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NEdit

Screenshot

NEdit Screenshot
Creating a new file
  1. Open a NEdit window by typing:

    % nedit

  2. Select Save As... under the File Menu.
  3. In the dialog box, type TEST as the filename. Click OK.
The window is now ready for you to enter text. At the top of the window you should see the title "TEST". Now you have an open file named TEST. You can type into this file and edit it as you would if you were using a word processor. So you will have something to work with in this tutorial, copy the text below and paste it into your NEdit file.

First, copy the text from this tutorial:
  1. Move your cursor to the beginning of the passage below.
  2. Hold down MB1 (Mouse Button 1) and drag the cursor down the page (the text will be highlighted).
  3. After you have highlighted the block of text, release MB1.
Now paste the text into NEdit:
  1. Move to your NEdit window and activate it by clicking MB1 inside the window.
  2. Move to the place where you want to insert your text.
  3. Press MB2. The text will be pasted into your TEST file.
Did you know that there was a time long ago when the brickyard was
just a grassy area with paths criss crossing through it?  Imagine that!  Did
you ever wonder who was inspired to lay a field of bricks?  Well, the
brickyard (officially named University Plaza) was built in the 1960's.  Over
the years, a myriad of activities have taken place on those bricks, including
a few NCAA championship celebrations!  Everyone knows where the brickyard
is..why, it's a locally famous landmark now.  Isn't it attractive?
Saving your new file

Select Save under the File menu. The text you just pasted in will be saved under the filename you entered when you created the file ("TEST").

Editing

First, reformat your paragraph so that you can work with it. To do this, put your cursor anywhere within the text and select Fill Paragraph under the Edit menu. The paragraph will be reformatted to fit inside your window and extra spaces will be removed.

Now highlight (select) the first sentence of the passage in your TEST file.

Select Cut under the Edit menu. The first sentence is cut from your document and saved to an invisible clipboard. Now, using your mouse, move the pointer to the end of the passage of text and click to position the cursor.

Select Paste under the Edit menu. The text that you cut from the top is pasted in at the bottom where you set the cursor.

If you select Copy when text is highlighted, NEdit will make a copy of the highlighted text and you can paste the copy wherever you want. Selecting Clear will cut the highlighted text and you will NOT be able to retrieve it.

After pasting the sentence at the end of the passage, you will notice that part of the sentence runs off the window. The horizontal scrollbar at the bottom can be used to see the part of the line that runs off the window.

With your cursor in the passage of text, select Fill Paragraph again under the Edit menu. The paragraph will be reformatted to fit in the window. Remember, this only works for the paragraph where your cursor is located. A paragraph is defined as any block (or line) of text with a blank line above and below it.

Searching

Because NEdit only searches between the cursor position and the end of the document, it is a good idea to get into the habit or repositioning your cursor to the top before you begin a search.

Select Find under the Search menu. A small dialog box will appear. Click inside the box and type in the word you want to find. In this case, type in "brickyard" (without the quotes). Now click on OK. When NEdit finds the first occurrence of the word, it will be highlighted.

Now that the word is found, you have options for replacing it or moving on. Let's say you want to replace "brickyard" with "plaza". Select Replace under the Search menu. Enter "plaza" into the dialog box and click OK. NEdit will replace the found word.

Now select Find Same under the Search menu. NEdit will find the next occurrence of the word. Now you may either select Replace to tell NEdit what you want to replace the word with, OR you may select Replace Same to automatically replace the word with the same replacement word you specified last time.

Note: In the Replace dialog box, watch out for the Replace All option. It may replace some things you weren't counting on replacing.

Quitting NEdit

Select Close or Exit from the File menu to quit NEdit. Selecting Close will close the file you are working on and leave the NEdit window open so that you can work on another file. Selecting Exit will end the NEdit session (including any other NEdit windows that were opened from the same session). Both choices will prompt you to save your changes if you have not already done so.

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