Re: Simple Viewer for File?

In article <2cdqq5$g3h_at_qualcomm.com>, greg_at_guru.qualcomm.com (Greg Noel) writes:
|> I am looking for a file viewer that will allow an unsophisticated user to
|> move easily through a file and examine its contents. It should treat the
|> file as a virtual image with unlimited line width, so it must be able to
|> scroll left and right as well as up and down (that is, it mustn't wrap the
|> lines when it displays them, but allow the user to move left and right
|> within the limits of the text).

The only viewer I know that allows left/right scrolling is most, a GNU viewer. It also has unlimited line length. It displays the line number and column number on the status line.

|> ...
|> Moreover, the commands should be displayed on the screen---in other words,
|> the intended user is not expected to use the program often and is _not_
|> expected to remember the command set.

Commands are not displayed on the screen. Hitting "h" while viewing brings up a help file in a second window. This can either be the man page or a short summary.

|>
|> I'd prefer that it use curses, so that it will run on many different types
|> of terminals. I'd also prefer that it be available in source form. It
|> should also have a small executable and be blindingly fast. (I don't ask
|> for much, do I?)

You can't have everything! Sources are included, as well as a makefile for VMS and Unix systems. The executable is 156 KB. It's fast.

Barbara Vaughan Received on Thu Nov 18 1993 - 17:50:14 CET