hello,

in this tip, we will continue with describing how lynx can be used
with files in the home directory of your shell account.   in the last
tip, we showed how to have your home directory be a link to choose
just as though it was a page anywhere on the web.  now we will
describe how lynx can do file editing and file management and other
functions to help organize and manage the contents of your home
directory.   we will start by showing how to edit files in your home
directory from within lynx.

as we described in a previous tip, pico can be stipulated as the text
editor to use when sending email messages from with in lynx.   it can
also be used as a file editor for a page file if it resides in your
home directory. using the hypothetical text file , named "myfile",as
an example of how to do editing from within lynx, follow these steps:

1. start lynx as usual.  if you followed the last tip, the first page
is the start up page of your choice, and it has a link on it going to
your home directory.

2. choose that link and go to your home directory.  you will see a menu
list of the files and subdirectories in your home directory, including
the file named "myfile".

3.  to edit that file, put the highlight cursor on it and hit the "e"
key. this will start the text editor pico and load the file.

4.  now any changes can be made to this file and saved, as you usually
do when saving and exiting pico.  you will return to the file list
menu in your home directory.

the file listings are just like links on any web page,   in fact, you
can think of, and use, the contents of your home directory as though
it is a web page to which only you have access.  putting the cursor on
a file, and choosing it like a link, allows you to go to that file as
though it is a page anywhere on the internet.   if it is just a plain
text page, you can view the contents and move around in it using
standard lynx navigation commands.  if the file is a page with links
on it, you can go to the page pointed to by the link.   in the last
tip, we described how to download a page from anywhere to your home
directory.    if you  go to it, all of the information and links it
contains, are there for you to use anytime you should require.
another function you can perform while on a file in your home
directory, is to edit it.   when lynx is on that file as a page, hit
the "e" key as above.   as before, pico will load the file for
editing.   after you save and exit pico, you are back on the file page
and any editing done will be present.

one very useful application of this editing function from within lynx
is to change and/or reorder the links in your bookmark or startup
file. in the last tip, we showed how to use a file of your choice as
the first page lynx goes to at start up time.   while it can be any
file, we used the primary bookmark file called:

lynx_bookmarks.html

using the techniques just described, you can edit the contents of that
primary bookmark file, or any other bookmark file if you use multiple
bookmark files.  using the standard key commands, you can always add a
link to the bookmark file.   if the cursor is on a link there, hitting
the "r" key will allow you to remove the link.   however, it can be
very useful to reorder the links as they appear and put the most
frequently used ones together at the top of your start up and/or
bookmark file.  in order to do that, you need to edit the contents
directly. if your primary book mark file or start up file has another
name, substitute that name and follow these steps to change it's
contents:

1.   while you are on the startup or bookmark page, or have the cursor
placed on it while in your home directory, load it in pico for
editing; as previously described.

2.   while there can be many things that can appear in a bookmark
file, most standard links would look like the following lines:

<LI><a href="file://localhost/disk03/people/ddunfee/">
local directory </a>

<LI><a href="http://users.deltanet.com/~tdb/search.htm">
Search Engines </a>

each of the double lines above appears as one in actual use in a page
file.   i have split each of them so the second line is what appears
as the link label.  the first example is the actual link for my home
directory, which i have named "local directory".   the second example
is a set of speech friendly search engines, called "search engines" in
turn.  the latter is on a set of speech friendly reference pages i
find most helpful.   you might want to copy the two lines and
reconstruct them as one line in your bookmark or startup page file for
a link to the search engine page.  i have included these two examples
so you can see the pattern of how the link information appears.  each
link line begins with "<li>" and ends with "</a>".  you may delete any
of these lines in pico by using the control + "k" key command which
cuts a line at a time.   if you want to reorder and/or relocate links,
follow these steps:

1.   go to the line in question and do the "cut line" command as
above.

2.   move the cursor to the line after which you want the line to be
placed.

3.  use the control + "u" key command to paste the previously cut line
in the line above the one on which the cursor resides.

4.  repeat this cut and paste process as many times as desired and in
the order desired so you can place the links together in the form you
want.

using the pattern of the link line examples above, you can copy links
from one page to another to build up custom start up pages or any
pages for any function you desire.  also, using a web page's address,
you can use the model of the lines above to create custom link lines
from scratch.  put your own link address and label in the position of
those above.

there is an additional set of file management functions you can
perform on the files in your home directory from within lynx.   when
in your directory using lynx, hit the "f" key.   this brings up a menu
of file management operations which can be chosen to perform on the
file on which the cursor resides.   most of them are apparent from
their names, while others may not be familiar to you.   i would
suggest only using those functions which are obvious, such as
renaming, removing, moving, etc operations.  because any
subdirectories also appear in your home directory, you can select the
name for it and do the same kinds of viewing, editing, and file
management functions there as well.  i would suggest setting up a test
file on which you can practice these file management functions to
confirm what action each menu item performs.

that's all for this tip.

regards,

dan dunfee