The Sdtty completion mechanism, especially the
ESC
(or
ALT MODE
or
TAB)
key, can save you a lot of typing.
For example, typing
heads do your part ENTER
is probably more than you want to do. If you type just
heads do
the line will be almost unambiguous--there are only two possible commands
that start this way. By typing a question mark, Sdtty will show them
to you. They are
heads do your part
and
heads do your part (while the others)
What these concepts actually mean will be discussed at length in section Designating Certain People. For now, we are just discussing how to type them.
These commands don't differ until the `t' in `part'. If you type
ENTER
after `part', Sdtty will know that you want the
first of these commands. If you type a space and then
ENTER,
Sdtty will know that you want the second. Does this mean that you
must type the whole command up to `part', followed by a space or
ENTER?
No. Just type `heads do', and then press
ESC.
Sdtty will display `heads do your part', since that is the text
that is common to both commands. At that point, you may press
ENTER
to get the `heads do your part' concept. Or you could type space
and then
ENTER
to get the `heads do your part (while the others)'
concept. You could, of course, type the complete phrase `(while the others)'
after the space, but there is no need to. Once you type the space, Sdtty
knows exactly which command you want.
What would happen if you tried to shorten the command still further by typing just `heads d' instead of `heads do'? Below C2 this would work just fine. At C2 and above, an ambiguity would exist because of the `heads disconnected' concept. Typing a question mark after `heads d' will show you the ambiguity. In general, typing a question mark will help guide you in minimizing the amount of typing you must do. With practice, you will be able to enter your favorite calls and concepts with minimal typing.
Here is another example. To enter `criss cross the shadow' or `criss cross your neighbor', it is not necessary to type `criss cross t' or `criss cross y'. You can just type `cri' followed by ESC. The program will display everything up to the point of ambiguity, which, at C2, is `criss cross '. At that point, you just need to type `t' or `y', followed by ENTER. Above C2, there are more possible calls, but typing `cri' followed by ESC is still a good way to start.
Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.