Index Menus Panels Troubleshooting Key glossary
Glossary of terminologyGlossary of terminology
- ASCII
-
American Standard Code for Information Interchange refers to
the standard first 127 characters of the 256 character ISO
character set, which is compatible with MS-DOS and
Macintosh. A file in ASCII is a text which
contains plain text without any additional information such as
fonts, text rulers or pictures.
- Auto indent
-
When this function is switched on through Auto indent (Options menu, Alt Shift I), Edith will
automatically indent lines created when you press the Return
key.
- Auto wrap
-
When this function is switched on through Auto wrap (Options menu, Alt Shift W), a word will
automatically be moved to the next line when it exceeds the right
margin.
- Backup
-
A copy of a file made just before a new version is written to
disk. Switched on off under File options... (Options menu, Shift Ctrl F). See also carbon
copy. By default, the name of a backup file is obtained from
the original name by adding the suffix
.bak
. Backups are
not made for files whose name contains /tmp/
.
- Binary
-
A file that contains arbitrary data (not text). See editing binary files.
- BSL
-
A bounded stack language is a language definition used for
syntax highlighting.
- Buffer
-
A piece of text, divided into fragments, stored in computer
memory, but not part of a text window. Edith has two text buffers
available to the user, the cut buffer and the trash
buffer. A number of additional buffers exist in the underlying
system (for undo and selection).
- Carbon copy
-
A copy of a file saved automatically at regular intervals, when
abandoning the contents of a text window, or when the editor exits
unexpectedly and files were modified. See file
options panel. By default, the name of a backup file is
obtained from the original name by adding the suffix
.ecc
.
- Cut buffer
-
The buffer containing data from Copy (Edit menu, Alt C) and Cut (Edit menu, Alt X).
- Default text window
-
A normal window for editing text, whose file name does not match
the patterns set for any user defined text modes.
Text window appearance and ruler settings for Default setup
apply.
- Dialog (window)
-
A non-text window (panel).
- Dribble
-
A line macro.
- Editor tab
-
A number of blanks (ASCII code 32) generated by pressing the
Tab key.
- Editor tab stop
-
A triangle, normally in the lower row of triangles, in the text
ruler. These tab stops are used when tab key generates edit
tabs is selected in the text ruler panel.
- Filter
-
An external, text based UNIX program called by Edith, that is
invoked on a selected fragment of text in a window, and whose
output is substituted for the selected text.
- Font
-
A type face including size and text attributes (e.g., boldface).
- Fragment
-
A continuous piece of text within a selection or a part of
a text buffer.
- Input queue
-
When the number of files to open in one go exceeds a number set
in the file options panel, Edith will ask
whether some of the files should be put in the input queue.
- Insert mode
-
When Edith is switched to insert mode using Replace mode (Mark menu, Insert), what
you type in text windows will be inserted into the text. This is
the default behaviour.
- Macro
-
Edith has line-macros only; they are called dribbles.
- Marker
-
Each text window (except browsers) has four text position
markers. These are set by Put marker (Mark menu, Alt P), and traversed using
Back (Browse menu, Alt Left) and Forward (Browse menu, Alt Right).
- Mode
-
See text window mode.
- North-East Quadrant
-
The vertical mirror image of a south-east quadrant.
- Panel font
-
The font used in dialog panels. Set under Text display/fonts... (Options menu, Shift Ctrl D).
- Record, rec
-
Record a dribble.
- Queue
-
See input queue.
- Replace mode
-
When Edith is switched to replace mode using Replace mode (Mark menu, Insert), what
you type in a text window will erase other text. Default is
insert mode. Replace mode is indicated with a block-style
text cursor. In replace mode, the behaviour of Delete (Edit menu, Alt Shift X) and
Overlay (Edit menu, Alt Shift V) is different.
- Selection
-
The part of the text in a text window which is selected
(highlighted). A selection can consist of an arbitrary number of
fragments. Note that unlike in other editors, while there is
a selection, there still is a cursor, and text can be typed both
inside and outside the selection. See selection.
- Shortcut (1)
-
An abbreviation for a string of characters, expanded by pressing
the Escape key. See shortcut panel.
- Shortcut (2)
-
A key combination that activates a button or a menu item.
Shortcuts for menu items are displayed in the menus; in a button
which has a shortcut, one of the letters is underlined. The
button is then activated by pressing Alt plus that letter.
- South-East Quadrant
-
The part of the text to the right and below the cursor, until
there is a line which has at most white space beyond the current
cursor position. Created by Select south-east quadrant (Mark menu, Alt Q).
- Substitute
-
That which is substituted for a target by the search/replace
function. After searching, the cut buffer contains the
substitute(s) for the marked target(s).
- Tab
-
An editor tab or a true tab. Both refer to the space
generated by the tab key and the tab stops on the ruler,
but an editor tab consists of space characters and a true tab is
a single ASCII code (9). See text rulers panel.
- Target
-
An occurrence in a text window of the string or pattern you
are searching for.
- Text buffer
-
See buffer.
- Text window mode
-
Edith's windows are divided into 11 modes, 8 of
which are user-defined, which have different settings for
appearance and editing behaviour.
- Trash buffer
-
The trash buffer contains data discarded from text windows and
other text buffers. It can be used to retrieve data which was
accidentally lost, and can no longer be recovered by Undo (Edit menu, Alt U). See
Trash buffer (Windows menu, Shift Ctrl T).
- True tab
-
ASCII character 9, displayed as space stretching out to the next
true tab stop; appearance set under Text display/fonts... (Options menu, Shift Ctrl D).
- True tab stop
-
A triangle normally in the upper row of triangles in a text ruler.
Usually placed at 8 column intervals.
Index Menus Panels Troubleshooting Key glossary