WILY(1) WILY(1)
NAME
wily, win, awd - interactive text windows
SYNOPSIS
wily [ -f varfont ] [ -F fixfont ] [ -c ncol ] win [ command ] awd [
label ]
DESCRIPTION
Wily manages windows of text that may be edited interactively or by
external programs. The interactive interface uses a different
interface.
Any named files are read into wily windows before wily accepts input.
Plain files display as text; directories display as columnated lists
of the names of their components, as in ls -p directory|mc except that
the names of subdirectories have a slash appended.
The -f (-F) option sets the default variable-pitch (fixed-pitch) font;
the default is /lib/font/bit/lucidasans/euro.8.font
(.../lucm/unicode.9.font). Tab intervals are set to the width of 4(8)
numeral zeros in the variable-pitch font.
Windows
Wily windows are in two parts: a short tag above a multi-line body.
The body typically contains an image of a file, as in sam(1), or the
output of a program, as in an 8(1) window. The tag contains a
number of blank-separated words, followed by a vertical bar character,
followed by anything. The first word is the name of the window,
typically the name of the associated file or directory, and the other
words are commands available in that window. Any text may be added
after the bar; examples are strings to search for or commands to
execute in that window.
If a window holds a directory, the name (first word of the tag) will
end with a slash.
Scrolling
Each window has a scroll bar to the left of the body. The scroll bar
behaves much as in sam(1) or 8(1) except that scrolling occurs when
the button is pressed, rather than released, and continues as long as
the mouse button is held down in the scroll bar. For example, to
scroll slowly through a file, hold button 3 down near the top of the
scroll bar. Moving the mouse down the scroll bar speeds up the rate
of scrolling.
Layout
Wily windows are arranged in columns. By default, it creates two
columns when starting; this can be overridden with the -c option.
Placement is automatic but may be adjusted using the layout box in the
upper left corner of each window and column. Pressing and holding any
mouse button in the box drags the associated window or column. For
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windows, just clicking in the layout box grows the window in place:
button 1 grows it a little, button 2 grows it as much as it can, still
leaving all other tags in that column visible, and button 3 takes over
the column completely, temporarily hiding other windows in the column.
(They will return en masse if any of them needs attention.) The layout
box in a window is normally white; when it is black in the center, it
records that the file is `dirty': Wily believes it is modified from
its original contents.
Tags exist at the top of each column and across the whole display.
Wily pre-loads them with useful commands. Also, the tag across the
top maintains a list of executing long-running commands.
Typing
The behavior of typed text is similar to that in 8(1) except that
the characters are delivered to the tag or body under the mouse; there
is no `click to type'. The usual backspacing conventions apply. As
in sam(1) but not 8, the ESC key selects the text typed since the
last mouse action, a feature particularly useful when executing
commands. A side effect is that typing ESC with text already selected
is identical to a Cut command (q.v.).
All text, including the names of windows, may be edited uniformly.
Directory context
Each window's tag names a directory: explicitly if the window holds a
directory; implicitly if it holds a regular file (e.g. the directory
/adm if the window holds /adm/users). This directory provides a
context for interpreting file names in that window. For example, the
string users in a window labeled /adm/ or /adm/keys will be
interpreted as the file name /adm/users. The directory is defined
purely textually, so it can be a non-existent directory or a real
directory associated with a non-existent file (e.g. /adm/not-a-file).
File names beginning with a slash are assumed to be absolute file
names.
Errors
Windows whose names begin with - or + conventionally hold diagnostics
and other data not directly associated with files. A window labeled
+Errors receives all diagnostics produced by wily itself. Diagnostics
from commands run by wily appear in a window named directory/+Errors
where directory is identified by the context of the command. These
error windows are created when needed.
Mouse button 1
Mouse button 1 selects text just as in sam(1) or 8(1), including the
usual double-clicking conventions.
Mouse button 2
By an action similar to selecting text with button 1, button 2
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indicates text to execute as a command. If the indicated text has
multiple white-space-separated words, the first is the command name
and the second and subsequent are its arguments. If button 2 is
`clicked'-indicates a null string-wily expands the indicated text to
find a command to run: if the click is within button-1-selected text,
wily takes that selection as the command; otherwise it takes the
largest string of valid file name characters containing the click.
Valid file name characters are alphanumerics and _ . - + /. This
behavior is similar to double-clicking with button 1 but, because a
null command is meaningless, only a single click is required.
Some commands, all by convention starting with a capital letter, are
built-ins that are executed directly by wily:
Cut Delete most recently selected text and place in snarf buffer.
Del Delete window. If window is dirty, saves a backup of the file.
Delcol
Delete column and all its windows, after checking that windows
are not dirty.
Quit Exit wily after checking that windows are not dirty.
Font With no arguments, change the font of the associated window or
column from fixed-spaced to proportional-spaced or vice versa.
Given a font name argument, change the font of the window to the
named font. Other existing windows are unaffected.
Get Load file into window, replacing previous contents (after
checking for dirtiness as in Del). With no argument, use the
existing file name of the window. Given an argument, use that
file but do not change the window's file name.
Kill Send a kill note to wily-initiated commands named as arguments.
Look Search in body for occurrence of literal text indicated by the
argument or, if none is given, by the selected text in the body.
New Make new window. With arguments, load the named files into
windows.
Newcol
Make new column.
Paste
Replace most recently selected text with contents of snarf
buffer.
Put Write window to the named file. With no argument, write to the
file named in the tag of the window.
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Putall
Write all dirty windows whose names indicate existing regular
files.
Redo Complement of Undo.
Send Append selected text or snarf buffer to end of body; used mainly
with win.
Snarf
Place selected text in snarf buffer.
Sort Arrange the windows in the column from top to bottom in
lexicographical order based on their names.
Split
Create a copy of the window containing most recently selected
text.
Undo Undo last textual change or set of changes.
A common place to store text for commands is in the tag; in fact wily
maintains a set of commands appropriate to the state of the window to
the left of the bar in the tag.
If the text indicated with button 2 is not a recognized built-in, it
is executed as a shell command. For example, indicating date with
button 2 runs date(1). The standard and error outputs of commands are
sent to the error window associated with the directory from which the
command was run, which will be created if necessary. For example, in
a window /adm/users executing pwd will produce the output /adm in a
(possibly newly-created) window labeled /adm/+Errors; in a window
containing /sys/src/cmd/sam/sam.c executing make will run make(1) in
/sys/src/cmd/sam, producing output in a window labeled
/sys/src/cmd/sam/+Errors.
Mouse button 3
Pointing at text with button 3 instructs wily to locate or acquire the
file, string, etc. described by the indicated text and its context.
This description follows the actions taken when button 3 is released
after sweeping out some text. In the description, text refers to the
text of the original sweep or, if it was null, the result of applying
similar expansion rules that apply to button 2 actions.
If the text names an existing window, wily moves the mouse cursor to
the selected text in the body of that window. If the text names an
existing file with no associated window, wily loads the file into a
new window and moves the mouse there.
If the text begins with a colon, it is taken to be an address, in the
style of sam(1), within the body of the window containing the text.
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The address is evaluated, the resulting text highlighted, and the
mouse moved to it. Thus, in wily, one must type :/regexp or :127 not
just /regexp or 127. (There is an easier way to locate literal text;
see below.)
If the text is a file name followed by a colon and an address, wily
loads the file and evaluates the address. For example, clicking
button 3 anywhere in the text file.c:27 will open file.c, select line
27, and put the mouse at the beginning of the line. The rules about
Error files, directories, and so on all combine to make this an
efficient way to investigate errors from compilers, etc.
If the text is not an address or file, it is taken to be literal text,
which is then searched for in the body of the window in which button 3
was clicked. If a match is found, it is selected and the mouse is
moved there. Thus, to search for occurrences of a word in a file,
just click button 3 on the word. Because of the rule of using the
selection as the button 3 action, subsequent clicks will find
subsequent occurrences without moving the mouse.
In all these actions, the mouse motion is not done if the text is a
null string within a non-null selected string in the tag, so that (for
example) complex regular expressions may be selected and applied
repeatedly to the body by just clicking button 3 over them.
Chords of mouse buttons
Several operations are bound to multiple-button actions. After
selecting text, with button 1 still down, pressing button 2 executes
Cut and button 3 executes Paste. After clicking one button, the other
undoes the first; thus (while holding down button 1) 2 followed by 3
is a Snarf that leaves the file undirtied; 3 followed by 2 is a no-op.
These actions also apply to text selected by double-clicking because
the double-click expansion is made when the second click starts, not
when it ends.
Commands may be given extra arguments by a mouse chord with buttons 2
and 1. While holding down button 2 on text to be executed as a
command, clicking button 1 appends the text last pointed to by button
1 as a distinct final argument. For example, to search for literal
text one may execute Look text with button 2 or instead point at text
with button 1 in any window, release button 1, then execute Look,
clicking button 1 while 2 is held down.
When an external command (e.g. echo(1)) is executed this way, the
extra argument is passed as expected and an environment variable
$wilyaddr is created that holds, in the form interpreted by button 3,
the fully-qualified address of the extra argument.
Support programs
Win creates a new wily window and runs a command (default $SHELL) in
it, turning the window into something analogous to an 8(1) window.
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Executing text in a win window with button 2 is similar to using Send.
Awd loads the tag line of its window with the directory in which it's
running, suffixed -label (default rc); it is intended to be executed
by a cd function for use in win windows. An example definition is
fn cd { builtin cd $1 && awd $sysname }
FILES
$home/.wilybak
default directory for backup files.
SEE ALSO
wily(4)
Rob Pike, Acme: A User Interface for Programmers.
BUGS
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