QSTART.TXT
==========

Quick Start with WE
===================

WE is a powerful multi-window programmer's editor with an extensive
set of text manipulation tools.

To install WE see INSTALL.TXT.

To start WE either type "WE" on a line by itself to see a directory
list to pick a file from, or type "WE file file file ..." to start WE
and load one or more files at the same time.  You can also use
wildcards for any "file" on the command line to pick from a directory
list of matching files.

Each file opened will be displayed in a separate window on the screen,
arranged one above the other.  Here are the basic WE commands.

Miscellaneous:

  Esc          - Main menu.
  F1           - Extensive online hypertext help.

Cursor movement:

  Arrows       - Move the cursor around.
  Enter        - Move to beginning of next line.
  Home/End     - Move to either end of current line.
  PgUp/PgDn    - Move up or down one page.
  Ctrl/Home    - Move to top of file.
  Ctrl/End     - Move to bottom of file.
  ^Z / ^W      - Scroll up/down without moving cursor.

Editing:

  Del          - Delete current character.
  Backspace    - Delete previous character.
  ^R           - Delete (remove) current line.
  ^E           - Delete from cursor till end of line.
  ^B           - Break line in two at cursor.
  ^A           - Append line below to end of current line.
  Ctrl/Enter   - Insert blank line above current line.
  Shift/Enter  - Insert blank line below current line.

File/Window control:

  ^X+^O        - Open window and load file.
  ^X+^Q        - Abandon file changes and close window.
  Esc+'F'+'C'  - Save file and close window (menu command).
  F6           - Switch to next window.
  ^X+^Z        - Zoom/Unzoom current window.


Most of the documentation for WE is in the online help, which is very
detailed and complete.

Here are a few features of WE which you might not think to look for:

  * File search path

    WE will search for all input files in a variety of directories.
    Each window has its own private search path, and there is also a
    global search path that applies to all.  This is very convenient
    if you keep notes and other information in disk files for
    reference, and use those notes while in various different
    directories.

  * File names imbedded in text

    WE can open a file by reading the file name imbedded in the text
    of the current window at the cursor position.  This is handy when
    you keep lots of little note files scattered about your computer.
    You can imbed the names of these files in places where you might
    want to refer to them, them as a form of hypertext link.  And with
    the file search path you don't have to list the directory each
    file is in.  This is also very handy for error and log files of
    compilers and utilities that include filenames in their output.

  * Marking text

    WE has unusual text marking and manipulation capabilities.  First,
    text is marked character by character instead of with begin/end
    markers.  This means that you can mark many pieces of text in
    different places in the file and then work with them all at once.
    Collect them all together, delete them all, whatever.  WE has a
    rich set of marking and unmarking commands to conveniently mark
    the text you want.

  * Block oriented commands

    WE has a number of commands that allow you to make the same change
    to each line is a set of adjacent marked lines of text.  Shift
    everything after the cursor column left or right, insert a string
    or incrementing number at that column, append/delete at end of
    line, etc.

  * Smart indenting

    WE can help format your "C/C++" source code, by performing some
    simple syntax analysis of the text in the line or two above the
    cursor when you push ENTER, and indenting the following line.

  * Configurable keys

    The keyboard is completely configurable in WE.  This is ordinary
    enough, but WE goes a little further by providing a number of
    alternative actions for the ENTER key.  Everyone has their own
    personal choice for what the ENTER key should do, and with WE you
    can pick your own.  There's even a special mode switch available
    while you're editing to control whether ENTER will insert a line
    or just move to the next line.

  * Window locking

    If you have lots of windows open you may want to keep one or two
    on the screen while you flip through the rest for reference as you
    work.  WE has a special feature designed to do just this.

  * Brace {} insertion

    WE can enclose any line, blank or otherwise, with {} braces and
    indent it properly, all with a single command.  This combined with
    smart indenting saves tons of keystrokes, and allows you to create
    any desired indenting and block structure in your source code with
    ease.

  * Powerful wildcard text searching

    WE has a powerful facility to do various types of text searches in
    all files matching a wildcard.  The search log is automatically
    loaded into a window so you can point to the file names with the
    cursor and open them.

  * Simple paragraph formatting

    WE has simple paragraph formatting capabilities to help you keep
    notes in text files.