WINDOW(1)                                                            WINDOW(1)


NAME
       window - window environment

SYNOPSIS
       window [ -t ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -e escape-char ] [ -c command ]

DESCRIPTION
       Window implements a window environment on ASCII terminals.

       A window is a rectangular portion of the physical terminal screen asso‐
       ciated with a set of processes.  Its size and position can  be  changed
       by  the  user  at any time.  Processes communicate with their window in
       the same way they normally  interact  with  a  terminal--through  their
       standard  input,  output,  and diagnostic file descriptors.  The window
       program handles the details of redirecting input an output to and  from
       the  windows.   At any one time, only one window can receive input from
       the keyboard, but all windows can simultaneously  send  output  to  the
       display.

       Windows  can overlap and are framed as necessary.  Each window is named
       by one of the digits ‘‘1’’ to ‘‘9’’.  This one character identifier, as
       well as a user definable label string, are displayed with the window on
       the top edge of its frame.  A window can be designated  to  be  in  the
       foreground,  in which case it will always be on top of all normal, non-
       foreground windows, and can be covered only by  other  foreground  win‐
       dows.  A window need not be completely within the edges of the terminal
       screen.  Thus a large window (possibly larger than the screen)  may  be
       positioned to show only a portion of its full size.

       Each window has a cursor and a set of control functions.  Most intelli‐
       gent terminal operations such as line and character deletion and inser‐
       tion  are  supported.   Display  modes  such as underlining and reverse
       video are available if they are supported by the  terminal.   In  addi‐
       tion,  similar  to terminals with multiple pages of memory, each window
       has a text buffer which can have more lines than the window itself.

OPTIONS
       When window starts up, the commands (see long commands below) contained
       in the file .windowrc in the user’s home directory are executed.  If it
       does not exist, two equal sized windows spanning  the  terminal  screen
       are created by default.

       The command line options are

       -t     Turn on terse mode (see terse command below).

       -f     Fast.  Don’t perform any startup action.

       -d     Ignore .windowrc and create the two default windows instead.

       -e escape-char
              Set  the  escape character to escape-char.  Escape-char can be a
              single character, or in the form ^X where X  is  any  character,
              meaning control-X.

       -c command
              Execute  the string command as a long command (see below) before
              doing anything else.

PROCESS ENVIRONMENT
       With each newly created window, a shell program  is  spawned  with  its
       process  environment  tailored  to  that  window.   Its standard input,
       output, and diagnostic file descriptors are bound to one end of  either
       a  pseudo-terminal  (pty (4)) or a UNIX domain socket (socketpair (4)).
       If a pseudo-terminal is used, then its  special  characters  and  modes
       (see  stty  (1))  are copied from the physical terminal.  A termcap (5)
       entry tailored to this window is  created  and  passed  as  environment
       (environ  (5))  variable  TERMCAP.  The termcap entry contains the win‐
       dow’s size and characteristics as well as information from the physical
       terminal,  such as the existence of underline, reverse video, and other
       display modes, and the codes produced by the terminal’s function  keys,
       if any.  In addition, the window size attributes of the pseudo-terminal
       are set to reflect the size of this window, and updated whenever it  is
       changed by the user.  In particular, the editor vi (1) uses this infor‐
       mation to redraw its display.

OPERATION
       During normal execution, window can be in one of two states:  conversa‐
       tion  mode and command mode.  In conversation mode, the terminal’s real
       cursor is placed at the cursor position of a particular  window--called
       the  current window--and input from the keyboard is sent to the process
       in that window.  The current window is always on top of all other  win‐
       dows,  except  those  in  foreground.   In addition, it is set apart by
       highlighting its identifier and label in reverse video.

       Typing window’s escape character (normally  ^P)  in  conversation  mode
       switches  it  into  command mode.  In command mode, the top line of the
       terminal screen becomes the command prompt window,  and  window  inter‐
       prets input from the keyboard as commands to manipulate windows.

       There  are two types of commands: short commands are usually one or two
       key strokes; long commands are strings either typed by the user in  the
       command  window (see the ‘‘:’’ command below), or read from a file (see
       source below).

SHORT COMMANDS
       Below, # represents one of the digits ‘‘1’’ to ‘‘9’’  corresponding  to
       the  windows 1 to 9.  ^X means control-X, where X is any character.  In
       particular, ^^ is control-^.  Escape is the escape key, or ^[.

       #      Select window # as the current window and return to conversation
              mode.

       %#     Select window # but stay in command mode.

       ^^     Select  the  previous  window  and  return to conversation mode.
              This is useful for toggling between two windows.

       escape Return to conversation mode.

       ^P     Return to conversation mode and write ^P to the current  window.
              Thus, typing two ^P’s in conversation mode sends one to the cur‐
              rent window.  If the window escape  is  changed  to  some  other
              character, that character takes the place of ^P here.

       ?      List a short summary of commands.

       ^L     Redraw the screen.

       q      Exit window.  Confirmation is requested.

       ^Z     Suspend window.

       w      Create  a new window.  The user is prompted for the positions of
              the upper left and lower right corners of the window.  The  cur‐
              sor  is  placed  on the screen and the keys ‘‘h’’, ‘‘j’’, ‘‘k’’,
              and ‘‘l’’ move the cursor left, down,  up,  and  right,  respec‐
              tively.  The keys ‘‘H’’, ‘‘J’’, ‘‘K’’, and ‘‘L’’ move the cursor
              to the respective limits of the screen.  Typing a number  before
              the  movement  keys  repeats  the movement that number of times.
              Return enters the cursor position as the upper  left  corner  of
              the  window.  The lower right corner is entered in the same man‐
              ner.  During this process, the placement of the  new  window  is
              indicated  by a rectangular box drawn on the screen, correspond‐
              ing to where the new window will be framed.   Typing  escape  at
              any point cancels this command.

              This  window  becomes the current window, and is given the first
              available ID.  The default buffer size is used (see  nline  com‐
              mand below).

              Only fully visible windows can be created this way.

       c#     Close  window  #.   The process in the window is sent the hangup
              signal (see kill (1)).  Csh (1) should handle this  signal  cor‐
              rectly and cause no problems.

       m#     Move  window  #  to another location.  A box in the shape of the
              window is drawn on the screen to indicate the  new  position  of
              the  window,  and  the  same keys as those for the w command are
              used to position the box.  The window  can  be  moved  partially
              off-screen.

       M#     Move window # to its previous position.

       s#     Change  the size of window #.  The user is prompted to enter the
              new lower right corner of the window.  A box is drawn  to  indi‐
              cate  the  new  window  size.  The same keys used in w and m are
              used to enter the position.

       S#     Change window # to its previous size.

       ^Y     Scroll the current window up by one line.

       ^E     Scroll the current window down by one line.

       ^U     Scroll the current window up by half the window size.

       ^D     Scroll the current window down by half the window size.

       ^B     Scroll the current window up by the full window size.

       ^F     Scroll the current window down by the full window size.

       h      Move the cursor of the current window left by one column.

       j      Move the cursor of the current window down by one line.

       k      Move the cursor of the current window up by one line.

       l      Move the cursor of the current window right by one column.

       ^S     Stop output in the current window.

       ^Q     Start output in the current window.

       :      Enter a line to be executed as long commands.  Normal line edit‐
              ing  characters  (erase  character,  erase word, erase line) are
              supported.

LONG COMMANDS
       Long commands are a sequence of statements parsed much like a  program‐
       ming  language, with a syntax similar to that of C.  Numeric and string
       expressions  and  variables  are  supported,  as  well  as  conditional
       statements.

       There are two data types: string and number.  A string is a sequence of
       letters or digits beginning with a letter.  ‘‘_’’ and ‘‘.’’ are consid‐
       ered letters.  Alternately, non-alphanumeric characters can be included
       in strings by quoting them in ‘‘"’’ or escaping them  with  ‘‘\’’.   In
       addition,  the ‘‘\’’ sequences of C are supported, both inside and out‐
       side quotes (e.g., ‘‘\n’’ is a new line,  ‘‘\r’’  a  carriage  return).
       For  example, these are legal strings: abcde01234, "&#$^*&#", ab"$#"cd,
       ab\$\#cd, "/usr/ucb/window".

       A number is an integer value in one of three forms: a  decimal  number,
       an  octal number preceded by ‘‘0’’, or a hexadecimal number preceded by
       ‘‘0x’’ or ‘‘0X’’.  The natural machine integer size is used (i.e.,  the
       signed  integer  type  of  the C compiler).  As in C, a non-zero number
       represents a boolean true.

       The character ‘‘#’’ begins a comment which terminates at the end of the
       line.

       A  statement  is  either  a  conditional  or an expression.  Expression
       statements are terminated with a new line or  ‘‘;’’.   To  continue  an
       expression on the next line, terminate the first line with ‘‘\’’.

CONDITIONAL STATEMENT
       Window has a single control structure: the fully bracketed if statement
       in the form
            if <expr> then
                 <statement>
                 . . .
            elsif <expr> then
                 <statement>
                 . . .
            else
                 <statement>
                 . . .
            endif
       The else and elsif parts are optional, and the latter can  be  repeated
       any number of times.  <Expr> must be numeric.

EXPRESSIONS
       Expressions in window are similar to those in the C language, with most
       C operators supported on numeric operands.  In addition, some are over‐
       loaded to operate on strings.

       When an expression is used as a statement, its value is discarded after
       evaluation.  Therefore, only expressions with side effects (assignments
       and function calls) are useful as statements.

       Single  valued (no arrays) variables are supported, of both numeric and
       string values.  Some variables are predefined.  They are listed  below.

       The operators in order of increasing precedence:

       <expr1> = <expr2>
              Assignment.   The variable of name <expr1>, which must be string
              valued, is assigned the result of <expr2>.  Returns the value of
              <expr2>.

       <expr1> ? <expr2> : <expr3>
              Returns the value of <expr2> if <expr1> evaluates true (non-zero
              numeric value); returns the value of  <expr3>  otherwise.   Only
              one  of  <expr2>  and  <expr3>  is  evaluated.   <Expr1> must be
              numeric.

       <expr1> || <expr2>
              Logical or.  Numeric values only.  Short circuit  evaluation  is
              supported  (i.e., if <expr1> evaluates true, then <expr2> is not
              evaluated).

       <expr1> && <expr2>
              Logical and with short circuit evaluation.  Numeric values only.

       <expr1> | <expr2>
              Bitwise or.  Numeric values only.

       <expr1> ^ <expr2>
              Bitwise exclusive or.  Numeric values only.

       <expr1> & <expr2>
              Bitwise and.  Numeric values only.

       <expr1> == <expr2>, <expr1> != <expr2>
              Comparison  (equal  and  not  equal, respectively).  The boolean
              result (either 1 or 0)  of  the  comparison  is  returned.   The
              operands  can  be  numeric or string valued.  One string operand
              forces the other to be converted to a string in necessary.

       <expr1> < <expr2>, <expr1> > <expr2>, <expr1> <=  <expr2>,  <expr1>  >=
       <expr2>
              Less than, greater than, less than or equal to, greater than  or
              equal  to.   Both numeric and string values, with automatic con‐
              version as above.

       <expr1> << <expr2>, <expr1> >> <expr2>
              If both operands are numbers, <expr1> is bit  shifted  left  (or
              right)  by <expr2> bits.  If <expr1> is a string, then its first
              (or last) <expr2> characters are returns (if <expr2> is  also  a
              string, then its length is used in place of its value).

       <expr1> + <expr2>, <expr1> - <expr2>
              Addition and subtraction on numbers.  For ‘‘+’’, if one argument
              is a string, then the other is converted to a  string,  and  the
              result is the concatenation of the two strings.

       <expr1> * <expr2>, <expr1> / <expr2>, <expr1> % <expr2>
              Multiplication, division, modulo.  Numbers only.

       -<expr>, ~<expr>, !<expr>, $<expr>, $?<expr>
              The  first three are unary minus, bitwise complement and logical
              complement on numbers only.  The operator, ‘‘$’’,  takes  <expr>
              and  returns  the value of the variable of that name.  If <expr>
              is numeric with value n and it appears  within  an  alias  macro
              (see  below),  then  it  refers to the nth argument of the alias
              invocation.  ‘‘$?’’  tests for the  existence  of  the  variable
              <expr>, and returns 1 if it exists or 0 otherwise.

       <expr>(<arglist>)
              Function  call.  <Expr> must be a string that is the unique pre‐
              fix of the name of a builtin window function or the full name of
              a  user defined alias macro.  In the case of a builtin function,
              <arglist> can be in one of two forms:
                   <expr1>, <expr2>, . . .
                   argname1 = <expr1>, argname2 = <expr2>, . . .
              The two forms can in fact  be  intermixed,  but  the  result  is
              unpredictable.   Most  arguments  can be omitted; default values
              will be supplied for them.  The argnames can be unique  prefixes
              of  the the argument names.  The commas separating arguments are
              used only to disambiguate, and can usually be omitted.

              Only the first argument form is valid for user defined  aliases.
              Aliases  are  defined  using  the  alias  builtin  function (see
              below).  Arguments are accessed via a variant  of  the  variable
              mechanism (see ‘‘$’’ operator above).

              Most  functions  return value, but some are used for side effect
              only and so must be used as statements.  When a function  or  an
              alias  is  used  as a statement, the parenthesis surrounding the
              argument list may be omitted.  Aliases return no value.

BUILTIN FUNCTIONS
       The arguments are listed by name  in  their  natural  order.   Optional
       arguments  are  in  square  brackets (‘‘[ ]’’).  Arguments that have no
       names are in angle brackets (‘‘<>’’).

       alias([<string>], [<string-list>])
              If no argument is given, all currently defined alias macros  are
              listed.  Otherwise, <string> is defined as an alias, with expan‐
              sion <string-list>.  The previous  definition  of  <string>,  if
              any, is returned.  Default for <string-list> is no change.

       close(<window-list>)
              Close  the windows specified in <window-list>.  If <window-list>
              is the word all, than all  windows  are  closed.   No  value  is
              returned.

       cursormodes([modes])
              Set  the window cursor to modes.  Modes is the bitwise or of the
              mode bits defined  as  the  variables  m_ul  (underline),  m_rev
              (reverse video), m_blk (blinking), and m_grp (graphics, terminal
              dependent).  Return value is the previous modes.  Default is  no
              change.  For example, cursor($m_rev|$m_blk) sets the window cur‐
              sors to blinking reverse video.

       echo([window], [<string-list>])
              Write the list of strings, <string-list>, to  window,  separated
              by  spaces and terminated with a new line.  The strings are only
              displayed in the window, the processes in  the  window  are  not
              involved  (see  write below).  No value is returned.  Default is
              the current window.

       escape([escapec])
              Set the escape character to escape-char.  Returns the old escape
              character  as  a  one  character  string.  Default is no change.
              Escapec can be a string of a single character, or  in  the  form
              ^X, meaning control-X.

       foreground([window], [flag])
              Move  window  in  or  out of foreground.  Flag can be one of on,
              off, yes, no, true, or false, with obvious meanings, or  it  can
              be a numeric expression, in which case a non-zero value is true.
              Returns the old foreground flag as a number.  Default for window
              is the current window, default for flag is no change.

       label([window], [label])
              Set  the  label  of window to label.  Returns the old label as a
              string.  Default for window is the current window,  default  for
              label  is  no  change.   To turn off a label, set it to an empty
              string ("").

       list() No arguments.  List the identifiers and labels of  all  windows.
              No value is returned.

       nline([nline])
              Set  the  default  buffer  size  to  nline.  Initially, it is 48
              lines.  Returns the old default  buffer  size.   Default  is  no
              change.   Using  a  very  large buffer can slow the program down
              considerably.

       select([window])
              Make window the current window.  The previous current window  is
              returned.  Default is no change.

       shell([<string-list>])
              Set  the default window shell program to <string-list>.  Returns
              the first string in  the  old  shell  setting.   Default  is  no
              change.  Initially, the default shell is taken from the environ‐
              ment variable SHELL.

       source(filename)
              Read and execute the long commands in filename.  Returns  -1  if
              the file cannot be read, 0 otherwise.

       terse([flag])
              Set terse mode to flag.  In terse mode, the command window stays
              hidden even in command mode, and errors are reported by sounding
              the  terminal’s  bell.   Flag  can take on the same values as in
              foreground above.  Returns the old terse flag.   Default  is  no
              change.

       unalias(alias)
              Undefine  alias.   Returns  -1 if alias does not exist, 0 other‐
              wise.

       unset(variable)
              Undefine variable.  Returns -1 if variable  does  not  exist,  0
              otherwise.

       variables()
              No arguments.  List all variables.  No value is returned.

       window([row], [column], [nrow], [ncol], [nline], [frame],
              [pty], [mapnl], [shell])
              Open  a  window  with  upper left corner at row, column and size
              nrow, ncol.  If nline is specified, then  that  many  lines  are
              allocated  for  the  text buffer.  Otherwise, the default buffer
              size is used.  Default values for row, column,  nrow,  and  ncol
              are,  respectively,  the  upper, left-most, lower, or right-most
              extremes of the screen.  Frame, pty, and mapnl are  flag  values
              interpreted  in  the same way as the argument to foreground (see
              above); they mean, respectively, put a frame around this  window
              (default  true), allocate pseudo-terminal for this window rather
              than socketpair (default true), and map new line  characters  in
              this  window  to  carriage return and line feed (default true if
              socketpair is used,  false  otherwise).   Shell  is  a  list  of
              strings  that  will be used as the shell program to place in the
              window (default is the program specified by shell,  see  below).
              The created window’s identifier is returned as a number.

       write([window], [<string-list>])
              Send the list of strings, <string-list>, to window, separated by
              spaces but not terminated with a  new  line.   The  strings  are
              actually  given  to  the window as input.  No value is returned.
              Default is the current window.

PREDEFINED VARIABLES
       These variables are for information only.   Redefining  them  does  not
       affect the internal operation of window.

       baud   The baud rate as a number between 50 and 38400.

       modes  The display modes (reverse video, underline, blinking, graphics)
              supported by the physical terminal.  The value of modes  is  the
              bitwise  or  of some of the one bit values, m_blk, m_grp, m_rev,
              and m_ul (see below).  These values are useful  in  setting  the
              window cursors’ modes (see cursormodes above).

       m_blk  The blinking mode bit.

       m_grp  The graphics mode bit (not very useful).

       m_rev  The reverse video mode bit.

       m_ul   The underline mode bit.

       ncol   The number of columns on the physical screen.

       nrow   The number of rows on the physical screen.

       term   The  terminal type.  The standard name, found in the second name
              field of the terminal’s TERMCAP entry, is used.

FILES
       ~/.windowrc    startup command file.
       /dev/[pt]ty[pq]?pseudo-terminal devices.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Should be self explanatory.

BUGS
4.3 Berkeley Distribution        May 12, 1986                        WINDOW(1)
 
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