IN - rapid input from an ASCII terminal.

Syntax:

in           (input to *src)
in <pathname>
in <option string> <pathname>

Description:

IN provides a rapid means of inputting text or data from teletypewriter-like devices and paper-tape devices. There is no interaction with the terminal (it might just be paper tape!) and typing may proceed as rapidly as desired.

The most common use of IN is to append text to a file. This is done by typing 

IN <pathname>

as a command. If the file does not exist, it will be created and initialized. IN will respond with a line feed as a prompt, after which data may be typed.

Unlike BUILD mode, IN does not respond to carriage returns or control-x or at-signs by sending line-feeds or "DEL" messages, and therefore typing may proceed as rapidly as desired. The end of a batch of input is signalled by typing a control-S (X-off, RDR-off, or DC3). IN then appends the accumulated text to the designated file and again responds with the LINE FEED. A control-S typed immediately after the prompt terminates the command.

The basic line formation and local editing rules used by IN are:

  1. The characters NULL(000) and EOT(004) are discarded.
  2. A carriage return, a line-feed, or both of these in either order, terminates a line of input text.
  3. An @ deletes the previous character in a line and is itself ignored.
  4. A control-W deletes the previous sequence of characters not including blanks and is itself ignored.
  5. A control-X deletes all previous characters in a line and is itself ignored.
  6. An empty line in which control-X was used will be ignored.
  7. An empty line terminated with a line-feed will be ignored if the previous line ended with a carriage return or vice-versa.

Details of Command Syntax:

The general form of the IN command is 

IN <option string> <pathname>

Both the option string and the pathname may be omitted.

Option string:

  1. The following options cause line numbers to be generated. Normally, IN does not generate line numbers.
    a
    generate line numbers in increments of 10
    #
    generate line numbers and where necessary append a #.
    b
    generate line numbers with a blank appended.
    digit-string
    generate line numbers starting with digit-string. If a second "digit-string" is specified, it is taken as an increment for the generated line numbers.
  2. The "n" (New) option clears the named file and then appends text. IN's default is to append text to the existing contents of the file.
  3. The "r" (Raw) option tells IN to ignore editing conventions and copy all characters into the file. Normally IN will obey editing conventions and write a standard file.
  4. The "l<char>" (Lower) option converts all input text into lower case unless individual characters are preceded by the case escape character <char>. If <char> is not specified, the default is "%". The "u<char>" (Upper) option converts all input text into upper case unless individual characters are preceded by the case escape character <char>. Again the default escape character is "%". If neither "l" nor "u" is specified, IN will take letter cases as they are typed in.
  5. The "q<char>" (QED) option tells IN to use the alternate character forms accepted by QED, using <char> as the escape character. If <char> is not specified, the single quote ' is used. These escape sequences are given later on in this explain file.
  6. The "p" (Page) option defines lines to be strings of characters exactly 79 characters long. Normally, IN allows lines to have any size up to 256 characters.

Files:

When the file name is omitted on the command line, the current file (*SRC) is used. If the file name is present and contains one or more slashes(/), the indicated permanent file is used. If the file does not exist, one will be created if possible. If the <pathname> does not have any slashes and the file is in the AFT, that file is used. Otherwise, the file is created if possible.

Paper Tape Input:

To input paper tape, first invoke the IN command with the desired options. After the line feed is typed, place the tape in the reader and turn it on. The paper tape will be read until the tape runs out or a control-S is read. If the tape runs out, turn off the reader and type control-S.

Using alternate character forms:

Many terminals are not capable of sending all of the ASCII characters; furthermore IN uses some of the characters for editing purposes. Alternate character representations allow the input of any ASCII character. Acceptable alternates are listed below, using the ' as the escape character. Note that some of the characters below may not print correctly on all terminals. 

STREAM DIRECTIVE AND ESCAPE CHARACTERS
'A      @ (commercial at sign)
''      ' (apostrophe)
'(      { (left brace)
')      } (right brace)
'!      | (or bar)
'<      [ (left bracket)
'>      ] (right bracket)
'-      \ (back slash)
'=      ~ (tilde or not sign)
'_      ` (grave accent)
'       <tab> (escape blank)
';      <carrage return>
'"      ^ (up arrow or cent sign)
'ddd    ASCII character ddd (octal)

Copyright © 1996, Thinkage Ltd.