Pico (text editor)

Pico does not support working with several files simultaneously and cannot perform a find and replace across multiple files. It also cannot copy partial text from one file to another (though it is possible to read text into the editor from a whole file in its working directory). Pico does support search and replace operations.

By comparison, some popular Unix text editors such as vi and Emacs provide a wider range of features than Pico; including regular expression search and replace, and working with multiple files at the same time. By comparison, Pico's simplicity makes it suitable for beginners.{{Cite web|url=http://www.guckes.net/pico/|title=PICO - the PIne COmposer - a simple editor|website=Guckes.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009112759/http://www.guckes.net/pico/|archive-date=October 9, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}

Pico features a number of commands for editing. Arrow keys move the cursor a character at the time in the direction of the movement. Inserting a character is done by pressing the corresponding character key in the keyboard, while giving commands (such as save, spell check, justify, search, etc.) is done using a control key.

The {{key press|Ctrl|T}} command is used to spell check. The speller is defined from the command line using the -s option. When a person writes files in different languages, the speller can be set to be a script that interacts with the user to select the language to be checked.

The {{key press|Ctrl|J}} command is used to left justify text. Text is flowed in each line of a paragraph up to a limit set with the -r option in the command line. If no limit is given in the command line, then a default value of 72 characters per line is used. This limit is used to wrap lines during composition, as well as to justify text. The {{key press|Ctrl|J}} command justifies the text in the paragraph that the cursor is placed on. The command {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|U}} is used to justify the full file. In case that justification is not done correctly, or by mistake, it can be undone by pressing the {{key press|Ctrl|U}} command immediately after justification has been done.

The {{key press|Ctrl|W}} command is used to search for text. Search is done case insensitively, The search and replace command is not available by default, but must be enabled through the -b option in the command line.

Moving inside the editor can be done using the keyboard by using the arrow keys. Keys such as {{key press|Page Up}}, or {{key press|Page Down}}, scroll the text up or down (towards the beginning or end of the file, respectively). The commands {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|Y}}, and {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|V}} move the cursor to the beginning or end of the file respectively, while the commands {{key press|Ctrl|A}} and {{key press|Ctrl|E}} move the cursor to the beginning and the end of the line that the cursor is located on.

A clone of Pico called nano, which is part of the GNU Project,{{Cite web|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-08/msg00045.html|title=[Nano-devel] nano to remain in GNU|date=August 19, 2016|website=GNU Project|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804050236/https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-08/msg00045.html|archive-date=August 4, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}} was developed because Pico's earlier license had unclear redistribution terms.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.8/README|title=GNU nano -- an enhanced clone of the Pico text editor|website=GNU nano|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224080016/https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.8/README|archive-date=December 24, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}} Newer versions of Pico as part of Alpine are released under the Apache License version 2.0.

• Comparison of text editors
• List of text editors

{{refs}}

• {{URL|https://alpineapp.email|Alpine website}}
• {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328145000/http://www.washington.edu/pine/|date=mdy|title=Pine website}}
• {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221192501/https://www.cs.virginia.edu/diochnos/tips/terminal/pico_tutorial.pdf|date=mdy|title=Pico user guide}}

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