path: root/doc/man1/pico.1

.TH pico 1 "Version 5.09"
.SH Name
pico \- simple text editor in the style of the Alpine Composer
.SH Syntax
.B pico
[
.I options
] [
.I file
]
.SH Description
\fIPico\fR is a simple, display-oriented text editor based on
the Alpine message system composer.  As with Alpine, commands are 
displayed at the bottom of the screen, and context-sensitive
help is provided.  As characters are typed they are immediately 
inserted into the text.
.PP
Editing commands are entered using control-key
combinations.  As a work-around for communications programs that
swallow certain control characters, you can emulate a control key
by pressing ESCAPE twice, followed by the desired control character,
e.g. "ESC ESC c" would be equivalent to entering a ctrl-c.
The editor has five basic features: paragraph justification,
searching, block cut/paste, a spelling checker, and a file browser.
.PP
Paragraph justification (or filling) takes place in the paragraph that
contains the cursor, or, if the cursor is between lines, in the paragraph
immediately below.  Paragraphs are delimited by blank lines, or by lines
beginning with a space or tab.  Unjustification can be done immediately
after justification using the control-U key combination. 
.PP
String searches are not sensitive to case.  A search begins at the current
cursor position and wraps around the end of the text.  The most recent   
search string is offered as the default in subsequent searches.
.PP
Blocks of text can be moved, copied or deleted with creative use of the
command for mark (ctrl-^), delete (ctrl-k) and undelete (ctrl-u).
The delete command will remove text between the "mark" and the current 
cursor position, and place it in the "cut" buffer.  The undelete command
effects a "paste" at the current cursor position.
.PP
The spell checker examines all words in the text.  It then offers, in 
turn, each misspelled word for correction while 
highlighting it in the text.  Spell checking can be cancelled at any time.  
Alternatively, \fIpico\fR will substitute for the default spell checking 
routine a routine defined by the SPELL environment variable.  The replacement 
routine should read standard input and write standard output.
.PP
The file browser is offered as an option in the "Read File" and "Write Out"
command prompts.  It is intended to help in searching for specific files 
and navigating directory hierarchies.  Filenames with sizes and names of 
directories in the current working directory are presented for selection.
The current working directory is displayed on the top line of the display 
while the list of available commands takes up the bottom two.  Several 
basic file manipulation functions are supported:  file renaming, copying, 
and deletion.
.PP
More specific help is available in \fIpico\fR's online help.
.SH Options
.IP \fB+\fIn\fB\fR
Causes \fIpico\fR to be started with the cursor located \fIn\fR lines 
into the file. (Note: no space between "+" sign and number)
.IP \fB-a\fR
Display all files including those beginning with a period (.).
.IP \fB-b\fR
Enable the option to Replace text matches found using the
"Where is" command. This now does nothing. Instead, the option is
always turned on (as if the -b flag had been specified).
.IP \fB-d\fR
Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is rubbed out
rather than the character to its left.
.IP \fB-e\fR
Enable file name completion.
.IP \fB-f\fR
Use function keys for commands.  This option supported only in 
conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.
.IP \fB-h\fR
List valid command line options.
.IP \fB-j\fR
Enable "Goto" command in the file browser.  This enables the command to
permit explicitly telling \fIpilot\fR which directory to visit.
.IP \fB-g\fR
Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser.  Cause cursor to be positioned
before the current selection rather than placed at the lower left of the
display.
.IP \fB-k\fR
Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor position
to the end of the line rather than remove the entire line.
.IP \fB-m\fR
Enable mouse functionality.  This only works when \fIpico\fR is run from
within an X Window System "xterm" window.
.IP \fB-n\fIn\fB\fR
The \-n\fIn\fR option enables new mail notification.  The \fIn\fR 
argument is optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your 
mailbox is checked for new mail.  For example, \-n60 causes \fIpico\fR 
to check for new mail once every minute.  The default interval is 180 
seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and 
the number) 
.IP \fB-o\ \fIdir\fB\fR
Sets operating directory.  Only files within this directory are accessible.
Likewise, the file browser is limited to the specified directory subtree.
.IP \fB-r\fIn\fB\fR
Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin
.IP \fB-s\ \fIspeller\fR
Specify an alternate program
.I spell
to use when spell checking.
.IP \fB-t\fR
Enable "tool" mode.  Intended for when \fIpico\fR is used as the
editor within other tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews).  \fIPico\fR will not prompt
for save on exit, and will not rename the buffer during the "Write Out"
command.
.IP \fB-v\fR
View the file only, disallowing any editing.
.IP \fB-version\fR
Print Pico version and exit.
.IP \fB-w\fR
Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines).
.IP \fB-x\fR
Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.
.IP \fB-z\fR
Enable ^Z suspension of \fIpico\fR.
.IP \fB-p\fR
Preserve the "start" and "stop" characters, typically Ctrl-Q and Ctrl-S,
which are sometimes used in communications paths to control data flow
between devices that operate at different speeds.
.IP \fB-Q\ \fIquotestr\fB\fR
Set the quote string.  Especially useful when composing email, setting this 
allows the quote string to be checked for when Justifying paragraphs.
A common quote string is "> ".
.IP \fB-W\ \fIword_separators\fB\fR
If characters listed here appear in the middle of a word surrounded by
alphanumeric characters that word is split into two words. This is used by
the Forward and Backward word commands and by the spell checker.
.IP \fB-q\fR
Termcap or terminfo definition for input escape sequences are used in
preference to sequences defined by default.  This option is only available
if \fIpico\fR was compiled with the TERMCAP_WINS define turned on.
.IP \fB-setlocale_ctype\fR
Do setlocale(LC_CTYPE) if available. Default is to not do this setlocale.
.IP \fB-no_setlocale_collate\fR
Do not do setlocale(LC_COLLATE). Default is to do this setlocale.
.PP
Lastly, when a running \fIpico\fR is disconnected (i.e., receives a 
SIGHUP), \fIpico\fR will save the current work if needed before exiting.
Work is saved under the current filename with ".save" appended.
If the current work is unnamed, it is saved under the filename "pico.save".
.PP
.SH Color Support
If your terminal supports colors, Pico can be configured to color
text. Users can configure the color of the text, the text in the key menu,
the titlebar, messages and prompt in the status line. As an added feature
Pico can also be used to configure the color of up to three different
levels of quoted text, and the signature of an email message. This is 
useful when Pico is used as a tool (with the -t command line switch.)
.PP
Pico can tell you the number of colors that your terminal supports, when
started with the switch -color_codes. In addition Pico will print a table
showing the numerical code of every color supported in that terminal. In order
to configure colors, one must use these numerical codes. For example, 0 is
for black, so in order to configure a black color, one must use its code, the
number 0.
.PP
In order to activate colors, one must use the option -ncolors with a numerical
value indicating the number of colors that your terminal supports, for example,
\fI-ncolors 256\fR indicates that the user wishes to use a table of 256 colors.
.PP
All options that control color, are four letter options. Their last two 
letters are either "fc" or "bc", indicating \fIforeground color\fR and 
\fIbacground color\fR, respectively. The first two letters indicate the 
type of text that is being configured, for example "nt" stands for 
\fInormal text\fR, so that -ntfc represents the color of the normal text,
while -ntbc represents the color of the background of normal text. Here
is a complete list of the color options supported by Pico.
.IP -color_codes
displays the number of colors supported by the terminal, and a 
table showing the association of colors and numerical codes
.IP -ncolors \fInumber\fR
activates color support in Pico, and tells Pico how many colors to use.
Depending on your terminal \fInumber\fR could be 8, 16, or 256.
.IP -ntfc \fInumber\fR
specifies the number \fInum\fR of the color to be used to color normal text.
.IP -ntbc \fInumber\fR
specifies the number \fInum\fR of the color of the background for normal text.
.IP -rtfc \fInumber\fR 	
number of the color of reverse text. Default: same as background color
of normal text (if specified.)
.IP -rtbc \fInumber\fR 	
number of the color of the background of reverse text. Default: same as 
color of normal text (if specified.)
.IP -tbfc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of the title bar. Default: same as
foreground color of reverse text.
.IP -tbbc \fInumber\fR
number of the color of background of the title bar.
.IP -klfc \fInumber\fR 	
number of the color of the text of the key label.
.IP -klbc \fInumber\fR
number of color of background of the key label.
.IP -knfc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of the key name.
.IP -knbc \fInumber\fR
number of color of background of the key name.
.IP -stfc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of the status line.
.IP -stbc \fInumber\fR
number of color of background of the status line.
.IP -prfc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of a prompt.
.IP -prbc \fInumber\fR
number of color of background of a prompt.
.IP -q1fc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of level one of quoted text.
.IP -q1bc \fnumber\fR
number of color of background of level one of quoted text. If the option
-q1bc is used, the default value of this option is the background color
or normal text.
.IP -q2fc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of level two of quoted text.
.IP -q2bc \fInumber\fR
number of color of background of level two of quoted text. If the option
-q1bc is used, the default value of this option is the background color
or normal text.
.IP -q3fc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of level three of quoted text.
.IP -sbfc \fInumber\fR
number of color of text of signature block text.
.IP -sbbc n\fIumber\fR
number of color of background of signature block text.
.PP
.SH Bugs
The manner in which lines longer than the display width are dealt
is not immediately obvious.  Lines that continue beyond the edge
of the display are indicated by a '$' character at the end
of the line.  Long lines are scrolled horizontally as the cursor 
moves through them.
.SH Files
.ta 1.75i
.nf
pico.save	Unnamed interrupted work saved here.
*.save	Interrupted work on a named file is saved here.
.fi
.SH Authors
Michael Seibel <mikes@cac.washington.edu>
.br
Laurence Lundblade <lgl@cac.washington.edu>
.br
Pico was originally derived from MicroEmacs 3.6, by Dave G. Conroy.
.br
Copyright 1989-2008 by the University of Washington.
.SH "See Also"
alpine(1)
.br
Source distribution (part of the Alpine Message System):

.nf
$Date: 2009-02-02 13:54:23 -0600 (Mon, 02 Feb 2009) $