Editing Pico (text editor)

{{short description|Text editor for Unix and Unix-based computer systems}}
{{infobox software
| name = Pico
| screenshot =
| developer = [[University of Washington]]
| released = {{Start date and age|1989|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}}
| operating system = [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]]
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| language = English
| genre = [[Text editor]]
| license = [[Apache License|Apache-2.0]] (Alpine only)
| website = {{URL|https://alpineapp.email}}<br/>{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328145000/http://www.washington.edu/pine/|title=www.washington.edu/pine/|date=mdy}}
}}

'''Pico''' ('''Pine composer''') is a [[text editor]] for [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] computer systems. It is integrated with [[Pine (email client)|Pine]] and [[Alpine (email client)|Alpine]],  [[email client]]s initially designed by the Office of Computing and Communications at the [[University of Washington]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washington.edu/pine/overview/project-history.html|title=Pine Project History|date=January 4, 2002|website=[[University of Washington]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225030831/https://www.washington.edu/pine/overview/project-history.html|archive-date=December 25, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}</ref>

From the Pine FAQ: "Pine's message composition editor is also available as a separate stand-alone program, called PICO. PICO is a very simple and easy-to-use text editor offering paragraph justification, cut/paste, and a spelling checker...".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washington.edu/pine/faq/whatis.html|title=2.2 What is PICO?|date=January 29, 2002|website=[[University of Washington]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805025044/http://www.washington.edu/pine/faq/whatis.html|archive-date=August 5, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}</ref>

== Features ==

Pico does not support working with several files simultaneously and cannot perform a find and replace across multiple files. It also cannot copy partial text from one file to another (though it is possible to read text into the editor from a whole file in its [[working directory]]). Pico does support search and replace operations.

By comparison, some popular Unix text editors such as [[Vi (text editor)|vi]] and [[Emacs]] provide a wider range of features than Pico; including [[regular expression]] search and replace, and working with multiple files at the same time. By comparison, Pico's simplicity makes it suitable for beginners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guckes.net/pico/|title=PICO - the PIne COmposer - a simple editor|website=Guckes.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009112759/http://www.guckes.net/pico/|archive-date=October 9, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}</ref> 

== Basic commands and navigation ==

Pico features a number of commands for editing. Arrow keys move the cursor a character at the time in the direction of the movement. Inserting a character is done by pressing the corresponding character key in the keyboard, while giving commands (such as save, spell check, justify, search, etc.) is done using a control key.

The {{key press|Ctrl|T}} command is used to spell check. The speller is defined from the command line using the -s option. When a person writes files in different languages, the speller can be set to be a script that interacts with the user to select the language to be checked.

The {{key press|Ctrl|J}} command is used to left justify text. Text is flowed in each line of a paragraph up to a limit set with the -r option in the command line. If no limit is given in the command line, then a default value of 72 characters per line is used. This limit is used to wrap lines during composition, as well as to justify text. The {{key press|Ctrl|J}} command justifies the text in the paragraph that the cursor is placed on. The command {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|U}} is used to justify the full file. In case that justification is not done correctly, or by mistake, it can be undone by pressing the {{key press|Ctrl|U}} command immediately after justification has been done.

The {{key press|Ctrl|W}} command is used to search for text. Search is done [[Case sensitivity|case insensitively]], The search and replace command is not available by default, but must be enabled through the -b option in the command line.

Moving inside the editor can be done using the keyboard by using the arrow keys. Keys such as {{key press|Page Up}}, or {{key press|Page Down}}, scroll the text up or down (towards the beginning or end of the file, respectively). The commands {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|Y}}, and {{key press|Ctrl|W}} {{key press|Ctrl|V}} move the cursor to the beginning or end of the file respectively, while the commands {{key press|Ctrl|A}} and {{key press|Ctrl|E}} move the cursor to the beginning and the end of the line that the cursor is located on.

== Derivatives ==

A clone of Pico called [[GNU nano|nano]], which is part of the [[GNU Project]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-08/msg00045.html|title=[Nano-devel] nano to remain in GNU|date=August 19, 2016|website=[[GNU Project]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804050236/https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-08/msg00045.html|archive-date=August 4, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}</ref> was developed because Pico's earlier [[software license|license]] had unclear redistribution terms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.8/README|title=GNU nano -- an enhanced clone of the Pico text editor|website=[[GNU nano]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224080016/https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.8/README|archive-date=December 24, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=December 23, 2018}}</ref> Newer versions of Pico as part of Alpine are released under the [[Apache License]] version 2.0.

== See also ==

* [[Comparison of text editors]]
* [[List of text editors]]

== References ==

{{refs}}

== External links ==

* {{URL|https://alpineapp.email|Alpine website}}
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328145000/http://www.washington.edu/pine/|date=mdy|title=Pine website}}
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221192501/https://www.cs.virginia.edu/diochnos/tips/terminal/pico_tutorial.pdf|date=mdy|title=Pico user guide}}

[[Category:Linux text editors]]
[[Category:MacOS text editors]]
[[Category:Unix text editors]]