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From: rouben@math13.math.umbc.edu (Rouben Rostamian)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi Alternative Required (long posting)
Message-ID: <4629@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>
Date: 6 Dec 90 02:47:14 GMT
References: <1616@ukpoit.co.uk> <109752@convex.convex.com> <joshi.660338789@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <1005@langtry.cs.utexas.edu> <joshi.660440350@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
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Reply-To: rouben@math13.math.umbc.edu.UUCP (Rouben Rostamian)
Organization: Mathematics Department University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Lines: 45

In article <joshi.660440350@m.cs.uiuc.edu> joshi@cs.uiuc.edu (Anil Joshi) writes:
>Talking about ex, one can use abbreviations to do a lot of good stuff but the
>ex macros (I am calling the abbreviations macros) are also key stroke
>dependent (like having to hit ctrl-v before inserting other control
>chars. into the macro.). Is there some way of getting parameters to the
>macros?

No.

>Another problem which I have not solved yet is that while I am editing a
>file and want to change my function keys, can I run some other .exrc
>like file from inside the editor? I can do it the long way by typing in
>all the map commands but I think there must be a short cut to this.
>There must be, if these editors are as powerful as you claim them to
>be. It is definitely not exotic.

Yes.
:source filename

>>Another feature about vi is that the user can pipe parts of a file
>>through a filter.  
>
>I want to do this. I have not yet figured out how I can pass a part of
>the file through a filter. I know how to do this for the entire file
>though.

To pipe a part of a file through a filter you should first know how to
refer to that part of the file.  There are zillions of ways of doing this
depending on the particular instance and on your experience and taste.
Here are a couple examples:

:'a,.w !spell           Spell-check from "mark a" to "here"

!}fmt -72               Run "here" to the end of paragraph through fmt(1)

where "here" refers to the location of cursur.
In the second example the output of the fmt filter replaces the original
text.  In the first instance the output of spell(1) is shown at the bottom
of the screen and then disappears after a carriage return.

--
Rouben Rostamian                            Telephone: (301) 455-2458
Department of Mathematics and Statistics    e-mail:
University of Maryland Baltimore County     bitnet: rostamian@umbc
Baltimore, MD 21228,  U.S.A.                internet: rostamian@umbc3.umbc.edu


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