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XX-3A36A-E1

August 1979

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Document:	TECO SIG Moby Munger 3 part1 197908
Order Number:	XX-3A36A-E1
Revision:	000
Pages:	42
Original Filename:	http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/teco/TECO_SIG_Moby_Munger_3_part1_197908.pdf

OCR Text

MOBY
MUNGER
the

Issue #3 - Part I

August 1979

Contributions and correspondence should be sent to the editor:
Stanley Rabinowitz
6 Country Club Lane
Merrimack, NH 03054
or to

TECO SIG
c/o DECUS
Mail Stop MR2-3/E55
One Iron Way
Marlboro, MA 01752

Media intended for the newsletter editor should be sent to his
work address:
Stanley Rabinowitz
Mail Stop MK1-2/E~9
Digital Equipment Corporation
Continental Blvd
Merrimack, NH 03054
Camera ready copy is pref erred but scribblings on the side of a
napkin will be accepted. Ready.to use material should be prepared
on 8 1/2 x 11 inch white unlined bond paper. A one inch margin
should be maintained on both sides, on the top, and on the bottom.
Material should be reasonably clean, legible, and sufficiently dark
copy for printing. Material intended for publication should be
mailed in a large envelope so that it can be sent without the
necessity of folding~
Readers are urged to submit articles, techniques, notes, hacks,
ideas, comments, and bug reports to the Moby Munger for
publication. This newsletter will publish on a more regular
basis if more readers will submit material.
It would be
especially helpful if some people would volunteer to write
certain columns regularly, such as the Beginner's column,
or the TECO Techniques, or the NOTES FROM XXX, etc. Volunteers
are urged to send their names in to the editor.
©1979, DECUS
It is assumed that all articles submitted to the editor of this newsletter are with the authors' permission to publish in any DECUS publication.
The articles are the responsibility of the authors and, therefore, DECUS, Digital Equipment Corporation, and the editor assume no responsi·
bility or liability for articles or information appearing in the document.

Page 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

SIG News
SIG TECO Availability
Notes from RSX
Notes from RT-11
Notes from OS/8
Notes from TOPS-IS
Notes from TOPS-2S
Notes from VAX/VMS
Notes from RSTS/E
CDL TECO
Problem of the Month
Solution of the Month
Comments from Readers
Macro of the Month
'rhe VAX Unit Processing Edi tor (UPE)
Language Oriented Editing
Historical Department
Differences between TEC0-11 V33 and V34
Differences between TEC0-11 V3~ and V33
Differences between ITS TECO and TOPS-2S TECO V589
Differences between TEXAS TECO Vl24 and Vl24A

Overview of EMACS
Handom Ideas
About TV
More on KED/TECO Debate
More Errors in TECO Reference Card
Errors in Moby Munger
Survey of TECOs
WPI TECO Vl(l65)
XTEC %S(427)
Harvard UNIX TECO V6
TV
MIT TECO (part 1)
MULTICS TECO
TEC65
Questions and Answers
The Sewers of PIING POONG
HELP Program for RSTS/E
SQU.TEC - The TECO Macro Squisher
TECO-related DECUS Submissions

This newsletter contains Part I, pages 1-41.
The next issue will contain Part II, pages 42-74.
The total Table of Contents appears here as a preview of more to come.

-36
7
9

11
17
17
18
22
24
25
26
28
31
32
36
37
37
38
39
4S

42
45
46
5~

51
51
52
52
53
54
56
58
6S
63
64
69
69

71
74

Page 3

SIG NEWS
Symposia Notes:
NEW ORLEANS:
The TECO SIG was out in force, as usual, at the Spring 1979
DECUS Conference in New Orleans. A good 5~ people showed up
at the TECO SIG meeting. The discussion covered new versions
of TECO, their new features, and how to get them, as well as
new features in VTEDIT, obscure TECO macros, and much more.
Many new members signed up.
We held two TECO tutorial sessions, the usual introductory
session, and, by popular demand, a session on advanced TECO
features.
SAN DIEGO:
Plans for the Fall 1979 Symposium in San Diego are shaping up
very well.
This symposium will be the best one yet for TECO
fans. We expect to have a full day's worth of sessions,
ranging from tutorials to workshops to formal papers.
By popular demand, we will have a workshop on the internals
of VTEDIT. There will.be several tutorials on EM.ACS (a
fantastic video editor written in TECO). We will hear about
a TECO keyboard monitor and a TECO Macro library. There will
be panel discussions on commenting conventions, using VTEDIT
without a keypad, and structured programming in TECO. And
lots more. Don't miss it!
As is our usual policy, all TECO sessions will be open to users
of all computers, small, medium, and large systems. We will
also have at least one birds of a feather session to discuss
items that are not formally on the agenda - so bring along
things to talk about.
At the time of this writing~ it is not clear what hardware
will be available, but it is expected that we will be able to
copy media for -B's, -ll's, -lO's and -20's, so bring along
any macros that you have that you wish to distribute to others.
We will make up kits containing all contributed macros and
make copies available to all who want them.
Also, the SIG will bring down the latest copies of all its
supported TECOs. This will include TEC0-8, TEC0-11, and
TEC0-1~.
PDP-11 programs will be distributed on DOS format
MAGtapes.
PDP-8 programs will be distributed on OS/8 floppies
and/or DECtape. DECsystem-1~ and -2~ programs will be distributed on BACKUP INTERCHANGE M.AGtapes (if a -2~ is at the
symposium) else on PDP-1~ DECtapes.
We hope to have a TECO campground at San Diego where TECO
GURUs and fans can congregate. Details should be in the
symposium program. Don't forget to ask for a TECO sticker
for your badge when you register.

Page 4

SIG NEWS (CONT.)
How to join the TECO SIG:
Send your name and address to
DECUS
Mail Stop MR2-3/E55
One Iron Way
Marlboro, MA 01752
and say that you wish to join the TECO SIG.
If you are a
DECUS member, send your membership number.
(If you are not a
DECUS member, ask for an application blank.)
How NOT to join the TECO SIG:
Requesting SIG membership by writing to the newsletter editor
will delay your request (possibly indefinitely) .
SIG Activities:
Those of you who were in New Orleans saw our poster paper
showing the first draft of our new compatibility level 1 TECO
reference card. This is a new reference card which we are
still in the process of designing.
It describes all the TECOs
that the SIG supports and compliments (rather than obsoletes)
the TECO Pocket Guide which describes all of DEC's TECOs (and which
was also produced through the efforts of the TECO SIG) . When the
new card is finished, it is hoped that it will be able to be
distributed through DECUS. We are currently negotiating with
them about this.
It is expected that final copies will be available
in San Diego.
Stan Rabinowitz is currently doing research into the history
of TECO for a poster paper to be presented in San Diego.
Readers
bearing knowledge of little-known TECOs or of facets of the
history of TECO should communicate the same to him. Especially
wanted are old manuals which show the development of early versions
of TECO.
The SIG is also preparing to submit packages of TECO macros
to the DECUS Program library.
So many readers have written in to
tell us that they have lots of small macros that are too small to
be worth submitting to DECUS. What we would like is for all these
people to submit these macros (along with documentation) to the
TECO SIG (c/o Stan Rabinowitz) and we will package them all into
a :single tape (or maybe more than one) and submit the whole as
a package to DECUS.
Each macro submitted should contain a corrunent
at the top stating the name of the macro, the author's name, date,
version number, and which TECO and which operating system the macro
is designed to run on. A description of what the macro does and
how it is invoked should also be included.
If this description is
lengthy, include it in a separate file with an extension of .TXT
or .DOC and with name the same as the name of the TECO program.

Page 5

SIG NEWS (CONT I)
Upcoming Activities:
VOLUNTEERS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED.
The TECO SIG has been run mostly by a small number of people.
This is not good. Right now, if one or two key people should
lose interest in TECO, the SIG would probably fold up. Also,
our chairman has recently resigned. Jim Crapuchettes has
agreed to act as temporary chairman until the end of the year.
It is absolutely crucial that we get a new chairman at or
before Fall DECUS. Note that DECUS rules prohibit a DEC
employee from being SIG Chairman. Anyone who would like to
be SIG Chairman should write to us immediately. The person
should be dedicated to keeping the SIG active. He should be
someone who expects to be at most DECUS Symposia and he (or
she) should expect that he (or she) will remain interested in
and actively using TECO for the next year or two. The SIG
chairman handles correspondence with DECUS and answers queries
from.users. Most of the chairman's work can probably be performed
by forwarding the appropriate correspondence to the appropriate
DIGITAL counterpart.
IF THE SIG DOES NOT GET A PERMANENT CHAIRMAN, WE WILL LOSE ALL
OUR FUNDING AND RECOGNITION FROM DECUS.
Keeping the SIG alive is not a one-man operation. Neither the
chairman nor the newsletter editor should have to "do it all".
The chairman should be able to delegate responsibility. We can
use a library chairman (someone who will keep in touch with
the DECUS library and report on new TECO submissions) , a
symposium chairman (someone who will call around and solicit
papers to be given at future symposia}, etc.
We also need a steering committee. This would consist of 4 or 5
users who could discuss SIG policy matters. Such things arise
from time to time. For example, DECUS has recently informed us
that the newsletter funding policy will change next year and that
the SIG must decide how it will finance its newsletter. This
will be something that will be discussed at the SIG business
meeting in San Diego; but it would have been nice if the SIG
steering committee could have discussed the problem amongst
themselves first.
I would also like to see a sub~chairman for each operating
system. The subchairman would answer all user queries having
to do with the operating system he knows best (possibly by
referring them to the appropriate DIGITAL counterpart) . The
sub-chairman would keep up with the latest information and
problems with TECO on his operating system. He would probably
receive the latest (pre-release) versions of SIG supported
TECOs as they were produced (to field test). Write to Stan
Rabinowitz if you wish to volunteer for any of the above positions,
whether technical or administrative.
It is critically urgent
that the SIG be run and supported by users.

Page 6

SIG NEWS (coNr.)
Availability of SIG TECOs ..
The TECO SIG is actively pushing Compatibility Level 1 of TECO.
This dialect of TECO is upward compatible with what you are
familiar with and is compatible with each other. Compatibility
level 1 TECO is implemented currently via three TECOs: TEC0-8
which runs under OS/8, TEC0-1~ which runs under TOPS-1~ and
TOPS-2~, and TEC0-11 which runs under RT-11, RSTS/E, RSX-11/M,
RSX-11/D, IAS, and VMS. These versions of TECO are supported by
the TECO SIG and have been created through the SIG's efforts.
STATUS
TEC0-8 V7 is now currently available from the DECUS Program Library.
Its order number is DECUS 8-913. For more information, see page 11.
TEC0-11 V35 kits have been made for all PDP-11 operating systems,
but as of this writing (17-August-1979) these kits have not yet
been submitted to DECUS (although all the paperwork has been
filled out). The kits are going through in-house field test.
Also, work is still progressing on the new TECO manual.
It is
expected that TEC0-11 will be available from DECUS within a
month after you receive this issue of the Moby Munger. However,
do NOT order it from DECUS until you have seen a formal announcement
of its availability. You can also call Stan Rabinowitz
[at (6~3) 884-5288 between 3 PM and 4 PM Eastern Time] to inquire
about availability.
TEC0-1~ is still being field tested but should be ready for
mass distribution before Fall DECUS. We will have copies there.
Watch for further announcements before ordering from DECUS
[or call the above phone number] .

It is unfortunate that it is taking the implementors so much
time to formally get these products into the DECUS Program library.
Perhaps we should go back to the scheme of informal distribution
by users pending official library submission.
If you would be
interested in field testing new TECOs as they come out and sending
out copies to other users who sent you media, please contact Stan
Rabinowitz.
Send your name, address, phone number, hardware
configuration, and operating system.

Anyone interested in implementing Compatibility Level 1 of TECO
on some other operating system should contact Stan Rabinowitz.
We will send you more information and encouragement.

Page 7

NOTES FROM RSX
As of July 1979, the version of TECO available from the DECUS
library for the RSX based systems is still V28 (under DECUS 11-333
for llM and 11-334 for llD and lAS) . We will be releasing a new
version very soon (probably V35). See page 6 for the latest
information about availability of this version of TEC0-11.
TEC0-11 version 34 was distributed on the LUG tapes at the Spring
1979 Decus Symposium in New Orleans.
It has many new features,
including new control flow constructs, more VTEDIT support, and a
much more sophisticated startup procedure. Details are documented
in the kit.
This version, 34, has one known problem: When a text buffer is
written to a file, any ESCAPE (ALTMODE) characters in the buffer
act as record delimiters.. Under most circumstances, this is
harmless, since the ~ecord contains th~ ESCAPE character, and
the input reader knows not to insert CRLF, so the whole operation
is self-consistent. The only problem occurs when a file containing ESCAPE characters is to be used by some other program
(such as a command file containing escape sequences). In this
case, breaking escape sequences across record boundaries will
generally cause problems. For the present, you can kludge around
this bug by inserting the escape characters in the buffer as
octal 233, which will not cause record breaks. This problem
will be fixed in version 35 which will shortly be released to
the DECUS library.
For those of you who have access to the RSX-llM Utility Fiche,
the following is an index to the TECO source modules contained
therein (as of March 1979):
Module

Fiche #

Frame #

Brief Description

TECO
SCREEN
.MAIN..
TECOIO
TECINI
CCLCMD
GETFLS
SWPFLS
INDCLS
INDERR
OUTPUT
LISTEN
RUBOUT
TIAST
TTYOUT
EXSRV
EXIT
ERRORS

43
43
43
43
43
43
43
43
43
43
43
43
44
44
44
44
44
44

N,01
N,08
Gl,0
Bll
Lll
Gl2
Nl2
El4
Bl5
Fl5
Kl5
Fl6
C,01
K,01
C,02
N,02
L,03
F,04

Text Editor and Corrector
VT52 WATCH
Pref ix file for RSX-11 TECO I/O Assembly
Data area for RSX-11 TECO I/O package
Initialization for TECO I/O
Command line processing login
File opening and closing for TECO I/O
Swap primary and secondary streams
Close indirect stream
Error in indirect file
Record I/O for TECO I/O
TTY service for TECO I/O
RUBOU'l' and CTRL/U processing
Type-in AST service
TTY service for TECO I/O
Random exec services for TECO I/O
Program exit for TECO I/O
Error handling for TECO I/O

Note that TEC0-11 V28 does not make use of the monitor typeahead facilities that are available under the latest releases
of the RSX-11 operating systems.
(Thus running VTEDIT under
those systems is not very useful.) V35 contains full typeahead support.

Page 8

1ektronix, Inc.
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March 30. 1978

DEC US

129 Parker Street
PK3-l/E55
Maynard, Ha. 01754
Gentlemen;
We are using TECO version 29 under RSX-llM V3.

Attached,

please find a correction to module TTVOUT, which allows TECO to
echo an old style ALT MODE (ASCII code 175) correctly as a $.

TVOUT • TTV SERVICE FON TECOIO MACRO Mil
31

"'01111~"

'' CHA•ACT[• OIS,&TCH TAILE 'O• TY,[ OUT •ouTtN!,
YYTA911
'
.•ORO
TAB

35
]fl

~euu
UP~U

n IOIH!tl

.-ee01•

..-eeet 1

.,•• ....... " """' 1•
lllUAb

11. flHtl
u IHIU
1111111

.,••
..,·~ .......,.

.•• .....,

IHIH

"""' t 2
HHU

uee t 5
RIH3J
8111117
UllH
HUJ•'

.. llU•l'

.....
...... ,.

,1110RD

1 NOllt0

.wORO

TYTABL

,wORO
Clll
,wORO
'"1lfS
,wOlllO
ftfLL
•• 1 •T•TA8

TYOU,1

.wo•n

IMAl 75

HUii'

.~ORD

1 N01il0

, .. ORO

~- HllSl
51

HUU'

fUlU'

.woAO

IA'-329'' eoilll:J2GI'

.wOAD

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51

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.11.0AO

T0"5
TOTAi
TOL'
TOVT
TOH

TOCR
TOA'1 1 TOA"
T09f:LL

!CHO OLD ST•LE ALT "ODES ALSO

Page 9

NOTES FROM RT-11
RT-11 V3B included TEC0-11 V28 as an unsupported product. The
kit also included a TEC0-11 manual (for V27 TECO). Version 29
of TEC0-11 was distributed at the last DECUS symposium.
In the last Moby Munger, we asked for volunteers to upgrade
RT-11 TECO I/O to support V34. We received several takers,
all with excellent qualifications. However, Mark Bramhall
beat them all to it and RT-11 TECO V34 is now a reality.
It will be released (unsupported) with RT-11 V4 which is
expected to be released in early 198~. Copies of V34 TECO
will be available at San Diego DECUS.
(It will run under
RT-11 V3B.)
New Features
General new features in TEC0-11 V34 can be found elsewhere in
this issue.
New features that are specific to RT-11 are:
(a)

(b)

(c)

Auxiliary file support. TECO now permits two input
streams and two output streams. EP switches to the
secondary input stream and ER$ switches back to the
primary input stream (the usual input stream) . EA
switches to the secondary output stream and EW$ switches
back to the primary (usual) output stream. All the
usual I/O commands, such as ERfile$, EWfile$, P, PW,
A, Y, EF, EC, etc., work on the currently selected streams.
For example, during the middle of an edit, if you wanted
to append the contents of a small file FOO.TXT to the end
of the current page (without losing your place in the
current input file), you would issue the following commands:
EP
switch to secondary input stream
ERFOO.TXT$
open FOO.TXT on secondary stream
A
append text to end of text buffer
ER$
return to primary input stream.
Edit Indirect. The command Eifile$ tells TECO to accept
additional TECO commands from the specified file instead of from the terminal. This new "input command
stream" takes effect after the current TECO command
string has finished executing (since the current command
string up to the concluding $$ has already been read in
from the terminal). The EI$ command switches the input
command stream back to the terminal, as does encountering
end-of-file in the indirect command file. While an EI is
in progress, all immediate action commands (except $$) are
suspended.
Timer Support. The tH command now returns the number of
seconds that have elapsed since midnight divided by 2.
This is compatible with RSX TECO.

Page 1,0
(d)

Wildcard Support. This was described on pages 37 and 38
of issue number 2 of the Moby Munger. Briefly, ENfilespec$
sets up a wildcard file specification. Successive EN$
commands then load up pseudo-Q-register * with the name
of the next file that matches the specification. All
standard RT-11 wildcards are permitted. The EN$ command
can be colon modified to return a success or failure
indication.

(e)

Private Initialization. The contents of a file called
TECO.INI will be executed as TECO commands (if this file
is found) each time that TECO starts up. This lets you
perform custom initialization, such as flag settings.
A sample TECO.INI is included in the release kit. This
file also describes the meaning of returned values from
TECO. INI.

(f)

Customizable command line parsing. Your EDIT/TECO command
line is normally parsed by a TECO macro built into TECO.
However, if you have a file called TECO.TEC on SY:, then
this file will be invoked to do the command line parsing.
A sample TECO.TEC is included in the release kit.
It is
recommended that only TECO wizards use or modify this file.

(g)

Immediate mode CTRL/C command. Now, you can use CTRL/C
to exit TECO without having to type a double ALTMODE.
Since RT-11 doesn't have a CONTINUE command, accidental
exit from TECO is undesirable, so it will be necessary
to type two CTRL/C's in a row to exit. Temporarily,
since people need time to get used to this feature, it
will be necessary (in V34) to type £our successive
CTRL/Cs to get out of TECO.
Sometime in 1981 we will
reduce this back to two CTRL/Cs to be compatible with
other TECOs.
-~

Version 4 of RT-llt will support the TECO, MAKE, and MUNG
commands. These will be compatible with other PDP-11 implementations of these commands. MUNG will be slightly different
from the EDIT/EXECUTE command as shown below:

!Mani t~-~- -~ommand
i

--· -- -·· ----- --

iEDIT file/EXECUTE:text
~-------·····-··-·-

------- ---------·

M'lJNG_ file, text
1

. Corresponding
- ·- ·""· ---------------···-·--·1
TECO command
·--~--·-·-·

... -

·--·------·

~~~~~;!~:~-~:~~te~~~=z$_~-~-=I

These commands are almost identical (but not quite). Note that
for your TECO program to automatically start up when invoked by
a MUNG command, it must end with two ALTMODEs.
Under RT-11 V4, you will also get TECO command 'memory' as has
been available under TOPS-1,0 and OS/8 (and more recently under
other PDP-11 operating systems) . Memory is implemented via
a file called TECF,0,0.TMP on DK:. Then, wnen you type a
TECO foe.bar
command, TECO will remember your filename
so that later you can merely type
TECO
to the operating
system and you will automatically begin editing foe.bar .
Note that .R TECO will always enter TECO (as usual) with no
memory.
t probably only the FB version.

Page 11

NOTES FROM OS/8
The latest DEC-supported TECO for OS/8 is called OS/8 TECO VS
and is distributed as part of the OS/8 V3D extension kit.
The PDP-8 group has no plans to re-release TECO in the near
future.
The TECO SIG intends to support enhancements to OS/8 TECO.
Through the aid of Stan Rabinowitz, they have created a new
product, called TEC0-8, which is now in the DECUS Program
Library. TEC0-8 is based on OS/8 TECO but is written in
MACREL (rather than PALS) and contains many new features.
Any time that DEC decides that it is willing to release and
support TEC0-8, the SIG will be happy to give it to DEC.
TEC0-8 version 6 was distributed informally at Spring DECUS
in New Orleans. TEC0-8 V7 is now available from the DECUS
Program Library. The order number is DECUS 8-913.
It is
available on two media - DECtape or floppies. The media code
for the DECtape is H3~ and the media code for the two floppies
is KS~.
There are two floppies - a source floppy and a
binary floppy.
If you have no need for the sources, you can
order just the binary floppy. Very explicitly, specify that you
want the binary floppy only and send in $2S rather than $S~.
(The DECtape kit contains both sources and binaries on one tape.)
There is also a write-up (media code A2) but this is identical
to material appearing on the machine-readable media, so you
should not order it if you are ordering one of the kits.
Bug reports on OS/8 TECO VS should continue to be submitted
to DEC in the usual manner (with copies to the TECO SIG).
Bug reports on TEC0-8 V7 should be sent to the TECO SIG
c/o DECUS.
Do NOT send TEC0-8 problem reports to DEC.
Probably the most important feature of TEC0-8 is its window
support (written by Jim Roth). This allows TECO to maintain
a window into the text buffer on the screen of a VT~S, VTS2,
or VTl~~ terminal (similar to the VR12 window support that
already existed). This allows writing true video editors
in TECO and in fact, one is included in the TEC0-8 kit.
It
is called VTEDIT version ~ and is compatible with VTS2.TEC
which was distributed with early versions of TEC0-11.
It runs
on VTS2's and VTl~~s.
A picture of the VTEDIT keypad layout
occurs on page 9 of the last issue of the Moby Munger.
TEC0-8 also supports expanded length MUNG command lines and
allows an alternative way to chain to TECO so that the
command line will be parsed by a TECO macro called TECO.TEC
instead of by CCL. Unfortunately, both of these features
requires corresponding support by CCL, which is not present
in the CCL distributed by DEC. Perhaps sometime in the
near future, a fix to CCL will be issued by the SIG.
The new features in TEC0-8 which were not in OS/8 TECO VS
are described on the following pages.

Page 12

TEC0-8 V7 has the following new features:

Symbiont support. This allows 1ECO•B to run under
0&/78 operatiny system wn11e a symbiont is running.

Vl support.
This provides a window feature into tne
text ~utter (for use Nitn Vl52 and VTlOO terminals).

w command. -1~ ucdates window irto text buffer.
Ow
resets cursor line to its cetault position. nw if n is
positive, sets tne cursor line to line n.
If n is
negative, nw causes tne Vl support to 'torget' the tdp
-n-1 lines on the screen.
These commands are only
operanle if VT support is enabled.

the

The (AS) imrrediate rrode com~and no longer gives you an
messaqe if userl immediately after a CAS) had
already been used.

error

:~k and :~B co~mands.
Tnese are tne same as ER and EB,
ho•1iever, it trie specified ti.le is not found, tnen no
error ~essaqe is neneratea.
Instead, no new file is
opened ana the co~mand returns a value ot o. If the
com~and nad succeeded, tnen a value ot -1 is returned.

The IS s~itcn is no~ legal in t1lespecif1cations.
For
example, EkfUO.IE/5$ is per~itted.
This switch puts
IECJ 1n 'SUP~RTECO' mode. In this mode, TECO will be
able to read tnrouqn eno•ot•f1les. A (AZ) in an ASCII
t 11 e ~ 111 n o t "' e a n en d - o t • t i l e •
I n s t ea d , t n e ( ._ Z )
.JJ i l l
be read in like any otner character.
CAZ) is not
considered to te a line ter~1nator or a page terminator.
IECO reverts oack to nor~al moae the next time an ER,
~:~,or H~ command 1s issued and
no /S switcl"'I appears
within the tilespecit1cat!on.

f- command.
s1~11ar to FS and F~
but
searching is
emcloyeo.
This co~mand is attected by yank protection
and tne 2.,s bit in tne ~:Ci tlaq Cqv).

•t. command.
This corrimann tyres
terminal ~hen it is executed.

Tne AA command can now be

torrn

feed

the

~-sign modified.
The form is
tnus ta"A/text/ wriere I denotes any delimiter that does
not appear •ithin t~e text. If tne ! or o command is
i•siqn modifieo, unpredictible results will occur.

10. EC flaCJ hits.
1•

T~o

t:1its have been irnplemented.

If tnis bit is on Cl),
then
strinqs are treated as
ordinary up•arrows.
This is tne deta.ult.
lf this
cn) then an
o1t is ott
in a search string is a
Ti"i.~

l's bit Coit 11).

ur-arrows

C""s)

,in

searcn
<Ill

Page 13

special string build character. lt takes the next
character and converts it to its corresponding
control cnaracter. The result ls as if that control
character had appeared in the string.
2,

The 2~s bit (bit 10), It thls bit
Yank protection is enabled, Yank
the commands Y, _, and F- to abort
in tne text butter and there is an
Tnis is the default.

is off (O), then
protection causes
it tnere is text
output tile open.

It this bit is

Cl),

t~en

Yank protection is disabled (thus all Y commands
would work regardless of possible loss to data).
11. wnen you chain to TECO,SV, the chain arqument CTECO
command) can now be much larger tha before.
The
argument passed must oe in ASCII Cone character per
word) beginninq at location 11600, Suen cnaracters must
be Positive Coit o oft).
If a neqat1ve number is
encountered, then this tells TECO that tne command is
continued at the specified address in tield 1.
A ~ord
of o terminates the command. This feature ls not of
rr.uct'I use at the pre~t tirl"e.
12. It you are not on a fDP•12, and you do not nave VT
support, tnen you get an extra 7 characters in your
search cutter Cliwits lengtn of search strings).
13. Several new bits in the El flag nave oeer

imPlement~d:

Bit 10 Cvalue 2l. Tnis bit is 1n1t1ally on if you
had typed a s El Tl Y SCOP ~; comrnano to the rnon 1 tor a no
Off
if you had typed StI TIY NUSCOFE.
User
moditication of tnis b1t ~as no effect.

Bit 9 Cva1ue 4l.
This nit is initially on tor
compatibility with r~co-11 mdcros, that means that
TECO w111 read lower case characters typed on tne
terminal as is, and will not convert tnem to upper
case. User modification of this cit nas no effect.

Bit 6 (value 32). This bit has meaning only if VT
support is present. Inis bit is initially off (0),

lf turned on, then+T comroano.s read a character if
one is available in tMe type-ahe~d buffer Cor the
terminal buffer), but if no input character is
available, then this commana returns a •1, This bit
is cleared by tECO everyt1me r~co returns to prompt
level.
(~

4•

Bi t 5 Cv a l u e 6 4 ) 1 s i n 1 t i a 11 y o·' 1 s n o t c u r r e n t\y u s ea
by TECO·B.

Bit 4 (value 128), This is now the abort on error
bit,
Tnis bit is initially on. whenever this oit

Page 14

is on (1) and TECO prints an error message, control
subsequently returns to OS/8. If this bit is off
(0), then control returns
to
TECO's
prompt.
w~enever
TECO prompts with a •, this bit is turned
oft.
6.

Bit 3 cva1ue 256). This bit only nas meaning if Vi
support is available.
It this bit ls on, then
d1sp1ayed lines are truncated at the riqht edge of
tne screen.
If this bit is off (default), then
lines that are longer than the termirial w!dtn are
continuea o~ the next line of the display.

Bit 2 (value ~12). T~is bit is on initially if you
have
VT suoport ana off it you don't.
User
modif icatio~ of this cit nas no etfect.

Bit 1 (value 1024). This bit is on initially if you
have a PDF-12 and VR12 suprort is available. It is
o it not. user modit1cat1on of this bit has no
ettcct.

Sit o cvalue 20481. This bit enables trapping of
CTRL/C's.
It this bit is on Cl), then wnenever a
CTRL/C ls typed, this bit 1s turned oft and tne
CTRL/C is entered into tECO's type-in buffer just as
any other cnaracter. It has ASCII code 3 and may
tnen be rean by tne~ com~and, Whenever this bit is
off CO), then typing a CIRL/C nas scecial effect as
usual ccauses a ?XAH error message if t~cu was
executi~g commands).
1his is the default. lnis bit
only nas ettect it VT supoort is enabled.

scope suoport
Cat
editinq
level)
is
now
automatically established it you have a VT05 and you ndd
performed a SET TTY SCOP~ command to the 05/8 monitor.
this support enables the C1RL/U immediate mode command
to properly erase the line froru the screen.
It also
allows rubouts to worK prooerly on VTO~s.

14. V10S

15. The CTkL/k character is now identical

with the CTRL/~
cnaracter within searcn strinos.
It causes tne next
character to be interpreted literally.

16. The ?POP error ~essage now tells you wnetner it was a c,
R, or J co~mand tnat attempted to move the pointer
outside the oounds ot tne text cutter area. If another
command
Csucn as nA or ~,n~ or m,nP) tries to access a
pointer position outside the text butter, you also get a
?PUP error code with a different message.
Furthermore,
if an no command tries to delete non•existent cnaracter
positions,
no characters are deleted and you get tne
?DTB (Delete Too ~ig) error ~essage.

Page 15

17. The

"= command.

It is synonomous with the

command.

18. Tne error codes ?NAC, ?NAS, and ?~AY have
to ?NCA, ?ISA, and ?~YA respectively.

been

cnanoed

19. Type ahead. It VT support
type-ahead ·to TECO.

then

you

enabled,

can

20. EXIT protection. The EX, EC, and EG commands now abort
(with the ?NFC error) 1t there is text in the text
buffer and there 1s no outout file open. This is meant
to protect user's from accidental loss of data. The
commands can always be executed ny proceeding tne~ with
an HK.
21. Auto ? feature.
lf bit 9 C4's bit) of the EH tlag is on
(1),
then TECO will simulate the action ot a 1 atter
printing an error messaqe. This automatic action does
not occur when bit 9 is off CO), the default.
22. It TECO is chained to, then before it parses your TECO
command, it will look to see it you nave a file called
TECO.IN! on SYS:. It you have one, then it will be read
into O•register ~ and it will be executed. If an error
occurs in this file, tnen the T~co con,mand that you
passed to TiCO will not he executed. After tnis command
nas been executed, o-register w will be cleared and IECO
~111
proceed to execute your co~mand that was passed to
it upon chaininq Ci.e.
an f:w command if you nad invoKea
TECO witn a MAKE CCL commano). when that is done, TECO
will execute Q•register X it and only if the tECU.INl
program returned a non-zero value. It is up to I~co.I~I
to load up Q•register X and return a value (preferably
1) it this feature is to be used.
A useful way to uset
this feature is to have T£C0.1NI load Q•register I witn
an
editing macro and then put an Ml command !n
Q•reqister x.
23. If TECO is chained to ano location 7600 !n field 1
contains
a
12•bit o, tren T~CO works completely
different than betore.
In that case, TECO assumes that
a CCL command (like TECO FOO/INSPFCT) is being passed to
it rather than a TECO com~and.
such a command Degins at
location 17601 and consists of ASCII text terminated by
a fullword o. A neqat1ve word indicates a pointer to
subsequent text. tfCO will then parse this CCL command
bY invoking SYS:TECO.TEC with tne specified command left
in tne text butter.
lECO.TEC ~ill execte out of
a-register V whicn will be cleared upon conslus1on of
command parsinq.
This feature would be useful it CCL
were moditied to pass TECO commands directly to TECO
rather than parsing tnem itself. This gives the 11ser
mucn flexibility in adding options to his TECO co~mands.

24.

an illegal character occurs in a command such as
Eo, if tnat character is a tab, TECO will print it as
<TAB> rather than ~s <HT> in the error message.

~hen

Page 16

25. If the contents ot FH bits 10 ~nrl 11 is 3, then TECO

put into suoer extended error message mooe (war and
peace roode), provided you ~ave at least 16K and no VT
support or 20~ with vr support. In tnis mode, each
error message ~ill be acco~ranied by an exolanatory
paragraph of helpful information culled trom the tile
sis:TECHLP.TXT ~nich can be edltea bY the user to suit
his own needs. C~ote: always leave TECO and re•enter
it after editing TECHLP.IXI since TECO notes
its
location upon startup and unpredict1cle results will
occur 1£ this file is moved during TECO's execution.)

26.

~1tn the sa~e ~emory restrictions as doove,
it the EH
help level is not set to 3, you can still qet tne
paragraph of help information by typ1nq I
as tne very
first character after TECO's prompt. This ~ill give you
a detailed sonq and dance about your previous error,

27.

T~CO

will turn oft
prompt level.

trace

•nenever

comes

~acK

* immediate mode command has been implemented. If
typed as the very tirst keystroKe after TECO's prompt,
1t will save away the previous command string in
a-register z.
It will also type a z to inform you ot
this fact.
It is exactly equivalent to tne CTRL/S
feature of OS/8 TlCO vs and is preferred since CTHL/S
may go away in a subsequent release.

28. The

29. Tne A- command.

nA. returns the ones complement of the
numoer n.
~ote that A- is a T~CO command and is not a
unary operator.

30. 'lhe V command,. This command is identical to OTT and was
put
in
tor
!ECO•ll compat1c111ty.
This command
currently does not accept an argument. The OTT command
is preferred inside macros since it will run faster.
CThe V command is located in a little-used overlay.)
31. The "D and "A conditionals.
These test the numeric
argument to see it it is the ASCII code for a digit or
alphabetic character ref\§ectively.

32. The EY command. This is equ1va1ent
affected by Yank protection.

Y but

not

33. The immediate action commands LF and BS have been added.

If typed as the very t!rst keystrok~ after TECO's
prompt, Ll' will cause an effective LT command to be
immediately executed and BS (Backspace or CTRL/H) will
cause an immediate -LT command to oe executed.
No
double ALTMOOE is necessary.
34. Additional error messaqes were added to warn of commands
such as CA and EP tnat are implemented in otner IECOs

cut not available 1n
3~.

r~co-8.

Tne m,n<tlag> co~mands were added. They turn off those
bits spec1t1ed ~Y ~ and turn on those bits soecitiea by
n.

36. C1splay ot search string 1n search ta1lure error ~essage
now shows the ~atch control constructs as <NOT>, <ANY>,
and <SEP>. <ESCAPE> is diSplayeo as <ESC>.

Page 17

NOTES FROM TOPS-10
No activity going on from DEC. TECO V24(2~2) is the latest
released TECO.
It is supported by DEC but is quite out of
date.
There are many user-written upgrades to DEC's TECO.
Perhaps
the one that is most widely used is TEXAS/STEVENS TECO Vl24.
For anyone who wants it, send a magtape to Clive Dawson,
Computation Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712.
So far, this is the best -1~ TECO we've seen around (not counting
the SIG's new TEC0-1~ described below).
Information about other
TECOs is wanted. We will be happy, in this column, to disseminate
information and bug reports about other TECOs.
The TECO SIG is now pushing its new product, TEC0-1~.
It was
written by Andy Nourse and is based upon XTEC.
It has all the
known XTEC bugs fixed and is compatible with TEC0-11. TEC0-1~
runs under both TOPS-·l~ and TOPS-2~.
TEC0-1~ V3 is currently
out for field test.
It will be submitted to the DECUS Program
Library within the next 2 months. We will have copies available
for copying at San Diego (depending on hardware availability).
TEC0-1~ supports the W and :W commands (as in TEC0-11) .
These
maintain a window into the text buffer on the screen of a VT52,
VTl~~, and several other terminals.
True video editors are
easy to write, and in fact, two will be distributed in the
TEC0-1~ kit.
One is called, VTEDIT, and is compatible with
the video editor (V~.~) by the same name that runs on PDP-ll's.
Another, called VT is patterned after the TV editor that runs
on the DECsystem-2~.
Some of the features of TEC0-1~ are: Symbolic Q-register names
(6 character significance), it is a compiler rather than an
interpreter, log file capability, EE command to create runnable
TECO programs, scope support, :ER and :EB, EK, nv, ntT, :Gq,
support for TECO.IN!, bounded searches, edit indirect, :J, :C,
and :R, and much much more. More information in the next issue
of the.Moby Munger.

NOTES FROM TOPS-20
TECO is not a supported DEC product.
DEC's TOPS-1~ TECO
will run under TOPS-2~, but has no scope support and does not
mesh well with the operating system.
TEC0-1~ (described above) will run well under TOPS-2~.
This
will be available from DECUS within the next few months. Wait
for an official announcement before ordering it. We believe you
will be greatly impressed by this product and we hope it will
become the standard TECO used on the -2~ since it is compatible
with the other TECOs at DEC.
TEC0-1~ is supported by the SIG.

A variant of TECO, called TV runs under TOPS-2~ and will be supported by DEC.
They are also working on a manual which will be
out soon. More information about TV can be found elsewhere in
this issue.
MIT TECO also runs under TOPS-2~.
This is an incredible TECO,
much more powerful than anything at DEC.
It, together with
EMACS, can be obtained by sending a magtape to Richard Stallman,
MIT Artifical Intelligence Laboratory, 545 Tech Square, Cambridge, MA
02139.

Page 18

NOTES FROM VAX/VMS
The version of TEC0-11 distributed with VAX/VMS release 1 was
V29.
Some of you may have gotten V34, which was distributed
at the Spring 1979 DECUS Symposium in New Orleans.
It has the
same problem converning ESCAPES as record terminators as the
version of TECO (V34) that was distributed for RSX (see NOTES
FROM RSX in this newsletter).
No documentation or help file was included for TECO in VMS
release 1. Many of you have already found or figured out how
to implement conveniently the usual TECO commands. For those
of you that haven't, the following describes how:
In your login command file, define three symbols for the
three TECO commands:
$ TECO :== "$TEC TECO "

$ MAKE :== "$TEC MAKE "
$ MUNG :== "$TEC MUNG
II

You can then invoke TECO with the TECO, MAKE, or MUNG commands
as on other operating systems.
It is expected that TECO will continue to be released with the
subsequent releases of VMS. TECO V35 will shortly be submitted
to DECUS. See page 6 for details about availability. V35 will
also be available at San Diego for copying.
New I/O Features:
rrhe /B2 switch is now recognized within an EB, ER, or EW command.
It has the same meaning as the corresponding switch in RSTS/E TECO.
Print format files (FD.PRN) can now be read (but not EI'd or
written).
CTRL/C handling has been fixed.
Two CTRL/C's in a row will
cause TECO to cleanly exit.
(Three CTRL/Z's in a row will
do the same thing. This helps the termination of TECO in
batch streams.)
TECO.IN! is now supported. This provides a clean interface
for user initialization.
If a file by this name is located
in your top level directory, it will be executed when TECO
starts up.
It can contain flag initialization commands,
or any other TECO commands that you desire.
It could be used
to load up Q-registers, etc. TECO.IN! can also return a value.
The meaning of the bits in the returned value are described in
the sample TECO.IN! file included in the kit. Use of TECO.IN!
to perform initialization is strongly preferred over using a
private command decoder (TECO.TEC). TECO.TEC is intended to
be used only by GURUs who wish to change the way TECO parses
its command line. TECO.IN! is intended to be used by the
average person who wishes private initialization.
On the following page is a listing of DIRECT.TEC, a program
to let you get directories with embedded wildcards, to be used
until VMS version 2 comes out (which has this support).

Page 19

DIPFCT.1fC Versior 2.0
Author: Her~ Jacobs
Modificetions by: Stan kabirowitz

22•JUlY•1979
t

•

!-----------------------------------------------------------------------1
! toad O•rea ::. with lT'acro that corr.pares a str1n9 to see
!

match~s another string with wildcards.
nart of aloorithrn by David Svector.
@ us \ d l· • - lP 1 - l u ? - Hl 3 0 IJ 5 1,J

! if it
Thi~

1<i2ALl6 1l.iOCiP11 !i;1ALi7
Q7•"'"'*"F. 01+lA•13"f: 1.f.l5 O;" 02U4 Gl.U3 OLOOPlS'
07•""%"F Gf.-13"~: O:' ~. <'
Q 7 - Q6 " ~'. fH " [,. (1 ; , (~ h - 1 3 ,, f. n ; , c~ 3 tH %4 - lf.12 F < ,
0 7 • 1 3 " 1'·' ~ < " 1 0 5 > HK 0 5 \

!-----------------------------------------------------------------------1
'

Load CRLF into Q•reg C
Remove all spaces
Allow ? as synonym for ~

! S: •D>

i..1<~

<FS?S~S:>

Allow <dir> as well as CdirJ

<FS<$[$:> <FS>SlS:>
J:S/$"T "'AOt"t.ions not

allowe~"'~.

OXV 0i'

JU\·'

OUW J:SJS"T OXW OK

tU~'

(llJV

J:S:$"'T

"1:s,s 11 1

2r2:tsl.l;/s

Don't

fir'EX'

switches

w contains directory
allow .ver ss well as 1ver
No com~a list rermitted

list not allowedAA H¥fY' !

AACo~~a

allo~

v contains aev!ce name

z contains version no.

ouz J:s:s~r P xz ~ lUZ' 1

l!JY J:S.S"f" Z1J T.*$ R OUY" P XY ~ 1
tux Z:"E l*S ~·n 1 x' HXX f'J<; !
GW ou~.:i d:S*S"T 1U".:' 1..1:5~$"1 lUF" OBlH\
() W" N
J : S • $ '' S

Y contains extension Ctiletype)
X contains tilena~e
w:1 it wildcards in dirPctorv

~A~ilrlcards

Illeaal wildcard in subdirectory!

HKEX '

in sucdirs not allowec"A

"1 K C~ Y " !'i C Y \J : S S " 1

1 Cha~oe
J <F's ;; $

r~rtial

Y=1 if wilccards in ext (type)
X=1 it wildcards in name

1 t J Y " 1J : S ~ $ n T 1 UY ' "

H¥ OX"N GX J:S*S"T tUX'
HK GV GW GX ~y GZ

1UX''

J:~i$"T

~ildcards

to full ones.

*s ; > <,J r's " r *s *$ : > <1.J F s *•F,: Rs *$ , > <J F s **$ *$ : >
R

Do a general wildcard lookup
<:ENSJ HK G* J s:s OK S]S oxn
Get thP

~ext

filesccc

~atchinq

8.$ R OXF OK
fro~

s;s ~ OXT OK xv HK 1UT

VMS.

Delete rlev1ce, Put nir 1~ r, filename in F, typ~ in T, version in V
!
G•rPo V ~~ntains na~e of current dir~ctory Cinitjally has du~my name)
~: u rr. e r .t c n ~ r t c f n - r £· o C i s cc l u rr n c o u n t e r
C4 c o l u 1'11 n s o e r 11 n e )
QW" ~!
QX"N

OY" °'~
07.·" "1

GD GC G~I GC SU'T' (_1 'r " ~:
f;F r.c (:): GC '·'SU'l"' qr 11 r:
GT GC GY GC ~,.SU'r' 0T" E'
GV r;c GZ GC ~.. sur' 0T"JO'
1
·"

G* J::S"FGU5"F' !
3 ( : r; (" ) '
S1$ -1fl(" o:;:u :GU

r : Q lJ • 1 II ~:

JSJ $

0!< %C"F
Q~<"A
"A) hT

HKE::X
$$

:GC

-1.1rc: OUf." :<;.c ,
2n-Z!IB

> :f;c

r< ,,
F'<
,
F'<
F<

Skip if rl1rectory doesn't match
Skip if tilena~e doesn't match
Skip 1£ filetype doesn't match 1
Skip if version
doesn't ~atch
It matcned, prepare to type it
Don't advance first time
Type directory Cif new)
Reset column counter 1£ ne~ded
Use 20 colurrn fields
~:x1t

back tc VMS

Page

Wildcard Searching Algorithm (in Q-reg S)
used by DIRECT.TEC
End of string (EOS) is carriage return.
A is input pattern {2nd line in buffer) .
B is current trial string (first line
in buffer) . Q-reg 1 points into A.
Q-reg 2 points into B.

~~¢
~~¢
G~-1

~~¢

't
l

Continued on page 49.

NOTES
a contains a position
pointer into string A.
b contains a position
pointer into string B.
During execution, all
characters prior to ~
in A and b in B have
been matched successfully.
c and d contain
the last-(trial) values
of a and b for doing
non~anchored matching.

June 13, 1979

Page 21

The Moby Munger
c/o Stanley Rabinowitz
6 Country Club Lane
Merrimack, NH 03054
Dear Sir:
I have recently installed TEC0-11 V34 on our VAX system from the distribution
tape dated 21 April 1979. When using V34, I have noticed an inconsistency
between it and V29 in the handling of <ESC>'s in a file. The attached printout shows a series of edits for a file used to send an escape sequence to a
VTlOO.
The original file contained the single line: $WRITE SYS$0UTPUT "<ESC>H<ESC>J".
Note that passing this file through V29 leaves it unchanged. However, if
this file is passed through V34, the <ESC>'s are treated as line terminators
and 3 records are produced. This trick is particularly confusing since when
examined with V34 the file appears unchanged.
The problem was solved here by modifying the routines GETBUF and PUTBUF in
GETPUT.MAC. In GETBUF, the dispatch table GETDSP was modified to dispatch to
ADCRLF when an <ESC> is encountered. This causes an <ESC> at the end of a
record to be treated as an <ESC><CR><LF> sequence. In PUTBUF, the three
instructions beginning with CMPB R3, #AM were deleted. This prevents <ESC>
from being treated as a line. terminator. This modification can introduce a
problem if you try to edit a file containing <ESC>'s which was previously
editted with V34. The old records terminated by <ESC> pick up a <CR><LF>
when editted with the new version. The spurious <CR><LF>'s must be deleted to
correct this file.
One other annoyance I have found is the naming of the TECO memory file. On
the VAX, the memory file is always TECFOO.TMP in the user's highest level
directory. However, the convention at our site is for several related users
to share a common highest level directory. Thus, the contents of the memory
file changes as other users do their editing. The current fix is to use
TECO.INT to strip the directory name from the memory file spec causing the file
to go to the current default directory. This is less than desireable since
it leaves memory files lying around in various subdirectories. A better solution
would probably involve generating the file name to contain the creator's process
number or name.
I hope these comments are of some interest to you or other members of the
TECO SIG.
Sincerely,
(1

.... ,,:..

.. I

Gary L.· Grebus
Information Systems, Modeling and
Applied Statistics Section
GLG/ff

~ditor's cc;>mments: Under Hybrid TECO, the memory information
is stored in a process logical name called TEC$MEMORY so that
each u~er w~ll have his qwn memoryo The ESCAPE roblem has
been fixed in V35. More info on (-new) hyoria--irEd6 in next issue.

Page 22

NOTES FROM RSTS/E
TEC0-11 was released with RSTS/E V6C as an unsupported product.
V34 was distributed at the last DECOS Symposium. V35 will
shortly be submitted to the DECOS Program Library. See page 6
for details of availability of this release of TEC0-11.
Currently, in the DECOS Library, is DECOS-RSTS-11-1~5 which
contains an old version of TEC0-11 (version 15, not version 24
as reported in the last issue of the Moby Munger) . This package
is useful because it contains several manuals (not written by
members of the TECO SIG): A reference manual, a beginner's manual,
and a system manager's guide. All are machine readable.
New features in RSTS/E I/O module:
If running under RSTS/E V7.0:
(a) Tentative files are used
(b) Wild card PPN's are available with EN
(c) No supersede mode is recognized
The following sequential disk file formats are handled:
l\SCII stream
Pixed
Variable
Variable with fixed control
PORTRAN Carriage Control
Implied Carriage Control
Print format control
~rhe

following ANSI magtape file formats are handled:
Fixed format
Variable format
ASCII stream
FORTRAN carriage control
Implied carriage control
Embedded carriage control

On output, if the magtape is an ANSI magtape, the format written
is variable (format "D") with implied carriage control
(modifier " ") and a default block size of 2~48 bytes per block.
The block size can be explicitly set with the /CLOSTERSIZE:n
switch.

Page 23

HSTS/E :EG - TECO special function processing
:EG is

imple~ented

as follows:

:EGkTSS

switch to system detault

:EGktS foos

switch to RTS "too"

:EGfSS strings

file string scan "strinq"

:EGCCL cmrlS

try "cmd" as a CCL cowmand

HTS

try to run "file"

:EGRU~

files

:EG~U~

file=xxs try to run "file" witn "xx" Placed
common

:EGEMTS

core

issue a monitor directive;
the FIRQ8 is
loaded from Q•reqs A through P and the XRB
is loaded fro~ o-regs Q through ~; the lobyte of the value in Q•reg A is the monitor
EMT code to issue; if the hiqh byte of the
value in Q•reg A is >n then the text cart ot
a-reg A is put into the XRB for a 'write'
CXRLFN=
size
of
A,
XRBC=size Of A,
XRLOC->A); it Q•req A h1Qh byte is <O then
the text part ot Q•reg A is put into tne XHR
tor a 'read' CXRLF~=size of A, XRBC=O,
XHLOC•>A)

Returned value is •1 for success, o for
command, or >O for the RSTS/~ error code

unrecognized

The flROB is placed in the numeric part of G•reqs A,
D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P

The XRB is placed in the numeric part of Q•regs a, R,
U, V, w

COL TECO

Page 24

TO: the TECO world
FROM: a TECO fanatic

Budapest,

Maw 2, 1979+

A TECO V3c written in CDL is ready to use!
A runnable TECO can be ~enerated for everw machine that
has a CDL comPiler.
For example:
IBM 360/370, PDP 11,
CII 10010 < a french one ), Z80 < wes, microprocessors too!
>
and
in
the
verw near future for the INTEL 8080 and
MOTOROLA 6800.
CDL is a verw high level languase.
Its name is the
acronwm of Compiler Descriptor Lansuage.
> So our TECO is
structured, modular, easw-to-modifw and easw-to-upgrade.
At the Present we have TECO V3c alive on the Z80+
99% the same as the PDP-8 TECO V3+

She is

Differences:
12 bit arith+

16 bit arith+

none
none

none

*
nGa
-

none

(
(
(
(
(
(
(

edit with backup )
edit-and-go )
verifw line )
at later TECOs )
no switch register - always 0 )
inserts n times the a-resister )
alwaws unsisned ) +

This TECO will not be submitted to DECUS because it is in
fact a machine-independent software Product rather than a
DEC-oriented one.
It is available costless, on Prosram
exchange basis.
Modifications or upgrades are Possible if
reauested.
Contact with
Nasw

Andr~s

Polwtechnical Universitw of Budapest
DePt. of Instr. & Meas.
H 1521 Budapest, XI.
Mue~wetem rkP+ 9+
HUNGARY, EUROPE

Page 25

PROBLEM OF THE MONTH
This column will present interesting and/or unusual problems
for the reader to solve.
Solutions and problem proposals for
future columns should be sent to the editor: Stanley
Rabinowitz, 6 Country Club Lane, Merrimack, NH 03054.
Solutions to problem 2 should be postmarked by Dec. 15, 1979.
Problem 2:

Write a TECO macro that locates itself.

Details and testing procedure:
I will take the macro that you submit and load it
into one of the alphabetic Q-registers (A through Z).
I
will then load up the other Q-registers with any text that
I feel like, with the one proviso that I will not load up
another Q-register with an exact copy of your macro.
However,
I may load up other Q-registers with near copies, or with any
other text that I feel might 'fool' your macro.
Then I will
start up your macro with the appropriate M command.
Your
macro must print out the letter of the name of the Q-register
in which it is running.
For example, if I put your macro into
Q-register H, then the MH command should print the letter "H".
Your macro should then return to TECO command level with no
other output.
Unlike the last problem of the month, we are not concerned
with how quickly you can solve this problem, or with how small
a solution you can find, but only with "can you solve the
problem at all". Although we would like your solution to run
under all DEC TECOs, use of minor incompatibilities will not
necessarily disqualify your solution, if the editor can fix
up the incompatibilities easily.
Refer .to the TECO Pocket Guide for system compatible
commands. Do not use any features of TECO that are extremely
peculiar to one particular operating system. Note that if your
macro desires to use a Q-register as temporary work storage,
it should probably use one of the Q-registers ~-9, since writing
into one of Q-registers A-Z might destroy the Q-register from
which your macro is executing - a circumstance which may cause
unpredictable results.
The problem editor reserves the right to reject any
submission which is too large to type in (say over 250 characters) unless it is submitted in machine-readable form.
(The author has a solution that will fit on 3 lines of this
magazine and runs under all DEC TECOs.)
Winners' names will be printed in the first issue of the Moby
Munger following the conclusion of this contest.

*** challenging problems for future issues are wanted ***

Page 26

SOLUTION OF THE MONTH
Our first problem, given in the last issue of the Moby Munger,
was to write a minimal macro that would type out the upper case
letters A to z. We received many machine-dependent solutions
of the form
26<%A+64@>
which had to be disqualified because one of the conditions of
the problem was that no character may be repeated, and in these
solutions, the character '6' is used twice.
There were two classes of competition - Class A: machine
independent and class B: machine dependent. At first, I was a
bit worried about the problem, because I thought that it was
too dull and too restrictive - I expected everyone to find the
minimal machine independent 12-character solution:
26<z+@ AI$>HT
and, in fact, several people (Martin Pring, Doug Hosking, Prof.
P. L. Balise, Prof. Colin Daly, and B. Perrette) found this
solution or its equivalent, such as 26<9~-ZI$R>T
Boy was I surprised when an 11-character solution came in!
It
was hard to believe. Not only that, but three correct 11-character
class A solutions came in, and they were all different. The
grand winners in class A (listed in order of receipt of entry)
together with their solutions are listed below:
Alan Frantz,

DEC

91<.I$>65JT

Chester Wilson,

Australia

9l<ZI$>26RT

Doug Hosking,

Lynn, MA

9l<ZI$>65JT

Class A winners -

11 character machine-independent solutions

My worries that the problem was dull were over quickly
a.s mail started to pile up. Over 4~ people have submitted
solutions to .the problem. Your interest in TECO is very
g-ratifying. Typical of the comments I have received about
this contest is the remarks from Profs. Peter L. Balise and
C.H. Daly of the University of Washington:

We. pu,t thue. -tiolld:ionl> togetheJL -tihoJttly afiteJL Jte.acU.ng the.
pJtoble.m. We. wo!Ul.)__e_d about the. pJtoblem fiWLtheJt noJt a new
moJte. day-ti, and then abandoned ,{;(:, -tiinc.e. we. had one. oJt .two
othvi t~ng-6 to do. Now we. ha-tite.n to -tie.nd you ouJt -tiolut.lon-6
-tio we'll be. e.Ugible. to win the. :tJUp to Hawail. Actually, we.
aJte. not too de.Ughte.d wilh ouJt -tiolut.lonl> bee.au-tie. they -tie.em
fio.J.Jtly obviou-ti. We. -t>Mpe.et thvie. i-6 -tiome. ele.veJt way to do ,{;(:,
Wilh nWVt c.haJtaeteM •..• We. Me. dee.ply wo!Ul.)__e_d that ouJt
.6oluti..onl> don't ~ze. the. Jtule. that loweJL c.Me. i-6 to be.
c.onl>ideJLe.d cU.nneJLe.nt fiJtom uppVt c.Me. •.•. Mo-tit on ouJt e.nfioJtt
Wa.6 to get Mound the. nie.nfuh Jtule. p1to~biling dupUc.ate.
cU.gw.

Page 27
Class B competition was just as keen. The earliest winning
solution was only l~ characters long and was submitted by
Patrick Keogh of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. His solution is
26<%1+@@®>
This solution works on TEC0-8 and TEC0-11 but is not valid on
TECO because that TECO does not support the ntT
command (which types out the character whose ASCII code is n) .
That solution, or a similar one, such as tttZ<%A+64tT>, was
also submitted by several other readers:
TOPS-1~

Michael N. Levine,

China Lake, CA

Eric Leventhal,
Profs. Balise & Daly

New York, NY
University of Washington

T.F. Runge & R.F. Davis

Sandia Labs, Albuquerque, NM

Peter Balkus,

Gen Rad, Concord, MA

et. al.

(Other winning solutions came in after the deadline date.)
Another valid !~-character solution was submitted by Robin
Miller of Derry, NH. Her solution runs only under version 26
of TEC0-11.
It is
@<65+ZI$>V
which relies on the fact that the version number command,
CTRL/V will evaluate to 26 under that version of TECO. Also,
for those of you not familiar with the V command, it is
equivalent to ~TT .
Several solutions were disqualified because they required
additional set-up, not specified by the testing procedure that
accompanied the statement of the problem. For example, Robin
Miller submitted the solution tF<65+ZI$>V which requires that
the computer's switch register previously be set to 26.
Stan Rabinowitz submitted the 6·-character solution: ERA$YT
which relied on the fact that he had a file on his disk called
A which just happened to contain the letters A through z. Stan
claims that this file permanently resides on his disk. He says
he never knows when it will come in handy. He also has a file
called B that contains the text of the Declaration of Independence and a file called C that contains precisely
4~96
copies of the word "SYZYGY", and many other files, too many to
mention.
We had to disqualify him too.
David Morrison (from the University of Newcastle, New South
Wales) submitted a 4-character solution: EGX$ which runs
under his RSTS system. His system contains a CCL command "X"
which invokes a program to print the required output. (Under
RSTS TEC0-11, the EGcmd$ TECO command exits TECO and causes
the operating system to execute the specified command.) DISQUALIFIED.
Mario DeNobili (of Liechtenstein) submitted a one character
solution, namely: ? . He claims he modified his version of TECO
so that the ? command printed A-Z. He claims the old use of this
command (enter trace mode) was useless to him since he never
makes mistakes.

Page 28

COMMENTS FROM READERS
We received much too much correspondence from our readers to
publish it all.
We print below some of the more interesting
remarks.
Be assured, however, that all suggestions have been
passed on to the appropriate people and is very much appreciated.
Notes from Eric Leventhal:
'rhe newsletter is a nice one, but I'd rather have one that's
less thick and more frequent.

SoJVLy, but ;thl6 -l6 :the bu;t I c.an do. In J.>omeone we would Uke ;to ;take
oveJt edW,ng :t.hl6 le.tteJt {oft paJLtl.:, 06 il) :t.ha..t would be fi,lne wUh me.
In
1}ac..t, any he.lp a:t ail would be app!Leua..ted. I 6 people would J.>end me
Mn-Llhed o.Jtt).,d_u (!Leady ;to pJL,[n;t) J.>uc.h M 88 INNER' s Column, mac.!Lo on :the
'A on:t.h, Tec.hn,lquu, e:t.c.., :t.ha..t would make my job ;tha..t muc.h eaJ.>,[eJt.
should be gosub-return in TECO (not just macros) . Some mode
for no deblocking or conversions by TECO would be nice. This
would cause A, Y, P, etc. to bring in one cluster or block
and P, PW, etc. to write only full blocks. No conversions or
dropping of nulls would be done. This would be very useful
for special applications.
~rhere should be a command to swap the top of the stack and a
<)-register.
Some possible nice functions: swap byte, insert ASCII of radix-50,
compare values of two top entries on stack, kill file, close
input file, rename file, a case-checking command, a /LIBRARY
switch that causes TECO.TEC to search for a macro library and load
up Q-registers.
~rhere

~ates

from H. S. Hopkins Jr.

~ro help study TECO, I found some simple macros in the OS/8
manual and tried to use them [under CTS-3~~] .
I was not able
to find even one macro that worked directly, but they did serve
my study purpose. What I wanted was: to modify VEG and VT52
to better suit my purpose, a justification macro, a cleaner exit
from VT52.TEC editing, a comment column alignment macro. After
writing these, and making sure they worked properly, I was a
confirmed TECO believer.
I'm still not. sure whether these macros
are of general value, and ask your opinion as to their usefulness
for publication.

The!.> e Me ,lndeed M e!)ul.

I UJLge you ;to J.>ubmU :them ;to the Vec.M Ub1tMy.

A. c.opy 06 hl6 :text. jMtit),lc.ation mac.!Lo (un:t.e.J.>ted) -l6 1Lep1toduc.ed on the
,fop 06 :the next. page. Reade.M Me Wtged to p!Loduc.e mo!te J.>ophl6tic.a..ted
ve.Mion.J.> and J.>ubmU :them ;to the Vec.M p!LogJtam UblLMy.

Page 29
Hopkins' text justification macro:
ETUA$1ET$
~AJustif~

Ri~ht

Column at

~A$(~T-48)*10UZ$C~T-48>XZ$

'""A'

Don't touch lines less than Column ~A$C~T-48)*10UYS<~T-48l%Y$
~A •••••• Macro in Process •••••••• ~A$
nAET
,.J ! 1 ! OUN OUS !
!<QNA-32'E 1%8$'!
!QNA-13'E OJUSTIFYS'!
!1%NS>$$!
! !JUSTIFY! QN-QY'G!
! c~z-aN-QS • G crn<s $ 1 $S~N $ -- 1 ~w> !
!OL QS%N$ QS%S$ OJUSTIFY$' !

!QZ-QN'G QZ-QN<S $I
!L z-.'G01$'$$

$S~N

$-l~W>''

This macro has the shortcoming that characters past the right
margin 'set' will not move from line to line.
Notes from Nick Carr:
I can think of several things that would be most useful to us
learners:

A bigger beginner column with plenty of examples

Listings of some useful macros, especially the VT52 scope
macros and information on how best to implement them

Some general 'internals' on how TECO actually works
as how it works as a Run Time System with RSTS/E).

(such

Notes from Charles South I I I :
Fixing RUNOFF files can be done more simply than you indicated
by the following:
TECO f ile/CR=f ile/-CR
*EX$$
We've been using TECO for this purpose for some time now and it
works fine.
(I'm not -0wz.e.. .tli-L6 WOJl.k.-6 601t ve..Jtlj lcvLge.. 6ilu, upe..~y onu .tho.X you

w-Uh .to pM-6 .to a -0owz.c.e.. c.ompaJte.. p!tognam.
:two pM-6 method given in .the. lcu.t -U.oue... )

In c.MU ofi doubt, u-Oe.. .the.

I am in full agreement with the *Z limited usefulness commented
on by Eric Osman.
TENEX TECO indeed uses exactly the 15 char
minimum length criteria recommended by Eric and we have found it
works quite well in practice.
A long-standing gripe I have had about TECO is that the horizontal tab character is interpreted as an insert command. That
destroys the user's ability to properly comment his macro, unless
you preprocess the file to remove such tabs later.
Personally,
I consider that the horizontal tab should be totally ignored
(just like the space).
Failing this, at least restrict the
meaning so that the insert is only implied if the tab is the
first character of the current TECO command string.

Page 3,0
Notes from Alan Lehotsky (DEC) :
If someone with a lot of time and energy were to re-implement
TECO in Common BLISS, it would be infinitely simpler to guarantee
compatibility on every architecture except the PDP-8. Using the
technique that PDP-11 TECO follows with respect to isolating the
"system" interface from the rest of TECO would allow DEC-Standard
TECO to be easily transported among all major hardware-software
systems, including RSX-ll(M,D), IAS, RT-11, VMS, TOPS-1,0,
TOPS-2,0, UNIX,
Notes from Chester Wilson:
I have an RT-11 sort-of-batch system which allows use of TECO
through indirect files.
If this interests anyone, I'll send you
more details.
(His address is: 71 Galatea St.,
Charleville Australia 447,0)
Notes from Thomas W. Burtnett (Dickinson·college Computer Center)
One of the redeeming characteristics of TECO has been its
consistency, sometimes elegance in syntax. For example, once
m,nT is mastered, it is a short step to m,nK or m,nP. But then
along came m,ns. Ugh! Then along came m,nFB. Yeah! But why
couldn't m,nS do what m,nFB does? Find some other construct for
the m,ns function.
For the good of the language, change it!
Reply from Stan Rabinowitz: I agree that m,nS is pretty ugly, however
it does not contradict the TECO syntax rules.
The main TECO rule that
applies is as follows:
Any command that takes a single numeric argument that
represents the number of lines over which a command is
to act, may also be invoked with two numeric arguments.
In that case, the two numeric arguments represent the
buffer position bounds between which the command is to
act.

For example, nT types n lines, so m,nT would type between pointer positions
m and n.
The same applies to K, FB, FC, and X.
The argument to S does
not rEpresent a number of lines. nS means search for the nth occurrence.
Hence the above syntax rule does not apply. In cases where the above
rule does not apply, the two argument form of the command can have any
meaning that is convenient. If I were redesigning TECO, I would make
m,nS equivalent to m,nFB {as in STEVENS TECO). However, it is too late
nokr to change TEC0-11. Many macros already use m,nS. Also, this construct
includes capabilities that are not easy to simulate by other commands.
The• TECO SIG recommends that the FB command be used to do all normal
bounded searches in the future.
TEC0-10 supports FB too.

Page 31

MACRO OF THE MONTH
This macro was written by Andy Goldstein and Stan Rabinowitz.
It is useful on certain PDP-11 operating systems to create
printable copies of TECO macros.
(Some PDP-11 operating
systems cannot easily print arbitrary TECO programs because
their line printer driver does not print ESCAPEs as $ and do
not have an up-arrow mode for printing control characters.)

TECPFT V2 6-June-1979 1

) Program to create pr j_ n tab 1 e cop 1 es of 1' Eco

fi' a c r o s •

!*******************************************************!
!l

Cslling sequence:
~UNG

1EC~RT,filename

!*******************************************************!
,J H~RS !
: S • S "F Z .J 1 • 1 r: CS

create an u< corH!'!and
MaKe .T~C t~e default extension

ZJ 271$ !
HXA MA !
JS.$
1

.I.LS'l'S

AACr~attnq

J2C
.~

RJ(

-or~s

tile AA
T 11·r

1o~r

ZJ 271$ !
HXf: ~ fl t• KY l

Execute the ~R command to ooen t~e 1nPut f 1le
Chance thP extension to .LST
Tell user wt1At tile is beinq created
after creating ~ppropriate ~~ commard
Execute the

co~mand

to ooen the output tile

(

<.-z~

OA•31"G C f< '
0A-09"F C F< '
OA•lO"r· C F'< '

r<"

OA•11"f,, 04<1CIS>

0A•1 2" t'. l', 8<1 0 l $ > F < '
0 A• 1 3 " ~: C F <

OA-27"f n1ss

0Au1

DIA~rnl+t4t$

)

'',

... N.,,._; P>

• r~ Do n e "" A F: x
-:$ $

REMARKS ON SOME NON-STANDARD FEATURES:
For those of you not familiar with PDP-11 TECO implementations,
here is an explanation of some of the non-standard TECO features
.used in the above program:
The MUNG monitor command is used to run a TECO program. The
command MUNG MACRO,text invokes TECO with the initial TECO
command being Itext$EIMACRO.TEC$ which has the effect of
executing the commands in the file MACRO.TEC with "text"
initially residing in the text buffer.
The command ntT types out the character whose ASCII code is n.
The command F< is a fairly new command that flows back to the
first character in the beginning of the current iteration.

Page 32

THE VAX UNIT PROCESSING EDITOR
Dav id Le bl ang
The Unit Processing Editor (UPE) is a VT52/VT100 oriented word processing editor.
It runs on the VAX as a TEC0-11 macro package.
Other macro packages exist (and are
distributed with TECO) but UPE differs significantly in that it takes a very
different view of editing and editors. UPE has a formal command syntax which is
given later on in this article. An informal description of typical commands and a
demonstration of UPE's power are given below.
Informally, UPE performs some action on some region of the current buffer.
The
action may be to 'uppercase' all the characters in the region, or to 'delete' all
of the text in the region, or it may be any of several other GENERIC ACTIONS that
UPE supports. A list of currently supported generic actions is given in the formal
definition.
The region on which a generic action is a performed is established by the user
through the use of a UNIT, a basic direction, and an ITERATION. The UNIT may be
'word', 'sentence', 'line', or any of several other units; the ITERATION is some
signed number, like '4' or '-15'.
The basic direction is determined by the
ACTION's default basic direction and the sense (positive or negative) of the
ITERATION.
Consider the following sequence of examples where a command is expressed as a
triple whose elements are:
{ ITERATION, UNIT, ACTION } . 1he examples show a
1he initial text
continuing sequence of commands applied to the text buffer.
buffer is:
Let this be the text buffer. And let the char slashed be the
char the cursor is positioned on at the time this window
is viewed. The result of the command is al so shown. In UPE
the cursor (not a slash) is actually on top of a character.
Example 1: Command { 2, sentence, uppercase }
Starting from the cursor, and looking to the right (which is the default direction
for 'sentence'), UPE finds the 2nd end of a sentence (a sentence is defined in the
documentation). UPE establishes a region between the original cursor position and
the point just found. With the regio;, established, the action is performed on all
of the contained text yielding the following buffer:
Let this be the text buffer. And let the char slashed be the
char THE CURSOR IS POSITIONED ON AT THE TIME THIS WINDOW
IS VIEWED. THE RESULT OF THE COMMAND IS ALSO SHOWN./ In UPE
the cursor (not a slash) is actually on top of a character.

Page 33

Example 2:

Command { 4, word, delete left }

The basic direction for 'dElete left' is to the left, so UPE finds the 4th start of
a word looking back from the cursor. Looking forward, UPE looks for the end of a
UNIT while looking back it looks for the beginning of a UNIT. In this case, the
region is established and all of the text within the region is deleted. The
following buffer results:
Let this be the text buffer. And let the char slashed be the
char THE CURSOR IS POSITIONED ON AT THE TIME THIS WINDOW
IS VIEWED. THE RESULT OF THE I In UPE
the cursor (not a slash) is actually on top of a character.
Example 3:

Command { -1, sentence, lowercase

The basic direction for 'lowercase' is to the right but, since a negative ITERATION
was given, the region is established by looking back to the left for the first
begjnning of a sentence. All actions have a basic direction. In addition to the
"forward to the end of" and "backwards to the beginning of" basic directions
already shown, there is a "forward to the beginning of next" and a "backwards to
beginning of previous" basic direction.
Let this be the text buffer. And let the char slashed be the
char THE CURSOR IS POSITIONED ON AT THE TIME THIS WINDOW
IS VIEWED. the result of the I In UPE
the cursor (not a sl·ash). is act'ually on top of a character.
DEFAULT UNITS AND NON-GENERIC COMMANDS
A short sequence of keystrokes is desirable. For this reason, the ITERATION may be
omitted, in which c2se it defaults to 1, and the UNIT may be omitted, in which case
it defaults to the default UNIT of the generic action performed. For example, the
default unit for 'uppercase' is 'word', the default unit for 'delete' is
'character'. The UPE command { 9, , 'delete left' } deletes 9 characters, the UPE
command { , , 'uppercase' } uppercases a word.
Some actions do not involve a UNIT, rather they prompt the user for information and
perform an action based on the information supplied by the user. Actions of this
type are called PROMPT ACTIONS. The format of a prompt action command is a triple:
{ ITERATION, PROMPT ACTION, PROMPT RESPONSE } . Before the user enters a response
to the prompt, a small window at the top of the screen is opened and the prompt
message is typed by UPE. 1he user then responds
Example 4:

Command { 3, find substitute, 'thier$their'

The prompt " 3 *Find Substitute: " is typed in the window, the user responds as
shown above, and UPE changes the first 3 occurrences of 'thier' to 'their' starting
from the cursor looking forward.
If 3 occurrences cannot be found, an error
message is ty.ped in the wind ow (Failing Search for "th i er") . Those occurrences
encountered before the failure are replaced, and the cursor is left at the end of
the last occurrence found and replaced.

Page

Ex ample 5: Co.mm and { -4, search, 'bufptr' }
The prompt 11 4*Reverse search: " is typed in the window and the user responds as
shown above.
UPE searches for the fourth occurrence of 'bufptr' looking backward
from the cur so r . Note that the d e fa u1 t d ire c ti on for. search e s i s forward and that
a negative ITERATION (-4) causes the search to proceed in the opposite direction.
OTHER ASPECTS OF UPE
Some actions cause changes in the editing environment rather than in the text
buffer. These actions may be PROMPT-ACTIONS or SIMPLE-ACTIONS (actions that do not
involve UNITs or PROMPTS). These classes of actions affect the major modes or
minor modes of UPE. Mode settings change things like terminal width and length or
whether ordinarily non-printing characters are displayed.
The 'Learning Sequence' minor mode:
When UPE is "learning" every character typed by the user is saved by UPE until the
learn:ing minor mode is exited.
The user can then have this 'learned sequence'
repeated ITERATION number of times. The sequence remains around until the user
requests another learning sequence. A UPE learning sequence is like a TECO macro
except the commands are high level commands.
Common learning sequences can be
loaded from a file as well.
The 'BLISS' major mode:
In BLISS mode the definition of 'sentence' changes to mean statements ending with
';' and 'paragraphs' are defined by "BEGIN" and "END". The CRLF is interpreted to
mean 'CRLF then indent to previous level'. The tab key indents by logical, rather
than physical tabs.
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES IN UPE
Since UPE and other editing packages run in a limited address space as a TEC0-11
macro package, it is important to keep the macro package small. UPE uses two
techniques to achieve a moderate size. The first is in the general organization of
the ed i tor :
th ere i s a UN I T d e f in it ion sec t ion that est ab 1 i she s the reg ion on
which the action will be performed by looking at the current UNIT and ITERATION.
The UPE generic action section then performs the chosen action on the region
estab1 ished. This means that UPE can per form any action on any reg ion. If a new
type of unit were desired, UPE would add code to establish a region for
{ ITERATION, new unit } . Once UPE can establish a region for the new unit, all
generic actions can be applied to that unit.
Another technique used is to keep parts of UPE that do not require fast responses
in an auxiliary file. UPE directs TECO to execute from an auxiliary file when one
of these commands is typed. The auxiliary file system is invisible to the user and
provides for features like an extensive help facility, while taking no memory away
from the user.

Page 35

UPE FORMALLY
This article is prim3rily about the philosophy of UPE so there is no discussion of
which keystrokes cause what to happen . However, there is a UPE wall chart summary
of commands, and wil: soon be available a UPE User's Guide. Contact David Leblang
(c/o the TECO SIG)
for more information. Below is a formal definition of UPE.
UPE is defined using the following notation:

x ::= y
A l B
. [A]

A ( B : C)

'Function'
<'Fune t ion'>

There exists a production X into Y
A or B
A is optional
A followed by B, or A followed by C
Name of a keyboard function terminal
Some small set of related functions

UPE is defined as:
UPE COMMAND::=

ITERATION · · UNIT

[ITERATION] [UNIT] GENERIC-ACTION
[ ITERATION J PROM PT-ACTION [user response]
[ITERATION] SIMPLE-ACTION
[+

: :=

l -] DIGIT-STRING

'Word' : 'Line' : 'Sentence'
'Paragraph' : 'Page' : 'File'

'Character'
'Region'

GENERIC-ACTION · ·'Delete Left' : 'Delete Right' : 'Fill Text'
'Lowercase' : 'Uppercase' : 'Capitalize'
'Indent' : 'Undent' : 'Copy Text into Save Area'
'Move to Previous' l 'Move to Next'
'Move to End of : 'Move to Start of'
PROMPT-ACTION : ::
'Execute Te co Command' : 'Abort Edit'
'Display and Set Major Modes'
'Search' ('Bounded' : 'Unbounded')
'Find Substitute' ('Bounded' : 'Unbounded')
'Load File into' ('Save Area' : 'Current Position')
'Load File into' ('Learning Sequence' : 'Teco Seq.')
'Read and Insert Character verbaturn'
'Read and Ignore Characters until LF'
SIMPLE-ACTION · · <'Quick Motions'> : <'Quick Line Actions'>
<'Screen Redrawings'> : <'Help Commands'>
'Repeat Search' : 'Repeat Teco command'
'Set Mark for Region' : <'Set Minor Modes'>
'Start/Stop/Execute Learning Sequence'
'Write File/ Ex it to Monitor' : 'Ex it to Teco'
'Insert last deleted or saved text at cursor'
'Abort Current Command'

Page 36

LANGUAGE ORIENTED EDITING
David Leblang
TEC0-11 macro packages, like UPE (described in the last article), have provided an
implicit experiment in editors. Conclusions drawn from these editors and from the
success and failure of other editors give indication that time might be well spent
developing an editor that is very different from any of the editors currently
around.
These macro-package editors were gradually developed in a software engineering
environment and given instant feedback from the engineers using them. Limited by a
small address space, and unhindered by product commitments, features were removed
from the editors to literally make room for other, more important features. The
resulting editors reflect many of the needs and concerns of software engineers in
the currently existing development environment.
Comparing two of these editors, VTEDIT and UPE, many similarities were noted, the
most interesting being the commands that attempt to tailor the editor towards a
particular language. VTEDIT has a normal English-text set of definitions for
words, a BASIC-PLUS set of definitions, and the ability to define the set of word
delimiters. UPE has a normal English mode and a BLISS mode for which UPE provides
alternate definitions and auto-indentation.
The users of these macro-package editors as well as the users of the MIT EMACS
editor (which runs on TOPS-20 and has PL/1, LISP, and TEXT modes) find their editor
more functional because it knows about the underlying syntax of the language being
edited.
The success of word processing systems, which know about the underlying
language (English), is an additional indication that a language-based editing
system can be very useful. Despite improvements brought about by the macro package
editors and EMACS, there is still a long way to go toward making editors more
language-oriented, so as to make the user's job easier and his work more
productive.
In the DEC Software Engineering environment, a highly interactive, transportable,
multi-language editor would provide a significant link in the development of high
quality software. Interactive capabilities have been shown by word processing
systems to provide increased productivity. Transportability of the editor would
pave the way for multi-system availability as well as avoid programmer retraining
and errors due to switching between editors having different characteristics. TI1e
need for a multi-language editor can best be shown by the flurry of requests to ~dd
new languages to DEBUG-VAX which currently supports MACRO, FORTRAN, COBOL-(4, and
BLISS.

Page 37
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN. TEC0-11 V33 AND V34:
TEC0-11 V34 has the following new features:
le

Many new flow control commands have been added. These
allow you to write more structured code.
It also reduces the need for certain types of GOTOs that are very
slow in TECO.
(a) F> flows to the > at the end of the current iteration.
The iteration count is bumped and the iteration is
re-executed if necessary.
(b) F< flows to the < at the beginning of the current
iteration. The iteration count is not affected.
If
this command is issued when you are not in an iteration,
flow transfers to the beginning of the current macro level.
(c) Fl flows to the else clause of the current conditional.
(What a useless command!)

(d)

tctc causes an unconditional exit from TECO.
tc must be a real CTRL/C.

The second

(e) $$ if executed as a TECO command causes a branch out of
the current macro level. The second $ must be a real
ALTMODE (as opposed to an t[).
( f) nOtagl ,·tag2, tag3, ... $ is a computed GOTO. Control branches
to the nth tag specified. If n is out of range, control
continues in-line. None of the tags used may contain
embedded commas.
(g)

:; is used to exit an iteration. It is the opposite of ;
that is, n:; exits the current iteration if n<S. A :; may
also immediately follow a search command in an iteration,
in which case the iteration is terminated if the search
succeeded.

(h) F' flows to the ' at the end of the current conditional.
2.
m,nUq is equivalent to nUqm .
3.
FB and FC were implemented as in Harvard TECO.
FB is a bounded search and FC is a bounded search and
replace (Find and Change) . Each takes an argument (or
argument pair) as in the T, X, and K commands, to specify
the range of characters in which the search is to proceed.
4.
EY is the same as Y except that there is no Yank protection.
E_string$ is like _string$ but with no Yank protection.
5.
:P, :Y, :EY, and :A now return a value, S if eof, else -1.
6.
n:A reads in n lines and returns a value (S if eof, else -1).
If the argument is omitted, :A is like the Append command
(A) and not like the l:A command.
7.
All flag commands (like ET, ED, EU, etc.) now have a two
argument form. m,n{flag} turns on those bits specified
by n and turns off those bits specified by m. Thus, for
example, if you want to turn on the 'read with no wait'
bit, you would issue the S,32ET command.
(continued on bottom of next page)

Page 38
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TEC0-11 V3j AND V33:
TEC0-11 V33 has the following new features:
1..

The tR radix command has been implemented.
tR returns the
current radix and ntR sets the radix to n. Currently, the
only legal radices are octal, decimal, and hexadecimal.
TECO's prevailing radix affects the interpretation of
digit strings and the action of the \ and n\ commands.

2..

n=== and n:=== are used to print the value of n in hexadecimal.

3..

If LF is the first keystroke after TECO's prompt, an
effective LT command is executed.
If BS is the first
keystroke after TECO's prompt, an effective -LT command
is executed.
(In V34, these commands have been changed to have
better interaction with EV processing.

5..

Also, BS is a NOP i f

.=¢ .)

EI processing has been changed so that execution of a
TECO file looks more like execution of a macro. TECO
used to treat CTRL/U's in an indirect file as the immediate
mode command (erase current line), etc.
In V33, all
immediate mode commands (except $$) are suppressed during
execution of an indirect command file.
2EJ returns your PPN or UIC. -lEJ returns an operating
system-dependent value. TECO programs can test this
value to see what computer and what operating system
they are running on.

The :EGcmd$ command has been implemented.
It performs an
operating system-dependent function and returns a value.

7 ..

Bit value 4 of the ED flag now means "no arbitrary memory
expansions".
In this mode, a Y, P, or N command will not
expand memory. The A command will, however, still expand
memory if there are not 256 free bytes in the text buffer.

8..

A whole slew of new W and :W commands have been implemented.
These implement new scope modes and allow support for new
terminals. Some of these commands can be used to speed
up video editor macros.
(continued from previous page)

8.
9.

Bit value 16 of the ED flag means "do not reset 'dot' to
zero on search failure".
"= is a synonym for "E .

lj.

CTRL/R is the same as the string build CTRL/Q command.

11.

The CTRL/EUq string build construct uses the character
whose ASCII code is in the numeric portion of Q-register q.

12.

Match control construct CTRL/EB is the same as CTRL/S.

13.

Several new error messages: ?IRA - illegal radix argument,
?NYA - numeric arg with Y,
?IPA - negative or j arg to P,
?IUC - illegal character after up-arrow.

14.

nA now returns a -1 if position accessed is outside buffer.

Page 39
D I n, ti: RE ~Jc e; s

fj ET

wE ii.: N I Ts 'H.: c (J

does not insert a 3•diqit

AN I) T wEN r: x t TE co ,

nu~ber

v EH s I 0 N 5 8 9

with leap year information,

but rather a blank line.

cset aumped on tape bit) does not exist.

,.EQ

(create link) does not exist.

<n>EP

is tne

sa~e

~P.

'e:x<t1le>s
it a file is open for output, does EE<file>s, then instructs the EXEC
to repeat the last CCL type command Cload, execute, co~pile, debug).
FS CCL F1~AME~S
a s t r i ng ,

i o t: he s a me f o r ma t a s F' s D t' 1 LE s , o f t he j f n q 1 v e n 1 n AC 1 1 t
was started at the CCL entry point: or zero if it was not or the
filename has already been read.

T~ClJ

F S D V f: R5 I C N $
•l

nas its usual meaning, since all versions are numeric.

'FS fi'DClJNVf!;R'f$
~nen qiven two ~rgs, will use the first as the ODTIM format.
~hen qive
no ara, will do an IDIIM frorr tne butter, and can thus parse formats
other than t~ose created by FS FDCONVS with an arg.

FS Ht;t.P MAC$

2ox.

tnere is no way to input a HEL~ on
P'S OS

TECOS
returns the operating system

is runn1nq on, o tor rrs, 1 tor 2ox.

T~Co

UPTI:v1f:s

returns its value in milliseconds, rather tnan 30tns of seconds.

SIXBIT quantities.
conimands which return a SIXBIT ~ord as a value, actually return strinQ
po1rters en twenex. The f 6 commands do not convert strings to sixb1t1
out just oass strinqs throuqn, so that tne difference can be made trans
par~nt by using them after a~y command th~t returns a SlXHIT quantity,

filenames.
TECU

atte~pts

to convert as

~ucn

possi~le

ITS style tilenames to

2ox. st.yle, includinq c;iuotlng special Chdracters, to allow many more

macros to work without conversion.

Page 4,0
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TEXAS TECO Vl24 and Vl24A
In the last issue of the Moby Munger, we described Texas/Stevens
TECO Vl24(33,0). This TECO has been upgraded by Clive Dawson at
the University of Texas.
The current version, Vl24A(347),
EO level 3, is available from Clive at the Computation Center,
University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 for a nominal postage
and handling fee.
If you want a copy, send Clive a magtape.
The new features of Vl24A are described below:
1.

MAKE filel=file2 has been implemented to be compatible with
DEC's TOPS-1,0 TECO V24.

2: •

nV has been implemented to be compatible with TEC0-11 V28.
That is, nV is identical to (1-n)TnT . V is the same as ,0TT .

1'
_,,

The /DEFAULT switch can now be used on a filespec to cause
any previous "sticky" defaulting to be canceled.

m,nUq is the same as nUq but returns the value m.
Thus,
UiUj is useful at the start of a macro to save away its
two arguments.
(TEC0-11 liked this command and will be in V34.)

The [ command now allows one or two arguments. n[q is
equivalent to [qnUq and m,n[q is equivalent to [qm,nUq .
(This is useful when passing arguments to macros. I feel that the
TEC0-11 method is more general. ·In their scheme, m,n[q is equivalent
to [qm,n
that is, arguments can pass through PUSHES and POPs.)

:nA appends n lines from the input file to the end of the
text buffer. :A is the same as :lA .
(TEC0-11 implementors got complaints when they implemented this, and
later versions of TEC0-11 changed :A to be the same as A but returned
a value of ¢ or -1 .
This is more consistent with the rest of TECO.)

nA now returns the ASCII value of the nth character to the
right of the pointer, that is, the character at position
.+n-1 in the buffer.
This is the (.+n)th character in
the buffer.
(This is very controversial. Note that it is one off from how nA
in OS/8 TECO and TEC0-11 work.
The reason for this is that PDP-1¢
users have gotten into the habit of using lA to access the current
character, rather than ¢A . Comments regarding this problem are
hereby solicited.)

2ET now causes a more literal typeout mode to occur than
lET.
In 2ET mode, tabs, vertical tabs, form feeds, etc.,
are sent directly to the terminal rather than simulating
them with spaces and line feeds.

Search speed has been improved by an order of magnitude
via use of the Boyer-Moore fast string search algorithm
which was implemented by Jim Thomas.

1,0.

Searches in iterations no longer return values unless
they are colon modified.

11.

Five new terminal types are now supported: Micro-term
ACT-IV and V, Lear Siegler ADM-3A, Hazeltine 15,0,0, and
Hewlett Packard 264,0.

12.

The defaulting scheme for the EI and EP commands has been
changed, but I won't go into the details here.

Page 41
13.

14.
15.
16.

17.

A TECO or MAKE command can now be followed by a dollar
sign ($) and then followed by an initial TECO command
to be executed by TECO. For example,
TECO TEST.RNO$l~~<A>5T
will cause the given commands to be performed after
TEST.RNO is opened for editing.
EWfilespec/APPEND$ is now equivalent to EAfilespec$ .
EBfilespec/READONLY$ is ~quivalent to ERfilespec$ .
A warning message is now issued for an ER or EB command
whenever the file is found in a directory other than the
one specified (due to a /LIB or /SCAN switch).
The SUPERSEDING warning message will no longer be given
if a /INPLACE switch is used
with an EB or EW
command.
(The switch is ignored by an EW except for
this purpose.)
(I would also like to see a /NOSUPERSEDE switch that would cause
an error rather than a warning if the file already exists.)

18.

The 2EO command brings back several features from earlier
versions of STEVENS TECO.

19.

TECO now recognizes a core argument on a monitor run
command, e.g. R. TECO 5~P
An S$ command which uses a previous search string will
now remember the proper setting of the "exact search"
flag if it had been implicitly set by the presence of
case control constructs within the previous string.

2~.

21.

Several bugs have been fixed having to do with line
sequence numbers, EN command, backward bounded searches
occurring after 'dot' and interaction of /INPLACE and
/SCAN or /SYS switches.
Texas TECO also comes with many other goodies such as a 25
page manual, a 22 page complete command summary, and a large
collection of macros collected by Clive, some of which are
described below:
ACOM
Aligns comments in MACRO programs
CLERK Creates repeated blocks of text
COMENT Adds comments in MACRO programs
DATE Returns date in Q-register ~
DECIDE performs text substitutions with user interaction
DOW
Returns day of week
FORCOM Adds comments to a FORTRAN program
GETNAM Returns user's name
GIYMFC Displays amount of monitor free core in use
HELP
On-line help system
LINE
Returns current line number
PGMFMT Formats MACRO programs
PPN
Returns job's PPN in Q-register ~
RUNCON Generates table of contents for RUNOFF output
SIGl
Computes PI (from Moby Munger issue #1)
SYSTEC Types system status
TIME
Returns time in Q-register ~
UNDER Makes underscored text readable on a CRT

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