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Acme manages windows of text that may be edited interactively
or by external programs. The interactive interface uses the keyboard
and mouse; external programs use a set of files served by acme;
these are discussed in acme(4).
Any named files are read into acme windows before acme accepts
input. With the −l option, the state of the entire system is loaded
from file, which should have been created by a Dump command (q.v.),
and subsequent file names are ignored. Plain files display as
text; directories display as columnated lists of the names of
their components, as in ls
−p directory|mc except that the names of subdirectories have a
slash appended.
The −f (−F) option sets the main font, usually variable-pitch
(alternate, usually fixed-pitch); the default is /usr/local/plan9/font/lucsans/euro.8.font
(.../lucm/unicode.9.font). Tab intervals are set to the width
of 4 (or the value of $tabstop) numeral zeros in the appropriate
font.
The −m option instructs acme to use FUSE (see 9pfuse(4)) to mount
itself at mtpt. (Experimental.)
Windows
Acme windows are in two parts: a one-line tag above a multi-line
body. The body typically contains an image of a file, as in sam(1),
or the output of a program, as in an rio(1) window. The tag contains
a number of blank-separated words, followed by a vertical bar
character, followed by anything. The first word is the name of
the window, typically the
name of the associated file or directory, and the other words
are commands available in that window. Any text may be added after
the bar; examples are strings to search for or commands to execute
in that window. Changes to the text left of the bar will be ignored,
unless the result is to change the name of the window.
If a window holds a directory, the name (first word of the tag)
will end with a slash.
Scrolling
Each window has a scroll bar to the left of the body. The scroll
bar behaves much as in sam(1) or rio(1) except that scrolling
occurs when the button is pressed, rather than released, and continues
as long as the mouse button is held down in the scroll bar. For
example, to scroll slowly through a file, hold button 3 down near
the top of the scroll bar.
Moving the mouse down the scroll bar speeds up the rate of scrolling.
(The experimental option −r reverses the scrolling behavior of
buttons 1 and 3, to behave more like xterm(1).)
Layout
Acme windows are arranged in columns. By default, it creates two
columns when starting; this can be overridden with the −c option.
Placement is automatic but may be adjusted using the layout box
in the upper left corner of each window and column. Pressing and
holding any mouse button in the box drags the associated window
or column. For
windows, just clicking in the layout box grows the window in place:
button 1 grows it a little, button 2 grows it as much as it can,
still leaving all other tags in that column visible, and button
3 takes over the column completely, temporarily hiding other windows
in the column. (They will return en masse if any of them needs
attention.) The layout box in a
window is normally white; when it is black in the center, it records
that the file is ‘dirty’: acme believes it is modified from its
original contents.
Tags exist at the top of each column and across the whole display.
Acme pre-loads them with useful commands. Also, the tag across
the top maintains a list of executing long-running commands.
Typing
The behavior of typed text is similar to that in rio(1) except
that the characters are delivered to the tag or body under the
mouse; there is no ‘click to type’. (The experimental option −b
causes typing to go to the most recently clicked-at or made window.)
The usual backspacing conventions apply. As in sam(1) but not
rio, the ESC key selects the text
typed since the last mouse action, a feature particularly useful
when executing commands. A side effect is that typing ESC with
text already selected is identical to a Cut command (q.v.).
Most text, including the names of windows, may be edited uniformly.
The only exception is that the command names to the left of the
bar in a tag are maintained automatically; changes to them are
repaired by acme.
When a window is in autoindent mode (see the Indent command below)
and a newline character is typed, acme copies leading white space
on the current line to the new line, and when a window is Put,
acme removes all trailing end-of-line white space before writing
the file. The option −a causes each window to start in autoindent
mode.
Directory context
Each window’s tag names a directory: explicitly if the window
holds a directory; implicitly if it holds a regular file (e.g.
the directory /adm if the window holds /adm/users). This directory
provides a context for interpreting file names in that window.
For example, the string users in a window labeled /adm/ or /adm/keys
will be interpreted as the file
name /adm/users. The directory is defined purely textually, so
it can be a non-existent directory or a real directory associated
with a non-existent file (e.g. /adm/not−a−file). File names beginning
with a slash are assumed to be absolute file names.
Errors
Windows whose names begin with − or + conventionally hold diagnostics
and other data not directly associated with files. A window labeled
+Errors receives all diagnostics produced by acme itself. Diagnostics
from commands run by acme appear in a window named directory/+Errors
where directory is identified by the context of the command.
These error windows are created when needed.
Mouse button 1
Mouse button 1 selects text just as in sam(1) or rio(1), including
the usual double-clicking conventions.
Mouse button 2
By an action similar to selecting text with button 1, button 2
indicates text to execute as a command. If the indicated text
has multiple white-space-separated words, the first is the command
name and the second and subsequent are its arguments. If button
2 is ‘clicked’--indicates a null string--acme expands the indicated
text to find a command to run:
if the click is within button-1-selected text, acme takes that
selection as the command; otherwise it takes the largest string
of valid file name characters containing the click. Valid file
name characters are alphanumerics and _ . − + /. This behavior
is similar to double-clicking with button 1 but, because a null
command is meaningless, only a single click
is required.
Some commands, all by convention starting with a capital letter,
are built-ins that are executed directly by acme:
Cut Delete most recently selected text and place in snarf buffer.
Del Delete window. If window is dirty, instead print a warning;
a second Del will succeed.
Delcol
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Delete column and all its windows, after checking that windows
are not dirty.
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Delete
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Delete window without checking for dirtiness.
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Dump Write the state of acme to the file name, if specified, or
$HOME/acme.dump by default.
Edit Treat the argument as a text editing command in the style
of sam(1). The full Sam language is implemented except for the
commands k, n, q, and !. The = command is slightly different:
it includes the file name and gives only the line address unless
the command is explicitly =#. The ‘current window’ for the command
is the body of the window
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in which the Edit command is executed. Usually the Edit command
would be typed in a tag; longer commands may be prepared in a
scratch window and executed, with Edit itself in the current window,
using the 2-1 chord described below.
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Exit Exit acme after checking that windows are not dirty.
Font With no arguments, change the font of the associated window
from fixed-spaced to proportional-spaced or vice versa. Given
a file name argument, change the font of the window to that stored
in the named file. If the file name argument is prefixed by var
(fix), also set the default proportional-spaced (fixed-spaced)
font for future use to that
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font. Other existing windows are unaffected.
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Get Load file into window, replacing previous contents (after checking
for dirtiness as in Del). With no argument, use the existing file
name of the window. Given an argument, use that file but do not
change the window’s file name.
ID Print window ID number (q.v.).
Incl When opening ‘include’ files (those enclosed in <>) with button
3, acme searches in directories /$objtype/include and /sys/include.
Incl adds its arguments to a supplementary list of include directories,
analogous to the −I option to the compilers. This list is per-window
and is inherited when windows are created by actions in that
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window, so Incl is most usefully applied to a directory containing
relevant source. With no arguments, Incl prints the supplementary
list. This command is largely superseded by plumbing (see plumb(7)).
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Indent
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Set the autoindent mode according to the argument: on and off
set the mode for the current window; ON and OFF set the mode for
all existing and future windows.
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Kill Send a kill note to acme-initiated commands named as arguments.
Load Restore the state of acme from a file (default $HOME/acme.dump)
created by the Dump command.
LocalIn the Plan 9 acme, this prefix causes a command to be run
in acme’sown file name space and environment variable group. On
Unix this is impossible. Local is recognized as a prefix, but
has no effect on the command being executed.
Look Search in body for occurrence of literal text indicated by
the argument or, if none is given, by the selected text in the
body.
New Make new window. With arguments, load the named files into
windows.
Newcol
PasteReplace most recently selected text with contents of snarf
buffer.
Put Write window to the named file. With no argument, write to
the file named in the tag of the window.
Putall
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Write all dirty windows whose names indicate existing regular
files.
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Redo Complement of Undo.
Send Append selected text or snarf buffer to end of body; used
mainly with win.
SnarfPlace selected text in snarf buffer.
Sort Arrange the windows in the column from top to bottom in lexicographical
order based on their names.
Tab Set the width of tab stops for this window to the value of
the argument, in units of widths of the zero character. With no
arguments, it prints the current value.
Undo Undo last textual change or set of changes.
ZeroxCreate a copy of the window containing most recently selected
text.
<|> If a regular shell command is preceded by a <, |, or > character,
the selected text in the body of the window is affected by the
I/O from the command. The < character causes the selection to be
replaced by the standard output of the command; > causes the selection
to be sent as standard input to the command; and | does both at
once, ‘piping’
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the selection through the command and replacing it with the output.
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A common place to store text for commands is in the tag; in fact
acme maintains a set of commands appropriate to the state of the
window to the left of the bar in the tag.
If the text indicated with button 2 is not a recognized built-in,
it is executed as a shell command. For example, indicating date
with button 2 runs date(1). The standard and error outputs of
commands are sent to the error window associated with the directory
from which the command was run, which will be created if necessary.
For example, in a
window /etc/passwd executing pwd will produce the output /etc
in a (possibly newly-created) window labeled /etc/+Errors; in
a window containing /home/rob/sam/sam.c executing mk will run
mk(1) in /home/rob/sam, producing output in a window labeled /home/rob/sam/+Errors.
The environment of such commands contains the
variable $% and $samfile with value set to the filename of the
window in which the command is run, and $winid set to the window’s
id number (see acme(4)).
The environment variable $acmeshell determines which shell is
used to execute such commands; the rc(1) shell is used by default.
Mouse button 3
Pointing at text with button 3 instructs acme to locate or acquire
the file, string, etc. described by the indicated text and its
context. This description follows the actions taken when button
3 is released after sweeping out some text. In the description,
text refers to the text of the original sweep or, if it was null,
the result of applying the same expansion
rules that apply to button 2 actions.
If the text names an existing window, acme moves the mouse cursor
to the selected text in the body of that window. If the text names
an existing file with no associated window, acme loads the file
into a new window and moves the mouse there. If the text is a
file name contained in angle brackets, acme loads the indicated
include file from the directory
appropriate to the suffix of the file name of the window holding
the text. (The Incl command adds directories to the standard list.)
If the text begins with a colon, it is taken to be an address,
in the style of sam(1), within the body of the window containing
the text. The address is evaluated, the resulting text highlighted,
and the mouse moved to it. Thus, in acme, one must type :/regexp
or :127 not just /regexp or 127. (There is an easier way to locate
literal text; see below.) If
shift is held down during the selection or click, any leading
regular expression search defaults to searching backward in the
text instead of forward.
If the text is a file name followed by a colon and an address,
acme loads the file and evaluates the address. For example, clicking
button 3 anywhere in the text file.c:27 will open file.c, select
line 27, and put the mouse at the beginning of the line. The rules
about Error files, directories, and so on all combine to make
this an efficient way to
investigate errors from compilers, etc.
If the text is not an address or file, it is taken to be literal
text, which is then searched for in the body of the window in
which button 3 was clicked. If a match is found, it is selected
and the mouse is moved there. Thus, to search for occurrences
of a word in a file, just click button 3 on the word. Because
of the rule of using the selection as the button 3
action, subsequent clicks will find subsequent occurrences without
moving the mouse. If shift is held down during the selection or
click, the search looks backward in the file.
In all these actions, the mouse motion is not done if the text
is a null string within a non-null selected string in the tag,
so that (for example) complex regular expressions may be selected
and applied repeatedly to the body by just clicking button 3 over
them.
Chords of mouse buttons
Several operations are bound to multiple-button actions. After
selecting text, with button 1 still down, pressing button 2 executes
Cut and button 3 executes Paste. After clicking one button, the
other undoes the first; thus (while holding down button 1) 2 followed
by 3 is a Snarf that leaves the file undirtied; 3 followed by
2 is a no-op. These actions
also apply to text selected by double-clicking because the double-click
expansion is made when the second click starts, not when it ends.
Commands may be given extra arguments by a mouse chord with buttons
2 and 1. While holding down button 2 on text to be executed as
a command, clicking button 1 appends the text last pointed to
by button 1 as a distinct final argument. For example, to search
for literal text one may execute Look text with button 2 or instead
point at text with
button 1 in any window, release button 1, then execute Look, clicking
button 1 while 2 is held down.
When an external command (e.g. echo(1)) is executed this way,
the extra argument is passed as expected and an environment variable
$acmeaddr is created that holds, in the form interpreted by button
3, the fully-qualified address of the extra argument.
Simulated buttons
For systems without a three-button mouse, the keyboard modifier
keys can be used to modify the effect of the main mouse button.
On Unix systems, the Control key changes the main button to button
2, and the Alt key changes it to button 3. On Mac systems, the
Option key changes the main button to button 2, and the Command
key changes it to
button 3. Pressing the key after the button is held down adds
the button to form a chord, so that for example on Macs selecting
text with the trackpad button and then typing Option without letting
go of the button will cause a 1-2 chord, cutting the selection.
On Mac systems, the usual keyboard shortcuts Command-C, -V, -X,
and -Z invoke copy, paste,
cut, and undo, and Command-Shift-Z invokes redo, as in other programs.
Especially on Mac laptops, these keyboard shortcuts are typically
much less awkward than the equivalent chords.
Support programs
Win creates a new acme window and runs a command (default $SHELL)
in it, turning the window into something analogous to an 9term(1)
window. Executing text in a win window with button 2 is similar
to using Send. Win windows follow the same scrolling heuristic
as in 9term(1): the window scrolls on output only if the window
is displaying the end of
the buffer.
Awd loads the tag line of its window with the directory in which
it’s running, suffixed −label (default rc); it is intended to
be executed by a cd function for use in win windows. An example
definition is
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fn cd { builtin cd $1 && awd $sysname }
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Applications and guide files
In the directory /acme live several subdirectories, each corresponding
to a program or set of related programs that employ acme’s user
interface. Each subdirectory includes source, binaries, and a
readme file for further information. It also includes a guide,
a text file holding sample commands to invoke the programs. The
idea is to find an example in
the guide that best matches the job at hand, edit it to suit,
and execute it.
Whenever a command is executed by acme, the default search path
includes the directory of the window containing the command and
its subdirectory $cputype. The program directories in /acme contain
appropriately labeled subdirectories of binaries, so commands
named in the guide files will be found automatically when run.
Also, acme binds the
directories /acme/bin and /acme/bin/$cputype to the end of /bin
when it starts; this is where acme-specific programs such as win
and awd reside.
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