pico(1)
pico(1) USER COMMANDS pico(1)
Name
pico - simple text editor in the style of the Alpine Com-
poser
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 char-
acter, e.g. "ESC ESC c" would be equivalent to entering a
ctrl-c. The editor has five basic features: paragraph jus-
tification, 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. Para-
graphs are delimited by blank lines, or by lines beginning
with a space or tab. Unjustification can be done immedi-
ately after justification using the control-U key combina-
tion.
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 can-
celled 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.
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pico(1) USER COMMANDS pico(1)
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 selec-
tion. 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 dele-
tion.
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 cur-
sor 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
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pico(1) USER COMMANDS pico(1)
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 communi-
cations 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.
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pico(1) USER COMMANDS pico(1)
-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 '$' char-
acter at the end of the line. Long lines are scrolled hor-
izontally 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.
See Also
alpine(1)
Source distribution (part of the Alpine Message System):
$Date: 2009-02-02 13:54:23 -0600 (Mon, 02 Feb 2009) $
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