Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

  
 
  

home | help
NEDIT(1)		       NEdit documentation			NEDIT(1)

NAME
     NEdit - Text Editor

SYNOPSYS
     nedit [-read] [-create] [-line n | +n] [-server]
	   [-do command] [-tags file] [-tabs n]
	   [-wrap] [-nowrap] [-autowrap]
	   [-autoindent] [-noautoindent]
	   [-autosave] [-noautosave]
	   [-lm languagemode] [-rows n] [-columns n]
	   [-font font]
	   [-geometry|-g geometry] [-iconic] [-noiconic]
	   [-display [host]:server[.screen]]
	   [-xrm resourcestring]
	   [-svrname name] [-import file]
	   [-background|-bg color] [-foreground|-fg color]
	   [-tabbed] [-untabbed] [-group]
	   [-V|-version] [-h|-help] [--] [file...]

DESCRIPTION
     NEdit is a standard GUI (Graphical User Interface) style text editor for
     programs and plain-text files. It provides mouse based editing and a
     streamlined editing style, based on popular Macintosh and MS Windows edi-
     tors, for users of X workstations and X terminals.

OPTIONS
     -read
	 Open the file read-only regardless of the actual file protection.

     -create
	 Don't warn about file creation when a file doesn't exist.

     -line n, +n
	 Go to line number n.

     -server
	 Designate this session as an NEdit server, for processing commands from
	 the nc(1) program. nc(1) can be used to interface NEdit to code devel-
	 opment environments, mailers, etc., or just as a quick way to open
	 files from the shell command line without starting a new NEdit session.

     -do command
	 Execute an NEdit macro or action on the file following the -do argument
	 on the command line. -do is particularly useful from the nc(1) program,
	 where `nc -do' can remotely execute commands in an nedit -server ses-
	 sion.

     -tags file
	 Load a file of directions for finding definitions of program subrou-
	 tines and data objects. The file must be of the format generated by Ex-
	 uberant Ctags, or the standard Unix ctags(1) command.

     -tabs n
	 Set tab stops every n characters.

     -wrap, -nowrap
	 Wrap long lines at the right edge of the window rather than continuing
	 them past it. (Continuous Wrap mode)

     -autowrap, -noautowrap
	 Wrap long lines when the cursor reaches the right edge of the window by
	 inserting newlines at word boundaries. (Auto Newline Wrap mode)

     -autoindent, -noautoindent
	 Maintain a running indent.

     -autosave, -noautosave
	 Maintain a backup copy of the file being edited under the name ~file-
	 name (on Unix) or _filename (on VMS).

     -lm languagemode
	 Initial language mode used for editing succeeding files.

     -rows n
	 Default height in characters for an editing window.

     -columns n
	 Default width in characters for an editing window.

     -font font, -fn font
	 Font for text being edited. Font for menus and dialogs can be set with
	 -xrm "*fontList:font".

     -geometry geometry, -g geometry
	 The initial size and/or location of editor windows. The argument geome-
	 try has the form:

	   [<width>x<height>][+|-][<xoffset>[+|-]<yoffset>]

	 where C`<width>' and "<height>" are the desired width and height of the
	 window, and <xoffset> and C`<yoffset>' are the distance from the edge
	 of the screen to the window, + for top or left, - for bottom or right.
	 -geometry can be specified for individual files on the command line.

     -iconic, -noiconic
	 Initial window state for succeeding files.

     -display [host]:server[.screen]
	 The name of the X server to use. host specifies the machine, server
	 specifies the display server number, and screen specifies the screen
	 number.  host or screen can be omitted and default to the local ma-
	 chine, and screen 0.

     -background color, -bg color
	 Background color. The background color for text can be set separately
	 with -xrm "nedit*text.background: color".

     -foreground color, -fg color
	 Foreground color. The foreground color for text can be set separately
	 with -xrm "nedit*text.foreground: color".

     -xrm resourcestring
	 Set the value of an X resource to override a default value.

     -svrname name
	 When starting nedit in server mode, name the server, such that it re-
	 sponds to requests only when nc(1) is given a corresponding -svrname
	 argument. By naming servers, you can run several simultaneously, and
	 direct files and commands specifically to any one. Specifying a
	 non-empty name automatically designates this session as an NEdit
	 server, as though -server were specified.

     -import file
	 Loads an additional preferences file on top of the existing defaults
	 saved in your nedit.rc file.  To incorporate macros, language modes,
	 and highlight patterns and styles written by other users, run nedit
	 with -import <file>, then re-save your nedit.rc file with Prefer-
	 ences->Save Defaults.

     -tabbed
	 Open all subsequent files in new tabs. Resets -group option.

     -untabbed
	 Open all subsequent files in new windows. Resets -group option.

     -group
	 Open all subsequent files as tabs in a new window.

     -V, -version
	 Prints version and build information, to be mentioned when reporting
	 bugs and problems.

     -h, -help
	 Prints the command line help and then exits.

     --  Treats all subsequent arguments as file names, even if they start with
	 a dash.  This is so NEdit can access files that begin with the dash
	 character.

ENVIRONMENT
     DISPLAY
	 NEdit requires an X-based workstation or X-Terminal. If you have used
	 telnet or rlogin to access the host Unix system, set the Unix environ-
	 ment variable for your display:

	 csh-type shells:

	    % setenv DISPLAY devicename:0

	 sh-type shells:

	    % DISPLAY=devicename:0 && export DISPLAY

     NEDIT_HOME
	 This environment variable can be set to the name of a directory. This
	 directory will then be used instead of `$HOME/.nedit' as the base di-
	 rectory for NEdit's special files (see section FILES, below).

	 This variable is new to NEdit 5.4.

FILES
     From version 5.4 on, NEdit creates a directory in which NEdit's special
     files reside. This directory is named '.nedit' by default.

     nedit.rc
	 This is an X resource file which contains most user settings for NEdit.
	 It is read at startup and written by selecting the item 'Save De-
	 faults...' in the Preferences menu. Do not edit this file by hand, all
	 settings can be reached via the 'Default Settings' menu.

     nedit.history
	 The list of recently opened files. Do not edit this file by hand.

     autoload.nm
	 A file that can contain a number of NEdit Macro Language statements and
	 subroutine definitions. The statements will be executed when an NEdit
	 server starts, the subroutines will be loaded for later reference.
	 This file will not be created or modified by NEdit (unless you load it
	 and edit it of course).

     Note that NEdit still supports the older names for these files, which were
     used by version 5.3 and below. These file names are `$HOME/.nedit',
     `$HOME/.neditdb' and `$HOME/.neditmacro', respectively. The old naming
     scheme will be used if NEdit detects that `$HOME/.nedit' is a regular file
     and NEDIT_HOME isn't set.

     See also the entry for NEDIT_HOME under ENVIRONMENT, above.

NOTES
     For more information see NEdit's online help, or nedit.doc in the NEdit
     distribution kit.

     NEdit sources, executables, additional documentation, and contributed soft-
     ware are available from the NEdit web site at http://nedit.org.

SEE ALSO
     nc(1), X(1), mwm(1), ctags(1), etags(1)

AUTHORS
     NEdit was written by Mark Edel, Joy Kyriakopulos, Christopher Conrad, Jim
     Clark, Arnulfo Zepeda-Navratil, Suresh Ravoor, Tony Balinski, Max Vohlken,
     Yunliang Yu, Donna Reid, Arne Forlie, Eddy De Greef, Steve LoBasso, Alexan-
     der Mai, Scott Tringali, Thorsten Haude, Steve Haehn, Andrew Hood,
     Nathaniel Gray, and TK Soh.

     The regular expression matching routines used in NEdit are adapted (with
     permission) from original code written by Henry Spencer at the University
     of Toronto.

     Syntax highlighting patterns and smart indent macros were contributed by:
     Simon T. MacDonald,  Maurice Leysens, Matt Majka, Alfred Smeenk, Alain Far-
     gues, Christopher Conrad, Scott Markinson, Konrad Bernloehr, Ivan Herman,
     Patrice Venant, Christian Denat, Philippe Couton, Max Vohlken, Markus
     Schwarzenberg, Himanshu Gohel, Steven C. Kapp, Michael Turomsha, John
     Fieber, Chris Ross, Nathaniel Gray, Joachim Lous, Mike Duigou, Seak
     Teng-Fong, Joor Loohuis, Mark Jones, and Niek van den Berg.

COPYRIGHT
     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it un-
     der the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
     Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
     any later version.

     In addition, as a special exception to the GNU GPL, the copyright holders
     give permission to link the code of this program with the Motif and Open
     Motif libraries (or with modified versions of these that use the same li-
     cense), and distribute linked combinations including the two. You must obey
     the GNU General Public License in all respects for all of the code used
     other than linking with Motif/Open Motif. If you modify this file, you may
     extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not oblig-
     ated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement
     from your version.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FIT-
     NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License in the
     Help section "Distribution Policy" for more details.

NEdit release of		   2026-04-28				NEDIT(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=nedit&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

home | help