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Language Tutorial
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Manipulating Blocks of Text

The Procedure Editor allows you to define and manipulate blocks of text. A block of text can be a set of contiguous characters, a whole line, several contiguous lines in a buffer, or an entire procedure.

Follow these basic steps to manipulate a block of text:

  1. Position the cursor on the first character of the text block.
  2. Press BLOCK (defined later in this section) to mark the beginning of the text block.
  3. Position the cursor one character to the right of the last character in the text block.
  4. Execute the desired text-block operation. You can cut a text block, copy a text block, or paste over a text block.

Text block manipulation centers around three operations: cut, copy, and paste. The Procedure Editor supports these operations with a special cut/paste buffer. This special cut/paste buffer is used by all platforms running in character mode. When you cut or copy a block of text, the text goes into the cut/paste buffer and remains there until you cut or copy another block of text or exit the Procedure Editor. A paste operation inserts the contents of the cut/paste buffer at the current cursor location or replaces a defined text block.

Table 2–5 lists the set of keys that allow you to define a block and execute a text-block operation on either a UNIX or Windows platform.

Table 2–5: Key Functions to Define Text-block Operations 

Key Function

Common
Keyboard
Mapping on UNIX
Common
Keyboard
Mapping on Windows


Description
BLOCK 
CTRL-V 
CTRL-V 
Mark the beginning of a text block.
COPY 
ESC-C 
F11 
Copy the current text block into the cut/paste buffer. This key function is the same as Edit Copy.
CUT 
ESC-X 
F10 
Cut the current text block into the cut/paste buffer. This key function is the same as Edit Cut.
PASTE 
ESC-V 
F12 
Paste the contents of the cut/paste buffer at the current cursor location. This key function is the same as Edit Paste.

With this functionality, you can cut and paste code from one position to another in the current edit buffer. You can also cut and paste between edit buffers.


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