Command: edlin

  EDLIN is a small line editor.

Syntax:

  edlin [[drive][path]file]
        drive  The drive letter, e.g. C:
        path   The directory, e.g. \example\
        file   The file, e.g. test.txt.

Options:

  A dollar sign in the following lists represents a string of
  characters. They may be enclosed in either single or double quotes
  and may contain the following escape sequences:

  \a              alert
  \b              backspace
  \e              escape
  \f              formfeed
  \t              horizontal tab
  \v              vertical tab
  \"              double quote
  \'              single quote
  \.              period
  \\              backslash
  \xXX            where X is a hex digit (0-9, a-f, A-F) - hexadecimal
                  constant
  \dddd           where d is a decimal digit (0-9) - decimal constant
  \OOO            where O is an octal digit (0-7) - octal constant
  \^C             control character

  In the following command lists, brackets [ ] represent optional
  constructs. The # symbol represents a line number, which is either a
  string of digits, a period (.) representing the current line, a dollar
  sign ($) representing the last line in the file, or a line number added
  or subtracted from another line number, so that
    .,.+1p
  prints the current line and the succeeding line.
  Edlin has the following internal commands (used while running edlin):

  #               edit a single line
  a               append
  [#],[#],#,[#]c  copy a range of lines
  [#][,#]d        delete a block of lines
  efilename       exit (save and quit)
  [#]i            insert mode
  [#][,#]l        list lines
  [#],[#],#m      move block
  [#][,#]p        page
  q               quit
  [#][,#][?]r$,$  replace string
  [#][,#][?]s$    search for substring
  [#]tfilename    transfer file
  [#]wfilename    write file

  # - EDIT A SINGLE LINE
  The edline program outputs the single line indicated by the number,
  and the next inputted line replaces the outputted line in the file.

  a - APPEND
  This command is equivalent to $+1i .

  [#],[#],#,[#]c - COPY A RANGE OF LINES
  This command copies a block of consecutive lines to another location
  in the buffer. The parameters are:
    * The first line you want to copy (default = current line)
    * The last line you want to copy (default = current line)
    * The line before which you want to insert the block of lines
    * The number of times you want to copy the block (default = 1) 
  After edlin copies lines, you may use the l (list) command to see the
  correctly renumbered lines.

  [#][,#]d - DELETE A BLOCK OF LINES
  This command deletes a block of consecutive lines. The parameters are
  the first and last line of the block to be deleted.
  If you omit the second parameter, it deletes only the line specified in
  the first parameter. If you omit the first parameter, it deletes the
  block from the current line to the line specified in the second
  parameter (be sure to include the comma). Omitting both parameters
  causes the current line to be deleted.

  eFilename - SAVE AND QUIT
  This command is equivalent to:
    w filename  followed by: q

  [#]i - INSERT MODE
  This command enters insert mode. Its parameter is the line number
  before which you want to insert lines. While inserting, escape
  sequences such as those above are legal to type in. To exit insert
  mode, type a period (.)
  on an otherwise blank line (if you need a line with just a period,
  escape it).
  After exiting insert mode, the line after the inserted text becomes
  the current line unless the insertion was appended to the end of the
  text, in which case the last line of the text becomes the new current
  line.

  [#][,#]l - LIST LINES
  This command lists lines of text on the screen. If you omit the first
  parameter, the command starts showing text beginning with 11 lines of
  text before the current line. Omitting the second parameter shows a
  page of text beginning with the line specified in the first parameter.
  Omitting both shows one page of text starting at 11 lines before the
  current line. In all cases, if the number of lines is larger than the
  number of lines in a page, the program will prompt after each page of
  lines.

  [#],[#],#m - MOVE BLOCK
  This command moves a block of text to the line before the number
  specified in the third parameter. It is similar to copying, then
  deleting the original block.

  [#][,#]p - PAGE
  This is similar to l except that the default page starts with the
  current line instead of 11 lines before.

  q - QUIT
  Close file being edited losing all changes and exit EDLIN. 

  [#][,#][?]r$,$ - REPLACE STRING
  This command replaces all occurrences of the first string with the
  second between the two lines specified. An omitted first parameter
  starts the replacing at the line after the current line; an omitted
  second parameter stops the replacing at the last line of the file.
  The question mark sends a confirmation message before replacement.

  [#][,#][?]s$ - SEARCH FOR SUBSTRING
  This command searches for the first line containing the substring
  specified. Omitting the first parameter causes the search to start on
  the current line; omitting the second causes the search to stop at
  the end of the file. The question mark causes the search to send a
  confirmation message. Saying no to the confirmation message continues
  the search; saying yes ends it. The current line will be reset to the
  line where the search ended if it was successful.

  [#]tFilename - TRANSFER FILE
  This command causes the contents of the file to be inserted before the
  line number specified. If the line number is omitted, the default is
  the current line.

  [#]wFilename - WRITE FILE
  This command causes the first number of lines specified by the
  parameter to be written to the file specified. If the parameter is
  omitted, it will write all the lines in the buffer to the file.

Comments:

  EDLIN is a small line editor, written for FreeDOS as a functional 
  clone of the old MS-DOS program EDLIN. It's main purpose is to create
  batch files and small programs. It
  differs from MS EDLIN in that first, it's free software, and second,
  the user interface is slightly different in a few places. The reason
  for the difference is so that the user does not have to type in
  control characters mandated by EDLIN's syntax.
  EDLIN supports NLS (national language support).

Examples:

  edlin c:\config.sys  Opens the file config.sys for editing.
  edlin                If no file is specified, edline begins with a
                       blank document.
  I want to enter and save four sentences, one below the other.

  This is sentence four.
  This is sentence three.
  This is sentence three.
  This is sentence one.

  (from edlin's * prompt, with an empty buffer...)

  i
  This is sentence four.
  This is sentence three.
  This is sentence three.
  This is sentence one.
  .

  Now I want to save these four sentences in a .txt file at C:\test.txt

  wc:\test.txt

  Then I find out that the third sentence is wrong (correct: This is 
  sentence two). How to correct and to save it?

  3rthree,two
  wc:\test1.txt

  Then I want to add a fifth sentence at the beginning (This is sentence
  five). How to add it?

  1i
  This is sentence five.
  .
  wc:\test2.txt

  I want to see if everything is correct.

  l

  I want to exit.

  q

Command: edlin

Syntax:

Options:

Comments:

Examples:

See also: