Loading in the Normal Case

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Loading in the Normal Case

This section describes the usual routine to get a file into the exaEdit-workfile. The following sections deal with possible special cases.

There are two different ways to load a file, which means to read from the data medium and bring the file into the workfile. The first method is to specify a file name when calling exaEdit:


exaedit file

If the file name contains special characters, you have to make special arrangements, for example, put the name in quotation marks ("). But this does not help in every case. How you actually have to deal with this problem is, for Unix, determined by your interface (shell) or has to be looked up for Windows.

If the loading was successful, the file name is assigned to the workfile, which means that it appears in the top line and in the status line. As a result of this, when the command FILE is given without the specification of a file name, the workfile will be written in the file with this name.

The second method to load a file is to use the command LOAD with a file name during a running exaEdit session:


load file

The file name, either the one which is assigned to the workfile or the one you specified in the LOAD command, can be an absolute or a relative file name.

Now we have to differentiate between Unix and Windows systems.

In Unix systems:

The absolute file name begins with a slash, the relative one does not. If you specify a relative file name, it will be completed to an absolute file name by putting the current directory in front of your relative specification. If you want to find out the name of your current working directory, you may use the exaEdit command


call pwd    or    _pwd

which both display the result of the Unix command pwd (pathname of the working directory). Example: If


/u/fmath/ppreus/exaEdit

is your current working directory, the commands


load etc/one    or    load /etc/one

will read the files


/u/fmath/ppreus/exaEdit/etc/one    or    
/etc/one

You may also want to refer to the parent directory and use the common spelling convention to achieve this. In the example above you would use the command


load ../abc/two

to read the file


/u/fmath/ppreus/abc/two

and be successful with this although your current working directory is


/u/fmath/ppreus/exaEdit

Additionally, you may also use the spelling with the tilde (~) for file names. In the next example,


~/...

the tilde stands for your HOME directory, in the following example,


~uid/...

~uid stands for the HOME directory of uid.

In Windows systems:

The absolute file name begins with a backslash (\) or drive letter, the relative one does not. If you specify a relative file name, it will be completed to an absolute file name by putting the current directory in front of your relative specification. If you want to find out the name of your current working directory, you may use the exaEdit command


call cd    or    _cd

which both display the result of the DOS command cd. Example: If


d:\pe\dok

is your current working directory, the commands


load winnt\win.ini    or    load \winnt\win.ini

will read the files


d:\pe\dok\winnt\win.ini    or    
d:\winnt\win.ini

You may also refer to the parent directory and use the common spelling convention to achieve this. In the example above you would use the command


load ..\abc\two

to read the file


d:\pe\abc\two

and be successful with this although your working directory is


d:\pe\dok

From here on it is about Unix and Windows systems both.

If the file name contains special characters, you have to apply the following rule: Put the entire file name in single apostrophes ('); replace an apostrophe within your file name by two apostrophes.

When loading a file with the LOAD command, it is important to know that loading a file is also possible for workfiles that are not empty. In this case, the file will be loaded behind the record of the current line. In order to add one file to another in this way, you have to load one of the two first (by means of exaEdit or LOAD), then you have to give the command BOTTOM and then you can load the other file with LOAD.

If the loading with the LOAD command was successful, the name of the loaded file will be assigned to the workfile (in other words, the file name becomes the file name of the workfile) if there has not been a file name for the workfile before. Contrastingly, if there already exists a file name for the workfile, it will not be changed through the execution of the LOAD command.

If you decide to transfer the result of your editing into another file, you can do this with the FILE command, compare section Saving a File.

Now, a few words about possible errors that could occur in the process of loading a file.

If the file you specified cannot be found, maybe because you made a spelling mistake or the file is in another directory, you will receive the following message:


File not found

Despite of this, the specified file name will be assigned to the workfile if there has not been a name for the workfile so far and if you have asked for the loading of the file by specifying a file name when you called exaEdit. This behaviour allows you to start the creation of a not yet existing file with the definition of its name which you then need not to repeat later with the FILE command.

`Common' mistakes you may make when you load a file are the following ones:


Parameter missing

This message occurs if you use the LOAD command without a file name.


Ending ' missing

This message occurs if you begin the file name in the LOAD command with an opening apostrophe (') and exaEdit cannot find the corresponding closing apostrophe, and and therefore does not know which file name is actually meant. The latter is the case when you use the opening apostrophe and your command line contains a space somewhere behind the opening apostrophe. Vice versa this means: If the file name which you want to enclose in apostrophes does not contain spaces, you may leave out the closing apostrophe.


Access not allowed

This message occurs when you do not have the rights to access the file, for example, because the file belongs to somebody else.


A directory cannot be edited

This message occurs if you specified a directory name instead of a file name. exaEdit only manages to edit files (also see chapter Loading all Files of a Directory for further information about this).


No file and no directory

This message occurs when the object you tried to load neither was a file nor a directory. It cannot be edited.


No connection to another computer

This message occurs if in networking computers the searching for a file or the check for access requires the service of another computer (`server') and the operating system cannot get connected to this server.


Part of the name is no directory

This message occurs when you specify a qualified file name (i.e.\ several subnames that are connected with `/' or `\' resp.) and not every part except the last one is a directory.


Too many symbolic links, refer to itself?

This message occurs if the operating system tries to solve those parts of the file name that point to other names and the maximal number (which is provided for the operating system) is exceeded. The most frequent reason for this error is a file name which points to itself.


access errno = ... 

getcwd errno = ... 

stat errno = ...

These messages should never occur. They appear if certain errors happen, for which exaEdit provides no special message. In such a case, you should record the complete message together with the circumstances of its appearance and send this information to the author of exaEdit.


Data set not opened (does not exist?)

This message appears if all the preliminary examinations exaEdit performs are positive but the file would not open in spite of this.

Next: Loading a File via DD-Names Previous: Loading a File Up: Loading a File