Command Line Overview

• Looking for a word
• Undoing
• Definitions
• Code that spans lines
• Running things
• Stopping
• More

The prompt feeds a line at a time to the omega compiler. A line that is not inside a definition runs as soon as you press Enter, and no main is needed. Definitions go into the shell's world and stay until you remove them.

2 3 + .

Words follow their arguments, so + comes after the numbers it adds. The stack is printed in grey before the », which shows what the next word will see:

5 »

A bare name runs it:

sys
top

A quoted name, 'sq, passes the name without running it. Words that work on names take them that way:

'sq see
'sq help
'sq open

see prints the source of a definition, help shows its page and open edits it in scrawl. The page for a word is in the index of words.

Looking for a word

"sort" apropos

lists every word whose name or description mentions sort. Tab completes a name (prompt),. words lists what you have defined in the shell, and root lists the programs that come with the system.

Undoing

A line that fails changes nothing. A line that worked can be undone:

1 2 3
back
redo

back undoes the last line and redo undoes the back, up to 64 lines each way (back, transactions).

Definitions

[ dup * ] :sq
7 sq .

The quote on the left becomes the word sq in this shell. A definition in the shell hides a root word of the same name in that shell only (names). To make a word available in every shell, put it in a root unit with 'name open.

Code that spans lines

A line holds up to 200 characters. Longer programs belong in scrawl:

'newword open

opens an editor on the word, and saving builds it. On an installed disk, words defined in a shell are saved with the shell, and edits to root are saved with root (saving).

Running things

Programs are words, so they run like words:

snake
90 timer
0xB8000 hexview

A line of code in a help page can be selected with Tab and run with Enter, which closes the viewer and runs the line at the prompt. docs opens the index of pages.

Stopping

Ctrl-C stops the line the shell is running and undoes it. If the shell doesn't respond, move to another one with F1 to F4 or Alt-1 to Alt-4. The others keep running.

More

Prompt covers the editing keys and the line limit. Stack, quotes, names, flow, strings and numbers describe the language. First steps is a short session, and tour is the same session typed out for you.