Blob


1 .TH ACME 4
2 .SH NAME
3 acme \- control files for text windows
4 .SH SYNOPSIS
5 .B acme
6 [
7 .B -f
8 .I varfont
9 ] [
10 .B -F
11 .I fixfont
12 ]
13 [
14 .I file
15 \&... ]
16 .SH DESCRIPTION
17 The text window system
18 .IR acme (1)
19 serves a variety of files for reading, writing, and controlling
20 windows.
21 Some of them are virtual versions of system files for dealing
22 with the virtual console; others control operations
23 of
24 .I acme
25 itself.
26 When a command is run under
27 .IR acme ,
28 a directory holding these files is posted as the 9P service
29 .B acme
30 (using
31 .IR 9pserve (4)).
32 .PP
33 Some of these files supply virtual versions of services available from the underlying
34 environment, in particular the character terminal files in Plan 9's
35 \fIcons\fR(3).
36 (Unlike in Plan 9's \fIrio\fR(1),
37 each command under
38 .I acme
39 sees the same set of files; there is not a distinct
40 .B /dev/cons
41 for each window.)
42 Other files are unique to
43 .IR acme .
44 .TP
45 .B acme
46 is a subdirectory used by
47 .B win
48 (see
49 .IR acme (1))
50 as a mount point for the
51 .I acme
52 files associated with the window in which
53 .B win
54 is running.
55 It has no specific function under
56 .I acme
57 itself.
58 .TP
59 .B cons
60 is the standard and diagnostic output file for all commands
61 run under
62 .IR acme .
63 (Input for commands is redirected to
64 .BR /dev/null .)
65 Text written to
66 .B cons
67 appears in a window labeled
68 .IB dir /+Errors\f1,
69 where
70 .I dir
71 is the directory in which the command
72 was run.
73 The window is created if necessary, but not until text is actually written.
74 .TP
75 .B consctl
76 Is an empty unwritable file present only for compatibility; there is no way
77 to turn off `echo', for example, under
78 .IR acme .
79 .TP
80 .B index
81 holds a sequence of lines of text, one per window. Each line has 5 decimal numbers,
82 each formatted in 11 characters plus a blank\(emthe window ID;
83 number of characters (runes) in the tag;
84 number of characters in the body;
85 a 1 if the window is a directory, 0 otherwise;
86 and a 1 if the window is modified, 0
87 otherwise\(emfollowed by the tag up to a newline if present.
88 Thus at character position 5×12 starts the name of the window.
89 If a file has multiple zeroxed windows open,
90 only the most recently used will appear in the
91 .B index
92 file.
93 .TP
94 .B label
95 is an empty file, writable without effect, present only for compatibility with
96 .BR rio .
97 .TP
98 .B new
99 A directory analogous to the numbered directories
100 .RI ( q.v. ).
101 Accessing any
102 file in
103 .B new
104 creates a new window. Thus to cause text to appear in a new window,
105 write it to
106 .BR /dev/new/body .
107 For more control, open
108 .BR /dev/new/ctl
109 and use the interface described below.
110 .LP
111 .PP
112 Each
113 .I acme
114 window has associated a directory numbered by its ID.
115 Window IDs are chosen sequentially and may be discovered by the
116 .B ID
117 command, by
118 reading the
119 .B ctl
120 file, or
121 indirectly through the
122 .B index
123 file. The files in the numbered directories are as follows.
124 .TP
125 .B addr
126 may be written with any textual address (line number, regular expression, etc.),
127 in the format understood by button 3 but without the initial colon, including compound addresses,
128 to set the address for text accessed through the
129 .B data
130 file.
131 When read, it returns the value of the address that would next be read
132 or written through the
133 .B data
134 file, in the format
135 .BI # m ,# n
136 where
137 .I m
138 and
139 .I n
140 are character (not byte) offsets. If
141 .I m
142 and
143 .I n
144 are identical, the format is just
145 .BI # m\f1.
146 Thus a regular expression may be evaluated by writing it to
147 .B addr
148 and reading it back.
149 The
150 .B addr
151 address has no effect on the user's selection of text.
152 .TP
153 .B body
154 holds contents of the window body. It may be read at any byte offset.
155 Text written to
156 .B body
157 is always appended; the file offset is ignored.
158 .TP
159 .B ctl
160 may be read to recover the five numbers as held in the
161 .B index
162 file, described above, plus three more fields: the width of the
163 window in pixels, the name of the font used in the window,
164 and the width of a tab character in pixels.
165 Text messages may be written to
166 .B ctl
167 to affect the window.
168 Each message is terminated by a newline and multiple
169 messages may be sent in a single write.
170 .RS .5i
171 .TF limit=addr
172 .TP
173 .B addr=dot
174 Set the
175 .B addr
176 address to that of the user's selected text in the window.
177 .TP
178 .B clean
179 Mark the window clean as though it has just been written.
180 .TP
181 .B dirty
182 Mark the window dirty, the opposite of clean.
183 .TP
184 .B cleartag
185 Remove all text in the tag after the vertical bar.
186 .TP
187 .B del
188 Equivalent to the
189 .B Del
190 interactive command.
191 .TP
192 .B delete
193 Equivalent to the
194 .B Delete
195 interactive command.
196 .TP
197 .B dot=addr
198 Set the user's selected text in the window to the text addressed by the
199 .B addr
200 address.
201 .TP
202 .BI dump " command
203 Set the command string to recreate the window from a dump file.
204 .TP
205 .BI dumpdir " directory
206 Set the directory in which to run the command to recreate the window from a dump file.
207 .TP
208 .B get
209 Equivalent to the
210 .B Get
211 interactive command with no arguments; accepts no arguments.
212 .TP
213 .B limit=addr
214 When the
215 .B ctl
216 file is first opened, regular expression context searches in
217 .B addr
218 addresses examine the whole file; this message restricts subsequent
219 searches to the current
220 .B addr
221 address.
222 .TP
223 .B mark
224 Cancel
225 .BR nomark ,
226 returning the window to the usual state wherein each modification to the
227 body must be undone individually.
228 .TP
229 .BI name " name
230 Set the name of the window to
231 .IR name .
232 .TP
233 .B nomark
234 Turn off automatic `marking' of changes, so a set of related changes
235 may be undone in a single
236 .B Undo
237 interactive command.
238 .TP
239 .B put
240 Equivalent to the
241 .B Put
242 interactive command with no arguments; accepts no arguments.
243 .TP
244 .B show
245 Guarantee at least some of the selected text is visible on the display.
246 .RE
247 .PD
248 .TP
249 .B data
250 is used in conjunction with
251 .B addr
252 for random access to the contents of the body.
253 The file offset is ignored when writing the
254 .B data
255 file; instead the location of the data to be read or written is determined by the state of the
256 .B addr
257 file.
258 Text, which must contain only whole characters (no `partial runes'),
259 written to
260 .B data
261 replaces the characters addressed by the
262 .B addr
263 file and sets the address to the null string at the end of the written text.
264 A read from
265 .B data
266 returns as many whole characters as the read count will permit starting
267 at the beginning of the
268 .B addr
269 address (the end of the address has no effect)
270 and sets the address to the null string at the end of the returned
271 characters.
272 .TP
273 .B errors
274 Writing to the
275 .B errors
276 file appends to the body of the
277 .IB dir /+Errors
278 window, where
279 .I dir
280 is the directory currently named in the tag.
281 The window is created if necessary,
282 but not until text is actually written.
283 .TP
284 .B event
285 When a window's
286 .B event
287 file is open, changes to the window occur as always but the
288 actions are also reported as
289 messages to the reader of the file. Also, user actions with buttons 2 and 3
290 (other than chorded
291 .B Cut
292 and
293 .BR Paste ,
294 which behave normally) have no immediate effect on the window;
295 it is expected that the program reading the
296 .B event
297 file will interpret them.
298 The messages have a fixed format:
299 a character indicating the origin or cause of the action,
300 a character indicating the type of the action,
301 four free-format blank-terminated decimal numbers,
302 optional text, and a newline.
303 The first and second numbers are the character addresses of the action,
304 the third is a flag,
305 and the final is a count of the characters in the optional text, which
306 may itself contain newlines.
307 The origin characters are
308 .B E
309 for writes to the
310 .B body
311 or
312 .B tag
313 file,
314 .B F
315 for actions through the window's other files,
316 .B K
317 for the keyboard, and
318 .B M
319 for the mouse.
320 The type characters are
321 .B D
322 for text deleted from the body,
323 .B d
324 for text deleted from the tag,
325 .B I
326 for text inserted to the body,
327 .B i
328 for text inserted to the tag,
329 .B L
330 for a button 3 action in the body,
331 .B l
332 for a button 3 action in the tag,
333 .B X
334 for a button 2 action in the body, and
335 .B x
336 for a button 2 action in the tag.
337 .IP
338 If the relevant text has less than 256 characters, it is included in the message;
339 otherwise it is elided, the fourth number is 0, and the program must read
340 it from the
341 .B data
342 file if needed. No text is sent on a
343 .B D
344 or
345 .B d
346 message.
347 .IP
348 For
349 .BR D ,
350 .BR d ,
351 .BR I ,
352 and
353 .BR i
354 the flag is always zero.
355 For
356 .BR X
357 and
358 .BR x ,
359 the flag is a bitwise OR (reported decimally) of the following:
360 1 if the text indicated is recognized as an
361 .I acme
362 built-in command;
363 2 if the text indicated is a null string that has a non-null expansion;
364 if so, another complete message will follow describing the expansion
365 exactly as if it had been indicated explicitly (its flag will always be 0);
366 8 if the command has an extra (chorded) argument; if so,
367 two more complete messages will follow reporting the argument (with
368 all numbers 0 except the character count) and where it originated, in the form of
369 a fully-qualified button 3 style address.
370 .IP
371 For
372 .B L
373 and
374 .BR l ,
375 the flag is the bitwise OR of the following:
376 1 if
377 .I acme
378 can interpret the action without loading a new file;
379 2 if a second (post-expansion) message follows, analogous to that with
380 .B X
381 messages;
382 4 if the text is a file or window name (perhaps with address) rather than
383 plain literal text.
384 .IP
385 For messages with the 1 bit on in the flag,
386 writing the message back to the
387 .B event
388 file, but with the flag, count, and text omitted,
389 will cause the action to be applied to the file exactly as it would
390 have been if the
391 .B event
392 file had not been open.
393 .TP
394 .B tag
395 holds contents of the window tag. It may be read at any byte offset.
396 Text written to
397 .B tag
398 is always appended; the file offset is ignored.
399 .TP
400 .B xdata
401 The
402 .B xdata
403 file like
404 .B data
405 except that reads stop at the end address.
406 .SH SOURCE
407 .B \*9/src/cmd/acme
408 .SH SEE ALSO
409 .IR rio (1),
410 .IR acme (1)