MSDOS Editor v. 2

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Rooney
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Peter Rooney

This is probably not the right newsgroup for this question, but maybe
somebody can help just the same.
When working in the DOS box from XP, I can issue the command "EDIT" which
brings up the DOS Editor. What I want to know is, how to search for a
control character? Specifically, I want to search for: End-of-Line, Space,
Space : or to illustrate, a text passage like this:
Line 1
# # Line 2
I tried to insert into the Find field the sequence: Ctrl-M Ctrl-J space
space
but it doesn't work. Neither does: Numlock - 013 010 020 020
If I was in Word, I would issue: ^p space space - but I'm not at the
desktop.
Can anyone help? or at least direct me to a suitable newsgroup.
Thanks.
 
Peter Rooney shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:
This is probably not the right newsgroup for this question, but maybe
somebody can help just the same.
When working in the DOS box from XP, I can issue the command "EDIT"
which brings up the DOS Editor. What I want to know is, how to search
for a control character? Specifically, I want to search for:
End-of-Line, Space, Space : or to illustrate, a text passage like
this: Line 1
# # Line 2
I tried to insert into the Find field the sequence: Ctrl-M Ctrl-J
space space
but it doesn't work. Neither does: Numlock - 013 010 020 020
If I was in Word, I would issue: ^p space space - but I'm not at the
desktop.
Can anyone help? or at least direct me to a suitable newsgroup.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't think EDIT.COM is the right tool for the job. You'd better use
a specialised Windows[0] based editor like EditPad Lite/Pro (my pet
editor) or any of the other notepad replacements. In EditPad Pro, I
would search for the regular expression "\r\n " (return, line feed,
space, space) or alternatively "^ " (begin of a line, space, space) or
any other character with "\xXX" (ASCII char, XX is a hex number between
00 and FF)

[0] If you are a "die hard" command prompt[1] user, install CygWin and
try out a Linux editor on Windows ;-)
[1] It's the command prompt and *not* the DOS box. DOS stands for Dead
Operating System, because that's what it really is: dead and gone
forever.

--
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If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

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[1] It's the command prompt and *not* the DOS box. DOS stands for Dead
Operating System, because that's what it really is: dead and gone
forever.
Click to expand...

No matter what you call it, the Command Prompt still runs almost any
original MSDOS program that I still want to run, including Edit itself. I
can even run Wordstar 4.0 and easily find the string "end-of-line, space,
space" by entering "Ctrl-P M Ctrl-P J ". So in that respect it's more
powerful than Edit.

The reason I'm asking about Edit (the MSDOS editor version 2.0, (c) 1995
that is distributed with even XP) is that it's reasonably powerful and has a
lot of keyboard-based commands, which I'm used to. It has a help system, but
also a number of "hidden" commands that are not documented. I thought that
the ability to search for linefeeds or paragraphs might be one of the
undocumented commands, and that someone on this newgroup would know.

Is there a newsgroup dedicated to MsDOS / Command Prompt users?
 
Peter Rooney shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:
[1] It's the command prompt and not the DOS box. DOS stands for Dead
Operating System, because that's what it really is: dead and gone
forever.
Click to expand...

No matter what you call it, the Command Prompt still runs almost any
original MSDOS program that I still want to run,
Click to expand...

The key word here is "almost". Forget any program that directly
accesses the hardware, even a simple RS232 communication is at least
troublesome.
including Edit itself. I can even run Wordstar 4.0 and easily find the
string "end-of-line, space, space" by entering "Ctrl-P M Ctrl-P J ".
So in that respect it's more powerful than Edit.

The reason I'm asking about Edit (the MSDOS editor version 2.0, (c)
1995 that is distributed with even XP) is that it's reasonably
powerful and has a lot of keyboard-based commands, which I'm used to.
Click to expand...

Hey, I know Edit, it has been my friend from version 1.0! ;-)
It has a help system, but also a number of "hidden" commands that are
not documented.
Click to expand...

So, to summari(s|z)e, your main reasons to use Edit are:

* Distributed with any Windows between W95 and W2K3 (and even with DOS
5.x and above)
* Therefore available on any Windows pc.
* Powerful - it can load huge files if I remember correctly.
* Lotsa keyboard commands - I know what you mean: on every Windows PC I
use there is at least Total Commander and EditPad Pro, and at home it's
strictly bash for me :)
* Keyboard commands get stuck in your fingers. I know, I'm always
confused when a file doesn't get deleted when I press F8 like in
(Norton|Total|Midnight)Commander, or if I can't cut'n'paste with
Ctrl-K/Ctrl-U like in (nan|pic)o. And vi|emacs users consider me a
wuss...
* Lotsa hidden features and other candy
I thought that the ability to search for linefeeds or
paragraphs might be one of the undocumented commands, and that
someone on this newgroup would know.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no. My DOS knowledge is a bit rusty.
Is there a newsgroup dedicated to MsDOS / Command Prompt users?
Click to expand...

Perhaps you could try My only fear is that this is a relatively quiet channel...

--
Amedee Van Gasse using XanaNews 1.17.3.1
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

How to Report Bugs Effectively
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no" as the
answer.
http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/questions-with-yes-or-n
o-answers.html
 
So, to summari(s|z)e, your main reasons to use Edit are:
<snip>
Click to expand...

Very well stated.

I've discovered that there is a binary mode of invoking EDIT, like this:
EDIT /77 my.txt
This displays CR-LF as smileys. You can then cut-and-paste the smileys and
get them into the FindWhat box. This somewhat solves a problem I had, but is
somewhat tedious.

I found ALT.MSDOS is a pretty active, knowledgeable group.

Thanks for your help, Amedee.
 
Peter Rooney shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:
I found ALT.MSDOS is a pretty active, knowledgeable group.

Thanks for your help, Amedee.
Click to expand...

And thank you for the feedback.
I think I'll check out alt.msdos, for when I'm feeling nostalgic. ;-)

--
Amedee Van Gasse using XanaNews 1.17.3.1
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

How to Report Bugs Effectively
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no" as the
answer.
http://homepages.tesco.net/~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/questions-with-yes-or-n
o-answers.html
 
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