Editing XEDIT (section)

{{Short description|Visual editor}}
{{About|the editor for VM/CMS, and ports thereof|the editor for the X Window System on Linux and Unix|xedit (X11)}}
[[Image:Informatics_General_programmer_at_terminal.jpg|thumb|right|An Informatics General computer programmer using XEDIT on an IBM 3279 terminal]]
[[File:Original XEDIT.png|thumb|An early version of XEDIT from 1982, as displayed on a 3270 terminal emulator. ]]
'''XEDIT''' is a [[visual editor]] for [[VM (operating system)|VM/CMS]] using [[block-oriented terminal|block mode]] [[IBM 3270]] [[Computer terminal|terminals]]. (Line-mode terminals are also supported.)
<ref>{{cite book |title=XEDIT Commands and Macros Reference |edition=1st |date=September 2004 |id=IBM publication number SC24-6131-00 |publisher=IBM}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite book |title=XEDIT User's Guide |edition=2nd |date=December 2005 |id=IBM publication number SC24-6132-01 |publisher=IBM}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web |title=The CMS file editor XEDIT |url=https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zvm/7.4?topic=zvm-cms-file-editor-xedit |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=www.ibm.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

XEDIT is much more line-oriented<ref>{{cite book
|title=Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists (1995)
|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1351357050  |isbn=978-1351357050
|author=Paul W. Ross  |date=2018
| publisher=CRC Press |quote=XEDIT is a line-oriented editor that}}</ref> than modern [[Personal computer|PC]] and [[Unix]] editors. For example, XEDIT supports automatic line numbers, and many of the commands operate on blocks of lines. A pair of features allows selective line and column editing.<ref>source of wording: TRANSLATE of [[KEDIT]], in the German article</ref> The ''ALL'' command, for example, hides all lines not matching the described pattern, and the COL (Column) command allows hiding those columns not specified. Hence changing, for example, the word NO as it appears only in columns 24 thru 28, to YES, and only on lines with the word FLEXIBLE, is doable.

Another feature is a ''command line'' which allows the user to type arbitrary editor commands. Because IBM 3270 terminals do not transmit data to the computer until certain special keys are pressed [such as {{keypress|ENTER}}, a program [[function key]] (PFK), or a program access key (PAK)],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSL28L_1.1.0/scriptguide/dcvl8mst101.html |title=PA - program access key statement |date=28 October 2015 |publisher=IBM |access-date=December 21, 2018}}</ref> XEDIT is less interactive than many PC and Unix editors. For example, continuous spell-checking as the user types is problematic.