Using Commands

The Software AG Editor provides two types of command for controlling your editing session:

  • Main Commands

    Main commands refer to the entire data currently contained in the source work area of the editor. The main commands available to you depend on the application you are using.

    The command format in the examples provided in the Software AG Editor documentation show the abbreviated form of each main command. These examples are by no means exclusive. For a complete summary of command syntax, see the section Summary of Main Commands.

  • Line Commands

    Line commands refer to the source line on which they are entered or to a block of data delineated by line commands.

    For a complete summary of line commands, see the section Summary of Line Commands.

Commands are processed in the following order:

  • Data updates

  • Line commands

  • Main commands


Executing a Command

Depending on the configuration of your installation, main commands and line commands can be entered in lower case. In the command descriptions provided in the Software AG Editor documentation, all commands appear in upper case to distinguish them as commands.

Start of instruction setTo execute a main command

  • In the command line (COMMAND===>), enter a main command and press ENTER.

    You can enter several commands in the same input operation if you separate them with a semicolon (;).

Start of instruction setTo execute a line command

  • In the leftmost column of the prefix area, next to the required source line, type a line command over the characters contained in these columns, and press ENTER.

    When you press ENTER, apostrophes ('''''') or asterisks (******) are replaced by line numbers on used lines. Unused lines are automatically deleted.

    Or:
    In the first column of the editing area, enter a line command preceded by the escape character and press ENTER. The default escape character is the period (.).

    Or:
    In the command line, enter a line command preceded by a colon (:).

    The cursor then marks the line to be addressed. Press ENTER.