It has all the standard functions
that any good text editor should have
and a whole lot more! This excellent program is
free for any use!
Screenshot of PFE 32 and Notes on how to use the tool bar buttons :
Note: The Wrap function
in this program has a much different effect than most
editors. It does not allow you to read lines that have lengths
beyond the right edge of the window like the "Word Wrap"
function in NOTEPAD. Nor does it set a right margin for text that
is pasted from the clipboard like a word processor. It only starts
a new line of text when you begin to enter a character after
column 72 while typing words on a blank line. ( If you insert text into a
line that is already longer than 72 columns it will not wrap.)
To perform a wordwrap similar to Notepad:
Unfortunately, there's no simple menu item (or 'toggle switch'). You can,
however, select all of the file's contents using ' Edit ' --> '
Select All ', right-click and choose 'Reformat' from the pop-up menu.
To undo the wordwrapped text you must use ' Edit ' --> '
Undo Text Reformat ' (or press the key combination, CTRL+Z ).
The program's help file is in British English, but the differences are only
in the spelling. For example, the words center and color are spelled:
centre and colour.
There is one word you may have
trouble with, due to the author's preference for "editing
terminology" rather than his language! He always uses the term
caret,
a proofreading symbol (^) indicating where
something is to be inserted in a line of written or printed text,
rather than the more accurate computer term
cursor. So, think flashing bar (|) [for
Insert] or flashing box [for Overwrite] when you see the word
caret in the help file.
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This is the dialog box for initiating
the capture of a DOS command's screen output. I consider this
to be a significant feature of PFE. It quickly gives you a ready-to-edit
text (after you change to Write mode). It will also capture
the output from programs that you're unable to use a pipe ( >) with in
Win 95 (such as
perldoc.bat ; which transfers control to another program that expects
command-line parameters to be passed ). |
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Clicking on the Options menu above the toolbar and selecting "Preferences..." will bring up this window. Under the category selection of "Screen Font," you can choose any installed "fixed pitch font" (i.e., fixed width: each character is spaced evenly). The "System fixed pitch font" (also called "Fixedsys") is the standard Windows font used by NOTEPAD. |
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Although it's not a perfect match with the actual font displayed in full-screen DOS, the "OEM fixed pitch font" will allow you to read DOS text files including all the graphics characters and other symbols as shown in this picture. ( For some reason, Windows shortens the height of each character compared to the standard 25-line full-size DOS screen!) |
Google's Search Engine may help.
Or, visit the old PFE
Home page for some links:
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/people/cpaap/pfe, states:
"Development and distribution
of Programmer's File Editor has come to an end The PFE Web Site is now
closed," but Alan has added some links to Winsite and
Simtel where copies of his program can also be downloaded.
Back to "
The Starman's Free Tools Page "
