Difference between revisions of "Command Syntax"

Revision as of 20:15, 12 December 2016

vEdit's Command Syntax loosely follows the syntax of the "C" programming language. The format of commands is:

Command( arguments )

Command names can be entered in any combination of upper and lower case letters. To improve readability, we usually capitalize the first letter of each command word, e.g. Type_Space( ).

The _" character is optional and is only intended to improve readability. Most commands have a short abbreviation. It is often, but not always, the first letter of each command word.

Therefore, the following commands Type_Space( ), typespace( ), TS( ), and ts( ) are all identical.

Many commands take one or more arguments which must be enclosed in parentheses "(...)". With a few exceptions, commands that take no arguments can have the empty "( )" left off.

The macros we supply on disk and the examples in this manual usually use the full command name and include empty "( )" for commands that perform an operation and leave the "( )" off for the commands (called "internal values") that only return a value. However, we usually abbreviate the command Visual( ) as just V.

Commands that take a single numeric argument, e.g. Type_Space( ), will use the default argument of "1" if no argument is specified.

Therefore, the following commands Type_Space(1), Type_Space( ), Type_Space( ), and TS are all identical.

Multiple commands may be typed one after another on a command line. They are always executed left to right. Their effect is the same as if each command had been typed on its own command line. For clarity's sake, you should leave a space between the commands. For example, the three command lines, each with a single command:

Begin_Of_File
Print(ALL)
V

are equivalent in operation to the single command line with three commands:

Begin_Of_File Print(ALL) V

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Therefore, the following commands <kbd>Type_Space(1)</kbd>, <kbd>Type_Space( )</kbd>, <kbd>Type_Space( )</kbd>, and <kbd>TS</kbd> are all identical.
+Multiple commands may be typed one after another on a command line. They are always executed left to right. Their effect is the same as if each command had been typed on its own command line. For clarity's sake, you should leave a space between the commands. For example, the three command lines, each with a single command:
+<pre>Begin_Of_File
+Print(ALL)
+V</pre>
+are equivalent in operation to the single command line with three commands:
+<pre>Begin_Of_File Print(ALL) V</pre>