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Annotation of researchv10dc/dist/man/v3/man1/form.1, revision 1.1.1.1

1.1       root        1: .pa 1
                      2: .he 'FORM (I)'6/15/72'FORM (I)'
                      3: .ti 0
                      4: NAME
                      5: .br
                      6: form -- form letter generator
                      7: .sp
                      8: .ti 0
                      9: SYNOPSIS
                     10: .br
                     11: form____ proto arg918 ...
                     12: .sp
                     13: .ti 0
                     14: DESCRIPTION
                     15: .br
                     16: form____ generates a form letter from a prototype
                     17: letter, an associative memory, arguments and in a special case, the
                     18: current date.
                     19: .sp
                     20: If form____ is invoked with the proto_____ argument 'x', the associative memory is
                     21: searched for an entry with name 'x' and the contents filed under that name are
                     22: used as the prototype.  If the search fails, the message "[x]:" is typed on
                     23: the console and whatever text is typed in from the console, terminated by
                     24: two new lines, is used as the prototype.
                     25: .sp
                     26: If the prototype argument is missing, '{letter}' is assumed.
                     27: .sp
                     28: Basically, form____ is a copy process from the prototype to the output file.
                     29: If an element of the form [n] (where n_ is a digit from 1 to 9) is encountered,
                     30: the n_th argument arg___9n8 is inserted in its place, and that argument is then
                     31: rescanned.  If [0] is encountered, the current date is inserted.  If
                     32: the desired argument has not been given, a message of the form "[n]:" is
                     33: typed.  The response typed in then is used for that argument.
                     34: .sp
                     35: If an element of the form [name] or {name} is encountered, the name is looked up in the
                     36: associative memory.  If it is found, the contents of the memory under this
                     37: name replaces the original element (again rescanned).  If
                     38: the name is not found, a message of the form "[name]:" is typed.
                     39: The response typed in is used for that element.  The response is
                     40: entered in the memory under the name if the name is enclosed in [].
                     41: The response is not entered in the memory but is remembered for the
                     42: duration of the letter if the name is enclosed in {}.
                     43: .sp
                     44: In both of the above cases, the response is typed in by entering
                     45: arbitrary text terminated by two new lines.  Only the first of the
                     46: two new lines is passed with the text.
                     47: .sp
                     48: If one of the special characters [{]}\\ is preceded by
                     49: a \\, it loses its special character.
                     50: .sp
                     51: If a file named "forma" already exists in the users directory, "formb" is
                     52: used as the output file and so forth to "formz".
                     53: .sp
                     54: The file "form.m" is created if none exists.  Because form.m is
                     55: operated on by the disc allocater, it should only be changed by using
                     56: fed___, the form letter editor, or form____.
                     57: .sp
                     58: .fi
                     59: .ti 0
                     60: FILES
                     61: .br
                     62: form.m associative memory
                     63: .br
                     64: form?  output file (read only)
                     65: .sp
                     66: .fi
                     67: .ti 0
                     68: SEE ALSO
                     69: .br
                     70: fed(I), type(I), roff(I)
                     71: .sp
                     72: .fi
                     73: .ti 0
                     74: DIAGNOSTICS
                     75: .br
                     76: "cannot open output file" "cannot open memory file"
                     77: when the appropriate files cannot be located or created.
                     78: .sp
                     79: .fi
                     80: .ti 0
                     81: BUGS
                     82: .br
                     83: An unbalanced ] or } acts as an end of file but
                     84: may add a few strange entries to the associative memory.

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