key-combination it is first translated
to an ASCII character.
All immediate editing commands and regular \*(ST commands operate on
a language based solely on
.B ASCII
characters.
The rules for translating keys are as follows:
.RS
.IP 1. 4
Keys with a printable representation (letters, digits and special
characters) are translated to their printable representation.
Shift-combinations automatically result in upper-case letters.
.IP 2.
Control-combinations (e.g. CTRL+A) are translated to control
codes, that is a code smaller than 32.
The control code can be calculated by stripping the seventh bit
from the upper-case letter's ASCII code.
So for instance, the upper or lower case A (65) will be translated
to code 1, B to code 2, ecetera.
\*(ST echos control codes as Caret followed by the corresponding
upper case letter, so you seldomly need to know a control codes
actual numeric code.
For instance, control code 2 - typed CTRL+B - will be echoed
\(lq^B\(rq.
\*(ST also treats Caret-letter combinations equivalent to
control codes under most circumstances.
.IP 3.
A few keys with non-printable representation are translated to
control codes as well.
The most prominent is the Escape key - it is translated to
code 27.
The Backspace key will be translated to code 8, and the Tab key
to code 9.
Last but not least, the Return key is translated to the current
buffer's end of line sequence (linefeed, carriage return followed
by linefeed or just carriage return).
.IP 4.
A selection of other keys without printable representation (called
function keys) are translated to user-definable character sequences.
This feature is called function key macros and explained in the
next subsection.
.RE
.
.SS Function Key Macros
.
By default function keys except Escape, Backspace and Return are
ignored by \*(ST.
By setting bit 6 of the \fBED\fP flag variable, function key handling
is enabled:
.EX
0,64ED
.EE
This is usually performed in the editor profile.
With certain interfaces (curses) after enabling function keys,
the Escape key might only be handled after a short delay.
This is because it might be used by the terminal to transmit
Escape Sequences.
.LP
Enabling function keys also enables Function Key Macros.
These are Q-Register strings inserted into the command stream
(before immediate editing command handling) when certain function
keys (or combinations) are pressed.
The following list of Function Key Macro registers are supported:
.TP 9
.B ^FDOWN
.TQ
.B ^FUP
Inserted when the down/up cursor keys are pressed.
.TP
.B ^FLEFT
.TQ
.B ^FSLEFT
Inserted when the left or shift-left cursor keys are
pressed.
.TP
.B ^FRIGHT
.TQ
.B ^FSRIGHT
Inserted when the right or shift-right cursor keys are
pressed.
.TP
.B ^FHOME
.TQ
.B ^FSHOME
Inserted when the Home or shift-Home keys are pressed.
.TP
.BI ^FF x
Inserted when the Fx-key is pressed
.RI ( x
is a number between 0 and 63).
.TP
.B ^FDC
.TQ
.B ^FSDC
Inserted when the Delete or shift-Delete key is pressed.
.TP
.B ^FIC
.TQ
.B ^FSIC
Inserted when the Insert or shift-Insert key is pressed.
.TP
.B ^FPPAGE
.TQ
.B ^FNPAGE
Inserted when the Page-Up or Page-Down key is pressed.
.TP
.B ^FPRINT
.TQ
.B ^FSPRINT
Inserted when the Print or shift-Print key is pressed.
.TP
.B ^FA1
.TQ
.B ^FA3
.TQ
.B ^FB2
.TQ
.B ^FC1
.TQ
.B ^FC3
Inserted when the numeric key pad's upper left key (7),
upper right key (9), central key (5), lower left key (1),
or lower right key (3) is pressed and num-lock is disabled.
The key-pad's cursor keys are handled like the regular
cursor keys.
.TP
.B ^FEND
.TQ
.B ^FSEND
Inserted when the End or shift-End key is pressed.
.TP
.B ^FHELP
.TQ
.B ^FSHELP
Inserted when the Help or shift-Help key is pressed.
.
.LP
\(lq^F\(rq corresponds to CTRL+F in the above list but
might be typed with a caret due to string building characters
in long Q-Register names.
The names are all derived from key definitions of the curses
library - not all of them may be supported on any particular
user interface.
A set of useful Function Key Macros are provided in the
standard library
.BR fnkeys.tes .
It demonstrates how Function Key Macros may be used to define
alternate Escape keys (so the delay issue is not experienced),
or do insertion and command-line editing using function keys.
.
.
.SH COMMANDLINE EDITING
.
After all key presses have been translated to characters \*(ST
interpretes some of them in a special way to perform command line
editing and a few other actions that cannot depend on regular
command execution.
These special characters are called Immediate Editing Commands
and are outlined in the following subsection.
All characters not handled as immediate editing commands
are self-inserting, i.e. they insert themself into the command
stream and may be processed as regular commands or part of them.
.
.SS Immediate Editing Commands
.
In the following table, the Immediate Editing Commands are outlined.
Some of them are ubiquitous and are not used used as regular
commands (because it would be hard to type them).
Some however are context-sensitive and are only available in or depend
on the current language context (at the end of the command line) that
is always known to \*(ST.
Because of this superior parsing and command line editing, editing
is much less dangerous and much more interactive than in classic
TECO implementations.
Most of these commands are control codes, so their control code
mnemonics are given as well.
.
.TS
expand,allbox,tab(;);
LB LB LB LB LBW70
L L L L L.
Name;Code;Mnemonics;Context;Description
T{
Rub out
T};8;^H, Backspace;T{
Everywhere
T};T{
Rubs out the command line's last character.
T}
T{
Rub out word
T};23;^W;T{
String arguments
T};T{
Rub out last word according to Scintilla's definition of a word
as set by
.BR SCI_SETWORDCHARS .
T}
\^;\^;\^;T{
Miscelleaneous
T};T{
Rub out last command, i.e. rub out at least one character until
a new command could begin.
T}
T{
Rub out string
T};21;^U;T{
String arguments
T};T{
Rub out the entire current string argument.
T}
T{
Auto complete filename
T};20;^T;T{
String arguments
T};T{
Auto complete filename beginning after the last space (or beginning
of the string argument).
Fully completed filenames are terminated with a space.
T}
\^;9;^I, Tab;T{
File name arguments
T};T{
Auto complete filename beginning at the start of the argument.
Fully completed filenames terminate the string argument,
except if the \(lq{\(rq terminator is used.
T}
T{
Auto complete symbol
T};9;^I, Tab;T{
Scintilla symbol arguments
T};T{
In Scintilla Symbol arguments
.RB ( ES
commands), complete beginning with the symbol, terminating fully
completed symbols with a comma.
T}
T{
Terminate command line
T};27;^[, Escape;T{
Immediately after regular command ^[
T};T{
Two escape characters (string terminators do
.B not
count) terminate the command line, freeing all undo-stack related
resources and beginning a new command line.
T}
T{
Suspend process
T};26;^Z;T{
Everywhere
T};T{
Suspends process using
.BR SIGTSTP .
This is only an immediate editing command on platforms supporting
this signal (usually Unices).
The process can be suspended from another process as well, for
instance by pressing CTRL+Z in the console - this will also work
if \*(ST is busy.
Therefore with GUI user interfaces (GTK+), this command will only
work as an immediate editing command in the GUI or as a signal
dispatched from an associated console or from another process.
T}
T{
Interrupt
T};3;^C;T{
\*(ST is busy
T};T{
.B "Not a real immediate editing command."
Will interrupt the current operation (character processing),
yielding a \*(ST error.
It depends on asynchronous delivery of the
.B SIGINT
signal and is useful to interrupt infinite loops.
Therefore with GUI user interfaces, the signal might has to be
delivered via the attached console or from another process.
If \*(ST is not busy,
.B ^C
is self-inserting and might be used as a regular command.
T}
.TE
.LP
The immediate editing commands that perform auto-completions, do
so in a manner similar to Posix shells.
Upon first invocation they try to fully or partially complete the file
name (or token).
If no completion can be performed, the invocation will display a
list of file names (or tokens) beginning with the token to complete
in \*(ST's popup area.
Note that no additional expansions are performed before attempting
a completion, so for instance \(lq~/foo\(rq will not complete a file
in the user's home directory (tilde is not part of the file name but
tilde-expansions are performed by the shell).
\*(ST does however perform completions after string building so that
\(lq^EQ{$HOME}/foo\(rq could be completed.
.
.
.SH ARITHMETICS AND EXPRESSIONS
.
.
.SH Q-REGISTERS
.
.
.SH STRING-BUILDING CHARACTERS
.
.
.SH PATTERN MATCH CHARACTERS
.
.
.SH FLOW CONTROL
.SS GOTOS AND LABELS
.SS LOOPS
.SS CONDITIONALS
.
.
.SH COMMAND REFERENCE
.
\#$COMMANDS
.
.
.SH COMPATIBILITY
.
\*(ST is not compatible to any particular TECO dialect
but is quite similar to
.BR VideoTECO .
Most VideoTECO and many Standard TECO programs should
be portable with little to no changes.
.
.
.SH SEE ALSO
.
.TP
Program invocation and options:
.BR sciteco (1)
.TP
Scintilla messages and other documentation:
.UR http://scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html
Scintilla
.UE
.
.
.SH AUTHOR
.
This manpage and the \*(ST program was written by
.MT robin.haberkorn@googlemail.com
Robin Haberkorn
.ME .
\# EOF