Creating a File

Next: Upper and Lower Case, Abbreviations Previous: For Your Orientation Up: First Steps

Creating a File

As it was mentioned briefly in the previous section, Some Editor Logic, you can create a file by starting the editor with an empty workfile first, then filling it with your data and writing the data into a new file at the end.

At the moment you see the empty workfile in front of you. There are several methods to fill a workfile with some data but in this section you will only learn something about the input mode. Initially you have to enter the command

input

which means that you first have to type the word input (in line 19) and then press the return key. As the result of this, the window should look like this:

            1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
   12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 1|                                                                                |
 2|                                                                                |
 3|                                                                                |
 4|                                                                                |
 5|                                                                                |
 6|                                                                                |
 7|                                                                                |
 8|MAIN     exaEdit 02B TOP LINE                                                   |
 9|                                                                                |
10|                                                                                |
11|                                                                                |
12|                                                                                |
13|                                                                                |
14|                                                                                |
15|                                                                                |
16|....;....1....;....2....;....3....;....4....;....5....;....6....;....7....;....8|
17|input                                                                           |
18|Input                                                                           |
19|_                                                                               |
20|                                                                                |
21|                                                                                |
22|                                                                                |
23|                                                                                |
24|    MAIN      I                                                         0 19/ 1 |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

What has been changed compared with the previous picture?

The command you have just given is repeated at the beginning of the dialogue zone, i.e. in line 17.
In the following line the word
has appeared as a request for the input of data.
The cursor is at he beginning on the next line (19), ready for the input of data.
In the status line an
has appeared in column 15 in order to show that exaEdit is in the input mode now.
The ruler appears now at the very left of your window since you will start writing your data in column 1.

Please, now enter the first line of your input, for example

This is the first line.

You have to type the sentence and then press the return key. After this your window looks as follows:

            1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
   12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 1|                                                                                |
 2|                                                                                |
 3|                                                                                |
 4|                                                                                |
 5|                                                                                |
 6|                                                                                |
 7|MAIN     exaEdit 02B TOP LINE                                                   |
 8|       This is the first line.                                                  |
 9|                                                                                |
10|                                                                                |
11|                                                                                |
12|                                                                                |
13|                                                                                |
14|                                                                                |
15|                                                                                |
16|....;....1....;....2....;....3....;....4....;....5....;....6....;....7....;....8|
17|This is the first line.                                                         |
18|_                                                                               |
19|                                                                                |
20|                                                                                |
21|                                                                                |
22|                                                                                |
23|                                                                                |
24|    MAIN     I                                                          1 18/ 1 |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

These things have changed this time:

Your input is repeated in the first line of the dialogue zone (in line 17) - as it happened with the command INPUT before.
The line you have just entered has been transferred into the workfile, which can be seen from the fact that it appears in line 8 of the data zone.
In the status line, in column 73, the display of the counter of records in the workfile has jumped to 1.
The cursor is positioned in the next free line in the dialogue zone (in line 18), ready for your input.

Now, please, enter the second line, e.g.

The second line

by typing the characters and pressing the return key, again.

This line, as well, is repeated in line 17 and transferred into the workfile, which is mirrored by its appearing in line 8. The first line you have entered has slipped upward by one line.

After you have entered the third line

line three

you will get the following picture:

            1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
   12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 1|                                                                                |
 2|                                                                                |
 3|                                                                                |
 4|                                                                                |
 5|MAIN     exaEdit 02B TOP LINE                                                   |
 6|       This is the first line.                                                  |
 7|       The second line                                                          |
 8|       line three                                                               |
 9|                                                                                |
10|                                                                                |
11|                                                                                |
12|                                                                                |
13|                                                                                |
14|                                                                                |
15|                                                                                |
16|....;....1....;....2....;....3....;....4....;....5....;....6....;....7....;....8|
17|line three                                                                      |
18|_                                                                               |
19|                                                                                |
20|                                                                                |
21|                                                                                |
22|                                                                                |
23|                                                                                |
24|    MAIN      I                                                         3 18/ 1 |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

You have entered enough, and you wish to quit the input mode. This happens if you press the return key without having typed another character before your last pressing the return key. After this, the window looks like this:

            1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
   12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 1|                                                                                |
 2|                                                                                |
 3|                                                                                |
 4|                                                                                |
 5|MAIN     exaEdit 02B TOP LINE                                                   |
 6|                                                                                |
 7|000100 This is the first line.                                                  |
 8|000200 The second line                                                          |
 9|000300 line three                                                               |
10|                                                                                |
11|                                                                                |
12|                                                                                |
13|                                                                                |
14|                                                                                |
15|                                                                                |
16|                                                                                |
17|       ....;....1....;....2....;....3....;....4....;....5....;....6....;....7...|
18|line three                                                                      |
19|_                                                                               |
20|                                                                                |
21|                                                                                |
22|                                                                                |
23|                                                                                |
24|    MAIN                                                                3 18/ 1 |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The character I in the status line has disappeared since exaEdit is not in the input mode any more.

The three lines in the workfile each received a number.

The next thing I assume you like to do is to write the workfile onto the disk. You give rise to this by entering the command FILE. You have to specify the file name you desire. If you wish that the file name is exafil1, you now have to enter the command

file exafil1

(do not forget the return key!). This command is repeated in the first line of the dialogue zone as well. In the next line there will be the output:

New data set, press J or Y to create it:

This means that exaEdit has detected that there exists no file called exafil1, yet. If this file already existed, the message would be:

Old data set, press J or Y to replace it:

This behaviour of exaEdit is intended to protect you from mistakes as, e.g, typing errors which could cause another file name, different from the one you actually wanted.

The letters j or y stand for the words German `ja' or English `yes'. exaEdit recognizes them immediately when you press one of the keys j or y. So it is not necessary to additionally press the return key and, to a certain extent, this would be even damaging since the reaction of exaEdit to the the key you have pressed would not be visible, then.

After so much explanation, please, press the key j or y. As the reaction to this, exaEdit writes the contents of your workfile in the file with the name you have specified before (and the file is now created in order to do this). To show you that the action was successful, you receive the message

Data saved

Now you are allowed to finish this lesson and quit exaEdit by entering one of the following commands:

end     or     quit









Next:  Upper and Lower Case, Abbreviations
Previous:  For Your Orientation
Up:  First Steps