Here is some basic information about starting and using ce.

Command Line

ce takes zero or more filenames as command line arguments. It will read all of the files, creating a buffer for each one. It will create as many windows for the files as will fit on the screen. You can still navigate to the buffers that don't have a window by using the F8 key.

You can append a line number reference of the form :line:column to each filename, telling ce to move the cursor to that point in the file. The line and column are 1-based, and the :column is optional. For example, this command will open the file src/buffer.cr and move to line 50, column 10:

ce src/buffer.cr:50:10

For compatibility with older programs such as cscope, you can also specify a line number by preceding a filename with a +line argument. For example, this command will open the file src/buffer.cr and move to line 50:

ce +50 src/buffer.cr

Commands

ce implements a large subset of MicroEMACS commands. See the section Key Bindings below for a complete list of commands. If you find yourself stuck while using ce, and don't have time to look at the Key Bindings section, here are the most useful key combos:

• F1: wait for a key, then display the command bound to that key
• Ctrl-X Ctrl-K: display all key bindings
• Ctrl-X Ctrl-S or F2: save current file
• Ctrl-X Ctrl-V or F3: open a file
• Ctrl-X Ctrl-C or F4: exit the editor
• Ctrl-X 2: split the window
• Ctrl-X N: move to the next window
• Ctrl-X 1: make the current window the only window
• F8: move to the next buffer
• F5: undo

Using Ctrl-G at any prompt will abort the entry.

Numeric Prefix

You can pass a numeric argument to a command by prefixing it with Ctrl-U followed by the number in decimal. If you don't provide a prefix, the command will receive the default number 1.

If you provide a Ctrl-U prefix without a number, the command will receive the number 4. You can enter multiple Ctrl-U prefixes, each of which will multiply the prefix by four, so that two Ctrl-U prefixes means 16, three means 64, etc.

Differences from MicroEMACS

The commands in ce perform nearly identically to those in MicroEMACS, but there are some minor differences:

• When the spell commands encounter a misspelled word, they pop up a window showing the suggested replacements. Then they prompt you to enter your own replacement, or type the number of one of the suggested replacements.

• Autocompletion for prompts: use the Tab key twice in a row (instead of the '?' key) to pop up a window showing the possible completions.

• The file-write command prompts you to confirm overwriting an existing file.

Key Bindings

Here is a complete list of the key bindings in ce. C- indicates a Ctrl key combo; M- indicates an Esc key prefix; and C-X indicates a Ctrl X prefix.

Backspace        back-del-char
C-@              set-mark
C-A              goto-bol
C-B              back-char
C-D              forw-del-char
C-E              goto-eol
C-F              forw-char
C-G              abort
C-J              ruby-indent
C-K              kill-line
C-L              refresh
C-N              forw-line
C-O              ins-nl-and-backup
C-P              back-line
C-Q              quote
C-R              back-search
C-S              forw-search
C-T              twiddle
C-V              forw-page
C-W              kill-region
C-X (            start-macro
C-X )            end-macro
C-X +            balance-windows
C-X 1            only-window
C-X 2            split-window
C-X =            display-position
C-X B            use-buffer
C-X C-B          display-buffers
C-X C-C          quit
C-X C-F          set-file-name
C-X C-K          display-bindings
C-X C-N          down-window
C-X C-P          up-window
C-X C-Q          toggle-readonly
C-X C-S          file-save
C-X C-V          file-visit
C-X C-W          file-write
C-X C-X          swap-dot-and-mark
C-X C-Z          shrink-window
C-X E            execute-macro
C-X G            goto-line
C-X I            spell-region
C-X K            kill-buffer
C-X N            forw-window
C-X O            forw-window
C-X P            back-window
C-X Return       echo
C-X Tab          file-insert
C-X U            undo
C-X V            display-version
C-X Z            enlarge-window
C-Y              yank
C-Z              back-page
Del              forw-del-char
Down             forw-line
F1               help
F10              back-buffer
F2               file-save
F3               file-visit
F4               quit
F5               undo
F6               ruby-string
F7               redo
F8               forw-buffer
F9               search-again
Home             goto-bol
Kend             goto-eol
Left             back-char
M-!              reposition-window
M-$              spell-word
M-+              indent-region
M-/              reg-replace
M-<              goto-bob
M->              goto-eob
M-?              reg-query-replace
M-B              back-word
M-Backspace      back-del-word
M-C              cap-word
M-C-F            fold-case
M-C-R            back-regexp-search
M-C-S            forw-regexp-search
M-C-U            unicode
M-C-V            other-forw-page
M-C-Z            other-back-page
M-D              forw-del-word
M-F              forw-word
M-I              set-save-tabs
M-J              fill-paragraph
M-L              lower-word
M-P              search-paren
M-Q              query-replace
M-R              replace-string
M-Tab            set-tab-size
M-U              upper-word
M-V              back-page
M-W              copy-region
M-X              extended-command
M-[              back-paragraph
M-]              forw-paragraph
M-{              back-paragraph
Pgdn             forw-page
Pgup             back-page
Return           ins-nl
Right            forw-char
Up               back-line