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vintage_systems:amis_editor [2025/05/13 23:22] – created smjvintage_systems:amis_editor [2025/05/14 00:47] (current) – smj
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 +<code>
 +You are looking at the AMIS tutorial.  Comments on this document
 +should be sent to the KOM conference "AMIS erfarenhetsutbyte".
  
 +AMIS commands generally involve the CONTROL key (sometimes labelled
 +CTRL or CTL) or the META key (sometimes labelled EDIT).  Rather than
 +write out META or CONTROL each time we want you to prefix a character,
 +we'll use the following abbreviations:
 +
 + C-<chr>  means hold the CONTROL key while typing the character <chr>
 +   Thus, C-F would be: hold the CONTROL key and type F.
 + M-<chr>  means hold the META or EDIT key down while typing <chr>.
 +   If there is no META or EDIT key, type <ALT>, release it,
 +   then type the character <chr>.  "<ALT>" stands for the
 +   key labelled "ALT" or "ESC".
 +
 +The characters ">>" at the left margin indicate directions for you to
 +try using a command.  For instance:
 +
 +>>  Now type C-V (View next screen) to move to the next screen.
 + (go ahead, do it by depressing the control key and V together).
 + From now on, you'll be expected to do this whenever you finish
 + reading the screen.
 +
 +Note that there is an overlap when going from screen to screen; this
 +provides some continuity when moving through the file.
 +
 +The first thing that you need to know is how to move around from
 +place to place in the file.  You already know how to move forward a
 +screen, with C-V.  To move backwards a screen, type M-V (depress the
 +META key and type V, or type <ALT>V if you don't have a META or EDIT
 +key).
 +
 +>>  Try typing M-V and then C-V to move back and forth a few times.
 +
 +
 +SUMMARY
 +-------
 +
 +The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls:
 +
 + C-V Move forward one screenful
 + M-V Move backward one screenful
 + C-L Clear screen and redisplay everything
 + putting the text near the cursor at the center.
 +
 +>> Find the cursor and remember what text is near it.
 +   Then type a C-L.
 +   Find the cursor again and see what text is near it now.
 +
 +
 +WARNING
 +-------
 +
 +For the moment, some of the commands described here have not been implemented
 +yet. If you try to use of of them, you will get the
 +"NYI? Function is Not Yet Implemented" error message. Also, some commands
 +do not yet function exactly as described here. When you encounter one
 +of those cases, have forbearance.
 +
 +
 +BASIC CURSOR CONTROL
 +--------------------
 +
 +Getting from screenful to screenful is useful, but how do you
 +reposition yourself within a given screen to a specific place?
 +There are several ways you can do this.  One way (not the best, but
 +the most basic) is to use the commands previous, backward, forward
 +and next.  As you can imagine these commands (which are given to
 +AMIS as C-P, C-B, C-F, and C-N  respectively) move the cursor from
 +where it currently is to a new place in the given direction.  Here,
 +in a more graphical form are the commands:
 + 
 +   Previous line, C-P
 +   :
 +   :
 +   Backward, C-B .... Current cursor position .... Forward, C-F
 +   :
 +   :
 +   Next line, C-N
 +
 +You'll probably find it easy to think of these by letter.  P for
 +previous, N for next, B for backward and F for forward.  These are
 +the basic cursor positioning commands and you'll be using them ALL
 +the time so it would be of great benefit if you learn them now.
 +
 +>> Do a few C-N's to bring the cursor down to this line.
 +
 +>> Move into the line with C-F's and then up with C-P's.
 +   See what C-P does when the cursor is in the middle of the line.
 +
 +Lines are separated by a pair of characters, a Return and a Linefeed,
 +but AMIS almost always makes them look like one character.  You
 +can think of it as a Newline.
 +
 +>> Try to C-B at the beginning of a line.  Do a few more C-B's.
 +   Then do C-F's back to the end of the line and beyond.
 +
 +When you go off the top or bottom of the screen, the text beyond
 +the edge is shifted onto the screen so that your instructions can
 +be carried out while keeping the cursor on the screen.
 +
 +>> Try to move the cursor off the bottom of the screen with C-N and
 +   see what happens.
 +
 +If moving by characters is too slow, you can move by words.  M-F
 +(Meta-F) moves forward a word and M-B moves back a word.
 +
 +>> Type a few M-F's and M-B's.  Intersperse them with C-F's and C-B's.
 +
 +Notice the parallel between C-F and C-B on the one hand, and M-F and
 +M-B on the other hand.  Very often Meta characters are used for
 +operations related to English text whereas Control characters operate
 +on the basic textual units that are independent of what you are
 +editing (characters, lines, etc).  There is a similar parallel between
 +lines and sentences: C-A and C-E move to the beginning or end of a
 +line, and M-A and M-E move to the beginning or end of a sentence.
 +
 +>> Try a couple of C-A's, and then a couple of C-E's.
 +   Try a couple of M-A's, and then a couple of M-E's.
 +
 +See how repeated C-A's do nothing, but repeated M-A's
 +keep moving farther.  Do you think that this is right?
 +
 +Two other simple cursor motion commands are M-< (Meta Less-than),
 +which moves to the beginning of the file, and M-> (Meta Greater-than),
 +which moves to the end of the file.  You probably don't need to try
 +them, since finding this spot again will be boring.  If you need the
 +shift key to type a "<", then you must also use the shift key to type
 +M-<.  Otherwise, you would be typing M-, .
 +
 +The location of the cursor in the text is also called "point".  To
 +paraphrase, the cursor shows on the screen where point is located in
 +the text.
 +
 +Here is a summary of simple moving operations including
 +the word and sentence moving commands:
 +
 + C-F Move forward a character
 + C-B Move backward a character
 +
 + M-F Move forward a word
 + M-B Move backward a word
 +
 + C-N Move to next line
 + C-P Move to previous line
 +
 + C-A Move to beginning of line
 + C-E Move to end of line
 +
 + M-A Move back to beginning of sentence
 + M-E Move forward to end of sentence
 +
 + M-< Go to beginning of file
 + M-> Go to end of file
 +
 +>> Try all of these commands now a few times for practice.
 +   Since the last two will take you away from this screen,
 +   you can come back here with M-V's and C-V's.  These are
 +   the most often used commands.
 +
 +Like all other commands in AMIS, these commands can be given
 +arguments which cause them to be executed repeatedly.  The way you
 +give a command a repeat count is by typing C-U and then the digits
 +before you type the command.  If you have a META or EDIT key, you can
 +omit the C-U if you hold down the META or EDIT key while you type the
 +digits.  This is easier, but we recommend the C-U method because it
 +works on any terminal.
 +
 +For instance, C-U 8 C-F moves forward eight characters.
 +
 +>> Try giving a suitable argument to C-N or C-P to come as close
 +   as you can to this line in one jump.
 +
 +The only apparent exception to this is the screen moving commands,
 +C-V and M-V.  When given an argument, they scroll the screen up or
 +down by that many lines, rather than screenfuls.  This proves to be
 +much more useful.
 +
 +>> Try typing C-U 8 C-V now.
 +
 +Did it scroll the screen up by 8 lines?  If you would like to
 +scroll it down you can give an argument to M-V.
 +
 +
 +WHEN AMIS IS HUNG
 +-----------------
 +
 +If you want to interrupt AMIS when it is waiting for input, you can
 +stop it safely by typing C-G.
 +You can also use C-G to discard a numeric argument or the beginning of
 +a command that you don't want to finish.
 +
 +>> Type C-U 100 to make a numeric arg of 100, then type C-G.
 +   Now type C-F.  How many characters does it move?
 +   If you have typed an <ALT> by mistake, you can get rid of it
 +   with a C-G.
 +
 +Note that you can only use C-G to interrupt AMIS when it is waiting for
 +input. If AMIS is running, the only way to stop it is typing one or two
 +C-C's to get to the monitor and then give the "REENTER" command to the
 +monitor. Note that this is a dangerous procedure that might cause your
 +text buffer to be corrupted! Don't use it unless you absolutely have to.
 +
 +
 +INSERTING AND DELETING
 +----------------------
 +
 +If you want to type text, just do it.  Characters which you can see,
 +such as A, 7, *, etc. are taken by AMIS as text and inserted
 +immediately.  Type <Return> (the carriage-return key) to insert a line
 +separator.
 +
 +You can delete the last character you typed by typing <Rubout>.
 +<Rubout> is a key on the keyboard, which may be labelled "Delete"
 +instead of "Rubout" on some terminals.  More generally, <Rubout>
 +deletes the character immediately before the current cursor position.
 +
 +>> Do this now, type a few characters and then delete them
 +   by typing <Rubout> a few times.  Don't worry about this file
 +   being changed; you won't affect the master tutorial.  This is just
 +   a copy of it.
 +
 +>> Now start typing text until you reach the right margin, and keep
 +   typing.  When a line of text gets too big for one line on the
 +   screen, the line of text is "continued" onto a second screen line.
 +   The exclamation mark at the right margin indicates a line which has
 +   been continued.
 +>> Use <Rubout>s to delete the text until the line fits on one screen
 +   line again.  The continuation line goes away.
 +
 +>> Move the cursor to the beginning of a line and type <Rubout>.  This
 +   deletes the line separator before the line and merges the line onto
 +   the previous line.  The resulting line may be too long to fit, in
 +   which case it has a continuation line.
 +>> Type <Return> to insert the separator again.
 +
 +Remember that most AMIS commands can be given a repeat count;  Note
 +that this includes characters which insert themselves.
 +
 +>>  Try that now -- type C-U 8 * and see what happens.
 +
 +You've now learned the most basic way of typing something in
 +AMIS and correcting errors.  You can delete by words or lines
 +as well.  Here is a summary of the delete operations:
 +
 + <Rubout>     delete the character just before the cursor
 + C-D         delete the next character after the cursor
 +
 + M-<Rubout>   kill the word immediately before the cursor
 + M-D      kill the next word after the cursor
 +
 + C-K      kill from the cursor position to end of line
 + M-K      kill to the end of the current sentence
 +
 +Notice that <Rubout> and C-D vs M-<Rubout> and M-D extend the parallel
 +started by C-F and M-F (well, <Rubout> isn't really a control
 +character, but let's not worry about that).  C-K and M-K are like C-E
 +and M-E, sort of, in that lines are opposite sentences.
 +
 +Now suppose you kill something, and then you decide that you want to
 +get it back?  Well, whenever you kill something bigger than a
 +character, AMIS saves it for you.  To yank it back, use C-Y.  Note
 +that you don't have to be in the same place to do C-Y; This is a good
 +way to move text around.  Also note that the difference between
 +"Killing" and "Deleting" something is that "Killed" things can be
 +yanked back, and "Deleted" things cannot.  Generally, the commands
 +that can destroy a lot of text save it, while the ones that attack
 +only one character, or nothing but blank lines and spaces, do not
 +save.
 +
 +For instance, type C-N a couple times to postion the cursor
 +at some line on this screen.
 +
 +>> Do this now, move the cursor and kill that line with C-K.
 +
 +Note that a single C-K kills the contents of the line, and a second
 +C-K kills the line itself, and make all the other lines move up.  If
 +you give C-K a repeat count, it kills that many lines AND their
 +contents.
 +
 +The text that has just disappeared is saved so that you can
 +retrieve it.  To retrieve the last killed text and put it where
 +the cursor currently is, type C-Y.
 +
 +>> Try it; type C-Y to yank the text back.
 +
 +Think of C-Y as if you were yanking something back that someone
 +took away from you.  Notice that if you do several C-K's in a row
 +the text that is killed is all saved together so that one C-Y will
 +yank all of the lines.
 +
 +>> Do this now, type C-K several times.
 +
 +Now to retrieve that killed text:
 +
 +>> Type C-Y.  Then move the cursor down a few lines and type C-Y
 +   again.  You now see how to copy some text.
 +
 +
 +FILES
 +-----
 +
 +In order to make the text you edit permanent, you must put it in a
 +file.  Otherwise, it will go away when your invocation of AMIS goes
 +away.  You put your editing in a file by "visiting" the file.  What
 +visiting means is that you see the contents of the file in your AMIS;
 +and, loosely speaking, what you are editing is the file itself.
 +However, the changes still don't become permanent until you "save" the
 +file.  This is so you can have control to avoid leaving a half-changed
 +file around when you don't want to.  Even then, AMIS really makes a
 +new version of the file and doesn't change the old version at all (so
 +that you can verify or throw away your changes later if you like).
 +
 +If you look near the bottom of the screen you will see a
 +line that starts with "AMIS  (Fundamental)  Main:" and continues with
 +the filename DSKx:AMIS.TUT<some directory>. This is the name of
 +the AMIS tutorial; the file you are now visiting.  Whatever file you
 +visit, that file's name will appear in that precise spot.
 +
 +The commands for visiting and saving files are unlike the other
 +commands you have learned in that they consist of two characters.
 +They both start with the character Control-X.  There is a whole series
 +of commands that start with Control-X; many of them have to do with
 +files, buffers, and related things, and all of them consist of
 +Control-X followed by some other character.
 +
 +Another thing about the command for visiting a file is that you have
 +to say what file name you want.  We say the command "reads an argument
 +from the terminal" (in this case, the argument is the name of the
 +file).  After you type the command
 +
 + C-X C-V   Visit a file
 +
 +AMIS will ask you for the file name.  You should end the name with
 +the Return key.  After this command, you will see the contents of the
 +file in your AMIS. You can edit the contents.  When you wish to make
 +the changes permanent, issue the command
 +
 + C-X C-S   Save the file
 +
 +A new version of the file will be created.  When the operation is
 +finished, AMIS prints the name of the file saved.  You should save
 +fairly often, so that you will not lose very much work if the system
 +should crash.
 +
 +To make a new file, just visit it "as if" it already existed.  Then
 +start typing in the text.  When you ask to "save" the file, AMIS
 +will really create the file with the text that you have inserted.
 +From then on, you can consider yourself to be editing an already
 +existing file.
 +
 +It is not easy for you to try out visiting a file and continue with
 +the tutorial.  But you can always come back into the tutorial by
 +starting it over and skipping forward.  So, when you feel ready, you
 +should try visiting a file named "FOO", putting some text in it, and
 +saving it; then exit from AMIS and look at the file to be sure that
 +it worked.
 +
 +
 +EXTENDING THE COMMAND SET
 +-------------------------
 +
 +There are many, many more AMIS commands than could possibly be put
 +on all the control and meta characters.  AMIS gets around this with
 +the X (eXtend) command.  This comes in two flavors:
 +
 + C-X Character eXtend.  Followed by one character.
 + M-X Named command eXtend.  Followed by a long name.
 +
 +These are commands that are generally useful but used less than the
 +commands you have already learned about.  You have already seen two
 +of them: the file commands C-X C-V to Visit and C-X C-S to Save.
 +Another example is the command to tell AMIS that you'd
 +like to stop editing.  The command to do this is C-X C-Z. Think of
 +it as Z for zapping yourself.
 +
 +There are many C-X commands.  The ones you need immediately are:
 +
 + C-X C-V Visit file.
 + C-X C-S Save file.
 + C-X C-Z Quit AMIS.  This does NOT save your file.  The
 + standard way to save and exit is C-X C-S C-X C-Z.
 +
 +Named eXtend commands are commands which are used even less
 +frequently, or commands which are used only in certain modes.  These
 +commands are usually called "functions".  An example the function
 +Replace String which globally replaces one string with another.  When
 +you type M-X, AMIS prompts you at the bottom of the screen with
 +M-X and you should type the name of the function you wish to call; in
 +this case, "Replace String".  Just type "Replace String<Return>".
 +Then you type the string that you want to replace, a return,
 +the string you want to replace it with, and a return.
 +
 +>> Move the cursor to the blank line two lines below this one.
 +   Then type M-X replace string<Return>changed<Return>altered<Return>.
 +
 +   Notice how this line has changed: you've replaced
 +   the word c-h-a-n-g-e-d with "altered" wherever it occurs
 +   after the cursor.
 +
 +
 +
 +MODE LINE
 +---------
 +
 +If AMIS sees that you are typing commands slowly it shows them to you
 +at the bottom of the screen in an area called the echo area.  The echo
 +area contains the bottom line of the screen.  The line
 +immediately above it is called the MODE LINE.  The mode line says
 +something like
 +
 +   AMIS (Fundamental) Main: filename     --nn%-- *
 +
 +This is a very useful "information" line.
 +
 +You already know what the filename means -- it is the file you have
 +visited.  What the --nn%-- means is that nn percent of the file is
 +above the top of the screen.  If the top of the file is on the screen,
 +it will say --TOP-- instead of --00%--.  If the bottom of the file is
 +on the screen, it will say --BOT--.  If you are looking at a file so
 +small it all fits on the screen, the --nn%-- will simply not be there.
 +
 +The star means that you have made changes to the text.  Right after
 +you visit or save a file, there is no star.
 +
 +The part of the mode line inside the parentheses is to tell you what
 +modes you are in.  The default mode is Fundamental which is what you
 +are in now.  It is an example of a "major mode".  There are several
 +major modes in AMIS for editing different languages and text, such as
 +LISP mode, Text mode, etc.  At any time one and only one major mode is
 +active, and its name can always be found in the mode line just where
 +"Fundamental" is now.  Each major mode makes a few commands behave
 +differently.  For example, there are commands for creating comments in
 +a program, and since each programming language has a different idea of
 +what a comment should look like, each major mode has to insert
 +comments differently.  Each major mode is the name of an extended
 +command, which is how you get into the mode.  For example,
 +M-X Fundamental Mode is how to get into Fundamental mode.
 +
 +If you are going to be editing English text, such as this file, you
 +should probably use Text Mode.
 +>> Type M-X Text Mode<Return>.
 +
 +Don't worry, none of the commands you have learned changes in any
 +great way.  But you can now observe that periods are no longer part of
 +words when you do M-F or M-B!  Major modes are usually like that:
 +commands don't change into completely unrelated things, but they work
 +a little bit differently.
 +
 +Major modes are called major because there are also minor modes.
 +They are called minor because they aren't alternatives to the major
 +modes, just minor modifications of them.  Each minor mode can be
 +turned on or off by itself, regardless of what major mode you are in,
 +and regardless of the other minor modes.  So you can use no minor
 +modes, or one minor mode, or any combination of several minor modes.
 +
 +One minor mode which is very useful, especially for editing English
 +text, is Auto Fill mode.  When this mode is on, AMIS breaks the line
 +in between words automatically whenever the line gets too long.  You
 +can turn this mode on by doing M-X Auto Fill Mode<Return>.  When the
 +mode is on, you can turn it off by doing M-X Auto Fill Mode<Return>.
 +If the mode is off, this function turns it on, and if the mode is on,
 +this function turns it off.  This is called "toggling".
 +
 +>> Type M-X Auto Fill Mode<Return> now.  Then insert a line of "asdf "
 +   over again until you see it divide into two lines.  You must put in
 +   spaces between them because Auto Fill breaks lines only at spaces.
 +   Notice that "Fill" appears in the mode line in addition to the name
 +   of the major mode, not instead of it.
 +
 +The margin is usually set at 70 characters, but you can change it
 +with the C-X F command.  You should give the margin setting you want
 +as a numeric argument.
 +
 +>> Type C-X F with an argument of 20.  (C-U 2 0 C-X F).
 +   Then type in some text and see
 +   AMIS fill lines of 20 characters with it.  Then set the margin
 +   back to 70 using C-X F again.
 +
 +
 +SEARCHING
 +---------
 +
 +AMIS can do searches for strings (these are groups of contiguous
 +characters or words) either forward through the file or backward
 +through it.  To search for the string means that you are trying to
 +locate it somewhere in the file and have AMIS show you where the
 +occurrences of the string exist.  This type of search is somewhat
 +different from what you may be familiar with.  It is a search that is
 +performed as you type in the thing to search for.  The command to
 +initiate a search is C-S for forward search, and C-R for reverse
 +search.  BUT WAIT!  Don't do them now.  When you type C-S you'll
 +notice that the string "I-search" appears as a prompt in the echo
 +area.  This tells you that AMIS is in what is called an incremental
 +search waiting for you to type the thing that you want to search for.
 +A search is terminated by <ALT>.
 +
 +>> Now type C-S to start a search.  SLOWLY, one letter at a time,
 +   type the word 'cursor', pausing after you type each
 +   character to notice what happens to the cursor.
 +>> Type C-S to find the next occurrence of "cursor".
 +>> Now type <Rubout> four times and see how the cursor moves.
 +>> Type <Alt> to terminate the search.
 +
 +Did you see what happened?  AMIS, in an incremental search, tries to
 +go to the occurrence of the string that you've typed out so far.  To go
 +to the next occurrence of 'cursor' just type C-S again.  If no such
 +occurrence exists AMIS beeps and tells you that it is a failing
 +search.  C-G would also terminate the search.
 +
 +If you are in the middle of an incremental search and type <Rubout>,
 +you'll notice that the last character in the search string is erased
 +and the search backs up to the last place of the search.  For
 +instance, suppose you currently have typed 'cu' and you see that your
 +cursor is at the first occurrence of 'cu'.  If you now type <Rubout>,
 +the 'u' on the search line is erased and you'll be repositioned in the
 +text to the occurrence of 'c' where the search took you before you
 +typed the 'u'.  This provides a useful means for backing up while you
 +are searching.
 +
 +If you are in the middle of a search and happen to type a control
 +character (other than a C-S or C-R, which tell AMIS to search for the
 +next occurrence of the string), the search is terminated.
 +
 +The C-S starts a search that looks for any occurrence of the search
 +string AFTER the current cursor position.  But what if you want to
 +search for something earlier in the text?  To do this one should
 +type C-R for Reverse search.  Everything that applies to C-S applies
 +to C-R except that the direction of the search is reversed.
 +
 +
 +GETTING MORE HELP
 +-----------------
 +
 +In this tutorial we have tried to supply just enough information to
 +get you started using AMIS.  There is so much available in AMIS that
 +it would be impossible to explain it all here.  However, you may want
 +to learn more about AMIS since it has numerous desirable features
 +that you don't know about yet.  AMIS has a great deal of internal
 +documentation.  All of these commands can be accessed through the HELP
 +character.  If there is no key labelled "HELP" on your keyboard,
 +you can type the <HELP> character as C-_ (Control-Underscore), or with
 +the <HOLD> key, on Datamedia terminals.  Be warned: many terminals
 +are faulty and do not allow you to type the character C-_ in the
 +logical way (hold down Control and type an underscore).  For example,
 +on a VT-100 it works to hold down Control and type "/" or "?".
 +
 +To use the HELP features, type the <HELP> character, and then a
 +character saying what kind of help you want.  If you are REALLY lost,
 +type <HELP> ? and AMIS will tell you what kinds of help it can give.
 +If you have typed the <HELP> character and decide you don't want any
 +help, just type C-G to abort.
 +
 +The most basic HELP feature is <HELP> B. Type <HELP>, a B, and
 +AMIS prints a short summary of its most important commands.
 +
 +>> Type <HELP> B. When the summary has been printed, AMIS will wait
 +   for you to to type a space. When you have done that, the text in
 +   the text buffer (this text) will be restored on the screen.
 +
 +Another simple HELP feature is <HELP> C.  Type <HELP>, a C, and a
 +command character, and AMIS prints a description of the command.
 +
 +>> Type <HELP> C Control-P.  It should print
 +
 + The command Control-P runs the function ^R Up Real Line:
 + Move up vertically to the next real line.
 + Continuation lines are skipped.
 +
 +The "name of the function" is important for people who are customizing
 +AMIS.  It is what appears in the AMIS CHART as the documentation for
 +the command character.  It often starts with the characters "^R".  For
 +now you can ignore it.
 +
 +Multi-character commands such as C-X C-Z and (if you have no META or
 +EDIT key) <ALT>V are also allowed after <HELP> C.
 +
 +Here are some other useful <HELP> options:
 +
 +   <HELP> D Describe a function.  You type in the name of the
 + function.
 +
 +>> Try typing <HELP> D Replace String<Return>
 +
 +   <HELP> A Apropos.  Type in a keyword and AMIS will list
 + all the functions containing that keyword.  For some
 + functions it will also list a one or two character
 + command which has the same effect.
 +
 +>> Type <HELP> A File<Return>.  You will see a list of all functions
 +(M-X commands) with "file" in their names.  You will also see commands
 +like C-X C-V and C-X C-S, listed under the corresponding function
 +names.  When it says "--More--" at the bottom of the screen, type
 +a Space to see the rest of the list.
 +
 +
 +CONCLUSION
 +----------
 +
 +This tutorial is meant to be understandable to all new users, so if
 +you found something unclear, don't sit and blame yourself - complain!
 +
 +This file was adapted from <EMACS>TEACH-EMACS.TUTORIAL, a tutorial file
 +for EMACS, an advanced real-time screen editor of which AMIS is but a
 +faint shadow. If you have access to a PDP-10 computer running the ITS or
 +Twenex (TOPS-20) operating systems, you could benefit from all the wonders
 +of EMACS, but otherwise you will have to be satisfied with this!
 +
 +He, who useth AMIS, or any other EMACS-inspired editor, should acknowledge
 +the work of Richard M. Stallman of the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence
 +laboratory, who conceived and implemented EMACS.
 +</code>
 +
 +<code>
 +                  **** AMIS QUICK REFERENCE CARD ****
 +
 +SOME NECESSARY INFORMATION:
 +Any ordinary character goes into the buffer (no insert command needed).
 +In commands, use carriage return, shown as <CR>, after a string unless
 +the chart shows $, meaning, use ESCAPE.  
 +
 +C-            A  control character.  C-F means "control F".  C-_ means
 +              "control underscore" (use C-? on a VT100 to get C-_).
 +M-            A two-character command sequence where the first character
 +              is ESCAPE.  M-F means "ESCAPE then F".
 +M-X string    A command designated "by hand".  M-X Write Region means:
 +              ESCAPE, then "X", then type "Write Region", then <CR>.
 +Dot           AMIS term for cursor position in current buffer.
 +
 +GETTING OUT.
 +C-X C-S       Write current buffer into a new version of current file.
 +C-X C-W       Write current buffer into a file with a different name
 +C-X C-Z       Quit by exiting to the monitor.
 +M-X Push      Push to a subprocess. (Depends on the operating system.)
 +
 +BUFFER OPERATIONS.
 +C-X C-F       Get a file into a buffer for editing.
 +C-X B         Select a different buffer (prompts; default = last one).
 +C-X C-B       Display the list of available buffers.
 +C-X K         Kill a buffer (prompts; default = current one).
 +M-<           Move to the beginning of the current buffer.
 +M->           Move to the end of the current buffer.
 +
 +HELP AND HELPER FUNCTIONS.
 +C-G           Abort while AMIS expects input. (beeps; you may need 2).
 +M-? X         What does this key do? (try M-? C-K as an example).
 +C-_ A string  Show every command containing string (try C-_ A Paragr).
 +C-_ D string  Describe a command (try C-_ D Query Rep).
 +M-X Undo      Cancel a gross change already in effect.
 +C-Y           Yank back the last thing killed (not the same as deleted).
 +M-n           Provide a numeric argument of n for the next command. 
 +C-Q           Insert a control character in the buffer (e.g. C-Q C-L). 
 +
 +CHARACTER OPERATIONS.
 +C-B           Move left (Back).
 +C-F           Move right (Forward).
 +C-P           Move up (Previous).
 +C-N           Move down (Next).
 +RUBOUT        Delete left.
 +C-D           Delete right.
 +C-T           Transpose the characters before and after dot (ht -> th).
 +
 +WORD OPERATIONS.
 +M-B           Move left (Back).
 +M-F           Move right (Forward).
 +M-RUBOUT      Kill left (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +M-D           Kill right (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +M-T           Transpose 2 words around dot (if only -> only if).
 +M-C           Capitalize word.
 +M-U           Upcase word.
 +M-L           Downcase word.
 +
 +
 +LINE OPERATIONS.
 +C-A           Move to the beginning.
 +C-E           Move to the end.
 +C-O           Open up a line for typing.
 +C-X C-O       Close up all blank lines but one around dot.
 +M-0 C-K       Kill from beginning to dot (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +C-K           Kill from dot to end (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +
 +SENTENCE OPERATIONS.
 +M-A           Move to the beginning.
 +M-E           Move to the end.
 +C-X RUBOUT    Kill from beginning to dot (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +M-K           Kill from dot to end (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +
 +PARAGRAPH OPERATIONS.
 +M-[           Move to beginning.
 +M-]           Move to end.
 +M-Q           Fill the current paragraph.
 +M-n C-X F     Set the fill column to n (e.g. M-60 C-X F).
 +
 +SCREEN OPERATIONS.
 +C-V           Show next screen page.
 +M-V           Show previous screen page.
 +C-L           Redisplay screen page.
 +M-0 C-L       Move the line where dot is to line 0 (top) of the screen.
 +
 +PAGE OPERATIONS.
 +C-X [         Move to beginning (last ^L).
 +C-X ]         Move to end (next ^L).
 +
 +SEARCH AND REPLACE.
 +C-S           "Incremental" search; searches while you enter string
 +              (C-S str$).
 +C-R           "Incremental" backward search (C-R str$).
 +M-X Replace String
 +              Replace one string with another (M-X Repl$one string$another).
 +M-X Query Replace 
 +              Replace one string with another, wants SPACE meaning
 +              "do it" or RUBOUT to skip (M-X Qu$one string$another).
 +
 +REGION OPERATIONS.
 +Note: Region is the area of buffer between dot and mark (or mark and
 +dot). Some commands set the mark, so check it before using.
 +
 +C-@           Set the mark (for use with REGION commands).
 +C-X C-X       Exchange dot and mark (i.e. go to other end of region).
 +C-W           Kill region (C-Y yanks it back at dot).
 +
 +WINDOW OPERATIONS.
 +C-X 2         Split screen in two windows (same buffer shown in both.)
 +C-X 1         Resume single window (using buffer from top window).
 +C-X O         Move cursor to other window (usual commands still apply).
 +C-Z V         Display the next screen in the other window.
 +</code>
vintage_systems/amis_editor.txt · Last modified: 2025/05/14 00:47 by smj