ref: 9b68b426103ca0564d522d9918082125836a9f23
dir: /sys/man/1/sam/
.TH SAM 1
.ds a \fR*\ \fP
.SH NAME
sam, B, sam.save, samterm \- screen editor with structural regular expressions
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B sam
[
.I option ...
] [
.I files
]
.PP
.B sam
.B -r
.I machine
.PP
.B sam.save
.PP
.B B
.I file ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Sam
is a multi-file editor.
It modifies a local copy of an external file.
The copy is here called a
.IR file .
The files are listed in a menu available through mouse button 3
or the
.B n
command.
Each file has an associated name, usually the name of the
external file from which it was read, and a `modified' bit that indicates whether
the editor's file agrees with the external file.
The external file is not read into
the editor's file until it first becomes the current file\(emthat to
which editing commands apply\(emwhereupon its menu entry is printed.
The options are
.TF -rmachine
.TP
.B -a
Autoindent. In this mode, when a newline character is typed
in the terminal interface,
.I samterm
copies leading white space on the current line to the new line.
.TP
.B -i
Indent with spaces.
In this mode, when a tab character is typed
in the terminal interface,
.I samterm
will insert spaces until the next tabstop.
Backspace will delete spaces until the previous tabstop
or another character is encountered.
.TP
.B -d
Do not `download' the terminal part of
.IR sam .
Editing will be done with the command language only, as in
.IR ed (1).
.TP
.BI -r " machine
Run the host part remotely
on the specified machine, the terminal part locally.
.TP
.BI -s " path
Start the host part from the specified file on the remote host.
Only meaningful with the
.BI -r
option.
.TP
.BI -t " path
Start the terminal part from the specified file. Useful
for debugging.
.PD
.SS Regular expressions
Regular expressions are as in
.IR regexp (6)
with the addition of
.BR \en
to represent newlines.
A regular expression may never contain a literal newline character.
The empty
regular expression stands for the last complete expression encountered.
A regular expression in
.I sam
matches the longest leftmost substring formally
matched by the expression.
Searching in the reverse direction is equivalent
to searching backwards with the catenation operations reversed in
the expression.
.SS Addresses
An address identifies a substring in a file.
In the following, `character
.IR n '
means the null string
after the
.IR n -th
character in the file, with 1 the
first character in the file.
`Line
.IR n '
means the
.IR n -th
match,
starting at the beginning of the file, of the regular expression
.LR .*\en? .
All files always have a current substring, called dot,
that is the default address.
.SS Simple Addresses
.PD 0
.TP
.BI # n
The empty string after character
.IR n ;
.B #0
is the beginning of the file.
.TP
.I n
Line
.IR n ;
.B 0
is the beginning of the file.
.TP
.BI / regexp /
.PD 0
.TP
.BI ? regexp ?
The substring that matches the regular expression,
found by looking toward the end
.RB ( / )
or beginning
.RB ( ? )
of the file,
and if necessary continuing the search from the other end to the
starting point of the search.
The matched substring may straddle
the starting point.
When entering a pattern containing a literal question mark
for a backward search, the question mark should be
specified as a member of a class.
.PD
.TP
.B 0
The string before the first full line.
This is not necessarily
the null string; see
.B +
and
.B -
below.
.TP
.B $
The null string at the end of the file.
.TP
.B .
Dot.
.TP
.B \&'
The mark in the file (see the
.B k
command below).
.TP
\fB"\f2regexp\fB"\f1\f1
Preceding a simple address (default
.BR . ),
refers to the address evaluated in the unique file whose menu line
matches the regular expression.
.PD
.SS Compound Addresses
In the following,
.I a1
and
.I a2
are addresses.
.TF a1+a2
.TP
.IB a1 + a2
The address
.I a2
evaluated starting at the end of
.IR a1 .
.TP
.IB a1 - a2
The address
.I a2
evaluated looking in the reverse direction
starting at the beginning of
.IR a1 .
.TP
.IB a1 , a2
The substring from the beginning of
.I a1
to the end of
.IR a2 .
If
.I a1
is missing,
.B 0
is substituted.
If
.I a2
is missing,
.B $
is substituted.
.TP
.IB a1 ; a2
Like
.IB a1 , a2\f1,
but with
.I a2
evaluated at the end of, and dot set to,
.IR a1 .
.PD
.PP
The operators
.B +
and
.B -
are high precedence, while
.B ,
and
.B ;
are low precedence.
.PP
In both
.B +
and
.B -
forms, if
.I a2
is a line or character address with a missing
number, the number defaults to 1.
If
.I a1
is missing,
.L .
is substituted.
If both
.I a1
and
.I a2
are present and distinguishable,
.B +
may be elided.
.I a2
may be a regular
expression; if it is delimited by
.LR ? 's,
the effect of the
.B +
or
.B -
is reversed.
.PP
It is an error for a compound address to represent a malformed substring.
Some useful idioms:
.IB a1 +-
\%(\f2a1\fB-+\f1)
selects the line containing
the end (beginning) of a1.
.BI 0/ regexp /
locates the first match of the expression in the file.
(The form
.B 0;//
sets dot unnecessarily.)
.BI ./ regexp ///
finds the second following occurrence of the expression,
and
.BI .,/ regexp /
extends dot.
.SS Commands
In the following, text demarcated by slashes represents text delimited
by any printable
character except alphanumerics.
Any number of
trailing delimiters may be elided, with multiple elisions then representing
null strings, but the first delimiter must always
be present.
In any delimited text,
newline may not appear literally;
.B \en
may be typed for newline; and
.B \e/
quotes the delimiter, here
.LR / .
Backslash is otherwise interpreted literally, except in
.B s
commands.
.PP
Most commands may be prefixed by an address to indicate their range
of operation.
Those that may not are marked with a
.L *
below.
If a command takes
an address and none is supplied, dot is used.
The sole exception is
the
.B w
command, which defaults to
.BR 0,$ .
In the description, `range' is used
to represent whatever address is supplied.
Many commands set the
value of dot as a side effect.
If so, it is always set to the `result'
of the change: the empty string for a deletion, the new text for an
insertion, etc. (but see the
.B s
and
.B e
commands).
.br
.ne 1.2i
.SS Text commands
.PD 0
.TP
.BI a/ text /
.TP
or
.TP
.B a
.TP
.I lines of text
.TP
.B .
Insert the text into the file after the range.
Set dot.
.PD
.TP
.B c\fP
.br
.ns
.TP
.B i\fP
Same as
.BR a ,
but
.B c
replaces the text, while
.B i
inserts
.I before
the range.
.TP
.B d
Delete the text in the range.
Set dot.
.TP
.BI s/ regexp / text /
Substitute
.I text
for the first match to the regular expression in the range.
Set dot to the modified range.
In
.I text
the character
.B &
stands for the string
that matched the expression.
Backslash behaves as usual unless followed by
a digit:
.BI \e d
stands for the string that matched the
subexpression begun by the
.IR d -th
left parenthesis.
If
.I s
is followed immediately by a
number
.IR n ,
as in
.BR s2/x/y/ ,
the
.IR n -th
match in the range is substituted.
If the
command is followed by a
.BR g ,
as in
.BR s/x/y/g ,
all matches in the range
are substituted.
.TP
.BI m " a1
.br
.ns
.TP
.BI t " a1
Move
.RB ( m )
or copy
.RB ( t )
the range to after
.IR a1 .
Set dot.
.SS Display commands
.PD 0
.TP
.B p
Print the text in the range.
Set dot.
.TP
.B =
Print the file name and line address of the range.
.TP
.B =#
Print the file name and character address of the range.
.PD
.SS File commands
.PD 0
.TP
.BI \*ab " file-list
Set the current file to the first file named in the list
that
.I sam
also has in its menu.
The list may be expressed
.BI < "Plan 9 command"
in which case the file names are taken as words (in the shell sense)
generated by the Plan 9 command.
.TP
.BI \*aB " file-list
Same as
.BR b ,
except that file names not in the menu are entered there,
and all file names in the list are examined.
.TP
.B \*an
Print a menu of files.
The format is:
.RS
.TP 11
.BR ' " or blank
indicating the file is modified or clean,
.TP 11
.BR - " or \&" +
indicating the file is unread or has been read
(in the terminal,
.B *
means more than one window is open),
.TP 11
.BR . " or blank
indicating the current file,
.TP 11
a blank,
.TP 11
and the file name.
.RE
.TP 0
.BI \*aD " file-list
Delete the named files from the menu.
If no files are named, the current file is deleted.
It is an error to
.B D
a modified file, but a subsequent
.B D
will delete such a file.
.PD
.SS I/O Commands
.PD 0
.TP
.BI \*ae " filename
Replace the file by the contents of the named external file.
Set dot to the beginning of the file.
.TP
.BI r " filename
Replace the text in the range by the contents of the named external file.
Set dot.
.TP
.BI w " filename
Write the range (default
.BR 0,$ )
to the named external file.
.TP
.BI \*af " filename
Set the file name and print the resulting menu entry.
.PP
If the file name is absent from any of these, the current file name is used.
.B e
always sets the file name;
.B r
and
.B w
do so if the file has no name.
.TP
.BI < " Plan 9-command
Replace the range by the standard output of the
Plan 9 command.
.TP
.BI > " Plan 9-command
Send the range to the standard input of the
Plan 9 command.
.TP
.BI ^ " Plan 9-command
Send the standard output of the Plan 9 command
to the command window.
.TP
.BI | " Plan 9-command
Send the range to the standard input, and replace it by
the standard output, of the
Plan 9 command.
.TP
.BI _ " Plan 9-command
Send the range to the standard input, and send the
standard output of the Plan 9 command to the command
window.
.TP
.BI \*a! " Plan 9-command
Run the
Plan 9 command.
.TP
.BI \*acd " directory
Change working directory.
If no directory is specified,
.B $home
is used.
.PD
.PP
In any of
.BR < ,
.BR > ,
.BR ^ ,
.BR _ ,
.B |
or
.BR ! ,
if the
.I Plan 9 command
is omitted the last
.I Plan 9 command
(of any type) is substituted.
If
.I sam
is
.I downloaded
(using the mouse and raster display, i.e. not using option
.BR -d ),
.B !
sets standard input to
.BR /dev/null ,
and otherwise
unassigned output
.RB ( stdout
for
.B !
and
.BR > ,
.B stderr
for all) is placed in
.B /tmp/sam.err
and the first few lines are printed.
.PP
Sam sets two environmental variables depending on the current file.
.I $%
is set to the file name.
.I $%dot
is set to a list consisting of three values that define the dot.
.SS Loops and Conditionals
.PD 0
.TP
.BI x/ regexp / " command
For each match of the regular expression in the range, run the command
with dot set to the match.
Set dot to the last match.
If the regular
expression and its slashes are omitted,
.L /.*\en/
is assumed.
Null string matches potentially occur before every character
of the range and at the end of the range.
.TP
.BI y/ regexp / " command
Like
.BR x ,
but run the command for each substring that lies before, between,
or after
the matches that would be generated by
.BR x .
There is no default regular expression.
Null substrings potentially occur before every character
in the range.
.TP
.BI \*aX/ regexp / " command
For each file whose menu entry matches the regular expression,
make that the current file and
run the command.
If the expression is omitted, the command is run
in every file.
.TP
.BI \*aY/ regexp / " command
Same as
.BR X ,
but for files that do not match the regular expression,
and the expression is required.
.TP
.BI g/ regexp / " command
.br
.ns
.TP
.BI v/ regexp / " command
If the range contains
.RB ( g )
or does not contain
.RB ( v )
a match for the expression,
set dot to the range and run the command.
.PP
These may be nested arbitrarily deeply, but only one instance of either
.B X
or
.B Y
may appear in a \%single command.
An empty command in an
.B x
or
.B y
defaults to
.BR p ;
an empty command in
.B X
or
.B Y
defaults to
.BR f .
.B g
and
.B v
do not have defaults.
.PD
.SS Miscellany
.TF (empty)
.TP
.B k
Set the current file's mark to the range. Does not set dot.
.TP
.B \*aq
Quit.
It is an error to quit with modified files, but a second
.B q
will succeed.
.TP
.BI \*au " n
Undo the last
.I n
(default 1)
top-level commands that changed the contents or name of the
current file, and any other file whose most recent change was simultaneous
with the current file's change.
Successive
.BR u 's
move further back in time.
The only commands for which u is ineffective are
.BR cd ,
.BR u ,
.BR q ,
.B w
and
.BR D .
If
.I n
is negative,
.B u
`redoes,' undoing the undo, going forwards in time again.
.TP
(empty)
If the range is explicit, set dot to the range.
If
.I sam
is downloaded, the resulting dot is selected on the screen;
otherwise it is printed.
If no address is specified (the
command is a newline) dot is extended in either direction to
line boundaries and printed.
If dot is thereby unchanged, it is set to
.B .+1
and printed.
.PD
.SS Grouping and multiple changes
Commands may be grouped by enclosing them in braces
.BR {} .
Commands within the braces must appear on separate lines (no backslashes are
required between commands).
Semantically, an opening brace is like a command:
it takes an (optional) address and sets dot for each sub-command.
Commands within the braces are executed sequentially, but changes made
by one command are not visible to other commands (see the next
paragraph).
Braces may be nested arbitrarily.
.PP
When a command makes a number of changes to a file, as in
.BR x/re/c/text/ ,
the addresses of all changes to the file are computed in the original file.
If the changes are in sequence,
they are applied to the file.
Successive insertions at the same address are catenated into a single
insertion composed of the several insertions in the order applied.
.SS The terminal
What follows refers to behavior of
.I sam
when downloaded, that is, when
operating as a display editor on a raster display.
This is the default
behavior; invoking
.I sam
with the
.B -d
(no download) option provides access
to the command language only.
.PP
Each file may have zero or more windows open.
Each window is equivalent
and is updated simultaneously with changes in other windows on the same file.
Each window has an independent value of dot, indicated by a highlighted
substring on the display.
Dot may be in a region not within
the window.
There is usually a `current window',
marked with a dark border, to which typed text and editing
commands apply.
Text may be typed and edited as in
.IR rio (1);
also the escape key (ESC) selects (sets dot to) text typed
since the last mouse button hit.
.PP
Ctrl+b switches to the command window and moves to the end
of the text.
Ctrl+g switches to the last focused window.
If the focused window is a text window, ctrl+g switches
to the next zeroxed instance of that window.
.PP
The button 3 menu controls window operations.
The top of the menu
provides the following operators, each of which uses one or
more
.IR rio -like
cursors to prompt for selection of a window or sweeping
of a rectangle.
`Sweeping' a null rectangle gets a large window, disjoint
from the command window or the whole screen, depending on
where the null rectangle is.
.TF resize
.TP
.B new
Create a new, empty file.
.TP
.B zerox
Create a copy of an existing window.
.TP
.B resize
As in
.IR rio .
.TP
.B close
Delete the window.
In the last window of a file,
.B close
is equivalent to a
.B D
for the file.
.TP
.B write
Equivalent to a
.B w
for the file.
.PD
.PP
Below these operators is a list of available files, starting with
.BR ~~sam~~ ,
the command window.
Selecting a file from the list makes the most recently
used window on that file current, unless it is already current, in which
case selections cycle through the open windows.
If no windows are open
on the file, the user is prompted to open one.
Files other than
.B ~~sam~~
are marked with one of the characters
.B -+*
according as zero, one, or more windows
are open on the file.
A further mark
.L .
appears on the file in the current window and
a single quote,
.BR ' ,
on a file modified since last write.
.PP
The command window, created automatically when
.B sam
starts, is an ordinary window except that text typed to it
is interpreted as commands for the editor rather than passive text,
and text printed by editor commands appears in it.
The behavior is like
.IR rio ,
with an `output point' that separates commands being typed from
previous output.
Commands typed in the command window apply to the
current open file\(emthe file in the most recently
current window.
.SS Manipulating text
Button 1 changes selection, much like
.IR rio .
Pointing to a non-current window with button 1 makes it current;
within the current window, button 1 selects text, thus setting dot.
Double-clicking selects text to the boundaries of words, lines,
quoted strings or bracketed strings, depending on the text at the click.
.PP
Button 2 provides a menu of editing commands:
.TF /regexp
.TP
.B cut
Delete dot and save the deleted text in the snarf buffer.
.TP
.B paste
Replace the text in dot by the contents of the snarf buffer.
.TP
.B snarf
Save the text in dot in the snarf buffer.
.TP
.B plumb
Send the text in the selection as a plumb
message. If the selection is empty,
the white-space-delimited block of text is sent as a plumb message
with a
.B click
attribute defining where the selection lies (see
.IR plumb (6)).
.TP
.B look
Search forward for the next occurrence of the literal text in dot.
If dot is the null string, the text in the snarf buffer is
used.
The snarf buffer is unaffected.
.TP
.B <rio>
Exchange dot with snarf buffer of
.IR rio .
If dot is the null string, the text in the snarf buffer is
used.
.TP
.BI / regexp
Search forward for the next match of the last regular expression
typed in a command.
(Not in command window.)
.TP
.B send
Send the text in dot, or the snarf buffer if
dot is the null string, as if it were typed to the command window.
Saves the sent text in the snarf buffer.
(Command window only.)
.PD
.SS External communication
.I Sam
listens to the
.B edit
plumb port.
.PP
.I B
is a shell command that sends the named
.IR files
to the
.B edit
port of the plumber.
.SS Abnormal termination
If
.I sam
terminates other than by a
.B q
command (by hangup, deleting its window, etc.), modified
files are saved in an
executable file,
.BR $home/sam.save .
This program, when executed, asks whether to write
each file back to a external file.
The answer
.L y
causes writing; anything else skips the file.
.SH FILES
.TF /sys/src/cmd/samterm
.TP
.B $home/sam.save
.TP
.B $home/sam.err
.TP
.B /sys/lib/samsave
the program called to unpack
.BR $home/sam.save .
.SH SOURCE
.TF /sys/src/cmd/samterm
.TP
.B /sys/src/cmd/sam
source for
.I sam
itself
.TP
.B /sys/src/cmd/samterm
source for the separate terminal part
.TP
.B /rc/bin/B
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR ed (1),
.IR sed (1),
.IR grep (1),
.IR rio (1),
.IR regexp (6).
.PP
Rob Pike,
``The text editor sam''.