A line editor to create or modify text files. This command is now used rarely, if ever.
Loads the file into memory and waits for you to enter commands.
EDLIN [[drive:][path]filename] [/B]
Replaced by the Edit/QBASIC.EXE full-screen editor. v5.0
Use CTRL-V to embed any ASCII control code into the text. For instance, use ^VA to input a CTRL-A (^A) character into a file. To embed the ESC character, use ^V[. This allows you to write batch files for accessing printer modes and for setting values used by the ANSI.SYS extended console driver.
Edlin reads as much of the file as will fit into 75% of available memory. Use the (W)rite and (A)ppend commands to save changes and read more of the file.
lnX line number (1 thru 65529 decimal)
. current line
# for the last line of the file +1
-NNNN or +NNNN for lines relative to the current
line.
Optional line numbers, when omitted, are assumed to be the current line.
Command Function
? List commands. Added in v5.0
ENTER Save the changes on the currently-visible line
and start editing the next line.
[ln1] Edit line LN1
(just press Enter to edit current line)
[nnn] A Append. Reads "nnn" lines from the file
(for large files)
[ln1],[ln2],ln3,[nnn] C Copy lines LN1 thru LN2 to LN3.
Repeat "nnn" times.
[ln1],[ln2] D Delete lines from LN1 thru LN2
E Exit. Saves the changes to the file.
[ln1] I Insert lines starting at LN1.
CTRL+BREAK (^BREAK) to stop
[ln1],[ln2] L List lines LN1 thru LN2 or 23 lines starting
at LN1
[ln1],[ln2],ln3 M Move lines LN1 thru LN2 to start at line LN3
[ln1],[ln2] P list a Page (23 lines). Changes "current line"
Q Quit. Exit without saving changes.
[ln1],[ln2] [?]R[str1][<F6>str2] Replace text in lines LN1 thru LN2.
String STR1 is replaced with STR2.
? prompts before each.
Note: <F6> is the same as CTRL-Z (^Z)
[ln1],[ln2] [?]S[str1] Search for string STR1 in lines LN1 thru LN2.
? repeats
[ln1] T:[d:]filename Transfer (merge into memory) a file, starting
at LN1
[nnn] W Write "nnn" lines to file (use before Append)
Command Function
none.
none.