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Inserting Lines

There are several possibilities to insert lines. First, those methods are explained that insert lines immediately after the current line. In these cases, you have to position the workfile appropriately in advance.

With the command INPUT you put exaEdit in the input mode. You can see this from the character `I' in the status line and from the ruler (between the data zone and the dialogue zone), which begins in column 1. Any line you enter from now on is inserted above, in the data zone. First, the new lines do not get a line number. They only obtain a number when you leave the input mode. You leave the input mode by pressing the return key without having typed something before.

As exaEdit recognizes the input of characters at any place of the window, you can reduce the effort of typing things in if you wish to insert similar lines in a row. For example, imagine you would like to insert the two lines

When you have typed in the first of the two lines and transferred it into the data zone with return, you find the following situation in a window with 24 lines:

Instead of typing the second line completely in line 18, you move the cursor to line 17 and change it, so that it looks like the second line. This takes much less effort than typing in the whole second line. Then you enter the input with the return key, as usual.

Some other commands you may use to insert lines after the current line are COPY, LOAD and MOVE. They are explained in detail in the chapters COPY, LOAD and MOVE in section The Commands in Detail.

If you do not like to insert lines after the current line, you may apply the number command and insert lines immediately anywhere in the window, instead. From a formal point of view, the number command looks like a line from the data zone:

It is interesting to note that the space between the two parts is not necessary. If you have a workfile with the line numbers 100, 200, 300, ... and you give the command

- you insert the line `000120 qwert' by doing so. You would achieve the same result with `120qwert', while `120  qwert' results in the line `000120  qwert'.

The number command is most effective if you do not have to type it completely but have the occasion to use something that already is there in your file. Imagine, you have the workfile

and you would like the text `New command PFK.' to be the second line between the two other lines. The most simple way to do this is to move the cursor in the data zone to the line 100, change the number there to 000150, change the word CASE in the text to PFK, and enter everything with the return key. No need to worry, the overwritten line 100 reappears and after it the intended line 150. With this method you use two exaEdit qualities at once: first, the number command and second, the fact that you are allowed to give input at any place in the window (including the data zone).

Of course, you have to be careful that you choose the number. If you use a number that already exists, the line will be overwritten. May be that is your intention but that subject does not belong any more to the section Inserting Lines.

If you would like to apply the number command but the intervals of the numbers are too small, you can restore the 100 intervals with the command REKEY.

next previous up contents index
Next: Features of the Input Mode Previous: Deleting Lines Up: The Editor and Its Commands