NEDIT(1)

📦
version 5.7 · 3 versions
, in epel 9

💖 NEDIT(1) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the NEdit page — that's the manual for NEdit, from the NEdit documentation set, and I promise it's gonna be a good time. NEdit is a text editor. A whole GUI one. Let's get into it. 🦋

✨ SYNOPSYS ✨

like, here's the whole vibe of how you invoke her:

nedit [-read] [-create] [-line n | +n] [-server]
      [-do command] [-tags file] [-tabs n]
      [-wrap] [-nowrap] [-autowrap]
      [-autoindent] [-noautoindent]
      [-autosave] [-noautosave]
      [-lm languagemode] [-rows n] [-columns n]
      [-font font]
      [-geometry|-g geometry] [-iconic] [-noiconic]
      [-display [host]:server[.screen]]
      [-xrm resourcestring]
      [-svrname name] [-import file]
      [-background|-bg color] [-foreground|-fg color]
      [-tabbed] [-untabbed] [-group]
      [-V|-version] [-h|-help] [--] [file...]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So. NEdit is a standard GUI (Graphical User Interface) style text editor for programs and plain-text files. It's giving mouse-based editing, it's giving streamlined editing style — the whole thing is modeled on those popular Macintosh and MS Windows editors, bestie — and it's made for people on X workstations and X terminals. Iconic behavior, honestly. 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -read — opens the file read-only, no matter what the actual file protection says. the file can't stop you, you simply choose peace. 🕊️
  • -create — don't warn about file creation when a file doesn't exist. she's chill like that.
  • -line n, +n — jumps straight to line number n. main character energy: you arrive exactly where you meant to.
  • -server — designates this session as an NEdit server, so it can process commands coming from the nc(1) program. nc(1) is how you hook NEdit up to code development environments, mailers, etc., or honestly just as a quick way to open files from the shell command line without starting a whole new NEdit session. no new window, no drama. 💅
  • -do command — executes an NEdit macro or action on the file that follows the -do argument on the command line. -do is especially useful from the nc(1) program, where nc -do can remotely execute commands inside an nedit -server session. remote control, but make it text editing. 🎀
  • -tags file — loads a file of directions for finding definitions of program subroutines and data objects. that file has to be in the format generated by Exuberant Ctags, or by the standard Unix ctags(1) command. no homemade formats, bestie.
  • -tabs n — sets tab stops every n characters.
  • -wrap, -nowrap — wraps long lines at the right edge of the window rather than letting them continue past it. this is Continuous Wrap mode. very demure, very contained. 🌸
  • -autowrap, -noautowrap — wraps long lines when the cursor reaches the right edge of the window, by inserting newlines at word boundaries. this is Auto Newline Wrap mode.
  • -autoindent, -noautoindent — maintains a running indent. yes queen, keep the structure.
  • -autosave, -noautosave — maintains a backup copy of the file being edited, under the name ~filename on Unix, or _filename on VMS. safety net era. 🫶
  • -lm languagemode — the initial language mode used for editing succeeding files.
  • -rows n — default height, in characters, for an editing window.
  • -columns n — default width, in characters, for an editing window.
  • -font font, -fn font — font for the text being edited. the font for menus and dialogs can be set separately with -xrm "*fontList:font".
  • -geometry geometry, -g geometry — the initial size and/or location of editor windows. the argument geometry has the form:
[<width>x<height>][+|-][<xoffset>[+|-]<yoffset>]

where <width> and <height> are the desired width and height of the window, and <xoffset> and <yoffset> are the distance from the edge of the screen to the window — + for top or left, - for bottom or right. and yes, -geometry can be specified for individual files on the command line. per-file glow-up. ✨

  • -iconic, -noiconic — initial window state for succeeding files.
  • -display [host]:server[.screen] — the name of the X server to use. host specifies the machine, server specifies the display server number, and screen specifies the screen number. host or screen can be omitted and default to the local machine, and screen 0. defaults ate.
  • -background color, -bg color — background color. the background color for text can be set separately with -xrm "nedit*text.background: color".
  • -foreground color, -fg color — foreground color. the foreground color for text can be set separately with -xrm "nedit*text.foreground: color".
  • -xrm resourcestring — sets the value of an X resource, to override a default value.
  • -svrname name — when starting nedit in server mode, this names the server, so it responds to requests only when nc(1) is given a corresponding -svrname argument. by naming servers you can run several simultaneously and direct files and commands specifically to any one of them. specifying a non-empty name automatically designates this session as an NEdit server, as though -server were specified. it's giving assigned seating. 👑
  • -import file — loads an additional preferences file on top of the existing defaults saved in your nedit.rc file. to incorporate macros, language modes, and highlight patterns and styles written by other users, run nedit with -import <file>, then re-save your nedit.rc file with Preferences->Save Defaults. collab era. 🤝
  • -tabbed — open all subsequent files in new tabs. resets the -group option.
  • -untabbed — open all subsequent files in new windows. resets the -group option.
  • -group — open all subsequent files as tabs in a new window.
  • -V, -version — prints version and build information. mention this when reporting bugs and problems! the devs need the receipts. 🧾
  • -h, -help — prints the command line help and then exits. bye bestie 👋
  • -- — treats all subsequent arguments as file names, even if they start with a dash. this is so NEdit can access files that begin with the dash character. protecting the weird little filenames. 🥺

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

DISPLAY

NEdit requires an X-based workstation or X-Terminal. if you've used telnet or rlogin to access the host Unix system, set the Unix environment variable for your display:

csh-type shells:

% setenv DISPLAY devicename:0

sh-type shells:

% DISPLAY=devicename:0 && export DISPLAY

NEDIT_HOME

this environment variable can be set to the name of a directory. that directory will then be used instead of $HOME/.nedit as the base directory for NEdit's special files (peep the FILES section below, bestie).

this variable is new to NEdit 5.4.

🎀 FILES 🎀

from version 5.4 on, NEdit creates a directory where NEdit's special files live. this directory is named .nedit by default.

  • nedit.rc — this is an X resource file containing most user settings for NEdit. it's read at startup and written by selecting the item 'Save Defaults...' in the Preferences menu. do not edit this file by hand — all settings can be reached via the 'Default Settings' menu. hands off, okay? 🙈
  • nedit.history — the list of recently opened files. do not edit this file by hand. i'm serious. 🙈
  • autoload.nm — a file that can contain a number of NEdit Macro Language statements and subroutine definitions. the statements get executed when an NEdit server starts, and the subroutines get loaded for later reference. this file will not be created or modified by NEdit (unless you load it and edit it, of course — that one's on you 💀).
ngl, NEdit still supports the older names for these files, which were used by version 5.3 and below. those file names are $HOME/.nedit, $HOME/.neditdb and $HOME/.neditmacro, respectively. the old naming scheme is used if NEdit detects that $HOME/.nedit is a regular file and NEDIT_HOME isn't set.

also see the entry for NEDIT_HOME under ENVIRONMENT, above. ⬆️

⭐ NOTES ⭐

for more info, see NEdit's online help, or nedit.doc in the NEdit distribution kit.

NEdit sources, executables, additional documentation, and contributed software are available from the NEdit web site at http://nedit.org. go visit her. 🌐

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

nc(1), X(1), mwm(1), ctags(1), etags(1)

👑 AUTHORS 👑

NEdit was written by Mark Edel, Joy Kyriakopulos, Christopher Conrad, Jim Clark, Arnulfo Zepeda-Navratil, Suresh Ravoor, Tony Balinski, Max Vohlken, Yunliang Yu, Donna Reid, Arne Forlie, Eddy De Greef, Steve LoBasso, Alexander Mai, Scott Tringali, Thorsten Haude, Steve Haehn, Andrew Hood, Nathaniel Gray, and TK Soh. legends, all of them. 🫶

the regular expression matching routines used in NEdit are adapted (with permission) from original code written by Henry Spencer at the University of Toronto. respect the regex elder.

syntax highlighting patterns and smart indent macros were contributed by: Simon T. MacDonald, Maurice Leysens, Matt Majka, Alfred Smeenk, Alain Fargues, Christopher Conrad, Scott Markinson, Konrad Bernloehr, Ivan Herman, Patrice Venant, Christian Denat, Philippe Couton, Max Vohlken, Markus Schwarzenberg, Himanshu Gohel, Steven C. Kapp, Michael Turomsha, John Fieber, Chris Ross, Nathaniel Gray, Joachim Lous, Mike Duigou, Seak Teng-Fong, Joor Loohuis, Mark Jones, and Niek van den Berg. the glow-up squad ✨

this program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

in addition, as a special exception to the GNU GPL, the copyright holders give permission to link the code of this program with the Motif and Open Motif libraries (or with modified versions of these that use the same license), and distribute linked combinations including the two. you must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than linking with Motif/Open Motif. if you modify this file, you may extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. if you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.

this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. see the GNU General Public License in the Help section "Distribution Policy" for more details.

read that last part again, bestie — no warranty, no promises, no take-backs. 🫶

and that's the whole page!! mwah 💋 — NEdit 5.7, dated 2022-01-20, NEDIT(1), signing off. 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from