XMORE page 1






XMORE: An extended "more" utility

Version 1.1

(C) Copywrite by Ed Garcia, 1986

All rights reserved.




This is a user-supported program. Feel free to copy and
pass this program along to anyone whom it may be useful to.
However, you must include all documentation and specifically
this notice with the executable code. This document or the
executable code cannot be redistributed in any modified
form. You are not allowed to charge for this program beyond
a reasonable cost for the diskette and duplication. The
author retains all rights to the distribution of this
program.


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contribution would be appreciated to aid in continuing to
develop DOS utility applications such as this one. We will
keep you informed of any new programs or improvements on
existing programs. If this program is used in a commercial
environment, a $10 license fee is required. For large
quantities or site licenses, please contact us.




If you have any suggestions for improvements or possibly
other utility programs you would like to see, let us know
about them and we will make every effort to utilize all
suggestions.




THI International

140 University Avenue, Suite 31

Palo Alto, CA. 94301

(415) 327-4660











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XMORE is an extended version of the "more" command that is
included with PC-DOS. The extensions are modeled after the
MORE utility of UNIX. Currently PC-DOS offers only limited
ways to view a file. The most common way is with the "type"
command, but it does not allow viewing a file one screenful
at a time. The "more" command included in PC-DOS does have
this capability, but it is awkward to use and is not very
flexible.




XMORE can do much more than just break a file up into
screenfuls for viewing on the monitor. It has several modes
that give the user great flexibility in how the files are to
be viewed, editing while viewing, searching for strings, and
viewing multiple files in succession. XMORE allows you to
view "WordStar" style formatted files without having to
start up your editor (i.e. editors which change the value of
certain characters for formatting purposes). Even though
these files would appear to have strange characters if
viewed with DOS's "type" or "more", they appear normal with
XMORE.




Several files can be viewed successively. If more than one
file is listed on the command line, then XMORE will proceed
through each one. For instance:

XMORE file.one file.two tables.doc

This would cause XMORE to first display the contents of
file.one. A message that file.two follows will then be
displayed, followed by the contents of that file. Lastly
tables.doc will be displayed.




Another method to achieve the same effect is to use
"wildcards" in the filenames. For instance, if you want to
display all files with the extension of .BAS, then XMORE
will be entered as:

XMORE *.BAS

Anytime wildcard characters ( "*" or "?" ) are encountered,
XMORE will display the name of the next file matching the
wildcard string before the file contents.










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XMORE can also be used as a filter. An example of this use
would be the case of long directory listings. Instead of
the names scrolling off the top of the screen, the output of
DIR can be "piped" into XMORE by the command:

DIR | XMORE

The directory listings produced by DIR will then be
controlled by the XMORE commands in much the same way a file
is controlled by XMORE.




Yet another way of utilizing XMORE's capabilities can be
best illustrated in the following example. A file can be
created containing all files listed on XMORE's command line.
XMORE will add header lines before every file to identify
each one. For instance:

XMORE chapt??.txt apendix.* > book.all

All files that match the wildcard characters will be written
into the file book.all preceded by a header which displays
the name of the file it was read from. This is useful when
you need a printout of all files of a certain type and
knowledge of the source filename is also desirable.




To convert WordStar style special formatting characters back
to their original form, XMORE may be used as a filter. The
proper command would be:

XMORE wordstar.doc

This will display the formatted file "wordstar.doc" on the
screen. To write the results to another file:

XMORE wordstar.doc > wordstar.prn

This command will write the formatted file "wordstar.doc"
into a readable file called "wordstar.prn".

















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Here is a complete list of the available commands in XMORE.
Most commands can be preceded by an optional integer number.
When no number precedes, the default value is used.
-------------------------------------------------------------



Display another screenful of text. If a
number precedes the space command, that
amount of lines will be displayed. The
default value is 21 lines.



z Display another screenful of text. This
command is similar to the
command, except that if a number precedes
the 'z' command, that amount of lines
will be displayed and the default window
size will be set to that number. To see
the set size of the default settings, see
the '?' command.



Display one line of text. If a number
precedes this command, then that amount
of lines will be displayed. The default
size of the command will be set
to the new number. To check the current
default settings, see the '?' command.



d or D Display 11 more lines ( a
"scroll"). If a number precedes this
command, then the new scroll size is set
to that number.



q or Q or Exit from xmore. If there are
any more files that are to be read, they
are ignored. You will be returned
immediately to the DOS prompt. If you
just want to terminate viewing the
current file, use the ':n' command.

s Skip forward one line of text. If a
number precedes this command, then that
amount of lines will be skipped.










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f Skip forward one screenful of text. A
screenful is the number of lines
displayed when the space bar is pressed
(initially 21). If a number precedes
this command, then that number of
screenfuls is skipped.



= Display the line number of the last line
viewed in the current file.



/ Search for the first occurrence
of the search string. When the string is
found, that line will become the first
line on the screen. If the string is not
found, a message is displayed and the
file is reset to the beginning.



n Search for the next occurrence of the
last search string. The string will be
redisplayed on the command line as XMORE
searches. When the string is found, that
line will become the first line on the
screen. If the string is not found, a
message is displayed and the file is
reset to the beginning. To set the search
string, see the '/' command above.



! or :! Execute in PC-DOS. Any
command that you would normally execute
at the DOS prompt can be executed here.
After the command has terminated, control
will be returned back to XMORE. The
screen will be redrawn at the current
line of the current file.

v Start up an editor using the current
file. A string is sent to PC-DOS "EDIT
". After exiting the editor
in the normal fashion, you can continue
viewing the current file. The current
line after editing will be as close to
the current line before editing as
possible.










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h or F1 Display a short menu of all available
XMORE commands. F1 causes the screen to
be cleared first while 'h' will scroll
the information in the same way as the
viewing file is scrolled.


L Redraw screen. The top of the screen
will be the first line of the last
command. If the last scroll value was a
number less then the size of the screen
(i.e. scrolls one line), new
lines will displayed to fill up the
screen.


:n Go to the next file. If the current file
is the last file, XMORE will terminate.


:p Go back to the top of the current file.


:f Display current file name and line number


? Display all current default values. This
command is NOT a standard unix "more"
command, but it is a useful way for
checking all current values.



Of the preceding commands, one deserves further explanation.
The 'v' command is used to make small changes to a file as
it is being viewed. It utilizes any editor that you may
use. When 'v' is pressed, a program with the name "EDIT" is
searched for in the current directory. If it is not found,
then the search continues in all directories specified in
the "path" environment (if used). "EDIT" can be a file of
any type that can be executed by PC-DOS (i.e. .BAT , .COM ,
or .EXE file extensions ). For example, a batch file for
using WordStar could be called EDIT.BAT:

in EDIT.BAT ; rem Loading WordStar...
WS %1

This would load the current file into WordStar whenever the
'v' command was issued. Another way would be to rename the
editor's filename to EDIT. So, using WordStar as an example
again, WS.COM could be renamed EDIT.COM.


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