NEDIT(1) NEdit documentation NEDIT(1)

NAME

NEdit - Text Editor

SYNOPSYS

nedit [-read] [-create] [-line n | +n] [-server]
[-do command] [-tags file] [-tabs n]
[-wrap] [-nowrap] [-autowrap]
[-autoindent] [-noautoindent]
[-autosave] [-noautosave]
[-lm languagemode] [-rows n] [-columns n]
[-font font]
[-geometry|-g geometry] [-iconic] [-noiconic]
[-display [host]:server[.screen]]
[-xrm resourcestring]
[-svrname name] [-import file]
[-background|-bg color] [-foreground|-fg color]
[-tabbed] [-untabbed] [-group]
[-V|-version] [-h|-help] [--] [file...]

DESCRIPTION

NEdit is a standard GUI (Graphical User Interface) style text editor
for programs and plain-text files. It provides mouse based editing
and a streamlined editing style, based on popular Macintosh and MS
Windows editors, for users of X workstations and X terminals.

OPTIONS

-read
Open the file read-only regardless of the actual file protection.

-create
Don't warn about file creation when a file doesn't exist.

-line n, +n
Go to line number n.

-server
Designate this session as an NEdit server, for processing
commands from the nc(1) program. nc(1) can be used to interface
NEdit to code development environments, mailers, etc., or just as
a quick way to open files from the shell command line without
starting a new NEdit session.

-do command
Execute an NEdit macro or action on the file following the -do
argument on the command line. -do is particularly useful from the
nc(1) program, where `nc -do' can remotely execute commands in an
nedit -server session.

-tags file
Load a file of directions for finding definitions of program
subroutines and data objects. The file must be of the format
generated by Exuberant Ctags, or the standard Unix ctags(1)
command.

-tabs n
Set tab stops every n characters.

-wrap, -nowrap
Wrap long lines at the right edge of the window rather than
continuing them past it. (Continuous Wrap mode)

-autowrap, -noautowrap
Wrap long lines when the cursor reaches the right edge of the
window by inserting newlines at word boundaries. (Auto Newline
Wrap mode)

-autoindent, -noautoindent
Maintain a running indent.

-autosave, -noautosave
Maintain a backup copy of the file being edited under the name
~filename (on Unix) or _filename (on VMS).

-lm languagemode
Initial language mode used for editing succeeding files.

-rows n
Default height in characters for an editing window.

-columns n
Default width in characters for an editing window.

-font font, -fn font
Font for text being edited. Font for menus and dialogs can be set
with -xrm "*fontList:font".

-geometry geometry, -g geometry
The initial size and/or location of editor windows. The argument
geometry has the form:

[<width>x<height>][+|-][<xoffset>[+|-]<yoffset>]

where C`<width>' and "<height>" are the desired width and height
of the window, and <xoffset> and C`<yoffset>' are the distance
from the edge of the screen to the window, + for top or left, -
for bottom or right. -geometry can be specified for individual
files on the command line.

-iconic, -noiconic
Initial window state for succeeding files.

-display [host]:server[.screen]
The name of the X server to use. host specifies the machine,
server specifies the display server number, and screen specifies
the screen number. host or screen can be omitted and default to
the local machine, and screen 0.

-background color, -bg color
Background color. The background color for text can be set
separately with -xrm "nedit*text.background: color".

-foreground color, -fg color
Foreground color. The foreground color for text can be set
separately with -xrm "nedit*text.foreground: color".

-xrm resourcestring
Set the value of an X resource to override a default value.

-svrname name
When starting nedit in server mode, name the server, such that it
responds to requests only when nc(1) is given a corresponding
-svrname argument. By naming servers, you can run several
simultaneously, and direct files and commands specifically to any
one. Specifying a non-empty name automatically designates this
session as an NEdit server, as though -server were specified.

-import file
Loads an additional preferences file on top of the existing
defaults saved in your nedit.rc file. To incorporate macros,
language modes, and highlight patterns and styles written by
other users, run nedit with -import <file>, then re-save your
nedit.rc file with Preferences->Save Defaults.

-tabbed
Open all subsequent files in new tabs. Resets -group option.

-untabbed
Open all subsequent files in new windows. Resets -group option.

-group
Open all subsequent files as tabs in a new window.

-V, -version
Prints version and build information, to be mentioned when
reporting bugs and problems.

-h, -help
Prints the command line help and then exits.

-- Treats all subsequent arguments as file names, even if they start
with a dash. This is so NEdit can access files that begin with
the dash character.

ENVIRONMENT

DISPLAY
NEdit requires an X-based workstation or X-Terminal. If you have
used telnet or rlogin to access the host Unix system, set the
Unix environment variable for your display:

csh-type shells:

% setenv DISPLAY devicename:0

sh-type shells:

% DISPLAY=devicename:0 && export DISPLAY

NEDIT_HOME
This environment variable can be set to the name of a directory.
This directory will then be used instead of `$HOME/.nedit' as the
base directory for NEdit's special files (see section FILES,
below).

This variable is new to NEdit 5.4.

FILES

From version 5.4 on, NEdit creates a directory in which NEdit's
special files reside. This directory is named '.nedit' by default.

nedit.rc
This is an X resource file which contains most user settings for
NEdit. It is read at startup and written by selecting the item
'Save Defaults...' in the Preferences menu. Do not edit this file
by hand, all settings can be reached via the 'Default Settings'
menu.

nedit.history
The list of recently opened files. Do not edit this file by hand.

autoload.nm
A file that can contain a number of NEdit Macro Language
statements and subroutine definitions. The statements will be
executed when an NEdit server starts, the subroutines will be
loaded for later reference. This file will not be created or
modified by NEdit (unless you load it and edit it of course).

Note that NEdit still supports the older names for these files, which
were used by version 5.3 and below. These file names are
`$HOME/.nedit', `$HOME/.neditdb' and `$HOME/.neditmacro',
respectively. The old naming scheme will be used if NEdit detects
that `$HOME/.nedit' is a regular file and NEDIT_HOME isn't set.

See also the entry for NEDIT_HOME under ENVIRONMENT, above.

NOTES

For more information see NEdit's online help, or nedit.doc in the
NEdit distribution kit.

NEdit sources, executables, additional documentation, and contributed
software are available from the NEdit web site at http://nedit.org.

SEE ALSO

nc(1), X(1), mwm(1), ctags(1), etags(1)

AUTHORS

NEdit was written by Mark Edel, Joy Kyriakopulos, Christopher Conrad,
Jim Clark, Arnulfo Zepeda-Navratil, Suresh Ravoor, Tony Balinski, Max
Vohlken, Yunliang Yu, Donna Reid, Arne Forlie, Eddy De Greef, Steve
LoBasso, Alexander Mai, Scott Tringali, Thorsten Haude, Steve Haehn,
Andrew Hood, Nathaniel Gray, and TK Soh.

The regular expression matching routines used in NEdit are adapted
(with permission) from original code written by Henry Spencer at the
University of Toronto.

Syntax highlighting patterns and smart indent macros were contributed
by: Simon T. MacDonald, Maurice Leysens, Matt Majka, Alfred Smeenk,
Alain Fargues, Christopher Conrad, Scott Markinson, Konrad Bernloehr,
Ivan Herman, Patrice Venant, Christian Denat, Philippe Couton, Max
Vohlken, Markus Schwarzenberg, Himanshu Gohel, Steven C. Kapp,
Michael Turomsha, John Fieber, Chris Ross, Nathaniel Gray, Joachim
Lous, Mike Duigou, Seak Teng-Fong, Joor Loohuis, Mark Jones, and Niek
van den Berg.

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

In addition, as a special exception to the GNU GPL, the copyright
holders give permission to link the code of this program with the
Motif and Open Motif libraries (or with modified versions of these
that use the same license), and distribute linked combinations
including the two. You must obey the GNU General Public License in
all respects for all of the code used other than linking with
Motif/Open Motif. If you modify this file, you may extend this
exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to
do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement
from your version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License in the Help section "Distribution Policy" for
more details.

NEdit 5.7 2017-02-04 NEDIT(1)