The venerable DEC Editor is powerful and convenient because it is located right on the TRENDSTAR server. This makes it the tool of choice for everything from simple text editing to executing complex edit steps on selected strings, massive repetitive edits and merging files. The DEC editor can generally handle text files up to about 80,000 blocks (40 MB) far better than the MS/Windows Notepad. For larger files we recommend you FTP the file to your workstation and use UltraEdit-32 (see our "Other Solutions" category more info).

DEC line mode commands can also be executed in batch mode, allowing automation of repetitive work. If you find yourself doing repetitive edit work, you probably aren’t taking full advantage of the tools available; call YMS if you want some advice. This is by no means a full set of DEC Editor capabilities. These are the basic capabilities that YMS considers essential.

*t types the current line showing line number
*t 10 types line ten and goes there
*t 10000000 types line ten million or shows EOB for end of buffer (end of file) and goes there
*t 1 thru 20 types lines 1 –20
*t whole type whole file
*delete delete current line
*del delete current line
*del rest delete rest of file after current position
*del before delete part of file before current position
*del 1 thru 20 delete lines 1-20 (other line numbers remain the same)
*include newfile.txt inserts content of newfile.txt beginning at current line
*set screen 132 shifts editor to smaller font to see more of long records
*subs/|/,/whole substitutes , for | throughout whole file (you can use any character instead of /)
*c change to full screen editing
*write filename save the current file while continuing the edit session
*quit quit without saving
*exit exit and save changes
*help lists out more DEC editor commands

Useful commands in full screen mode:

Backspace Delete character before cursor
PF1-PF3 textstring PF4 Find first occurrence of textstring
PF3 Find next occurrence of textstring
PF4 Delete line
PF1-PF4 Undelete line
PageDn Pages down
CNTRL-U Delete back to beginning of line
CNTRL-Z Return to line mode

DEC Editor Numeric Keypad Template:

Since the template was devised, most numeric keypads have lost the key dedicated to DEL C (delete character). Start the editor and try a few other keys on your keyboard near the numeric keypad. In some cases the Pause button will have the DEL C functionality. You can also use the DEC keypad toolbar in your emulator.