Information common to all EDLIN commands

    The following information applies to all EDLIN commands:

    ■   With the exception of the Edit Line command, all commands are a
        single letter.

    ■   With the exception of the End Edit and Quit Edit commands, commands
        are usually preceded and/or followed by parameters.

    ■   Enter commands and string parameters in uppercase, or lowercase, or
        a combination of both.

    ■   Separate commands and parameters with delimiters for readability;
        however, a delimiter is only required between two adjacent line
        numbers. Remember, delimiters are spaces or commas.

    ■   Commands become effective only after you press the Enter key.

    ■   Stop commands by pressing the Ctrl-Break keys.

    ■   For commands producing a large amount of output, press Ctrl-S (or
        Pause) to suspend the display so that you can read it before it
        scrolls away. Press any other character to restart the display.

    ■   Use the control keys and DOS editing keys while using EDLIN. They
        are very useful for editing within a line, while the EDLIN com-
        mands can be used for editing operations on entire lines.

    ■   The prompt from EDLIN is an asterisk (*).

    ■   It is possible to refer to line numbers relative to the current
        line. Use a minus (-) sign and a number to indicate a line before
        the current line. Use a plus (+) sign and a number to indicate a
        line after the current line. For example:

        -10,+10L

        This command displays 10 lines before the current line, the current
        line, and 10 lines after the current line.

    ■   Multiple commands can be entered on one command line. When you enter
        the command to edit a single line using [line], you must use a
        semicolon to separate the commands on the line. In the case of the
        Search or Replace commands the [string] can be terminated by Ctrl-Z
        (F6) instead of the Enter key. Otherwise, one command can follow an-
        other without any special delimiting characters. For example:

        15;-5,+5L

        edits line 15 and then displays lines 10 through 20 on the screen.

    ■   Control characters can be inserted into the text, or can be used in
        the strings for the Search and Replace Text commands. To enter a
        control character, press Ctrl-V, then enter the desired control
        character in uppercase. For example, the sequence Ctrl-V, followed
        by Z generates the control character Ctrl-Z.