The exact meaning of Line, Column and Block Mode

[holmes]

I have been using Zeus for many years and while I get around certain tasks albeit inefficiently, I am still confused with the Zeus meanings of Line, Column and Block mode.

I often need to remove several columns of data from an entire file. I have been placing the cursor at say the right end of a column (say column 80), holding the CTL key and left mouse moving left for as many columns as desired (say over to column 73), then moving the cursor straight up or down as needed to select a rectangular area to be deleted (ie. all text between col 73-80 in entire doc). This selects a rectangle. Letting go of the mouse and hitting DELETE accomplishes the task. The problem is some of my files have thousands of lines and this scrolling up or down through a large file with the mouse takes lots of time.

I can navigate much faster with keyboard keystrokes for other types of selections, but cannot figure out how to do the above task with just the keyboard. I messed around with macros, but my idea of what block and column mode is doesn't give the results I am looking for.

Any guidance?

Jim

[jussij]

The problem is some of my files have thousands of lines and this scrolling up or down through a large file with the mouse takes lots of time.

For a scenario like this, it is always easier to use the keyboard (or menu) to do the marking and not the mouse.

You do this marking as follows:

1. Place the cursor on the first line and the left or right edge of the area you wish to mark.

2. Use the Edit, Text Marking, Column Marking menu to start the column marking. To use the keyboard just use the accelerator key shown on the the menu.

3. Move the cursor to the last line and left or right edge of the marked area. You can use any method you like to get to that end point.

For example you could use: Page Up/Down, Line Goto, Goto Bookmark etc, etc.

Likewise, you could have used the same steps to start a line or block marking marked area.

The marking menus (and keyboard accelerator keys) do nothing more than start the marking using the mode selected.

These menus (and keyboard) can also be used to change the marking mode of a currently marked area.

For example if you have some column area marked, you can turn that marked area into line marking by just using the Line Marking menu option.

Any guidance?

Marking with the keyboard is the best way to go

So this is what you need to do is as follows:

a. Depending on which keyboard mappings you are using, determine which keys map to those three marking menu options.

b. Alternatively use the Options, Editor Options menu and use the Keyboard Mapping to edit the current mapping.

The functions you need to bind to are these:

Code: Select all

MarkLineToggle
MarkBlockToggle
MarkColumnToggle

c. With these keyboard bindings in place just place the cursor at the starting point of the marked area, use the required keyboard keys to start one of the marking modes and then move the cursor to the end of the marked area.

d. The reason there are three functions is because each function inserts a different text structure into the clipboard. Those difference become apparent when you then paste the text back into the document. Basically the line and block modes copy and paste lines of text while the column mode deals with columns and not lines.

Cheers Jussi

PS: If you do want to use the mouse to mark large areas use the Shift key. For example to column mark with the mouse press and hold down the Ctrl + Shift keys and then click on the start an end marking points of the marked area.