PDP–11 Keypad Editor

This document is the PDP–11 Keypad Editor (KED) User's Guide, published in August 1991 for the RT–11 Version 5.6 operating system. It provides comprehensive instructions on how to use KED to write, edit, and inspect various text files, storing them on the system.

The guide covers fundamental operations such as starting and ending work sessions (creating, editing, or inspecting files), basic text entry using the terminal keyboard, and detailed editing functionalities. Editing topics include cursor movement by character, word, line, section, or page, as well as searching for specific text. It also explains how to delete and restore characters, words, lines, or larger sections of text, insert blank lines, replace text, substitute character strings, and change the case of alphabetic characters.

Beyond basic editing, the document delves into advanced features like creating and executing macros and command files to automate tasks, using auxiliary files for large cut-and-paste operations or splitting/combining files, and leveraging journal files for work session recovery in case of system malfunctions. Special operations for programmers are also detailed, including inserting escape characters, renumbering MACRO–11 and MACRO–32 local symbols, and structured tab operations for managing code indentation. Appendices provide reference information on command line options, KED functions and commands, ASCII equivalents, a work session example, and error messages with explanations and solutions.