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The workfile

exaEdit is a file editor but it does not directly process the files which you may know e.g. from a hard disk. At the beginning of each exaEdit session, the data of a file are read record by record from the storage medium and then put into the main memory of the computer. Afterwards you can make your changes, which only have an effect on the copy in the main memory. At the end of your exaEdit session, you can write the (changed) version from the main memory back to the data storage medium. The copy of a file in the main memory is called
workfile
This concept offers the advantage that mistakes which might happen during your editing the file do not automatically concern the original file. On the other hand, any changes are lost if the computer or the operating system fail and you did not save your changes before. But this case will not occur too often and there are some ways to limit the damage.

exaEdit offers the option to have several workfiles at the same time. They may contain the same file or different files. But, always, one of these workfiles is the current one, which is visible in the window and to which the commands refer.


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Next: Window Mode and Line Mode Previous: The Concepts Up: The Concepts