Starting up the editor

If you are working from a shell, you need only type `stedi' or its alias, provided a proper environment has been established.

Once the editor is started in one of these ways, you will be greeted by the GEM file selector box which allows a file to be chosen for editing. For now we will define a new file called `TEST':

Type `TEST' and press the <return> key.

This results in a blank screen except for the command line in contrasting color at the bottom of the screen. The various characters which appear on the command line are different indicators of the current status of the editor. These are fully explained in the chapter on `the status bar', later in the manual. A few will be explained here as we proceed.

For now, note that the name that we have chosen for our file, `TEST', appears at the right end of the command line, and toward the left-center of the command line the message `New file' is displayed. This is because the editor was unable to find an existing file called `TEST' and therefore assumes that we wish to create a new file.

A point concerning the use of the command line is illustrated here: the command line is sometimes used as a message line through which the editor communicates error messages or other pertinent information to the user. Since it also provides a continuous monitor on the status of the editor, it is wise to keep an eye on the command line!

Summary of the uses of the command line:

as a message line for messages to the user about editor actions
as a status bar to monitor the status of editor options
as a command line for entering commands

$\fbox{\parbox{14cm}{\it Because of the multi-role the command line plays, when ... ... it will sometimes also be referred to as the message line, or the status bar}}$

You may wish to know that stedi contains a help facility which can be obtained by pressing the <Help> key (on computers that don't have a <Help> key the key marked F12 should fulfil this function). This action reads the file `stedi.hlp' into one of stedi's buffers for editing files (generally buffer 8 - buffers will be explained later) if the file can be found. This file contains a brief but exhaustive list of all stedi's commands. Try this now:

Press the <Help> key (or F12)

The help file will be at your disposal at any time throughout this tutorial should you desire to look at it, provided that you have copied it to the directory from which you are running stedi. Pressing the <Help> key a second time will put you back in the buffer in which you were when the help feature was first invoked. So to return to buffer 1:

Press the <Help> key (or F12)

Now that the new file called `TEST' has been defined, you can begin typing:

type the words `Hello stedi'.

The words typed will appear on the screen and this simple action has created your first file. Before going any further, let us see how to exit from the editor. To get out without saving anything:

press shift-F10 (The combination of a Shift key and the F10 key)

Whenever a file has been altered during an editing session and you issue this command, you will be prompted by a message in the command line asking if you would like to quit anyway without saving the file(s). The options allowed for response to this query are `y' or `n' (yes or no).

Since by typing the words `Hello stedi' you have altered the file `TEST', this message should appear in the command line. For now there is no need to save the file, so

type `y' (yes)

This gets you out of the editor without saving anything, and you can start over again. So any time a problem occurs while reading this overview, you can always get back to square one by exiting with the use of the shift-F10 command.