Joe Editor

Joe is a program you can use to edit text files on a Unix or Linux server. This page has detailed instructions.

Contents

A Quick Introduction to Joe

What is Joe?
Starting Joe
Getting Help
Exiting
Working with Blocks of Text
Mark Beginning
Mark End
Delete
Move
Copy
Write

Reference

Movement
Find and Replace
Block
Deleting
Miscellaneous
Window Control
Macros
File Functions
Exit


A Quick Introduction to Joe

What is Joe?

Joe is a text editor that works in TEXT only. You can't use the mouse. You use the arrow keys to move around and key commands to delete, copy, save, etc. Most commands start with ^k which means you hold the control key and k at the same time. For example, the command ^k s will save a file

Starting Joe

Joe runs on Unix. You can run it on the Brand X server. If you don't know how to log into www.brandx.net see the instructions for PUTTY.

To start joe, type joe at your prompt. To edit a file, type joe filename.

Getting Help

The upper left-hand side of the screen displays the name of the file you are editing and its status (whether the document is modified or not). The upper right-hand side should display the help key. To get help, press the control key () and k, then let go of both keys and press h. This key combination will be written as ^kh. To toggle the help screen off, repeat with ^kh.

Exiting

When done editing your file, ^kx will exit and save. Instead, if you wish to exit without saving, thereby canceling all of your changes, press ^c.

Working with Blocks of Text

You can manipulate large areas of text by defining the beginning and ending of a section and then performing operations on that block.

    Mark Beginning

    To mark the beginning of a text block, place the cursor where you wish the block to begin and type ^kb.

    Mark End

    To mark the end of a text block, place the cursor where you wish the block to end and type ^kk.

    Now that the block is marked off, you can do the following:

    Delete

    To delete the text block (or "yank" it), type ^ky.

    Move

    To move the text of the block to another location (so that it is removed from its original location), move the cursor to the point where you would like to move the text, and type ^km.

    Copy Text

    To copy the text of the block to another location (without deleting the original text), move the cursor to the point where you would like to insert the copy, and type ^kc.

    Write

    To write (save) the text of the block to a new file, type ^kw.

Quick Reference

Movement

^b........ .............Scroll left
^f........ .............Scroll right
^x .....................Forward a word
^a .....................To left edge (of line)
^e..................... To right edge
^p..................... Line up
^n..................... Line down
^u..................... Screen up
^ku................... Top of Document
^v..................... Screen down
^kv ...................End of Document
^kl.................... Goto line #

Find & Replace

^k^f................... Find text
^kf ....................Find Next

Block

^kb.................. Mark beginning of block
^kk.................. Mark end of block
^kc ...................Copy block
^km .................Move block
^kw................. Save block
^ky ..................Erase block
^ko.................. Substitute block

Deleting

^d .....................Delete highlighted character
^w ....................Delete word: right
^o .....................Delete word: left
^j ......................Delete to the end of the line
^y..................... Delete whole line
^k- ...................Undo delete
^k+................... Redo delete

Miscellaneous

^t ......................Set format (margins, etc.)
^l ......................Redraw screen
^ka ....................Center words in line
^kj ....................Format line to margins
^z ......................Suspend (to prompt)
^k, ....................Indent to left (pushes text to left)
^k. ....................Indent to right (pushes text to right)

Window Control

^ko ....................Split window
^kp ....................Switch to top window
^kn ....................Switch to bottom window
^kg ...................Grow size of current window
^kt .....................Shrink size of current window
^c ......................Close window

Macros

^k[ .....................Start recording a macro
^k] .....................Stop recording a macro
^k/ .....................Play a macro
^k= ....................Repeat a macro

File Functions

^kd .....................Save file
^kr .....................Insert a file
^ke .....................Open new file

Exit

^kx .....................Save and exit
^c .......................Exit (without save)