Unix File Editors

If you're doing any programming, you'll probably want to use a program designed to edit text. Many packages, like SAS, come with their own editors. Some other common editors are available on our machines, too.

If you have only simple editing to do or you're just getting started, "pico" might be adequate. With more complex editing requirements, something like "emacs" or "vi" might be a lot faster for you...

Common Editors:

• Emacs
• Pico
• Vi

Capturing the results of a LIAS search:

Cutting and pasting from a LIAS database to a file:

1. In one window, open a text editor (such as vi or pico) to the file you want to save the records to. If you are using vi, type ":set noai" (set no automatic indent) after you have opened the file, to prevent vi from automatically indenting lines, then type "i" to switch to insert mode.
2. Connect to LIAS using the "Other Machines->LIAS" menus, and sign onto the database you wish to search. When you find a citation you wish to save to a file:
3. If the citation record is SMALL ENOUGH to display on one screen, you may cut and paste in the usual way--click the left mouse button at the top of the area you want to copy and hold it down while moving the mouse cursor to the bottom of the section to be copied, and release the mouse button. The "selected" area will show up in white. Then, in the window with the file to which you want to copy, move the mouse cursor to the place you want the text to go and click the middle mouse button.
4. If the citation is TOO BIG to fit on one screen (as sometimes happens in the Medline and PsycINFO databases), then:
1. Indicate that you want to print the citation by typing "R".
2. When you see the message "Output is about to be dumped to printer. Please switch printer to online. Press Enter to begin transmission (^L to cancel) ...", click the left mouse button at the bottom of the screen. This sets the beginning of the "selected" area.
3. Hit return--the whole citation will scroll by, followed by the lines "Transmission complete ...Press Enter to continue ...". Do NOT hit Enter yet!
4. Click the right mouse button at the bottom of the citaion to mark the end of the "selected" area. The whole citation should then turn white only after you click the right button. Remember: mark the beginning of a selection with the left button, and the end with the right button.
5. From there, you may paste the entire selected portion into the text file in the same way, by moving the mouse cursor into the text editor window and clicking the middle mouse button at the location you want the text to go.

Last modified: 04/27/06 | Contact Webmaster