File: ne_3.html

package info (click to toggle)
ne 1.38-1
links: PTS
area: main
in suites: sarge
size: 3,164 kB
ctags: 2,701
sloc: ansic: 16,620; perl: 380; makefile: 137; sh: 10
file content (1655 lines) | stat: -rw-r--r-- 74,256 bytes
<HTML>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<!-- Created on September, 27  2004 by texi2html 1.64 -->
<!-- 
Written by: Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author)
            Karl Berry  <karl@freefriends.org>
            Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de>
            and many others.
Maintained by: Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de>
Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html@mathematik.uni-kl.de>
 
-->
<HEAD>
<TITLE><CODE>ne</CODE>'s manual: Reference</TITLE>

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="<CODE>ne</CODE>'s manual: Reference">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="<CODE>ne</CODE>'s manual: Reference">
<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document">
<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="texi2html 1.64">

</HEAD>

<BODY LANG="" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#800080" ALINK="#FF0000">

<A NAME="SEC17"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_2.html#SEC16"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC18"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H1> 3. Reference </H1>
<!--docid::SEC17::-->
<P>

In this chapter we shall methodically overview each part of <CODE>ne</CODE>. It
is required reading for becoming an expert user because some commands
and features are not available through menus.
</P><P>

<BLOCKQUOTE><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> 
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC18">3.1 Arguments</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19">3.2 The Status Bar</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20">3.3 The Input Line</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC21">3.4 The Command Line</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC22">3.5 The Requester</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23">3.6 Menus</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32">3.7 Regular Expressions</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35">3.8 Automatic Preferences</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC36">3.9 Emergency Save</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC37">3.10 UTF-8 Support</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
</TABLE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>

<A NAME="Arguments"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC18"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.1 Arguments </H2>
<!--docid::SEC18::-->
<P>

The main arguments you can give to <CODE>ne</CODE> are the names of files you
want to edit. They will be loaded into separate documents. If you
specifiy <CODE>--help</CODE> anywhere on the command line, a simple help text
describing <CODE>ne</CODE>'s arguments will be printed.
</P><P>

The <CODE>--no-config</CODE> option skips the reading of the key
bindings and menu configuration files (see section <A HREF="ne_5.html#SEC173">5. Configuration</A>). This is
essential if you are experimenting with a new configuration and you make
mistakes in it.
</P><P>

The <CODE>--macro <VAR>filename</VAR></CODE> option specifies the name of a
macro that will be started just after all documents have been loaded. A
typical macro would move the cursor to a certain line.
</P><P>

The <CODE>--keys <VAR>filename</VAR></CODE> option and the <CODE>--menus
<VAR>filename</VAR></CODE> option specify a name different from the default one
(<TT>`.keys'</TT> and <TT>`.menus'</TT>, respectively) for the key bindings and
the menu configuration files. Note that <CODE>ne</CODE> searches for these
files first in the current directory, and then in your <TT>`~/.ne'</TT>
directory.
</P><P>

The <CODE>--ansi</CODE> and the <CODE>--no-ansi</CODE> options manage
<CODE>ne</CODE>'s built-in ANSI sequences. Usually <CODE>ne</CODE> tries to retrieve
from your system some information that is necessary to handle your
terminal. If for some reason this is impossible, you can ask <CODE>ne</CODE>
to use a built-in set of sequences that will work on many terminals
using the <CODE>--ansi</CODE> option (to be true, <CODE>ne</CODE> can be even
compiled so that it uses directly the built-in set, but you need not
know this). If you want to be sure (usually for debugging purposes) that
<CODE>ne</CODE> is not using the built-in set, you can specify
<CODE>--no-ansi</CODE>.
</P><P>

Finally, the <CODE>--utf8</CODE> and <CODE>--no-utf8</CODE> options can be used to
force or inhibit UTF-8 I/O, overriding the choice imposed by the system
locale. Note, however, that in general it is more advisable to set the
<CODE>LANG</CODE> environment variable to a locale supporting UTF-8 (you can
usually see the locale list with <CODE>locale -a</CODE>). See section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC37">3.10 UTF-8 Support</A>.
</P><P>

If you need to open a file whose name starts with <SAMP>`--'</SAMP>, you can put
before the filename <SAMP>`--'</SAMP>, which will skip command recognition for
the next word.
</P><P>

<A NAME="The Status Bar"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC19"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC18"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.2 The Status Bar </H2>
<!--docid::SEC19::-->
<P>

The last line of the screen, the <EM>status bar</EM>, is reserved by
<CODE>ne</CODE> for displaying some information about its internal state.
Note that on most terminals it is physically impossible to write a
character on the last column of the last line, so we are not
stealing precious editing space.
</P><P>

The status bar looks more or less like this:
</P><P>

<TABLE><tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class=example><pre>L:      31  C:      25   12% iabcwfpvurBMRP*@8       20 /foo/bar
</pre></td></tr></table></P><P>

The numbers after <SAMP>`L:'</SAMP> and <SAMP>`C:'</SAMP> are the line and column of the
cursor position. The first line and the first column are both number
1. Then, <CODE>ne</CODE> shows the percentage of lines before the current line
(it will be 0% on the first line, and 100% on the last line).
</P><P>

Following that are a sequence of letters or
dashes. These indicate the status of a series of flags which we shall
look at later.
</P><P>

The hexidecimal digits following the flags give the code for the
character at the cursor, and are displayed optionally (see section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC106">4.9.9 HexCode</A>).
If your cursor is at or beyond the right end of the current line, the
code disappears.
</P><P>

The file name appearing after the character code is the file name of
the current document. The left end of very long file names may be
truncated to keep the right end visible. Of course,
<CODE>ne</CODE> is keeping track internally of the complete file name. It
is used by the <CODE>Save</CODE> command and as the default input for the
<CODE>SaveAs</CODE> command. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC43">4.2.3 Save</A>, and <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC44">4.2.4 SaveAs</A>.
</P><P>

The displayed line and column numbers, the percentage indicator and the
character code change when the cursor moves. This fact can really slow
down cursor movement if you are using <CODE>ne</CODE> through a slow
connection. If you find this to be a problem, it is a good idea to turn
off the status bar using either the <SAMP>`Status Bar'</SAMP> menu item of the
<SAMP>`Prefs'</SAMP> menu or the <CODE>StatusBar</CODE>
command. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC105">4.9.8 StatusBar</A>. Alternatively tyou can turn on the fast GUI
mode using either the <SAMP>`Fast GUI'</SAMP> menu item of the <SAMP>`Prefs'</SAMP> menu
or the <CODE>FastGUI</CODE> command (see section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC102">4.9.5 FastGUI</A>). In fast GUI mode the
status bar is not draw in reverse, so some additional optimization can
be done when refreshing it.
</P><P>

The letters after the line and column number represent the status of the flags
associated with the current document. Flags that are off display a
<SAMP>`-'</SAMP> instead of a letter. Each flag also has an
associated command. The <CODE>Flags</CODE> command describes them all when
you don't have this manual handy. Here's the list in detail:
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`i'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the insert flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC101">4.9.4 Insert</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`a'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the auto indent flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC96">4.8.8 AutoIndent</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`b'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the back search flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC74">4.5.8 SearchBack</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`c'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the case sensitive search flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC75">4.5.9 CaseSearch</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`w'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the word wrap flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC95">4.8.7 WordWrap</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`f'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the free form flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC103">4.9.6 FreeForm</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`p'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the automatic preferences flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC99">4.9.2 AutoPrefs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`v'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the verbose macros flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC111">4.9.14 VerboseMacros</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`u'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the undo flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC87">4.7.4 DoUndo</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`r'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the read only flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC107">4.9.10 ReadOnly</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`B'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the binary flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC100">4.9.3 Binary</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`M'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if you are currently marking a block. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC55">4.4.1 Mark</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`V'</SAMP>
<DD>can appear in place of <SAMP>`M'</SAMP> if you are currently marking a vertical
block. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC56">4.4.2 MarkVert</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`R'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if you are currently recording a macro. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC77">4.6.1 Record</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`P'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the PreserveCR flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC112">4.9.15 PreserveCR</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`C'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the CRLF flag is true. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC113">4.9.16 CRLF</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`*'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if the document has been modified since the last save, or if
the <CODE>Modified</CODE> command was issued to set this flag. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC121">4.9.24 Modified</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`@'</SAMP>
<DD>appears if UTF-8 I/O is enabled. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC124">4.9.27 UTF8IO</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`A/8/U'</SAMP>
<DD>denotes the current buffer encoding--US-ASCII, 8-bit or UTF-8. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC122">4.9.25 UTF8</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

Note that sometimes <CODE>ne</CODE> needs to communicate some message to you. The
message is usually written over the status bar, where it stays
until you do something. Any action such as moving the cursor or inserting a
character will restore the normal status bar.
</P><P>

<A NAME="The Input Line"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC20"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC21"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC21"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.3 The Input Line </H2>
<!--docid::SEC20::-->
<P>

The bottom line of the screen is usually occupied by the status bar
(see section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19">3.2 The Status Bar</A>). However, whenever <CODE>ne</CODE> prompts you for a
command or file name or asks you to confirm some action, the bottom line
becomes the <EM>input line</EM>. You can see this because a <EM>prompt</EM> is
displayed at the start of the line, suggesting what kind of input is
required. (Prompts always ends with a colon, so it is easy to
distinguish them from <EM>error messages</EM>, which overwrite the status
line from time to time.)
</P><P>

<CODE>ne</CODE> uses the input line in two essentially different ways:
<EM>immediate</EM> input and <EM>long</EM> input. You can easily distinguish
between these two modes because in immediate input mode the cursor is
not on the input line, while for long input mode it is.
</P><P>

Immediate input is used whenever <CODE>ne</CODE> needs you to specify a simple
choice that can be expressed by one character (for example, <SAMP>`y'</SAMP> or
<SAMP>`n'</SAMP>). When you type the character, <CODE>ne</CODE> will immediately
accept and use your input. Most immediate inputs display a character
just after the prompt. This character is the default response, which is
used if you just press the <KBD>Return</KBD> key. Note that immediate input
is not case sensitive. Moreover, if a yes/no choice is requested,
<EM>anything</EM> other than <SAMP>`y'</SAMP> will be considered a negative
response.
</P><P>

Long input is used when a whole string is required. You can enter and
edit your response to long inputs like a line of text in a
document. Most key bindings related to line editing work on the command
line exactly as they do in a document. This is true even of custom key
bindings. Just edit as you are used to. Moreover, the you can paste the
first line of the current clip using the keystroke that is bound to the
<CODE>Paste</CODE> command, usually <KBD><KBD>Control</KBD>-V</KBD>. If your long input
is longer than the screen width, the input line scrolls to accomodate
your text so you can input very long lines even on small
monitors. (There is a limit of 2048 characters.)
</P><P>

The default response to a long input is the response you gave to the
previous long input. Your <EM>first action</EM> when presented with a long
input will either erase the default response or allow you to edit it. If
the first thing you type is a printing character, the default response
will be erased. Anything else (cursor movement for example) will allow
you to edit it further.
</P><P>

Long input also lets you access your previous long input responses with
the up and down cursor commands (or with wider movement commands, such
as start/end of file, page up/down, etc.). Once you find a previous
input you like, you can edit it further. Long input history is not
document specific, so you can recall any of your inputs regardless of
which document was active when you entered it. Furthermore, <CODE>ne</CODE>
saves the most recent long inputs in <TT>`~/.ne/.history'</TT> when you end
your <CODE>ne</CODE> session and loads them again when you begin another
<CODE>ne</CODE> session.
</P><P>

When asked to input a number, you can choose between decimal, octal and
hexadecimal notation in the standard way: a number starting with
<SAMP>`0'</SAMP> is considered in octal, a number starting with <SAMP>`0x'</SAMP> is
considered in hexadecimal, and in all other cases decimal base is
assumed.
</P><P>

Whenever a file name is requested, you can type a partial file name and
<EM>complete</EM> it with the <KBD>Tab</KBD> key. <CODE>ne</CODE> will scan the
current directory (or the directory that you partially specified) and
search for the files matching your partial suggestion. The longest
prefix common to all such files will be copied on the input line
(<CODE>ne</CODE> will beep if no completion exists). It's easier done than
said--just try. If you press <KBD>Tab</KBD> again, you will be brought into
the file requester: only the files and directories matching your partial
specification will appear, and as usual you will be able to navigate and
select a file or escape. See section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC22">3.5 The Requester</A>.  Note that <CODE>ne</CODE>
considers the <EM>last word</EM> on the input line the partial file name
to complete, no matter where the cursor is currently (you must use quotes
if the name contains spaces, even if it is the only item on the input line).
</P><P>

Complete long input with the <KBD>Return</KBD> key. You can cancel a long
input using <KBD>f1</KBD>, <KBD>Escape</KBD>, <KBD>Escape</KBD>-<KBD>Escape</KBD> or any key
that is bound to the <CODE>Escape</CODE> command. The effect will vary depending
on what your were requested to input, but the execution of the command
requiring the input will stop.
</P><P>

<A NAME="The Command Line"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC21"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC22"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC22"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.4 The Command Line </H2>
<!--docid::SEC21::-->
<P>

The command line is a typical (topical) way of controlling an editor on
character driven systems. It has some advantages over menus in terms of
access speed, but it is not desirable from a user interface point of
view. <CODE>ne</CODE> has a command line that should be used whenever strange
features have to be accessed, or whenever you want to use a command that
you are familiar with and that is not bound to any key.
</P><P>

You have two ways to access the command line: by activating the menu and
typing a colon (<SAMP>`:'</SAMP>) or by typing <KBD><KBD>Control</KBD>-K</KBD> (or any key
that is bound to the <CODE>Exec</CODE> command; see section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC165">4.12.3 Exec</A>). The first
method will work regardless of any key binding configuration if you
activate the menus with the <KBD>Escape</KBD> key since that key cannot be
reconfigured. Of course, there is also a menu entry that does the same
job.
</P><P>

Once you activate the command line, the status bar will turn into an input
line (see section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20">3.3 The Input Line</A>) with a <SAMP>`Command:'</SAMP> prompt waiting for you
to do a long input. In other words, you can now type any command (possibly
with arguments), and when you press <KBD>Return</KBD>, the command will be
executed.
</P><P>

If the command you specify does not appear in <CODE>ne</CODE>'s internal tables,
it is considered to be the name of a macro. See section <A HREF="ne_2.html#SEC8">2.6 Basic Macros</A>, for details.
</P><P>

<A NAME="The Requester"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC22"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC21"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.5 The Requester </H2>
<!--docid::SEC22::-->
<P>

In various situations, <CODE>ne</CODE> needs to ask you to choose one string
from several (where "several" can mean a lot).
For this kind of event, the <EM>requester</EM> is issued. The requester
displays the strings in as many columns as possible and lets you move
with the cursor from one string to another. The strings can fill many
screens, which are handled as consecutive pages. Most navigation keys
work exactly as in normal editing. This is true even of custom key
bindings. Thus, for instance, you can page up and down through the 
list with <KBD><KBD>Control</KBD>-P</KBD> and <KBD><KBD>Control</KBD>-N</KBD> (in the standard keyboard
configuration).
</P><P>

As with the input line (see section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC20">3.3 The Input Line</A>), you can confirm your
input with <KBD>Return</KBD> or escape the requester with <KBD>f1</KBD> or the
<KBD>Escape</KBD> key (or whatever has been bound to the <CODE>Escape</CODE>
command). Moreover, if you are selecting a file name there is a third
possibility: by escaping with the <KBD>Tab</KBD> key, the file or directory
name that the cursor is currently on will be copied on the input
line. This allows to choose an existing name and modify it.
</P><P>

A special feature is bound to alphabetic characters: they move you to the next
entry starting with the letter you typed. The search is case insensitive, and
it continues on to the first string after having passed the last one.
</P><P>

An example of a requester is the list of commands appearing when you use
the <CODE>Help</CODE> command. Another example is the file requester that
<CODE>ne</CODE> issues whenever a file operation is going to take place. In
this case, pressing <KBD>Return</KBD> while on a directory name will enter
the directory. Note also that, should the requester take too long to
appear, you can interrupt the directory scanning with
<KBD><KBD>Control</KBD>-\</KBD>. However, the listing will likely be incomplete.
</P><P>

Note that there are two items that always appear in the file requester:
<TT>`./'</TT> and <TT>`../'</TT>. The first one represents the current directory
and can be used to force a reread of the directory. The second one represents the
parent directory and can be used to move up by one directory level.
</P><P>

<A NAME="Menus"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC23"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC22"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC24"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.6 Menus </H2>
<!--docid::SEC23::-->
<P>

<CODE>ne</CODE>'s menus are extremely straightforward. The suggested way of
learning their use is by trial and error, with a peek here and there
at this manual when some doubts arise.
</P><P>

You activate menus with the <KBD>f1</KBD> key, or in case your keyboard does
not have such a key, <KBD>Escape</KBD>, <KBD>Escape</KBD>-<KBD>Escape</KBD> or any key
that is bound to the <CODE>Escape</CODE> command. Move around the menus pressing
with the cursor keys and the page up/down keys (which move to the first or
last menu item in a menu). You can also move around menus and menu items by
pressing the alphabetic keys; a lower case letter will move to the first
item in the current menu whose name starts with the given letter; an upper
case letter will move to the first menu whose name starts with the given
letter.
</P><P>

Each menu item of <CODE>ne</CODE>'s standard menu corresponds to a
single command. In explaining what each menu item allows you to
do, we shall simply refer you to the section that explains the command
relative to the menu item.
</P><P>

If you plan to change <CODE>ne</CODE>'s menu (see section <A HREF="ne_5.html#SEC175">5.2 Changing Menus</A>), you should
take a look at the file <TT>`default.menus'</TT> that comes with <CODE>ne</CODE>'s
distribution. It contains a complete menu configuration that clones the standard
one.
</P><P>

<BLOCKQUOTE><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> 
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC24">3.6.1 File</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC25">3.6.2 Documents</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC26">3.6.3 Edit</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC27">3.6.4 Search</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC28">3.6.5 Macros</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC29">3.6.6 Extras</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC30">3.6.7 Navigation</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"><A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC31">3.6.8 Prefs</A></TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="TOP"></TD></TR>
</TABLE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>

<A NAME="File"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC24"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC25"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.1 File </H3>
<!--docid::SEC24::-->
<P>

The File menu contains standard items that allow loading and saving
files. Quitting <CODE>ne</CODE> (which doesn't save changes) or exiting
<CODE>ne</CODE> (which does save changes) is also possible.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Open<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC41">4.2.1 Open</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Open New<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC42">4.2.2 OpenNew</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC43">4.2.3 Save</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save As<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC44">4.2.4 SaveAs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Quit Now'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC46">4.3.1 Quit</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save&#38;Exit'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC47">4.3.2 Exit</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`About'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC163">4.12.1 About</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Documents"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC25"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC24"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC26"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC26"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.2 Documents </H3>
<!--docid::SEC25::-->
<P>

The Documents menu contains commands that create new documents, destroy
them, and browse through them.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`New'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC48">4.3.3 NewDoc</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Clear'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC49">4.3.4 Clear</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Close'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC50">4.3.5 CloseDoc</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Next'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC51">4.3.6 NextDoc</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Prev'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC52">4.3.7 PrevDoc</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Select<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC53">4.3.8 SelectDoc</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Edit"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC26"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC25"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC27"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC27"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.3 Edit </H3>
<!--docid::SEC26::-->
<P>

The Edit menu contains commands related to cutting and pasting text.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Mark Block'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC55">4.4.1 Mark</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Cut'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC58">4.4.4 Cut</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Copy'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC57">4.4.3 Copy</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Paste'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC59">4.4.5 Paste</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Erase'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC61">4.4.7 Erase</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Through'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC65">4.4.11 Through</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Delete Line'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC160">4.11.6 DeleteLine</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Delete EOL'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC161">4.11.7 DeleteEOL</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Mark Vert'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC56">4.4.2 MarkVert</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Paste Vert'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC60">4.4.6 PasteVert</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Open Clip<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC62">4.4.8 OpenClip</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save Clip<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC63">4.4.9 SaveClip</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Search"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC27"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC26"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC28"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC28"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.4 Search </H3>
<!--docid::SEC27::-->
<P>

The Search menu contains commands related to searching for specific
contents or locations within a document.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Find<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC67">4.5.1 Find</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Find RegExp<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC68">4.5.2 FindRegExp</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Replace<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC69">4.5.3 Replace</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Replace Once<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC70">4.5.4 ReplaceOnce</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Replace All<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC71">4.5.5 ReplaceAll</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Repeat Last'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC72">4.5.6 RepeatLast</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Goto Line<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC130">4.10.5 GotoLine</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Goto Col<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC131">4.10.6 GotoColumn</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Goto Mark<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC132">4.10.7 GotoMark</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Match Bracket'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC73">4.5.7 MatchBracket</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Set Bookmark'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC151">4.10.26 SetBookmark</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Unset Bookmark'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC153">4.10.28 UnsetBookmark</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Goto Bookmark'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC152">4.10.27 GotoBookmark</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Macros"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC28"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC27"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC29"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC29"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.5 Macros </H3>
<!--docid::SEC28::-->
<P>

The Macros menu contains commands related to creating and using macros.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Record'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC77">4.6.1 Record</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Stop'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC77">4.6.1 Record</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Replace<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC69">4.5.3 Replace</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Play Once'</SAMP>
<DD><DT><SAMP>`Play Many<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC78">4.6.2 Play</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Play Macro<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC79">4.6.3 Macro</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Open Macro<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC80">4.6.4 OpenMacro</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save Macro<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC81">4.6.5 SaveMacro</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Extras"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC29"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC28"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC30"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC30"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.6 Extras </H3>
<!--docid::SEC29::-->
<P>

This menu contains a few special items that don't fit in obvious ways
into other menus.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Exec<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC165">4.12.3 Exec</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Suspend'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC170">4.12.8 Suspend</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Help<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC167">4.12.5 Help</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Refresh'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC169">4.12.7 Refresh</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Undo'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC84">4.7.1 Undo</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Redo'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC85">4.7.2 Redo</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Undel Line'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC86">4.7.3 UndelLine</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Center'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC89">4.8.1 Center</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Paragraph'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC90">4.8.2 Paragraph</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Adjust View'</SAMP>
<DD><DT><SAMP>`Center View'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC148">4.10.23 AdjustView</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`ToUpper'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC91">4.8.3 ToUpper</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`ToLower'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC92">4.8.4 ToLower</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Capitalize'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC93">4.8.5 Capitalize</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Navigation"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC30"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC29"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC31"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC31"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.7 Navigation </H3>
<!--docid::SEC30::-->
<P>

The Navigation menu contains commands related moving around in a
document.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Move Left'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC126">4.10.1 MoveLeft</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Move Right'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC127">4.10.2 MoveRight</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Line Up'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC128">4.10.3 LineUp</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Line Down'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC129">4.10.4 LineDown</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Prev Page'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC133">4.10.8 PrevPage</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Next Page'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC134">4.10.9 NextPage</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Page Up'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC135">4.10.10 PageUp</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Page Down'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC136">4.10.11 PageDown</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Start Of File'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC144">4.10.19 MoveSOF</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`End Of File'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC143">4.10.18 MoveEOF</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Start Of Line'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC140">4.10.15 MoveSOL</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`End Of Line'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC139">4.10.14 MoveEOL</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Top Of Screen'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC141">4.10.16 MoveTOS</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Bottom Of Screen'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC142">4.10.17 MoveBOS</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Incr Up'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC146">4.10.21 MoveIncUp</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Incr Down'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC147">4.10.22 MoveIncDown</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Prev Word'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC137">4.10.12 PrevWord</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Next Word'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC138">4.10.13 NextWord</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Prefs"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC31"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC30"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC23"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.6.8 Prefs </H3>
<!--docid::SEC31::-->
<P>

The Prefs menu contains commands related to setting, storing, and using
your prefered document flags.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>

<DT><SAMP>`Tab Size<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC109">4.9.12 TabSize</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Insert/Over'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC101">4.9.4 Insert</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Free Form'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC103">4.9.6 FreeForm</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Status Bar'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC105">4.9.8 StatusBar</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Hex Code'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC106">4.9.9 HexCode</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Fast GUI'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC102">4.9.5 FastGUI</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Word Wrap'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC95">4.8.7 WordWrap</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Right Margin'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC94">4.8.6 RightMargin</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Auto Indent'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC96">4.8.8 AutoIndent</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Preserve CR'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC112">4.9.15 PreserveCR</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save CR/LF'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC113">4.9.16 CRLF</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Load Prefs<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC116">4.9.19 LoadPrefs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save Prefs<small>...</small>'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC117">4.9.20 SavePrefs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Load AutoPrefs'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC118">4.9.21 LoadAutoPrefs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save AutoPrefs'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC119">4.9.22 SaveAutoPrefs</A>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`Save Def Prefs'</SAMP>
<DD>See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC120">4.9.23 SaveDefPrefs</A>.
<P>

</DL>
<P>

<A NAME="Regular Expressions"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC32"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC31"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC33"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.7 Regular Expressions </H2>
<!--docid::SEC32::-->
<P>

Regular expressions are a powerful way of specifying complex search and
replace operations. <CODE>ne</CODE> supports the full regular expression
syntax on US-ASCII and 8-bit buffers, but has to impose a restriction on
character sets when searching in UTF-8 text. See section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC37">3.10 UTF-8 Support</A>.
</P><P>

<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC33"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC34"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.7.1 Syntax </H3>
<!--docid::SEC33::-->
<P>

The following section is taken (with minor modifications) from the GNU regular
expression library documentation and is Copyright (C) Free Software
Foundation.
</P><P>

A regular expression describes a set of strings.  The simplest case is one
that describes a particular string; for example, the string <SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> when
regarded as a regular expression matches <SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> and nothing else.
Nontrivial regular expressions use certain special constructs so that they
can match more than one string.  For example, the regular expression
<SAMP>`foo|bar'</SAMP> matches either the string <SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> or the string
<SAMP>`bar'</SAMP>; the regular expression <SAMP>`c[ad]*r'</SAMP> matches any of the strings
<SAMP>`cr'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`car'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`cdr'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`caar'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`cadddar'</SAMP> and all other
such strings with any number of <SAMP>`a'</SAMP>'s and <SAMP>`d'</SAMP>'s.
</P><P>

Regular expressions have a syntax in which a few characters are special
constructs and the rest are <EM>ordinary</EM>.  An ordinary character is a
simple regular expression which matches that character and nothing else. The
special characters are <SAMP>`$'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`^'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`.'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`*'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`+'</SAMP>,
<SAMP>`?'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`['</SAMP>, <SAMP>`]'</SAMP> , <SAMP>`('</SAMP>, <SAMP>`)'</SAMP> and <SAMP>`\'</SAMP>.  Any other
character appearing in a regular expression is ordinary, unless a <SAMP>`\'</SAMP>
precedes it.</P><P>

For example, <SAMP>`f'</SAMP> is not a special character, so it is ordinary,
and therefore <SAMP>`f'</SAMP> is a regular expression that matches the string <SAMP>`f'</SAMP>
and no other string.  (It does <EM>not</EM> match the string <SAMP>`ff'</SAMP>.)  Likewise,
<SAMP>`o'</SAMP> is a regular expression that matches only <SAMP>`o'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

Any two regular expressions <VAR>a</VAR> and <VAR>b</VAR> can be concatenated.
The result is a regular expression that matches a string if <VAR>a</VAR>
matches some amount of the beginning of that string and <VAR>b</VAR>
matches the rest of the string.
</P><P>

As a simple example, we can concatenate the regular expressions
<SAMP>`f'</SAMP> and <SAMP>`o'</SAMP> to get the regular expression <SAMP>`fo'</SAMP>,
which matches only the string <SAMP>`fo'</SAMP>.  Still trivial.
</P><P>

Note: special characters are treated as ordinary ones if they are in
contexts where their special meanings make no sense.  For example,
<SAMP>`*foo'</SAMP> treats <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> as ordinary since there is no preceding
expression on which the <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> can act. It is poor practice to depend on
this behavior; better to quote the special character anyway, regardless of
where is appears.
</P><P>

The following are the characters and character sequences that have special
meaning within regular expressions. Any character not mentioned here is not
special; it stands for exactly itself for the purposes of searching and
matching.
</P><P>

<DL COMPACT>
<DT><SAMP>`.'</SAMP>
<DD>is a special character that matches anything except a newline. Using
concatenation, we can make regular expressions like <SAMP>`a.b'</SAMP>, which matches
any three-character string which begins with <SAMP>`a'</SAMP> and ends with
<SAMP>`b'</SAMP>.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`*'</SAMP>
<DD>is not a construct by itself; it is a suffix, which means the preceding
regular expression is to be repeated as many times as possible.  In
<SAMP>`fo*'</SAMP>, the <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> applies to the <SAMP>`o'</SAMP>, so <SAMP>`fo*'</SAMP> matches
<SAMP>`f'</SAMP> followed by any number of <SAMP>`o'</SAMP>'s.
<P>

The case of zero <SAMP>`o'</SAMP>'s is allowed: <SAMP>`fo*'</SAMP> does match
<SAMP>`f'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

<SAMP>`*'</SAMP> always applies to the <EM>smallest</EM> possible preceding
expression. Thus, <SAMP>`fo*'</SAMP> has a repeating <SAMP>`o'</SAMP>, not a repeating
<SAMP>`fo'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`+'</SAMP>
<DD><SAMP>`+'</SAMP> is like <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> except that at least one match for the preceding
pattern is required for <SAMP>`+'</SAMP>.  Thus, <SAMP>`c[ad]+r'</SAMP> does not match
<SAMP>`cr'</SAMP> but does match anything else that <SAMP>`c[ad]*r'</SAMP> would match.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`?'</SAMP>
<DD><SAMP>`?'</SAMP> is like <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> except that it allows either zero or one match for
the preceding pattern.  Thus, <SAMP>`c[ad]?r'</SAMP> matches <SAMP>`cr'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`car'</SAMP>
or <SAMP>`cdr'</SAMP>, and nothing else.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`[ <small>...</small> ]'</SAMP>
<DD><SAMP>`['</SAMP> begins a <EM>character set</EM>, which is terminated by a <SAMP>`]'</SAMP>.
In the simplest case, the characters between the two form the set.
Thus, <SAMP>`[ad]'</SAMP> matches either <SAMP>`a'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`d'</SAMP>,
and <SAMP>`[ad]*'</SAMP> matches any string of <SAMP>`a'</SAMP>'s and <SAMP>`d'</SAMP>'s
(including the empty string), from which it follows that
<SAMP>`c[ad]*r'</SAMP> matches <SAMP>`car'</SAMP>, <I>et cetera</I>.
<P>

Character ranges can also be included in a character set, by writing two
characters with a <SAMP>`-'</SAMP> between them.  Thus, <SAMP>`[a-z]'</SAMP> matches any
lower-case letter.  Ranges may be intermixed freely with individual
characters, as in <SAMP>`[a-z$%.]'</SAMP>, which matches any lower case letter or
<SAMP>`$'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`%'</SAMP> or period.
</P><P>

Note that the usual special characters are not special any more inside a
character set.  A completely different set of special characters exists
inside character sets: <SAMP>`]'</SAMP>, <SAMP>`-'</SAMP> and <SAMP>`^'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

To include a <SAMP>`]'</SAMP> in a character set, you must make it
the first character.  For example, <SAMP>`[]a]'</SAMP> matches <SAMP>`]'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`a'</SAMP>.
To include a <SAMP>`-'</SAMP>, you must use it in a context where it cannot possibly
indicate a range: that is, as the first character, or immediately
after a range.
</P><P>

Note that when searching in UTF-8 text, a character set may contain
US-ASCII characters only.
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`[^ <small>...</small> ]'</SAMP>
<DD><SAMP>`[^'</SAMP> begins a <EM>complement character set</EM>, which matches any
character except the ones specified.  Thus, <SAMP>`[^a-z0-9A-Z]'</SAMP> matches
all characters <EM>except</EM> letters and digits. Also in this case, when
searching in UTF-8 text a complemented character set may contain US-ASCII
characters only. <P>

<SAMP>`^'</SAMP> is not special in a character set unless it is the first character.
The character following the <SAMP>`^'</SAMP> is treated as if it were first (it may
be a <SAMP>`-'</SAMP> or a <SAMP>`]'</SAMP>).
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`^'</SAMP>
<DD>is a special character that matches the empty string -- but only if at the
beginning of a line in the text being matched.  Otherwise it fails to match
anything.  Thus, <SAMP>`^foo'</SAMP> matches a <SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> that occurs at the
beginning of a line.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`$'</SAMP>
<DD>is similar to <SAMP>`^'</SAMP> but matches only at the end of a line. Thus,
<SAMP>`xx*$'</SAMP> matches a string of one or more <SAMP>`x'</SAMP>'s at the end of a
line.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\'</SAMP>
<DD>has two functions: it quotes the above special characters (including
<SAMP>`\'</SAMP>), and it introduces additional special constructs.<P>

Because <SAMP>`\'</SAMP> quotes special characters, <SAMP>`\$'</SAMP> is a regular
expression that matches only <SAMP>`$'</SAMP>, and <SAMP>`\['</SAMP> is a regular
expression that matches only <SAMP>`['</SAMP>, and so on.
</P><P>

For the most part, <SAMP>`\'</SAMP> followed by any character matches only that
character.  However, there are several exceptions: characters which, when
preceded by <SAMP>`\'</SAMP>, are special constructs.  Such characters are always
ordinary when encountered on their own.
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`|'</SAMP>
<DD>specifies an alternative. Two regular expressions <VAR>a</VAR> and <VAR>b</VAR> with
<SAMP>`|'</SAMP> in between form an expression that matches anything that either
<VAR>a</VAR> or <VAR>b</VAR> will match.
<P>

Thus, <SAMP>`foo|bar'</SAMP> matches either <SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`bar'</SAMP> but no other
string.
</P><P>

<SAMP>`|'</SAMP> applies to the largest possible surrounding expressions.  Only a
surrounding <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> grouping can limit the grouping power of
<SAMP>`|'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP>
<DD>is a grouping construct that serves three purposes:
<P>

<OL>
<LI>
To enclose a set of <SAMP>`|'</SAMP> alternatives for other operations.
Thus, <SAMP>`(foo|bar)x'</SAMP> matches either <SAMP>`foox'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`barx'</SAMP>.
<P>

<LI>
To enclose a complicated expression for the postfix <SAMP>`*'</SAMP> to operate on.
Thus, <SAMP>`ba(na)*'</SAMP> matches <SAMP>`bananana'</SAMP> <I>et cetera</I>, with any (zero or
more) number of <SAMP>`na'</SAMP>'s.
<P>

<LI>
To mark a matched substring for future reference.
<P>

</OL>
<P>

This last application is not a consequence of the idea of a parenthetical
grouping; it is a separate feature that happens to be assigned as a second
meaning to the same <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> construct because there is no
conflict in practice between the two meanings.  Here is an explanation of
this feature:
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`\<VAR>digit</VAR>'</SAMP>
<DD>After the end of a <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> construct, the matcher remembers the
beginning and end of the text matched by that construct.  Then, later on in
the regular expression, you can use <SAMP>`\'</SAMP> followed by <VAR>digit</VAR> to mean
"match the same text matched the <VAR>digit</VAR>'th time by the <SAMP>`(
<small>...</small> )'</SAMP> construct."  The <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> constructs are numbered
in order of commencement in the regexp.
<P>

The strings matching the first nine <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> constructs appearing
in a regular expression are assigned numbers 1 through 9 in order of their
beginnings.
<SAMP>`\1'</SAMP> through <SAMP>`\9'</SAMP> may be used to refer to the text matched by
the corresponding <SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> construct.
</P><P>

For example, <SAMP>`(.+)\1'</SAMP> matches any non empty string that is composed of
two identical halves.  The <SAMP>`(.+)'</SAMP> matches the first half, which may be
anything non empty, but the <SAMP>`\1'</SAMP> that follows must match the same exact
text.
</P><P>

<DT><SAMP>`\b'</SAMP>
<DD>matches the empty string, but only if it is at the beginning or
end of a word.  Thus, <SAMP>`\bfoo\b'</SAMP> matches any occurrence of
<SAMP>`foo'</SAMP> as a separate word.  <SAMP>`\bball(s|)\b'</SAMP> matches
<SAMP>`ball'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`balls'</SAMP> as a separate word.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\B'</SAMP>
<DD>matches the empty string, provided it is <EM>not</EM> at the beginning or end
of a word.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\&#60;'</SAMP>
<DD>matches the empty string, but only if it is at the beginning
of a word.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\&#62;'</SAMP>
<DD>matches the empty string, but only if it is at the end of a word.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\w'</SAMP>
<DD>matches any word-constituent character. These are US-ASCII letters,
numbers and the underscore, independently on the buffer encoding.
<P>

<DT><SAMP>`\W'</SAMP>
<DD>matches any character that is not a word-constituent.
</DL>
<P>

<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC34"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC33"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H3> 3.7.2 Replacing regular expressions </H3>
<!--docid::SEC34::-->
<P>

Also the replacement string has some special feature when doing a regular
expression search and replace. Exactly as during the search, <SAMP>`\'</SAMP> followed
by <VAR>digit</VAR> stands for "the text matched the <VAR>digit</VAR>'th time by the
<SAMP>`( <small>...</small> )'</SAMP> construct in the search expression". Moreover, <SAMP>`\0'</SAMP>
represent the whole string matched by the regular expression. Thus, for
instance, the replace string <SAMP>`\0\0'</SAMP> has the effect of doubling any string
matched.
</P><P>

Another example: if you search for <SAMP>`(a+)(b+)'</SAMP>, replacing with
<SAMP>`\2x\1'</SAMP>, you will match any string composed by a series of <SAMP>`a'</SAMP>'s
followed by a series of <SAMP>`b'</SAMP>'s, and you will replace it with the
string obtained by moving the <SAMP>`a'</SAMP> in front of the <SAMP>`b'</SAMP>'s, adding
moreover <SAMP>`x'</SAMP> inbetween. For instance, <SAMP>`aaaab'</SAMP> will be matched and
replaced by <SAMP>`bxaaaa'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

Note that the backslash character can escape itself. Thus, to put a
backslash in the replacement string, you have to use <SAMP>`\\'</SAMP>.
</P><P>

<A NAME="Automatic Preferences"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC35"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC34"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC36"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC36"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.8 Automatic Preferences </H2>
<!--docid::SEC35::-->
<P>

Automatic preferences let you set up a custom configuration that is
automatically used whenever you open a file with a given extension. For
instance, you may prefer a TAB size of three when editing C sources, but
eight could be more palatable when writing electronic mail.
</P><P>

The use of autoprefs is definitely straightforward. You simply use the
<SAMP>`Save AutoPrefs'</SAMP> menu item (or the <CODE>SaveAutoPrefs</CODE> command;
see section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC119">4.9.22 SaveAutoPrefs</A>) when the current document has the given extension and
the current configuration suits your tastes. The internal state of a series of
options will be recorded as a macro containing commands that reproduce the
current configuration. The macro is then saved in the <TT>`~/.ne'</TT>
directory (which is created if necessary) with the name given by the
extension, postfixed with <SAMP>`#ap'</SAMP>. Thus, the C sources automatic
preferences file will be named <SAMP>`c#ap'</SAMP>, the one for TeX files <SAMP>`tex#ap'</SAMP>,
and so on.
</P><P>

Macros are generated with short or long command names depending on the
status of the verbose macros flag. See section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC111">4.9.14 VerboseMacros</A>.
</P><P>

Automatic preferences files are loaded and executed whenever a file with a known
extension is opened. Note that you can manually edit such files, and even
insert commands, but any command that does something other than setting a flag
will be rejected, and an error message will be issued.
</P><P>

<A NAME="Emergency Save"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC36"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC35"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC37"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.9 Emergency Save </H2>
<!--docid::SEC36::-->
<P>

When <CODE>ne</CODE> is interrupted by an abnormal event (for instance, the
crash of your terminal), it will try to save all unsaved
documents in its current directory. Named documents will have their
names prefixed with a <SAMP>`#'</SAMP>. Unnamed documents will be given names
made up of hexadecimal numbers obtained by some addresses in memory
that will make them unique.
</P><P>

<A NAME="UTF-8 Support"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<A NAME="SEC37"></A>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC36"> &lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC17"> Up </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<H2> 3.10 UTF-8 Support </H2>
<!--docid::SEC37::-->
<P>

Since version 1.30, <CODE>ne</CODE> can manipulate UTF-8 files and supports
UTF-8 when communicating with the user. At startup, <CODE>ne</CODE> fetches
the system locale description, and checks whether it contains the string
<SAMP>`utf8'</SAMP> or <SAMP>`utf-8'</SAMP>. In this case, it starts communicating with
the user using UTF-8. This behaviour can be modified either using a
suitable command line option (see see section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC18">3.1 Arguments</A>), or using
<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC124">4.9.27 UTF8IO</A>. This makes it possible to display and read from the
keyboard a wide range of characters.
</P><P>

Independently of the input/output encoding, <CODE>ne</CODE> keeps track of the
encoding of each buffer. <CODE>ne</CODE> does not try to select a particular
coding on a buffer, unless it is forced to do so, for instance because a
certain character is inserted. Once a buffer has a definite encoding,
however, it keeps it forever.
</P><P>

More precisely, every buffer may be in one of three <EM>encoding
modes</EM>: US-ASCII, when it is entirely composed of US-ASCII characters;
8-bit, if it contains also other characters, but it is not UTF-8
encoded; and finally, UTF-8, if it is UTF-8-encoded.
</P><P>

The behaviour of <CODE>ne</CODE> in US-ASCII and 8-bit mode is similar to
previous versions: each byte in the buffer is considered a separate
character.
</P><P>

There are, however, two important differences: first, if I/O is not
UTF-8 encoded, <EM>any</EM> encoding of the ISO-8859 family will work
flawlessly, as <CODE>ne</CODE> merely reads bytes from the keyboard and
displays bytes on the screen. On the contrary, in the case of UTF-8
input/output <CODE>ne</CODE> must take a decision as to which encoding is used
for non-UTF-8 buffers, and presently this is hardwired to ISO-8859-1.
Second, since version 1.34, 8-bit buffers use localised casing and
character type functions. This means that case-insensitive searches or
case foldings will work with, say, cyrillic characters, provided that
your locale is set correctly.
</P><P>

In UTF-8 mode, instead, <CODE>ne</CODE> interprets the bytes in the buffer in
a different way--several bytes may encode a single character. The whole
process is completely transparent to the user, but if you really want to
look at the buffer content, you can switch to 8-bit mode (see
see section <A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC122">4.9.25 UTF8</A>).
</P><P>

For most operations, UTF-8 support should be transparent. However, in
some cases, in particular when mixing buffers with different encodings,
<CODE>ne</CODE> will refuse to perform certain operations because of
incompatible encodings.
</P><P>

The main limitation of UTF-8 buffers is that when searching for a
regular expression in a UTF-8 text, character sets may only contain
US-ASCII characters (see see section <A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC32">3.7 Regular Expressions</A>). You can, of
course, partially emulate a full UTF-8 character set implementation
specifying the possible alternatives using <SAMP>`|'</SAMP> (but you have no
ranges).
</P><P>

<A NAME="Commands"></A>
<HR SIZE="6">
<TABLE CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=1 BORDER=0>
<TR><TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_3.html#SEC19"> &lt;&lt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_4.html#SEC38"> &gt;&gt; </A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT"> &nbsp; <TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne.html#SEC_Top">Top</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_toc.html#SEC_Contents">Contents</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_13.html#SEC183">Index</A>]</TD>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT">[<A HREF="ne_abt.html#SEC_About"> ? </A>]</TD>
</TR></TABLE>
<BR>  
<FONT SIZE="-1">
This document was generated
by <I>Sebastiano Vigna</I> on <I>September, 27  2004</I>
using <A HREF="http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~obachman/Texi2html
"><I>texi2html</I></A>

</BODY>
</HTML>