Ubuntu Manpage: pico - simple text editor in the style of the Alpine Composer

Provided by: alpine-pico_2.10+dfsg-1_amd64

Name

       pico - simple text editor in the style of the Alpine Composer

Syntax

       pico [ options ] [ file ]

Description

Pico 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, pico 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.

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.

More specific help is available in pico's online help.

Options

+n Causes pico to be started with the cursor located n lines into the file. (Note: no
space between "+" sign and number)

-a Display all files including those beginning with a period (.).

-b 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).

-d Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is rubbed out rather than
the character to its left.

-e Enable file name completion.

-f Use function keys for commands. This option supported only in conjunction with UW
Enhanced NCSA telnet.

-h List valid command line options.

-j Enable "Goto" command in the file browser. This enables the command to permit
explicitly telling pilot which directory to visit.

-g 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.

-k Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor position to the end
of the line rather than remove the entire line.

-m Enable mouse functionality. This only works when pico is run from within an X
Window System "xterm" window.

-nn The -nn option enables new mail notification. The n argument is optional, and
specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is checked for new mail. For
example, -n60 causes pico 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)

-o dir Sets operating directory. Only files within this directory are accessible.
Likewise, the file browser is limited to the specified directory subtree.

-rn Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin

-s speller
Specify an alternate program spell to use when spell checking.

-t Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when pico is used as the editor within other
tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews). Pico will not prompt for save on exit, and will not
rename the buffer during the "Write Out" command.

-v View the file only, disallowing any editing.

-version
Print Pico version and exit.

-w Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines).

-x Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.

-z Enable ^Z suspension of pico.

-p 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.

-Q quotestr
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 "> ".

-W word_separators
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.

-q Termcap or terminfo definition for input escape sequences are used in preference to
sequences defined by default. This option is only available if pico was compiled
with the TERMCAP_WINS define turned on.

-setlocale_ctype
Do setlocale(LC_CTYPE) if available. Default is to not do this setlocale.

-no_setlocale_collate
Do not do setlocale(LC_COLLATE). Default is to do this setlocale.

Lastly, when a running pico is disconnected (i.e., receives a SIGHUP), pico 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".

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.

Files

       pico.save        Unnamed interrupted work saved here.
       *.save           Interrupted work on a named file is saved here.

Authors

       Michael Seibel <mikes@cac.washington.edu>
       Laurence Lundblade <lgl@cac.washington.edu>
       Pico was originally derived from MicroEmacs 3.6, by Dave G. Conroy.
       Copyright 1989-2008 by the University of Washington.