Entities are used in nokeypad mode commands to specify the text on which a command will operate. Each entity represents a portion of text, which may be anything from a single character to an entire text buffer. Most entities can be preceded by a count, which indicates the number of entities to be affected.
1 – CHARACTER
The character entity is specified by the letter C. It selects a single character of text.
2 – WORD
A word consists of a string of characters terminated by a set of
delimiter characters. The default delimiter characters are spaces,
tabs, carriage returns, line terminators, line feeds, formfeeds, and
vertical tabs. Spaces are handled in a special way: all spaces
following a word up to the first non-space character are considered part
of a word. Other delimiters are not considered part of the word they
terminate. Rather, they are considered to be words by themselves,
unless SET WORD NODELIMITER in in effect. If SET WORD NODELIMTER is in
effect, delimiters are not considered words by themselves but are
considered part of the word they terminate. The three word entities are:
W Specifies the entire word in which the cursor is positioned.
BW Specifies all characters preceding the cursor up to the beginning
of the word.
EW Specifies all characters from the cursor through the end of the
word.
You can change the word delimiters with the SET ENTITY command.
3 – LINE
The line entities are:
L Specifies the entire line in which the cursor is positioned.
BL Specifies all characters preceding the cursor up to the beginning
of a line. (When the cursor is positioned at the beginning of a
line, the BL entity selects the entire previous line.)
EL Specifies all characters from the cursor to the end of a line,
including the character on which the cursor is positioned.
(If the cursor is on a line terminator, the entire next line is
selected.)
NL Specifies all characters from the cursor to the beginning of the
next line, including the character on which the cursor is
positioned.
4 – RANGE
The range entities specify all text in the buffer either before or after
the cursor. The two range entities are:
BR Specifies the text from the cursor position to the beginning of
the buffer.
ER Specifies the text from the cursor position to the end of the
buffer.
5 – SENTENCE
A sentence consists of a string of characters terminated by one of a set
of single character delimiters. The default sentence delimiters are:
period (.), question mark (?), and exclamation point (!). A sentence
delimiter is considered to be a delimiter only if it is at the end of a
line or if it is followed by a space. The line terminator or trailing
spaces are considered a part of the sentence. There are three sentence
entities:
SEN Specifies the entire sentence in which the cursor is positioned,
including the delimiter and trailing spaces or line terminator.
BSEN Specifies all characters preceding the cursor in the current
sentence.
ESEN Specifies all characters in the current sentence from the cursor
to (but not including) the delimiter character.
The sentence delimiters can be changed by the SET ENTITY command.
6 – PAGE
A page consists of all the text between two page delimiters, including
the trailing page delimiter. The default page delimiter is the formfeed
character. The three page entities are:
PAGE Specifies all of the current page.
BPAGE Specifies all characters in the current page from the character
preceding the cursor to the beginning of the page.
EPAGE Specifies all characters in the current page from the cursor to
(but not including) the page delimiter.
You can change the page delimiter with the SET ENTITY command.
7 – PARAGRAPH
A paragraph consists of all the text between two paragraph delimiters,
including the trailing paragraph delimiter, and if SET PARAGRAPH WPS is
in effect, any adjacent delimiters. The default paragraph delimiter is
two consecutive line terminators. The three paragraph entities are:
PAR Specifies all of the current paragraph.
BPAR Specifies all characters in the current paragraph from the
character preceding the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph.
EPAR Specifies all characters in the current paragraph from the cursor
to (but not including) the paragraph delimiter.
You can change the paragraph delimiter with the SET ENTITY command.
8 – SELECT
The select entity consists of all characters between the cursor and the select mark. The select mark must have been specified previously by a SEL command. The select range entity is specified by SR. Some commands use the search string when the SR entity is specified but no select range has been created.
9 – VERTICAL
The vertical entity is the same as the line entity, except that with the V entity, the cursor stays in the same column. You specify the vertical entity with V.
10 – STRING
The string entity consists of all the characters between the cursor and the next occurrence of a specified search string. Specify the string entity by enclosing the desired search string in single or double quotation marks. If the string is null (specified by '' or ""), the previous search string is used again. For key definitions, you may use the null character (character code 0) in place of the quotation marks to avoid conflicts with the search string.