UNIX tips:Pine really is a pretty cool mail program. If you're anywhere in the world that has an internet connection and the simplest Telnet program, it's almost certain you can check your mail through Pine. And when it comes down to it, it's quite powerful... you just have to learn a few things...
For example, when you're looking at your INBOX, you've probably got tens, if not hundreds of messages. So how do you move around the listing of messages quickly? Well, if you want to move up an entire page, hit the minus key (-), or if you'd like to move down an entire page, just hit the space bar!
One thing that annoys most users of Pine is the inability to use the mouse for editing. Well, the creators of Pine over at the University of Washington are well aware of this, and have some fairly clever ways of editing without using the mouse. (By the way, when you're editing a message in Pine, you're using another UW program called Pico. Pico is just a text editor, used by many to create and edit their web pages. The stuff that follows relates to the Pico text editor.
Sometimes when you're typing out a message, you go back into a paragraph and start messing with it, adding words, taking out sentences, etc. When you're done, you're left with a paragraph that has white space in really funny places along the right side. Instead of going line by line and deleting spaces to get it look right, just put the cursor in the paragraph and hit CTRL-j Ñ that will remove those funny spaces and make your paragraph how you want it. Be sure that the paragraph youre justifying has a blank line before and after it though...
How about cutting and pasting? Okay, now pay attention. If you hit CNTL-k, you will cut the current line. If you then hit CNTL-u, you will uncut the current line (putting it back into place). So what if you had 5 lines to move? Go to the first line you want to move. Then, hit CNTL-k 5 times. Move the cursor to where you would like to uncut (paste) that text. Hit CNTL-u Ñ there's your text again! Try it a few times and youll get the hang of it. The important thing to remember is that if you hit CNTL-k, then move the cursor, then hit CNTL-k again, you will only be able to uncut the second thing you cut.
What if you have a text file in your account that you'd just love to include in the body of your message? You don't want to make it an attachment, you want it right in the middle of the stuff you're typing. Put the cursor where you want to add the text from the file, then hit CNTL-r, then CNTL-t. You're going to get a listing of the files in your account... find the file you want and hit Return.
Searching for a word in your document? Hit CNTL-w, type the word you're looking for, and hit Return. How about spell-check? CNTL-t Want to move up a page? CNTL-y ... Down a page? CNTL-v.
Well, that's enough for now. There are bunches and bunches of key strokes you can learn that will allow you to select blocks of text, jump to the beginning or end of the current line, and accomplish lots of other tasks. For more information, go the UW Pine Information Site at:
