1pico(1) General Commands Manual pico(1)
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6 pico - simple text editor in the style of the Alpine Composer
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9 pico [ options ] [ file ]
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12 Pico is a simple, display-oriented text editor based on the Alpine mes‐
13 sage system composer. As with Alpine, commands are displayed at the
14 bottom of the screen, and context-sensitive help is provided. As char‐
15 acters are typed they are immediately inserted into the text.
16 Editing commands are entered using control-key combinations. As a
18 work-around for communications programs that swallow certain control
19 characters, you can emulate a control key by pressing ESCAPE twice,
20 followed by the desired control character, e.g. "ESC ESC c" would be
21 equivalent to entering a ctrl-c. The editor has five basic features:
22 paragraph justification, searching, block cut/paste, a spelling
23 checker, and a file browser.
24 Paragraph justification (or filling) takes place in the paragraph that
26 contains the cursor, or, if the cursor is between lines, in the para‐
27 graph immediately below. Paragraphs are delimited by blank lines, or
28 by lines beginning with a space or tab. Unjustification can be done
29 immediately after justification using the control-U key combination.
30 String searches are not sensitive to case. A search begins at the cur‐
32 rent cursor position and wraps around the end of the text. The most
33 recent search string is offered as the default in subsequent searches.
34 Blocks of text can be moved, copied or deleted with creative use of the
36 command for mark (ctrl-^), delete (ctrl-k) and undelete (ctrl-u). The
37 delete command will remove text between the "mark" and the current cur‐
38 sor position, and place it in the "cut" buffer. The undelete command
39 effects a "paste" at the current cursor position.
40 The spell checker examines all words in the text. It then offers, in
42 turn, each misspelled word for correction while highlighting it in the
43 text. Spell checking can be cancelled at any time. Alternatively,
44 pico will substitute for the default spell checking routine a routine
45 defined by the SPELL environment variable. The replacement routine
46 should read standard input and write standard output.
47 The file browser is offered as an option in the "Read File" and "Write
49 Out" command prompts. It is intended to help in searching for specific
50 files and navigating directory hierarchies. Filenames with sizes and
51 names of directories in the current working directory are presented for
52 selection. The current working directory is displayed on the top line
53 of the display while the list of available commands takes up the bottom
54 two. Several basic file manipulation functions are supported: file
55 renaming, copying, and deletion.
56 More specific help is available in pico's online help.
58
60 +n Causes pico to be started with the cursor located n lines into
61 the file. (Note: no space between "+" sign and number)
62 -a Display all files including those beginning with a period (.).
64 -b Enable the option to Replace text matches found using the "Where
66 is" command. This now does nothing. Instead, the option is
67 always turned on (as if the -b flag had been specified).
68 -d Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is
70 rubbed out rather than the character to its left.
71 -e Enable file name completion.
73 -f Use function keys for commands. This option supported only in
75 conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.
76 -h List valid command line options.
78 -j Enable "Goto" command in the file browser. This enables the
80 command to permit explicitly telling pilot which directory to
81 visit.
82 -g Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser. Cause cursor to be
84 positioned before the current selection rather than placed at
85 the lower left of the display.
86 -k Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor
88 position to the end of the line rather than remove the entire
89 line.
90 -m Enable mouse functionality. This only works when pico is run
92 from within an X Window System "xterm" window.
93 -nn The -nn option enables new mail notification. The n argument is
95 optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is
96 checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes pico to check
97 for new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180
98 seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space
99 between "n" and the number)
100 -o dir Sets operating directory. Only files within this directory are
102 accessible. Likewise, the file browser is limited to the speci‐
103 fied directory subtree.
104 -rn Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin
106 -s speller
108 Specify an alternate program spell to use when spell checking.
109 -t Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when pico is used as the edi‐
111 tor within other tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews). Pico will not prompt
112 for save on exit, and will not rename the buffer during the
113 "Write Out" command.
114 -v View the file only, disallowing any editing.
116 -version
118 Print Pico version and exit.
119 -w Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines).
121 -x Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.
123 -z Enable ^Z suspension of pico.
125 -p Preserve the "start" and "stop" characters, typically Ctrl-Q and
127 Ctrl-S, which are sometimes used in communications paths to con‐
128 trol data flow between devices that operate at different speeds.
129 -Q quotestr
131 Set the quote string. Especially useful when composing email,
132 setting this allows the quote string to be checked for when Jus‐
133 tifying paragraphs. A common quote string is "> ".
134 -W word_separators
136 If characters listed here appear in the middle of a word sur‐
137 rounded by alphanumeric characters that word is split into two
138 words. This is used by the Forward and Backward word commands
139 and by the spell checker.
140 -q Termcap or terminfo definition for input escape sequences are
142 used in preference to sequences defined by default. This option
143 is only available if pico was compiled with the TERMCAP_WINS
144 define turned on.
145 -setlocale_ctype
147 Do setlocale(LC_CTYPE) if available. Default is to not do this
148 setlocale.
149 -no_setlocale_collate
151 Do not do setlocale(LC_COLLATE). Default is to do this setlo‐
152 cale.
153 Lastly, when a running pico is disconnected (i.e., receives a SIGHUP),
155 pico will save the current work if needed before exiting. Work is
156 saved under the current filename with ".save" appended. If the current
157 work is unnamed, it is saved under the filename "pico.save".
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160 The manner in which lines longer than the display width are dealt is
161 not immediately obvious. Lines that continue beyond the edge of the
162 display are indicated by a '$' character at the end of the line. Long
163 lines are scrolled horizontally as the cursor moves through them.
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166 pico.save Unnamed interrupted work saved here.
167 *.save Interrupted work on a named file is saved here.
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170 Michael Seibel <mikes@cac.washington.edu>
171 Laurence Lundblade <lgl@cac.washington.edu>
172 Pico was originally derived from MicroEmacs 3.6, by Dave G. Conroy.
173 Copyright 1989-2008 by the University of Washington.
174
176 alpine(1)
177 Source distribution (part of the Alpine Message System):
178 $Date: 2008-03-14 16:53:39 -0700 (Fri, 14 Mar 2008) $
180 Version 5.01 pico(1)