Creating A File
Lesson 3: Entering Text
Take a minute now to enter a few lines of text. To do so, first po-sition the cursor at the end of the information you've already typed by issuing "[£J (for "next word") several times. Remem-ber that the cursor (the bright underline) always appears at the position where the next letter will appear or the next action will occur.
Watch the column number on the status line as you type. Use the left arrow key (<r- without control) to backspace a single-character position. If you want to erase characters as you back-space, use "- (control-hyphen) instead of the left arrow. (Note:
On the Osborne I, control-hyphen is the same as what WordS tar calls the DEL ("delete") key.)
Even though the Osborne 1 displays just 52 characters per line, it allows lines up to 128 characters (letters or numbers) wide.
The 52-character display is a window on a longer line. When you enter text beyond the 52nd column, the window automati-cally shifts to the right, thus extending your view of lines that are longer than the screen.
Now let's explore some of the special word-processing functions WordStar incorporates:
WORD WRAP: Normally when you have typed 65 characters, WordStar lets you finish the word you are typing and then
jumps to the next line. If possible, the last word you typed will
be fit within the 65 columns on the previous line; otherwise the word moves to the beginning of next line. This feature, termed
"word wrap," means that you never have to use the carriage-return key except when you wish to force WordS tar to move to the next line, as at the end of a paragraph.
You can turn the word-wrap feature OFF and enter text just as you would on a conventional typewriter with the
"ow
com-mand, but it is rare that anyone would want to do this. Issue
"@] and look closely at the a-prefix menu. Notice that the W option (for word wrap) tells you whether it is ON or OFF. Right now it should be ON. Press
I
ESCI
to return to the main menu.JUSTIFICATION: Have you noticed that the words on a line are spaced unevenly and that all text lines end in the same column?
Text is aligned at the right margin by a WordStar feature called
"justification." Justification purposely spaces the words to achieve this symmetry. If you want text to appear without being aligned at the right margin, turn the justification OFF with the command "OJ. You can also use hyphens to improve the ap-pearance of your text, so don't be afraid to hyphenate a long word if it seems to be going past the right-hand margin.
RULER LINE: A line that appears just above the first line of your text is called the "ruler line":
L---- !---- !---- !---- !---- !---- !---- !---- !---- !----R
The L marks the left-hand margin setting, the R the right. Each exclamation point marks a regular tab stop, while a number sign signifies decimal tabs. WordStar margins can be set anywhere between 1 and 240; we'll show you how to set margins and tabs later.
HYPHENS: WordStar has two kinds of hyphens: the "soft hyphen" is used to indicate a syllable break that only appears in your printed text if the break occurs at the end of a line; a "hard hyphen" separates words and phrases no matter where it ends up, and always appears in your printed text.
Hyphens are automatically soft because the soft-hyphen feature is automatically ON. As with most commands that concern the format or look of a document, the status of the soft-hyphen fea-ture is shown on the 1\0 menu. You turn the soft-hyphen entry ON or OFF with a combination of 1\0 and E. You can tell if the soft-hyphen feature is ON or not by issuing a I\/]] and looking at the menu.
Use hard hyphens whenever a fixed divider is required between characters, words, or phrases. Hyphens are always hard when soft-hyphen entry is OFF, but you can enter hard hyphens even though soft-hyphen entry is ON by issuing I\p before typing the hyphen.
You distinguish between hard and soft hyphens when you review text on the monitor with the print-control display com-mand, 1\00. 1\00 turns the display of certain print-control characters OFF or ON. With the print control display turned OFF, soft hyphens will not appear on the screen. The current state of the print-control display is shown on the 1\0 menu.
You'll learn more about hyphens in an upcoming lesson.
MOVING AROUND IN A FILE: At this point you've typed some lines of text. Experiment with the one-letter cursor move-ment commands listed on the left side of the main menu. These cursor-movement commands should be easy to learn because the cursor moves in the direction in which keys are positioned on the keyboard. This cursor command-key arrangement is illustrated here:
Just remember that the cursor moves in the same direction as the keys are positioned in the diamond on the keyboard. Try it.
The cursor cannot move beyond the text on the screen in either direction, so you will get a better feeling for these commands if you have a nice chunk of text to play in.
Because the arrow keys also function like these cursor-control keys, whether you use the arrow keys or the control keys is up to you and will depend on your style of typing. Generally, fast typists should use the control keys because the hand does not have to move out of the typing position to use them. Con-versely, "hunt-and-peck" typists will probably find the arrow keys more convenient.
If you type enough text, you'll discover another feature called
"scrolling." Scrolling occurs when you have more than one screen full of text. Your monitor represents a "window" through which you look at your text, and WordS tar automatically moves the document under the window as appropriate. As you add more text, the text in the window seems to move up because you're adding material at the bottom.
You can manually force WordStar to scroll the text by using the scrolling commands, A II], A ~, A []], and A I]] . Notice how the first two commands move the screen window one line at a time, while the latter two move the window about a full screen at a time.
DELETIONS: Try deleting some text by positioning the cursor within an existing line of text, and issuing AI]]. The AG com-mand deletes one character or space at the cursor and draws in the next character from the right. Issuing A [!] deletes a whole word to the right of the cursor, and A[Y] deletes an entire line.
Note that the Osborne 1 does not have a DEL key as indicated on the menu. Use A_ (control-hyphen) if you want the DEL function. Most professional typists prefer not to delete charters as they backspace; turning the INSERT feature OFF ac-complishes this function. See lesson 4, "Editing a File," for more on the INSERT feature.
FLAGS: While you were scrolling the screen, did you see some strange symbols to the right of your text? These symbols are called "flag" characters. They indicate the status of text lines.
Each line contains a flag character that tells you how WordStar interprets the line. Issue 1\1]] [£J (our good friend HELP, again) to receive a full description of these flag symbols, then review the summary on flag characters in the Reference Guide.
SAVING A FILE: When you are through experimenting with the skills you've learned so far, you'll probably want to take a break.
Even though the document you have created may not be of per-manent value, we will show you how to save it anyway so you learn from the beginning how to keep your work. Follow the di-rections for saving a file as described below to get a solid under-standing of the SAVE commands.
Three methods exist for saving files:
SAVE AND REEDIT: Initiate this command by issuing 1\ [K] []J . A message at the top of the screen informs you that the file TRIAL. TXT is being saved. A copy of the file is saved on disk-ette, while the original version of the file is left open for further editing. You should be returned to the beginning of the docu-ment. You can move your cursor back to the position it occupied before you issued the save command by following the instruc-tions that are now displayed at the top of the screen (issue a I\@]IE]), or simply start at the top of the document by hitting any key. You should get in the habit of periodically saving what you have typed with 1\ KS, just in case of some unforeseen calamity. Also, if for some reason you must leave the computer, it is wise to issue a 1\ KS command before you depart.
SAVE AND DONE EDITING: Issue this command by typing
1\ [K] [[]. This form of the save command saves the file under the name with which you created it, and returns you to the no-file menu. Use this method when you want to work with additional files or to save a file before printing it.
SAVE AND EXIT: You issue this command with I\KX. Since you are already at the no-file menu, you cannot try this com-mand without reopening the file. You can, however, simulate what would happen; just press [8], since the I\KX command both saves the file like I\KD and additionally exits WordStar like X. This method of saving a file is used when you are completely through with WordS tar and wish to employ some other program or quit for the day. When WordS tar stops ex-ecuting, you should see the CP/M prompt ~ at the bottom of your screen. (Remember that if you change program disks at this point, you should push RESET or issue a I\C command to bring in the CP/M operating system from that disk.)
The foregoing was a large, but important lesson. We put just enough of every use of the basic editing functions of WordStar into that lesson that you should be able to create and edit docu-ments on your own now. There's plenty to come, but if you'd like to go back and practice some more editing before moving on, the following chart should help summarize what you've learned.