NAME
sc - spreadsheet calculator
SYNOPSIS
sc [-a] [-c] [-e] [-m] [-n] [-o] [-q] [-r] [-v] [-x] [-C] [-R] [-P
range[/address] | /address] [-W range] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
The spreadsheet calculator sc is based on rectangular tables much like
a financial spreadsheet. When invoked, it first looks for a file in
the user’s home directory called .scrc and if found, reads that file
into memory. If that file contains the command ‘‘set scrc’’, sc looks
for a file called .scrc in the current directory, and if found, reads
that file into memory, too. Next, it reads the options from the
command line, and finally, it reads in the file or files specified on
the command line and presents the data in a table organized as rows and
columns of cells. If invoked without a file argument, the table is
initially empty, unless it is running in a pipeline, in which case it
will read its data from the standard input. If more than one file is
specified, all files except the first one will be merged. The default
filename for saving a file with the Put command will be the same as the
first file specified, and the other files will be treated as macros.
If you want to use advanced macros from the command line, the ‘‘|’’
must be quoted to prevent it from being expanded by the shell.
Options begin with -. However, an argument of a single - will be
interpreted to mean that spreadsheet data will be taken from the
standard input. This is useful for including sc in a pipeline if the
system supports pipes. However, if standard input is not a terminal,
the - is only necessary if there are multiple files and standard input
is not the last to be read, since standard input is automatically read
in after all other files in such cases if it is not specified
explicitly, or if there are no other filenames on the command line. If
sc is included in a pipeline, and a filename of ‘‘-’’ is not specified,
the standard input will be merged in after all of the other named files
have been processed.
The first argument not beginning with a -, or a single - by itself, and
any subsequent arguments will all be interpreted as filenames (a
filename of - meaning standard input as noted above). In addition, an
argument of -- may be used to signify that all subsequent arguments
should be treated as filenames even if they begin with a -, but unlike
-, -- won’t be treated as a filename itself.
Each cell may have associated with it a numeric value, a label string,
and/or an expression (formula) which evaluates to a numeric value or
label string, often based on other cell values.
For an online tutorial, type the command:
sc /usr/share/doc/sc/tutorial.sc
To print a quick reference card, type the command:
scqref | [your_printer_commmand]
OPTIONS
-a Do not run the autorun macro, if one is specified in the file.
-c Start the program with the recalculation being done in column
order.
-e Start the program with round-to-even (banker’s rounding)
enabled.
-m Start the program with automatic recalculation disabled. The
spreadsheet will be recalculated only when the ‘‘@’’ command is
used.
-n Start the program in quick numeric entry mode (see below).
-o Start the program with automatic optimization of expressions
enabled.
-q Quit after loading all files, but before becoming interactive.
This is useful in shell scripts for getting information from a
file, for example, or using sc as a non-interactive calculator
using the eval command.
-r Start the program with the recalculation being done in row order
(default option).
-v When piping data out using the -P option (below), change all
expressions to values. The -v option must precede the -P option
to have an effect. If the -P option is used more than once,
there must be a separate -v option for each instance of the -P
option.
-x Cause the Get and Put commands (see below) to encrypt and
decrypt data files.
-C Start the program with automatic newline action set to increment
the column (see below).
-P range[/address]
-P /address
Pipe a range to standard output. The output is similar to that
of the Put command (below), except that only cell data and
formatting information for cells in the range are output,
without all of the colors, range definitions, column formatting,
etc. The optional /address is used to adjust all addresses in
the range to a new starting point. This is useful for copying
data from one file to another, especially when used in
conjunction with the -v option (above), using something like
merge "|sc -v -Prange/address filename" (note the pipe symbol).
This option may be used more than once to specify multiple
ranges. Note, however, that the -v option must precede the -P
option on the command line, and there must be a separate -v
option for each instance of the -P option. Any instance of -P
not preceded by its own -v option will output unevaluated
expressions.
A range of ‘‘%’’ may be used to refer to the entire spreadsheet.
If the range is left out, as shown in the second form above, sc
will be started interactively in navigate mode, allowing you to
navigate the spreadsheet and highlight the range you want to
output. Pressing ESC, ^G, or q will terminate without
outputting any data.
-R Start the program with automatic newline action set to increment
the row (see below).
-W Pipe a range to standard output. The output is identical to
that of the Write command (below). This option may be used more
than once to specify multiple ranges. A range of ‘‘%’’ may be
used to refer to the entire spreadsheet.
All of these options can be changed with the ^T and S commands (see
below) while sc is running. Options specified when sc is invoked
override options saved in the data file.
Personal Initialization File
When sc first starts, it looks for a file in the user’s home directory
called .scrc and if found, loads it into memory. The format of this
file is the same as any other sc file, but should be reserved for
setting certain defaults. Any options set which have equivalent
command line options may be overridden by the command line. If that
file contains the command ‘‘set scrc’’, sc will then look for a file
called .scrc in the current directory, and if found, load that file
into memory, too (this is analogous to the ‘‘set exrc’’ command used by
vi/ex). These ‘‘dotfiles’’ may be created by any text editor. Several
commands exist specifically for setting default file name extensions in
the .scrc file, although they may also be used from macros, ordinary
spreadsheet files, or from within sc at the command line. They will
not, however, be saved along with the file. The extensions should be
quoted, and should not include the preceding ‘.’ (e.g., scext "sc" will
add the extension .sc ). These commands are:
scext This is the default extension for normal sc files (those created
with the Put command). If this command is not used, all sc
files will be saved without an extension, and any existing
extension will not be removed. Setting this option causes all
sc files to be saved with the specified extension added, unless
it is already present. If the file name already has an
extension of .sc, it will first be removed. Any other extension
will not be removed.
ascext This is the default extension for plain text files created with
the Write command. The file name will first be checked to see
if it already has an extension of either .sc or the extension
specified with scext above, and if either one exists, it will
first be removed before adding the new extension. If this
option is not set, a default of .asc will be used.
tbl0ext
This is the default extension for files created with the Tbl
command if tblstyle is set to 0 (default). The file name will
first be checked to see if it already has an extension of either
.sc or the extension specified with scext above, and if either
one exists, it will first be removed before adding the new
extension. If this option is not set, a default of .cln will be
used.
tblext This is the default extension for files created with the Tbl
command if tblstyle is set to tbl. The file name will first be
checked to see if it already has an extension of either .sc or
the extension specified with scext above, and if either one
exists, it will first be removed before adding the new
extension. If this option is not set, a default of .tbl will be
used.
latexext
This is the default extension for files created with the Tbl
command if tblstyle is set to latex. The file name will first
be checked to see if it already has an extension of either .sc
or the extension specified with scext above, and if either one
exists, it will first be removed before adding the new
extension. If this option is not set, a default of .lat will be
used.
slatexext
This is the default extension for files created with the Tbl
command if tblstyle is set to slatex. The file name will first
be checked to see if it already has an extension of either .sc
or the extension specified with scext above, and if either one
exists, it will first be removed before adding the new
extension. If this option is not set, a default of .stx will be
used.
texext This is the default extension for files created with the Tbl
command if tblstyle is set to tex. The file name will first be
checked to see if it already has an extension of either .sc or
the extension specified with scext above, and if either one
exists, it will first be removed before adding the new
extension. If this option is not set, a default of .tex will be
used.
General Information
The screen is divided into four regions. The top line is for entering
commands and displaying cell values. The second line is for messages
from sc. The third line and the first four columns show the column and
row numbers, from which are derived cell addresses, e.g. A0 for the
cell in column A, row 0. Note that column names are case-insensitive:
you can enter A0 or a0.
The rest of the screen forms a window looking at a portion of the
table. The total number of display rows and columns available, hence
the number of table rows and columns displayed, is set by curses(3) and
may be overridden by setting the LINES and COLUMNS environment
variables, respectively.
The screen has two cursors: a cell cursor, indicated by either a
highlighted cell or a ‘‘<’’ on the screen, and a character cursor,
indicated by the terminal’s hardware cursor.
If a cell’s numeric value is wider than the column width (see the f
command), the cell is filled with asterisks. If a cell’s label string
is wider than the column width, it is truncated at the start of the
next non-blank cell in the row, if any.
Cursor control commands and row and column commands can be prefixed by
a numeric argument which indicates how many times the command is to be
executed. You can type ^U before a repeat count if quick numeric entry
mode is enabled.
Changing Options
^To Toggle options. This command allows you to switch the state of
one option selected by o. A small menu lists the choices for o
when you type ^T. Unless otherwise noted, the options selected
are saved when the data and formulas are saved so that you will
have the same setup next time you enter the spreadsheet.
a Automatic Recalculation. When set, each change in the
spreadsheet causes the entire spreadsheet be
recalculated. Normally this is not noticeable, but for
very large spreadsheets, it may be faster to clear
automatic recalculation mode and update the spreadsheet
via explicit ‘‘@’’ commands. Default is automatic
recalculation on.
b Braille enhancement mode. See the braille section under
the Set command below for a complete description of how
to use this mode. This option is not saved when saving a
file, to allow blind and sighted users to easily share
files. It is intended for use in a user’s .scrc file.
c Current cell highlighting. If enabled, the current cell
is highlighted (using the terminal’s standout mode, if
available) and the cell pointer ‘‘<’’ is turned off.
This is enabled by default.
e External function execution. When disabled, external
functions (see @ext() below) are not called. This saves
a lot of time at each screen update. External functions
are disabled by default. If disabled, and external
functions are used anywhere, a warning is printed each
time the screen is updated, and the result of @ext() is
the value from the previous call, if any, or a null
string.
i Automatic insertion of rows/columns. If this is enabled
and craction is set to move the cell cursor either down
or to the right after entering data into a cell, and the
last cell in a row/column in the scrolling portion of a
framed range was just filled, causing the cell cursor to
move outside of this range, a new column/row will be
inserted, thus enlarging the range and allowing you to
continue entering data into the row/column without
overwriting the frame (which may contain expressions of
some sort, such as totals). If autowrap is also enabled,
it will take precedence, and a new row/column will only
be inserted after entering data in the very last cell
(bottom right corner) of the scrolling range. The
default is no automatic insertion.
w Automatic wrap to next row/column. If this is enabled
and craction is set to move the cell cursor either down
or to the right after entering data into a cell, and the
last cell in a row/column in the scrolling portion of a
framed range was just filled, causing the cell cursor to
move outside of this range, the cell cursor will move to
the first cell in the next row/column in this range. If
this would also take the cursor out of the scrolling
portion of the range, the cursor will remain in last
edited cell instead, unless autoinsert is also enabled,
in which case a new row/column will be added so that the
cursor can wrap. The default is no autowrap.
l Autolabeling. If enabled, using the define command (rd)
causes a label to be automatically generated in the cell
to the left of the defined cell. This is only done if
the cell to the left is empty. Default is enabled.
n Quick numeric entry. If enabled, a typed digit is
assumed to be the start of a numeric value for the
current cell, not a repeat count, unless preceded by ^U.
Also, the ‘+’ and ‘-’ keys will enter insert mode and
append a ‘+’ or ‘-’ to the existing contents of the cell,
allowing the user to easily add to or subtract from the
current numeric contents of the cell. The cursor
controls (^P, ^N, or any of the arrow keys) in this mode
will end a numeric entry if the entry was started by
pressing ‘+’, ‘-’, or a digit. Switching from insert
mode to edit mode will cause the cursor controls to
revert to their normal functions.
o Automatic optimization of expressions. If this is
enabled, expressions which evaluate to a constant are
automatically optimized upon entry. For example, if you
enter @pow(2,32) into a cell, the value 4294967296 will
be stored in that cell, whereas if optimization is turned
off, the calculated value will be displayed, but the
actual expression will be stored in the cell instead.
This allows you to edit the expression instead of re-
entering it from scratch when you just want to make a
minor change. Default is automatic optimization off.
t Top line display. If enabled, the name and value of the
current cell is displayed on the top line. If there is
an associated label string, the first character of the
string value is ‘‘|’’ for a centered string, ‘‘<’’ for a
leftstring or ‘‘>’’ for a rightstring (see below),
followed by "string" for a constant string or {expr} for
a string expression. A constant string may be preceeded
with a backslash (‘\’). In this case the constant string
will be used as a ‘‘wheel’’ to fill a column, e.g. "\-"
for a line in a column, and "\Yeh " for "Yeh Yeh Ye". If
the cell has a numeric value, it follows as [value],
which may be a constant or expression.
$ Dollar prescale. If enabled, all numeric constants (not
expressions) which you enter are multipled by 0.01 so you
don’t have to keep typing the decimal point if you enter
lots of dollar figures.
r Newline action. This is a 3-way toggle which determines
which direction to move after pressing the RETURN key to
enter data into a cell. It has the same effect as using
the set (S) command to set the value of craction. After
selecting this option, you will be prompted for the
direction you want to move. Valid directions are down
(craction=1) and to the right (craction=2). Pressing j,
^N, or the cursor-down key will cause the cursor to move
down a cell each time you press the RETURN key and
pressing l, the cursor-right key, or the space bar will
cause the cursor to move one cell to the right. Pressing
the RETURN key at the prompt selects no action
(craction=0, which means that the cursor will remain in
the current cell). No action is the default unless sc is
started with either the -R or -C option. This option is
ignored if the cell into which data is being entered is
not the current cell.
s Enable/disable color slop. If a cell’s label string is
wider than the column width, it will slop over into the
next cell to the right if that cell is empty. However,
if that cell is in a different color range than the
first, this slopover will be disabled, regardless of
whether the colors assigned to the two ranges are
different or not. If cslop is enabled, strings may slop
over even if the next cell is in a different color range,
carrying their color with them, which may cause a ragged
boundary between the ranges, but may allow the strings to
be seen in their entirety. Cslop is disabled by default.
x Encryption. See the -x option.
z Set newline action limits. This option sets limits to
the newline action option above. When this option is
invoked, the row and column of the current cell are
remembered. If a later newline action would take the
current cell to the right of the remembered column, then
the current cell is instead moved to the first column of
the next row. If a newline action would take the current
cell below the remembered row, then the current cell is
instead moved to the top row of the next column.
C Color. This option enables color, and must be set before
any other color options, such as colorneg (color negative
numbers) or colorerr (color cells with errors), will have
an effect. On a slow connection, turning off color can
noticeably speed up screen updates.
E Color cells with errors. Setting this option will cause
all cells with expressions which evaluate to ERROR or
INVALID to be set to color 3. Color must be enabled for
this option to take effect.
N Color negative numbers. When this option is set, all
cells containing negative numbers will have their color
number incremented by one. Cells with color 8 will cycle
back to color 1. Color must be enabled for this option
to take effect.
The quick numeric entry, newline action and set newline action
limits options can be combined to allow very quick entry of
large amounts of data. If all the data to be entered is in a
single row or column then setting the quick numeric entry and
the appropriate newline action will allow the numbers to be
entered without any explicit commands to position the current
cell or enter a number.
If the data entry involves several entries in each row for many
rows, then setting the quick numeric entry option, setting the
newline action to move right after each entry and setting the
newline action limits on the last column on which data should be
entered will allow the data to entered quickly. An alternative
to setting newline action limits is to enclose the range for
entry in a frame (see "Framed Ranges" below), and setting the
autowrap option. Setting autoinsert will insert new rows as
needed if the frame includes data at the bottom. If necessary,
columns which do not need data to be entered can be hidden with
the z command. Similar arrangements can be made for entering
several rows of data in each column.
S Set options. This command allows you to set various options. A
small menu lists the options that cannot be changed through ^T
above.
byrows/bycols
Specify the order cell evaluation when updating. These
options also affect the order in which cells are filled
(see rf) and whether a row or column is cleared by an x
command.
iterations=n
Set the maximum number of recalculations before the
screen is displayed again. Iterations is set to 10 by
default.
tblstyle=s
Control the output of the T command. s can be: 0
(default) to give colon delimited fields, with no tbl
control lines; tbl to give colon delimited fields, with
tbl(1) control lines; latex to give a LaTeX tabular
environment; slatex to give a SLaTeX (Scandinavian LaTeX)
tabular environment; tex to give a TeX simple tabbed
alignment with ampersands as delimiters; and frame to
give a tblstyle output for FrameMaker.
pagesize=n
Set the page size for the PageUp, PageDown, J, and K
commands. If set to 0, the default is to move up or down
half the number of rows displayed on the screen, or if
the current cell is in a framed range, half the number of
displayed rows in the scrolling region of that range.
Other Set options are normally used only in sc data files since
they are available through ^T. You can also use them
interactively.
autocalc/!autocalc
Set/clear auto recalculation mode.
autoinsert/!autoinsert
Set/clear automatic insertion mode.
autowrap/!autowrap
Set/clear autowrap mode.
optimize/!optimize
Set/clear auto optimize mode.
numeric/!numeric
Set/clear numeric mode.
prescale/!prescale
Set/clear numeric prescale mode.
extfun/!extfun
Enable/disable external functions.
toprow/!toprow
Set/clear top row display mode.
rndtoeven/!rndtoeven
Default: *.5 will be rounded up to the next integer;
doing a ’set rndtoeven’ will cause it to be rounded to
the closest even number instead (aka banker’s rounding).
Round-to-even has advantages over the default rounding
for some applications. For example, if X+Y is an
integer, then X+Y = rnd(X)+rnd(Y) with round-to-even, but
not always with the defaulting rounding method. This
could be an advantage, for example, when trying to split
an odd amount of money evenly between two people (it
would determine who gets the extra penny). Note:
rndtoeven only effects the @rnd and @round functions. It
has no effect on how a number is rounded to fit the
display format of a cell.
craction=n
Set the newline action. n can be: 0 (default) to give no
action; 1 to move down after each entry; or 2 to move
right after each entry.
rowlimit=n
Set the remembered limit for the maximum row below which
the current cell will be moved to the top of the next
column if the newline action is set to move the current
cell down. n can be -1 (default) to disable this
facility.
collimit=n
Set the remembered limit for the maximum column to the
right of which the current cell will be moved to the left
of the next row if the newline action is set to move the
current cell right. n can be -1 (default) to disable
this facility.
color/!color
Enable color. This option must be set for any other
color options, such as colorneg or colorerr, to take
effect. On a slow connection, turning off color can
noticeably speed up screen updates.
colorneg/!colorneg
Color negative numbers. When this option is set, all
cells containing negative numbers will have their color
number increased by one. Cells with color 8 will cycle
back to color 1. Color must be enabled for this option
to take effect.
colorerr/!colorerr
Color cells with errors. Setting this option will cause
all cells with expressions which evaluate to ERROR or
INVALID to be set to color 3. Color must be enabled for
this option to take effect.
cslop/!cslop
Enable color slop. If a cell’s label string is wider
than the column width, it will slop over into the next
cell to the right if that cell is empty. However, if
that cell is in a different color range than the first,
this slop over will be disabled, regardless of whether
the colors assigned to the two ranges are different or
not. If cslop is enabled, strings may slop over even if
the next cell is in a different color range, carrying
their color with them, which may cause a ragged boundary
between the ranges, but may allow the strings to be seen
in their entirety. Cslop is disabled by default.
The following Set options are considered personal preferences,
or are terminal dependent, and are therefore not saved when
saving a file, but are instead intended for use in a user’s
.scrc file.
braille/!braille
Set/clear braille enhancement mode. When braille
enhancement mode is set, the cursor behaves in a manner
that makes the use of sc much easier when using a braille
display. In spite of its name, this mode also works well
with screen readers such as SpeakUp, and can even be used
by sighted users to make cutting and pasting using the
screen program much easier.
There are actually two different braille modes. When the
braille option is set, the C command, which is normally
used to set colors, will instead change from one braille
mode to the other. If it is desired to set/change colors
so you can share files with others not using a braille
display, braille mode will have to be switched off
temporarily, and then switched back on after the color
operation is done.
When the braille option is set, the default braille mode
will cause the cursor to be positioned at the left edge
of the current cell, while the alternate braille mode
will cause the cursor to be placed at the beginning of
the top line, which will contain information such as the
current cell address, contents of the cell, and column
formatting information. The column names will also be
moved to the left edge of their respective columns in
order to remain aligned with the cursor as it moves up
and down the column.
In either mode, the cursor will be placed in the top line
when editing a line, except when switching to navigate
mode, in which case the cursor will be placed in either
the current cell (default braille mode) or the second
line, where the cell address or default range will be
displayed (alternate braille mode).
Whenever a message is displayed on the second line, such
as an error message or prompt for further information,
both modes will cause the cursor to be placed at the
beginning of that message. After this message goes away,
the cursor will revert to its former behavior. The
easiest way to make this message go away without
effecting anything, except in the cases where it is
asking the user for more information, is to press CC,
which effectively changes modes twice, with a net effect
of leaving sc in the original mode.
locale/!locale
If locale support is compiled into sc, this option will
cause certain locale-dependent behaviors, such as the
display of numbers and the determination of word
boundaries for some operations in edit mode. Note that
if this option is set and the environment variable LC_ALL
is unrecognized, unset, or set to either ‘‘POSIX’’ or
‘‘C’’, commas in format commands will be ignored.
cellcur/!cellcur
Set/clear current cell highlighting mode. This option is
included here because it is likely to be terminal
dependent and/or a user preference, and therefore is not
saved when saving a file.
scrc It tells sc to also read the file .scrc in the current
directory when starting. Settings in this file will
override those in $HOME/.scrc but may themselves be
overridden by command line options. Setting this could
be a potential security risk, since starting sc with an
unknown .scrc could potentially execute arbitrary
commands. This risk is probably very slight, since a
spreadsheet program is not likely to be run in just any
directory, and should never be run as root.
Cursor Control Commands
^A Go to cell A0 (same as HOME).
^P Move the cell cursor up to the previous row.
^N Move the cell cursor down to the next row.
^H Move the cell cursor backward one column.
SPACE Move the cell cursor forward one column. When in navigate mode,
if a range is highlighted, insert the highlighted range into the
command line, followed by a space, while remaining in navigate
mode. This is useful when entering copy, move, or frame
commands, for example, which accept more than one range
argument.
h, j, k, l
These are alternate, vi-compatible cell cursor controls (left,
down, up, right). Space is just like l (right).
H, J, K, L
These move the cursor by half pages (left, down, up, right). If
pagesize is nonzero, up/down paging will be by pagesize rows,
instead.
^F, ^B Same as J and K above.
PAGE-DOWN PAGE-UP
Same as J and K above.
TAB If the character cursor is on the top line, TAB tries to
complete a range name if the character immediately preceding it
is alphanumeric or ‘‘_’’, and starts a range if not (see below).
Otherwise, move the cell cursor forward one column.
HOME Go to cell A0.
END Same as ^E (see below).
Arrow Keys
The terminal’s arrow keys provide another alternate set of cell
cursor controls if they exist and are supported in the
appropriate termcap entry. Some terminals have arrow keys which
conflict with other control key codes. For example, a terminal
might send ^H when the back arrow key is pressed. In these
cases, the conflicting arrow key performs the same function as
the key combination it mimics.
^ Move the cell cursor up to row 0 of the current column.
# Move the cell cursor down to the last valid row of the current
column.
0 Move the cell cursor backward to column A of the current row.
This command must be prefixed with ^U if quick numeric entry
mode is enabled.
$ Move the cell cursor forward to the last valid column of the
current row.
b Scan the cursor backward (left and up) to the previous valid
cell.
w Scan the cursor forward (right and down) to the next valid cell.
g Go to a cell. sc prompts for a cell’s name, a regular
expression surrounded by quotes, or a number. If a cell’s name
such as ae122 or the name of a defined range is given, the cell
cursor goes directly to that cell. If a quoted regular
expression such as " Tax Table " or " ^Jan [0-9]*$ " is given,
sc searches for a cell containing a string matching the regular
expression. See regex(3) or ed(1) for more details on the form
of regular expressions.
You can also search formatted numbers or expressions using
regular expressions by preceding the opening quotes of the
regular expression with a ‘‘#’’ (for formatted numbers) or a
‘‘%’’ (for expressions). These are handy for searching for
dates within a specified range or cells which reference a given
cell, for example, although they are somewhat slower than
searching through ordinary strings, since all numbers must be
formatted or expressions decompiled on the fly during the
search.
If a number is given, sc will search for a cell containing that
number. Searches for either strings or numbers proceed forward
from the current cell, wrapping back to a0 at the end of the
table, and terminate at the current cell if the string or number
is not found. You may also go to a cell with an ERROR (divide
by zero, etc. in this cell) or INVALID (references a cell
containing an ERROR). g error will take you to the next ERROR,
while g invalid take you to the next INVALID. The last g
command is saved, and can be re-issued by entering g<return>.
You can also repeat the last search by pressing n.
An optional second argument is available whose meaning depends
on whether you’re doing a search or jumping to a specific cell.
When doing a search, the second argument specifies a range to
search. When jumping to a specific cell, the second argument
specifies which cell should be in the upper lefthand corner of
the screen, if possible, which allows you to position the
destination cell where you want it on the screen.
^Ed Go to end of range. Follow ^E by a direction indicator such as
^P or j. If the cell cursor starts on a non-blank cell, it goes
in the indicated direction until the last non-blank adjacent
cell. If the cell cursor starts on a blank cell, it goes in the
indicated direction until the first non-blank cell. This
command is useful when specifying ranges of adjacent cells (see
below), especially when the range is bigger than the visible
window.
If ^E is pressed twice in succession, or if it is pressed after
another ^E or a ^Y, it will cause the screen to scroll up
without moving the cell cursor, unless the cell cursor is
already at the top of the screen, in which case, it will remain
at the top of the visible screen.
^Y Causes the screen to scroll down without moving the cell cursor,
unless the cell cursor is already at the bottom of the screen,
in which case, it will remain at the bottom of the visible
screen.
mx Mark the current cell. sc will prompt for a lowercase letter to
be used as a mark specifier. Marked cells may be used as the
source for the c (copy a marked cell) command, or as the target
of a or (go to marked cell) command. In addition to cells
marked with lowercase letters, sc also automatically marks the
last nine cells that have been edited with the numbers 1-9, and
the current cell being edited with the number 0. When not
editing a cell, marks 0 and 1 usually refer to the same cell,
unless the last edit was begun in one cell, but the cell address
was changed before pressing the RETURN key, or the last edit was
aborted prematurely.
‘x Jump to a previously marked cell. If the target cell is
currently on the screen, sc will simply jump to the target cell,
making it current. Otherwise, sc will attempt to center the
cell on the screen, if possible. As a special case, following
the ‘ with another ‘ will return you to the cell you were in
before the last g, ’, ‘, *, or ^E (or END key) was used to jump
to another cell.
’x Jump to a previously marked cell. works just like , except
that will attempt to restore the marked cell to the same
position on the screen as when it was marked. It does this by
remembering which cell was in the upper left hand corner of the
screen at the time the mark was set, and restoring that cell to
its original position. As a special case, following the ’ with
another ’ will return you to the cell you were in before the
last g, ’, ‘, *, or ^E (or END key) was used to jump to another
cell, and will also try to position that cell on the screen in
the same position as when you left it.
z<RETURN>
Move the current row to the top of the screen. If the current
row is in a framed range, move the current row to the top of the
scrolling region.
z. Move the current row to the center of the screen.
z| Move the current column to the center of the screen.
zc Center the current cell both horizontally and vertically.
Cell Entry and Editing Commands
Cells can contain both a numeric value and a string value. Either
value can be the result of an expression, but not both at once, i.e.
each cell can have only one expression associated with it. Entering a
valid numeric expression alters the cell’s previous numeric value, if
any, and replaces the cell’s previous string expression, if any,
leaving only the previously computed constant label string. Likewise,
entering a valid string expression alters the cell’s the previous label
string, if any, and replaces the cell’s previous numeric expression, if
any, leaving only the previously computed constant numeric value.
= Enter a numeric constant or expression into the current cell.
sc prompts for the expression on the top line. The usual way to
enter a number into a cell is to type ‘‘=’’, then enter the
number in response to the prompt on the top line. The quick
numeric entry option, enabled through the -n option or ^T
command, shows the prompt when you enter the first digit of a
number (you can skip typing ‘‘=’’). If you want to begin
entering an expression in the current cell, but you want to
start out in navigate mode (e.g. to enter cell addresses, or
sums of ranges using ‘‘@sum’’), use the ‘‘+’’ command instead
(see below).
< Enter a label string into the current cell to be flushed left
against the left edge of the cell.
\ Enter a label string into the current cell to be centered in the
column.
> Enter a label string into the current cell to be flushed right
against the right edge of the cell.
{ Left justify the string in the current cell.
| Center the string in the current cell.
} Right justify the string in the current cell.
F Enter a format string into the current cell. This format string
overrides the precision specified with the f command unless & is
present in the fractional part of the format string (see below).
The format only applies to numeric values. There are two types
of format strings allowed: standard numeric and date. (Note:
these format strings may also be used with the f command to
create user-defined format types.) The following characters can
be used to build a standard numeric format string:
# Digit placeholder. If the number has fewer digits on
either side of the decimal point than there are ‘#’
characters in the format, the extra ‘#’ characters are
ignored. The number is rounded to the number of digit
placeholders as there are to the right of the decimal
point. If there are more digits in the number than there
are digit placeholders on the left side of the decimal
point, then those digits are displayed.
0 Digit placeholder. Same as for ‘#’ except that the
number is padded with zeroes on either side of the
decimal point. The number of zeroes used in padding is
determined by the number of digit placeholders after the
‘0’ for digits on the left side of the decimal point and
by the number of digit placeholders before the ‘0’ for
digits on the right side of the decimal point.
. Decimal point. Determines how many digits are placed on
the right and left sides of the decimal point in the
number. If locale is set, the decimal point for the
user’s current locale will be used when formatting a
number. Note that numbers smaller than 1 will begin with
a decimal point if the left side of the decimal point
contains only a ‘#’ digit placeholder. Use a ‘0’
placeholder to get a leading zero in decimal formats.
% Percentage. For each ‘%’ character in the format, the
actual number gets multiplied by 100 (only for purposes
of formatting -- the original number is left unmodified)
and the ‘%’ character is placed in the same position as
it is in the format.
, Thousands separator. The presence of a ‘,’ in the format
(multiple commas are treated as one) will cause the
number to be formatted with a ‘,’ separating each set of
three digits in the integer part of the number with
numbering beginning from the right end of the integer.
If locale is set, the thousands separator for the user’s
current locale will be used in place of the comma. If
the environment variable LC_ALL is unset, unrecognized,
or is set to ‘‘POSIX’’ or ‘‘C’’, any commas in the
format string will be ignored.
& Precision. When this character is present in the
fractional part of the number, it is equivalent to a
number of 0’s equal to the precision specified in the
column format command. For example, if the precision is
3, ‘&’ is equivalent to ‘000’.
\ Quote. This character causes the next character to be
inserted into the formatted string directly with no
special interpretation.
E- E+ e- e+
Scientific format. Causes the number to be formatted in
scientific notation. The case of the ‘E’ or ‘e’ given is
preserved. If the format uses a ‘+’, then the sign is
always given for the exponent value. If the format uses
a ‘-’, then the sign is only given when the exponent
value is negative. Note that if there is no digit
placeholder following the ‘+’ or ‘-’, then that part of
the formatted number is left out. In general, there
should be one or more digit placeholders after the ‘+’ or
‘-’.
; Format selector. Use this character to separate the
format into two distinct formats. The format to the left
of the ‘;’ character will be used if the number given is
zero or positive. The format to the right of the ‘;’
character is used if the number given is negative.
Some example formats are integer (‘‘0’’ or ‘‘#’’), fixed
(‘‘0.00’’), percentage (‘‘0%’’ or ‘‘0.00%’’), scientific
(‘‘0.00E+00’’), and currency (‘‘$#,0.00;($#,0.00)’’).
Date format strings are identified by the presence of a ^D in
the first postition. If this is present, the remainder of the
string is passed to the strftime() function, and therefore uses
the same conversion specifiers as strftime(). For more
information on conversion specifiers for date format strings,
see the man page for strftime(3).
Strings you enter must start with ". You can leave off the trailing "
and sc will add it for you. You can also enter a string expression by
backspacing over the opening " in the prompt.
e Edit the value associated with the current cell. This is
identical to ‘‘=’’ except that the command line starts out
containing the old numeric value or expression associated with
the cell. The editing in this mode is vi-like.
^H Move back a character
^V, v Enter navigate mode. This mode allows you to navigate
the spreadsheet while editing a command. When in
navigate mode, v will insert the numeric value of the
current cell, if any, into the command line, instead,
while ^V will return to the previous mode (like the
ESCAPE key).
^W Insert the expression attached to the current cell into
the command line. If there is none, the result is ‘‘?’’.
This only works while in navigate mode.
^A In navigate mode, go to cell A0. When not in navigate
mode, jump to the beginning of the line instead.
^E Jump to the end of the line. Unlike ‘‘$’’ (below), this
can also be used from insert mode.
TAB If the character immediately preceding the cursor is
alphanumeric or ‘‘_’’, TAB tries to find a match in the
list of range names, and if one is found, the name will
be completed on the command line. If there are multiple
matches, pressing TAB repeatedly without any other
intervening keys will cycle through all of the valid
matches. If the character immediately preceding the
cursor is not alphanumeric or ‘‘_’’, TAB defines a range
of cells via the cursor control commands or the arrow
keys. Pressing TAB automatically switches sc to navigate
mode if you haven’t already done so using the ^V command,
and the range is highlighted, starting at the cell where
you typed TAB, and continuing through the current cell.
Pressing TAB again causes the highlighted range to be
inserted into the command line, the highlighting to be
turned off, and the previous mode to be restored. This
is most useful for defining ranges to functions such as
@sum(). Pressing ‘‘)’’ acts just like typing the TAB key
the second time and adds the closing ‘‘)’’. Note that
when you give a range command, if the first argument to
the command is a range, you don’t need to press the first
TAB to begin defining a range starting with the current
cell.
: Synonym for TAB, when in navigate mode.
‘ ’ In navigate mode, go to marked cell.
* In navigate mode, go to note linked to current cell.
+ Forward through history (same as j)
- Backward through history (same as k)
ESC Done editing
CR Save. When in navigate mode, insert the name of the
current cell (the one at the cell cursor) into the
command line. This is useful when entering expressions
which refer to other cells in the table.
$ Goto last column
% Goto matching parenthesis
. Insert current dot buffer. When in navigate mode, this
is a synonym for : or TAB.
; Repeat the last f, F, t, or T command.
, Repeat the last f, F, t, or T command, but in the reverse
direction.
~ Change the case of the character under the cursor.
/ Search backwards for a string in the history
ESC edit the string you typed
CR search
^H backspace
? Search forward for a string in the history (see ‘‘/’’
above)
0 Goto column 0
B Move back a word. Like b, except words are space
delimited only.
C Change to end of line (delete first, then enter insert
mode)
D Delete to end of line
F Find the next char typed, moving backwards in the line
G Go to the end of history, i.e., to the line being
currently entered
I Insert at column 0; ESC revert back to edit mode
N Repeat the last search in the opposite direction
P Insert the most recently deleted text before the cursor
R Replace mode; ESC revert back to edit mode
T Goto a char, moving backwards in the line
W Forward a word. Like w, except words are space delimited
only.
X Delete the char to the left
a Append after cursor; ESC revert back to edit mode
b Move back a word
c Change mode; ESC revert back to edit mode. In navigate
mode, insert color range which includes the current cell.
d Delete ...
0 delete to beginning of line
$ delete to end of line
b back word
e delete to end of word
f forward (right)
h back char
l forward
t delete forward up to a given char (next char typed)
w delete next word forward
e Forward to next end-of-word
f Find the next char typed. In navigate mode, insert the
outer frame range which includes the current cell.
g In navigate mode, allows you to ‘goto’ a cell or range,
just like the regular goto command. Ignored in edit,
insert or replace modes.
h Move left a char
i Insert before cursor; ESC revert back to edit mode
j Forward through history (same as +)
k Backward through history (same as -)
l Move right a char
n Repeat the last search (find the next match)
o When highlighting a range in navigate mode, move to the
opposite corner of the highlighted range.
p Insert the most recently deleted text after the cursor
q Stop editing
r Replace char. In navigate mode, insert the inner frame
range which includes the current cell.
s Delete current char and enter insert mode (stands for
substitute)
t Goto a char
u Undo
w Forward a word
x Delete the current char (moving to the right)
y Copies to the delete buffer without deleting. Use like d
(above).
E Edit the string associated with the current cell. This is
identical to ‘‘<’’, ‘‘\’’, or ‘‘>’’ except that the command line
starts out containing the old string value or expression
associated with the cell. SEE e ABOVE.
To enter and edit a cell’s number part, use the ‘‘=’’, ‘‘+’’, and e
commands. To enter and edit a cell’s string part, use the ‘‘<’’,
‘‘\’’, ‘‘>’’, and E commands. See the sections below on numeric and
string expressions for more information.
Note that the descriptions of the ‘‘+’’ and ‘‘-’’ commands below may
seem very confusing at first, but once they’re understood, they can
facilitate the rapid entry of expressions which add and subtract large
numbers of cells and sums of ranges of cells, so read them over
carefully several times until you understand them.
" Specify a named buffer for the next yank/delete/pull command.
Buffers are named with a single character. Buffers ‘‘a’’
through ‘‘z’’ are general purpose buffers, buffers ‘‘1’’ through
‘‘9’’ hold the last nine deletions, with buffer ‘‘1’’ being the
most recent, and buffer ‘‘0’’ holds the last cell or range
yanked. Buffer ‘‘"’’ is the default buffer, which holds the
last cell or range that was deleted or yanked.
x Clear the current cell. Deletes the numeric value, label
string, and/or numeric or string expression. You can prefix
this command with a count of the number of cells on the current
row to clear. The current column is used if column
recalculation order is set. Cells cleared with this command may
be recalled with any of the pull commands (see below).
mx Mark the current cell. sc will prompt for a lowercase letter to
be used as a mark specifier. Marked cells may be used as the
source for the copy command, or as the target of a or (go to
marked cell) command.
cx Copy a marked cell to the current cell, adjusting row and column
references in its numeric or string expression, if any. sc will
prompt for the name of the cell to be copied, which may be a
lowercase letter specified previously with the m command, a
digit 1-9 to reference one of the last nine edited cells (0 will
reference the last cell in which an edit was begun, regardless
of whether the edit was completed or not), or ‘‘.’’ to
reference the current cell, which, as a special case, is to be
used as a source rather than a destination, and is to be copied
into a range which includes the current cell. When ‘‘.’’ is
specified, the current cell is set as the default source range
for the range copy (rc) command, and then the copy command is
entered into the command line and sc switches to navigate mode.
Moving the cell cursor will then highlight the destination
range. After the desired range is highlighted, press RETURN to
execute the copy.
+ If not in numeric mode, add the current numeric argument
(default 1) to the value of the current cell. The current value
of the cell must not be an expression. In numeric mode, +
switches to insert mode and appends a ‘‘+’’ to the current
expression or value, if any, which makes it easy to add to
existing data.
In navigate mode, + inserts the current cell address into the
line, followed by another +, and sc remains in navigate mode,
unless a range is highlighted. If a range is highlighted and
the character immediately preceding the cursor is a ‘‘+’’ or
‘‘-’’, or the cursor is at the beginning of an empty ‘‘let’’
expression, the string ‘‘@sum(’’ will be inserted, followed by
the highlighted range, followed by ‘‘)+’’. If a range is
highlighted and the character immediately preceding the cursor
is not a ‘‘+’’ or ‘‘-’’, and the cursor is not at the beginning
of an empty ‘‘let’’ expression, the highlighted range will be
inserted, followed by ‘‘)+’’.
- If not in numeric mode, subtract the current numeric argument
(default 1) from the value of the current cell. The current
value of the cell must not be an expression. In numeric mode, -
switches to insert mode and appends a ‘‘-’’ to the current
expression or value, if any, which makes it easy to subtract
from existing data.
In navigate mode, - inserts the current cell address into the
line, followed by another -, and sc remains in navigate mode,
unless a range is highlighted. If a range if highlighted and
the character immediately preceding the cursor is a ‘‘+’’ or
‘‘-’’, or the cursor is at the beginning of an empty ‘‘let’’
expression, the string ‘‘@sum(’’ will be inserted, followed by
the highlighted range, followed by ‘‘)-’’. If a range is
highlighted and the character immediately preceding the cursor
is not a ‘‘+’’ or ‘‘-’’, and the cursor is not at the beginning
of an empty ‘‘let’’ expression, the highlighted range will be
inserted, followed by ‘‘)-’’.
RETURN If you are not editing a cell (top line is empty), pressing
RETURN will make sc enter insert mode. At this point you may
type any valid command or press ESC once to edit.
File Commands
G Get a new database from a file. If encryption is enabled, the
file is decrypted before it is loaded into the spreadsheet.
P Put the current database into a file. If encryption is enabled,
the file is encrypted before it is saved.
ZZ Save the current database into a file if it has been modified,
and then quit. This is like the P command followed by the q
command, except that the default filename will be used instead
of prompting you for one, and the file will only be saved if it
was modified. If there is no default filename, an error message
will be displayed, and no action taken.
W Write a listing of the current database into a file in a form
that matches its appearance on the screen. This differs from
the Put command in that its files are intended to be reloaded
with Get, while Write produces a file for people to look at.
Hidden rows or columns are not shown when the data is printed.
T Write a listing of the current database to a file, but include
delimiters suitable for processing by the tbl, LaTeX, or TeX
table processors. The delimiters are controlled by the tblstyle
option. See Set above. The delimiters are a colon (:) for
style 0 or tbl and an ampersand (&) for style latex or tex.
With the Put, Write, and Table commands, the optional range argument
writes a subset of the spreadsheet to the output file.
With the Write and Table commands, if you try to write to the last file
used with the Get or Put commands, or the file specified on the command
line when sc was invoked, you are asked to confirm that the
(potentially) dangerous operation is really what you want.
The three output commands, Put, Write, and Table, can pipe their
(unencrypted only) output to a program. To use this feature, enter ‘‘|
program’’ to the prompt asking for a filename. For example, to
redirect the output of the Write command to the printer, you might
enter ‘‘| lpr -p’’.
M Merge the database from the named file into the current
database. Values and expressions defined in the named file are
read into the current spreadsheet overwriting the existing
entries at matching cell locations.
R Run macros. There are two different kinds of macros that can be
used with sc: simple macros, which are stored in plain text
files, and advanced macros, which are executable files, and
which can be written in the language of your choice. Advanced
macros are only available on systems that support pipes.
Simple macros are interpreted by sc’s internal parser, and use
the same commands used to enter data and perform other
operations (the single key commands are shortcuts which switch
to input mode after first entering the beginning of the full
command for you). These are also the same commands found in sc
files created with the Put command. Since sc files are saved as
ASCII files, it is possible to use them as primitive macro
definition files. The Run command makes this easier. It’s like
the Merge command, but prints a saved path name as the start of
the filename to merge in. The string to use is set with the
Define command. To write macros, you must be familiar with the
file format written by the Put command.
Advanced macros use executable files that are started by sc as a
child process with stdin and stdout redirected back to sc for
bidirectional communication. Special commands are available for
requesting information such as cell contents, formatting
information, or the current location of the cell cursor.
Commands are written to stdout, and responses are read from
stdin. To use advanced macros, the filename must be preceded by
a | (the pipe symbol), and the file must be executable. If the
pathname set with the Define command begins with a |, all files
in that path will be executed as advanced macros. It is also
possible to include a filename as part of the path when using
advanced macros, which allows you to put multiple macros in a
single file, and use the Run command to add command line
arguments or options to determine which macro should be run.
Advanced macros are relatively new, and documentation is still
incomplete. This feature will probably be enhanced in future
releases.
A Specify a macro to be automatically run whenever the current
sheet is reloaded from a file.
D Define a path for the Run command to use (see above).
All file operations take a filename as the first argument to the prompt
on the top line. The prompt supplies a " to aid in typing in the
filename. The filename can also be obtained from a cell’s label string
or string expression. In this case, delete the leading " with the
backspace key and enter a cell name such as a22 instead. If the
resulting string starts with ‘‘|’’, the rest of the string is
interpreted as a UNIX command, as above.
Row and Column Commands
These are two-letter commands which can be used on either rows or
columns. The exceptions are the f command, which only works on
columns, and therefore doesn’t require a second letter, and the p
command which, in addition to operating on rows or columns, has several
other options for merging the data in directly, without opening up a
new row or column. There are also a few special cases where pressing
the same letter twice will affect only the current cell instead of a
row or column (except for ZZ, which is a special case all its own).
In all of the remaining cases, the second letter of the command will be
either r or c, depending on whether the operation should be performed
on rows or columns, respectively (additional options for the p command
and the double letter cases are listed below). A small menu lists the
choices for the second letter when you type the first letter of one of
these commands.
Alternatively, you may define a range of rows or columns by moving the
cell cursor, either a cell at a time, or by pages (roughly 1/2 screen,
unless the pagesize option has been set), but this only works for the
d, y, and Z commands. Vertical cursor movement will begin highlighting
rows, and horizontal movement will highlight columns. Pressing the
RETURN key will then perform the chosen operation on the specified
rows/columns.
Commands which copy cells also modify the row and column references in
affected cell expressions. The references may be frozen by using the
@fixed operator or using the $ character in the reference to the cell
(see below). Commands which create new rows or columns will include
all newly created cells in the same ranges (named, framed, color, or
those used in expressions) as their counterparts in the current row or
column. This can sometimes be a significant factor when deciding
whether to use ir/ic or or/oc.
ir, ic Insert a new row (column) by moving the row (column) containing
the cell cursor, and all following rows (columns), down (right)
one row (column). The new row (column) is empty. Inserting
rows while the cell cursor is in a framed range will only effect
rows in that range, leaving all rows to the left and right
untouched.
or, oc Open a new row (column). These commands work like the ir and ic
commands, except that the new row (column) will be inserted
after the current row (column) instead of before it.
ar, ac Append a new row (column) immediately following the current row
(column). It is initialized as a copy of the current one.
Appending rows while the cell cursor is in a framed range will
only effect rows in that range, leaving all rows to the left and
right untouched.
dr, dc, dd
Delete the current row (column). dd deletes the current cell
(i.e., it is a synonym for x). Deleting rows while the cell
cursor is in a framed range will only effect rows in that range,
leaving all rows to the left and right untouched.
yr, yc, yy
Yank a copy of the current row (column) into the delete buffer
without actually deleting it. yy yanks the current cell
(similar to x, but without actually deleting the contents of the
cell). Yanking rows while the cell cursor is in a framed range
will only copy the portion of each row contained in that range,
while ignoring everything outside the range.
pr, pc, pp, pm, px, pt, pC, p.
Pull deleted rows/columns/cells back into the spreadsheet. The
last set of cells that was deleted or yanked is put back into
the spreadsheet at the current location. pr inserts enough rows
to hold the data. pc inserts enough columns to hold the data.
pp (paste) does not insert rows or columns; it overwrites the
cells beginning at the current cell cursor location. pm (merge)
merges the cells in at the current cell cursor location, but
does not erase the destination range first like pp. The
difference between pp and pm is similar to the difference
between the Get and Merge commands. pf (format) works like pm
except that only cell formatting information is merged in,
leaving the actual data untouched. This makes it easy to copy
cell formats from one part of the spreadsheet to another, such
as when expanding an existing spreadsheet file. px (exchange)
copies the contents of the delete buffer into the range
beginning at the current cell cursor location, while
simultaneously copying the contents of this range back into the
delete buffer, replacing its current contents. pt (transpose)
overwrites the cells beginning at the current cell cursor
location like pp, but transposes rows for columns and vice
versa. pC (copy) works like pp, except that all cell references
are adjusted in the same way that they are for the copy command.
p. is the same as pC, except that it switches to navigate mode
and allows you to define the destination range to be used. This
works like the copy command in that if the source range (the
contents of the delete buffer) is a single row, column, or cell,
multiple copies may be made.
vr, vc, vv
Remove expressions from the affected rows (columns), leaving
only the values which were in the cells before the command was
executed. When used in a framed range, vr only affects the
portion of the the row inside the range, leaving the rest of the
row unchanged. vv only affects the contents of the current
cell.
Zr, Zc, ZZ
Hide (‘‘zap’’) the current row (column). This keeps a row
(column) from being displayed but keeps it in the data base.
The status of the rows and columns is saved with the data base
so hidden rows and columns will still be hidden when you reload
the spreadsheet. Hidden rows or columns are not printed by the
W command. The ZZ command is a special case. It does not hide
anything. Instead, the file will be saved, if modified, and sc
will exit. See ZZ above, under File Commands.
sr, sc Show hidden rows (columns). Enter a range of rows (columns) to
be revealed. The default is the first range of rows (columns)
currently hidden. This command ignores the repeat count, if
any.
f Set the output format to be used for printing the numeric values
in each cell in the current column. This command has only a
column version (no second letter). You may change the column
width by pressing the h, <, or cursor left key to reduce it, or
the l, >, or cursor right key to increase it. Likewise, you may
change the precision (the number of digits to follow decimal
points) by pressing the j, -, or cursor down key to reduce it,
or the k, +, or cursor up key to increase it. You may also
change the format type for the column by pressing any digit. If
the f command is preceded by a numeric argument, that argument
will determine how many columns should be changed, beginning
with the current column, and in the case of incrementing or
decrementing the width or precision of the columns, each column
will be incremented or decremented separately, regardless of its
initial values. Several formatting operations may be performed
in sequence. To leave the formatting command, simply press ESC,
^G, q, or RETURN .
Alternatively, you may press SPACE to get the format command in
the top line and enter all three values directly. In order,
these are: the total width in characters of the column, the
precision, and the format type. Format types are 0 for fixed
point, 1 for scientific notation, 2 for engineering notation, 3
for dates with a two digit year, and 4 for dates with a four
digit year. Values are rounded off to the least significant
digit displayed. The total column width affects displays of
strings as well as numbers. A preceding count can be used to
affect more than one column.
You can also create your own format types by pressing = after
the f command, followed by any digit (see the F command above
under Cell Entry and Editing Commands for a description of how
to build a format string). Format numbers 0 through 4 will
supersede the built-in format types, while numbers 5 through 9
will supplement them. User defined format types may be used in
the same way as the built-in types. For example, the command
format 5 = "#,0.& ;(#,0.&)"
will define a currency format which may then be assigned to
column C, for example, with the command
format C 10 2 5
@myrow, @mycol
Are functions that return the row or column of the current cell
respectively. ex: The cell directly above a cell in the D
column could then be accessed by @nval("d",@myrow-1). NOTE:
@myrow and @mycol can’t be used in specifying ranges.
@lastrow, @lastcol
These return the last row and column of the spreadsheet,
respectively. They are useful for macros designed to default to
the whole spreadsheet.
Range Commands
Range operations affect a rectangular region on the screen defined by
the upper left and lower right cells in the region. All of the
commands in this class begin with ‘‘r’’; the second letter of the
command indicates which command. A small menu lists the choices for
the second letter when you type ‘‘r’’. sc prompts for needed
parameters for each command. Phrases surrounded by square brackets in
the prompt are informational only and may be erased with the backspace
key.
Prompts requesting variable names may be satisfied with either an
explicit variable name, such as A10, or with a variable name previously
defined in a rd command (see below). Range name prompts require either
an explicit range such as A10:B20, or a range name previously defined
with a rd command. A default range shown in the second line is used if
you omit the range from the command or press the TAB key (see below).
The default range can be changed by moving the cell cursor via the
control commands (^P or ^N) or the arrow keys. The cells in the
default range are highlighted (using the terminal’s standout mode, if
available).
rx Clear a range. Cells cleared with this command will be saved in
the delete buffer, and may be recalled with any of the pull
commands.
ry Yank a range. Like rx, cells yanked with this command will be
saved in the delete buffer, and may be recalled with any of the
pull commands. This command differs from rx, however, in that
the original cells will not be cleared. Although this command
may be used to copy a range of cells, it treats all references
as fixed. Use rc if you want references to be relative to the
cell which contains them unless specified otherwise, either with
the @fixed operator or using the $ character in the reference to
the cell.
rc Copy a source range to a destination range. The source and
destination may be different sizes. The result is always one or
more full copies of the source. Copying a row to a row yields a
row. Copying a column to a column yields a column. Copying a
range to anything yields a range. Copying a row to a column or
a column to a row yields a range with as many copies of the
source as there are cells in the destination. This command can
be used to duplicate a cell through an arbitrary range by making
the source a single cell range such as b20:b20.
If the source range is omitted (second argument), the source
range from the last copy command will be used, unless a range is
currently highlighted, in which case the highlighted range will
be copied instead. If both the source range and destination
range are omitted, the current cell will be used as the
destination, unless a range is currently highlighted, in which
case the highlighted range will serve as the destination, and
the source range from the last copy command will be copied into
that destination.
rm Move a source range to a destination range. This differs from
deleting a range with rx and pulling it back in with pm in that
any expressions that reference a cell in the range to be moved
will reference the cell at its new address after the move.
Unlike the rc command, the destination of a move is a single
cell, which will be the upper lefthand corner of the source
range after the move.
rv Values only. This command removes the expressions from a range
of cells, leaving just the values of the expressions.
rs Sort a range. The rows in the specified range will be sorted
according to criteria given in the form of a string of
characters. This string, enclosed in double quotes, may
comprise a single criterion or multiple criteria in decreasing
order of precedence. Each criterion has three parts, all of
which are mandatory. The first part is a single character,
which must be either + or -, which specifies whether the sort
should be done in ascending or descending order, respectively.
The second part, which is also a single character, must be
either # or $, and is used to specify whether the sort should be
based on the numeric portion or the string portion,
respectively, of the cells being used for the comparison. The
third part may be either one or two characters, and must be
alphabetic (case insensitive), and specifies the column to be
used when making the comparisons. This column must be in the
range being sorted. Any number of criteria may be concatenated,
and will be used in the order specified. If no criteria are
specified, the default behavior is to sort in ascending order,
first by string and then by number, using the leftmost column of
the range being sorted. This is equivalent to specifying the
sort criteria to be " +$a+#a ", where both a’s are replaced by
the name of the leftmost column of the range being sorted.
rf Fill a range with constant values starting with a given value
and increasing by a given increment. Each row is filled before
moving on to the next row if row order recalculation is set.
Column order fills each column in the range before moving on to
the next column. The start and increment numbers may be
positive or negative. To fill all cells with the same value,
give an increment of zero.
r{ Left justify all strings in the specified range.
r} Right justify all strings in the specified range.
r| Center all strings in the specified range.
rd Use this command to assign a symbolic name to a single cell or a
rectangular range of cells on the screen. The parameters are
the name, surrounded by "", and either a single cell name such
as A10 or a range such as a1:b20. Names defined in this fashion
are used by the program in future prompts, may be entered in
response to prompts requesting a cell or range name, and are
saved when the spreadsheet is saved with the Put command. Names
defined may be any combination of alphanumeric characters and
‘_’ as long as the name isn’t a valid cell address. Thus, x,
H2SO4, and 3rdDay are all valid names, but H2 is not.
rl Use this command to lock the current cell or a range of cells,
i.e. make them immune to any type of editing. A locked cell
can’t be changed in any way until it is unlocked.
rU This command is the opposite of the rl command and thus unlocks
a locked cell and makes it editable.
rS This command shows lists of the currently defined range names,
framed ranges, and color definitions and ranges, one after the
other. The output of this command will be piped to less. If
the environment variable PAGER is set, its value is used in
place of less.
ru Use this command to undefine a previously defined range name.
rF Use this command to assign a value format string (see the ‘‘F’’
cell entry command) to a range of cells.
rr This command is used for creating, modifying, and deleting
framed ranges. A framed range, is one which has a number of
rows or columns specified at the top, bottom, left, and/or right
(the frame) which must remain onscreen whenever the cell cursor
is within that range. In other words, a frame consists of an
outer range and an inner range, where the inner range is allowed
to scroll within the outer range. Once a frame is defined, the
inner range may be resized, but the outer range remains fixed
unless rows or columns are added or deleted within the range.
When this command is invoked, you will be prompted for the type
of frame-related action you would like to perform. You may
select an option from the list by typing its first letter.
The options are top, bottom, left, right, all, and unframe. If
you choose top, bottom, left, or right, you will be prompted for
a range and number of rows/columns. The range may be omitted if
the cell cursor is in a previously defined framed range, in
which case that range’s outer range will be used instead. The
number of rows/columns will set or adjust the width of the
corresponding side of the frame. If all of these widths are set
to zero, the frame will be undefined (same as the unframe
command).
If you choose all, you will be prompted for an outer range and
an inner range, in which case the inner range will scroll within
the outer range, and any rows or columns outside of the inner
range, but inside the outer range will be part of the ‘‘frame’’
that is to remain onscreen. The outer range may be omitted if
the cell cursor is in a previously defined framed range, in
which case the previously defined outer range will be used.
However, if a single range is specified on the command line,
while another range wholly contained within this range is
highlighted, the specified range will be used as the outer
range, and the highlighted range will be used as the inner
range. If no range is specified on the command line, but a
range is highlighted, and the highlighted range is wholly
contained within a previously defined framed range, the
highlighted range will be used as the inner range, and the
previously defined outer range will be used as the outer range.
If you choose unframe, you will be prompted for a range, and if
the range is found in the list of frames, the frame will be
deleted, and the framing will no longer be active (the specified
range must be the outer range of the previously defined frame to
be deleted). The range may be omitted if the cell cursor is in
a previously defined framed range, in which case that range will
be used by default.
Framed ranges may not be nested or overlapping. If you try to
define a range that contains any cells in common with a
previously defined framed range, an error message will be
issued, and the frame will not be created.
rC This command defines a color range, and specifies a
foreground/background pair to be used for that range. See
"Color Commands" below for more information.
Note Commands
A note is a cell or range of cells that can be jumped to quickly from
another cell by creating a special link in that cell. The note may
contain text explaining the contents of the cell containing the link,
similar to a footnote, or it may simply be another part of the
spreadsheet that is related to the cell in some way. When you press
the ‘n’ key, you will get a short prompt asking you whether you want to
add or delete a note, or to ‘‘show’’ (by highlighting) which cells on
the screen have attached notes.
If a cell with an attached note contains numeric data, it will be
preceded with an ‘‘*’’. If color is available and turned on, the ‘‘*’’
will be displayed with color 4. Also, the note address will be
displayed in curly braces on the top line, preceded by an ‘‘*’’, when
the cell is current (e.g. {*AC30:AE43} or {*note1} for a named range).
You may also use the *s (Note/Show) command to highlight all cells on
the current screen with attached notes.
*a Add a note. This will bring up the addnote command in the top
line, followed by the target address of the cell where you want
the note added. You must then enter the cell or range where the
note resides to add the note. If you omit the note address or
range, the currently highlighted range, if any, will be used.
Otherwise, the current cell will be used (you would, of course,
want to move away from the cell in which the addnote command was
invoked in the latter case).
*d Delete a note. If there is a note attached to the current cell,
the link will be removed (deleted). The note itself will not be
removed from the spreadsheet. If it is no longer needed, it
must be deleted in a separate step.
*s Show all notes on the current screen. If there are any cells on
the visible portion of the spreadsheet which contain attached
notes, they will be highlighted until the next screen change, no
matter how minor. Simply moving to a new cell will be enough to
turn off the highlighting.
** Jump to a note. If there is a note attached to the current
cell, you will be immediately transported to that cell. You may
return from the note to where you were by pressing ‘ twice.
Color Commands
Color may be enabled by setting the color option (‘‘set color’’), or by
toggling it with ^TC (control-T followed by an uppercase C). If color
is enabled, you may define up to eight color pairs, each consisting of
a foreground color and a background color. Each of these colors may be
defined by an expression which is evaluated at the same time the rest
of the spreadsheet is evaluated. Color expressions may be simple,
specifying only a foreground color and a background color, or they may
be arbitrarily complex, causing the colors to change based upon other
data in the spreadsheet, for example. Color ranges may then be defined
using the rC command, with a color number (1-8) assigned to the range
(see below).
Some of the color numbers may have special meaning under certain
circumstances, but may also be used explicitly at the same time. For
example, color 1 is the default color pair if color is enabled but no
color has been defined for a given cell. It is also the color used for
the column and row labels and the top two lines of the display, which
are used for prompts, input, error messages, etc. Color 2, while not
explicitly used for all negative numbers, will be used for negative
numbers in cells which have no other color defined when colorneg is
turned on (‘‘set colorneg’’ or ^TN). This is because colorneg causes
all cells with negative numbers to have their color number incremented
by one (cycling back to color 1 if the cell is defined as using color
8). Color 3 is used for all cells with errors (ERROR or INVALID), if
colorerr is set (‘‘set colorerr’’ or ^TE), regardless of which color
they have been defined to use, or whether they have been defined to use
any color at all. Color 4 is used to highlight the ‘‘*’’ which
signifies that a cell has a note attached.
If two color ranges are nested or overlapping, any cell that is common
to both will be displayed using the color of the most recently defined
color range. You can list all color definitions and color ranges with
the rS (show) command (see below).
C This command first prompts you for the color number you would
like to define (or redefine). After selecting a number (1-8),
you may enter an expression which defines the foreground and
background colors. If the chosen color has previously been
defined, the old definition will be presented for editing. The
syntax of the color command is:
color number = expression
where number is the number of the color pair you want to define,
and expression is the definition. If the expression is missing,
the specified color number will be unset (it will revert to its
default start-up colors). Unlike setting it explicitly to its
original value, this will not cause the expression to be written
to the file when saved. See below for an explanation of the
format of a color expression.
rC This command defines a color range, and specifies a
foreground/background pair to be used for that range. Although
this command also uses the color command, the syntax is
different from that used for defining a color pair. This syntax
is:
color range number
rS This command shows lists of the currently defined range names,
framed ranges, and color definitions and ranges, one after the
other. The output of this command will be piped to less. If
the environment variable PAGER is set, its value is used in
place of less.
Color expressions are exactly like any other numeric expression, and
may contain any function or operator that is valid in any other numeric
expression. There are, however special functions designed specifically
for defining colors. These functions are:
@black
@red
@green
@yellow
@blue
@magenta
@cyan
@white
Although these function names are intended to reflect the color they
produce, and use the same names as the curses colors, @yellow may
appear as brown on many displays, especially those based on the VGA
standard.
In addition to special functions for specifying colors, there is also a
special operator for combining two such colors into a single number
which specifies both a foreground and a background color. This
operator is the semicolon (;). For example, the command
color 1 = @white;@green
will set the foreground color to white and the background color to
green for any cell or range of cells defined to use color 1, or which
have no color defined. If the semicolon operator is not used, and only
one color is specified, that color will be used for the foreground, and
the background will default to black.
Although the above example is the easiest way to specify foreground and
background colors, and will probably meet most people’s needs, sc
allows much more power and flexibility, should the need arise, due to
the fact that any color can be specified by an expression. For
example,
color 5 = B23<E75?(@black;@cyan):(@white;@magenta)
will cause all cells defined with color 5 to be displayed as black text
on a cyan background if the numeric value in cell B23 is less than the
numeric value in cell E75; otherwise, they will be displayed as white
text on a magenta background. If you prefer to have the foreground and
background colors dependent on different criteria, you could do
something like this:
color 5 = (B23<E75?@white:@cyan);(D5%2?@red:@blue)
This will cause the text color for color 5 to be either white or cyan,
depending on the numeric values in cells B23 and E75, as in the
previous example, and the background color to be either red or blue,
depending on whether the numeric value in cell D5 is odd or even.
Note that although a color expression may contain any function which is
valid in any other numeric expression, the @myrow and @mycol functions
will always evaluate to 0. This is because a color expression is not
tied to any particular cell, but is instead evaluated once, and the
result used for all cells defined to use that color.
Also note that if a color expression results in an error, the color
will default to black text on a black background. If color 1 results
in an error, color will be disabled so that you can see the input line
to correct the error, after which color will need to be reenabled
manually.
Default colors are in effect for all colors until defined otherwise.
These default colors are as follows:
color 1 = @white;@blue
color 2 = @red;@blue
color 3 = @white;@red
color 4 = @black;@yellow
color 5 = @black;@cyan
color 6 = @red;@cyan
color 7 = @white;@black
color 8 = @red;@black
Miscellaneous Commands
Q
q
^C Exit from sc. If you made any changes since the last Get or
Put, sc asks about saving your data before exiting.
^G
ESC Abort entry of the current command.
? Enter an interactive help facility. Lets you look up brief
summaries of the main features of the program. The help
facility is structured like this manual page so it is easy to
find more information on a particular topic, although it may not
be completely up-to-date.
! Shell escape. sc prompts for a shell command to run. End the
command line with the RETURN key. If the environment variable
SHELL is defined, that shell is run. If not, /bin/sh is used.
Giving a null command line starts the shell in interactive mode.
A second ‘‘!’’ repeats the previous command.
~ Abbreviations. You may set abbreviations to speed up the entry
of repetitive data. Abbreviations work much like abbreviations
in vi, except that when defining an abbreviation, both the
abbreviation and the expanded text must be contained within
quotes, separated by a single space. If more than one space
separates the abbreviation from the expanded text, it will be
included as part of the expanded text.
There are three types of abbreviations available in sc. In the
first type, all characters must be either alphanumeric or ‘‘_’’.
In the second type, the last character must be alphanumeric or
‘‘_’’, but all other characters must not be alphanumeric or
‘‘_’’. Neither type may contain spaces. The third type of
abbreviation is a single character, and must be alphanumeric or
‘‘_’’.
When using abbreviations, the first type must be at the
beginning of the line, or must be preceded by any character
which is not alphanumeric or ‘‘_’’. The second type must be at
the beginning of the line, or must be preceded either by an
alphanumeric character, ‘‘_’’, or a space. Single character
abbreviations must be at the beginning of the line or preceded
by a space.
Abbreviations will be automatically expanded as soon as the
space bar or return key is pressed, or when pressing the ESC key
at the end of the abbreviation to switch to edit mode. You can
also force an abbreviation to be expanded by following it with a
^], which won’t be inserted into the line. If you don’t want an
abbreviation to be expanded, you must either press ^V twice or
switch to edit mode and back again somewhere within the
abbreviation (pressing ^V twice also has the effect of switching
to navigate mode and back again).
If the string in the abbreviation command contains no spaces,
the entire string will be looked up in the list of
abbreviations, and if found, the definition will be displayed in
the form of the original abbreviation command used to define it.
When looking up an abbreviation in this manner, be sure to
disable abbreviation expansion, as described above, or the
results may not be what you expect.
If the string is empty, a list of all abbreviations and their
corresponding expanded text will be output to your pager. Note
that abbreviations are not saved with the file. This allows
each user to create his own file of abbreviations and either
merge them in or include them in his own .scrc file, rather than
force all users who access a file to use the same list of
abbreviations.
^L Redraw the screen.
^R Redraw the screen with special highlighting of cells to be
filled in. This is useful for finding values you need to
provide or update in a form with which you aren’t familiar or of
which you have forgotten the details.
It’s also useful for checking a form you are creating. All
cells which contain constant numeric values (not the result of a
numeric expression) are highlighted temporarily, until the next
screen change, however minor. To avoid ambiguity, the current
range (if any) and current cell are not highlighted.
^X This command is similar to ^R, but highlights cells which have
expressions. It also displays the expressions in the
highlighted cells as left-flushed strings, instead of the
numeric values and/or label strings of those cells. This
command makes it easier to check expressions, at least when they
fit in their cells or the following cell(s) are blank so the
expressions can slop over (like label strings). In the latter
case, the slop over is not cleared on the next screen update, so
you may want to type ^L after the ^X in order to clean up the
screen.
@ Recalculates the spreadsheet.
Variable Names
Normally, a variable name is just the name of a cell, such as K20. The
value is the numeric or string value of the cell, according to context.
When a cell’s expression (formula) is copied to another location via
copy or range-copy, variable references are by default offset by the
amount the formula moved. This allows the new formula to work on new
data. If cell references are not to change, you can either use the
@fixed operator (see below), or one of the following variations on the
cell name.
K20 References cell K20; the reference changes when the formula is
copied.
$K$20 Always refers to cell K20; the reference stays fixed when the
formula is copied.
$K20 Keeps the column fixed at column K; the row is free to vary.
K$20 Similarly, this fixes the row and allows the column to vary.
These conventions also hold on defined ranges. Range references vary
when formulas containing them are copied. If the range is defined with
fixed variable references, the references do not change.
@fixed To make a variable not change automatically when a cell moves,
put the word @fixed in front of the reference, for example: B1 ∗
@fixed C3.
Numeric Expressions
Numeric expressions used with the ‘‘=’’ and e commands have a fairly
conventional syntax. Terms may be constants, variable names,
parenthesized expressions, and negated terms. Ranges may be operated
upon with range functions such as sum (@sum()) and average (@avg()).
Terms may be combined using binary operators.
-e Negation.
e+e Addition.
e-e Subtraction.
e∗e Multiplication.
e/e Division.
e1%e2 e1 mod e2.
e^e Exponentiation.
e<e
e<=e
e=e
e!=e
e>=e
e>e Relationals: true (1) if and only if the indicated relation
holds, else false (0). Note that ‘‘<=’’, ‘‘!=’’, and ‘‘>=’’ are
converted to their ‘‘!()’’ equivalents.
~e Boolean operator NOT.
e&e Boolean operator AND.
e|e Boolean operator OR.
@if(e,e,e)
e?e:e Conditional: If the first expression is true then the value of
the second is returned, otherwise the value of the third.
Operator precedence from highest to lowest is:
-, ~, !
^
∗, /
+, -
<, <=, =, !=, >=, >
&
|
?:
Built-in Range Functions
These functions return numeric values. The @sum, @prod, @avg, @count,
@max, @min, and @stddev functions may take an optional second argument
which is an expression that is to be evaluated for each cell in the
specified range to determine which cells to include in the function.
Only those cells for which the expression evaluates to true (non-zero)
will be used in calculating the value of the function. Before
evaluation for each cell, the expression is first converted as if it
was being copied from the cell in the upper left-hand corner of the
range into the cell under consideration, with all cell references
adjusted accordingly. Because the parts of the expression that should
remain fixed during the evaluation of the function may not necessarily
be the same as those which should remain fixed during an actual copy
operation, the rules for adjusting cell references during a copy
operation are slightly different than normal. In particular, these
rules differ in two different ways.
The first difference is that the @fixed operator is ignored during a
copy operation unless it is enclosed in parentheses. This is so that
selected cells whose addresses should remain fixed during any given
evaluation of a range function can be adjusted relative to the cell
containing the range function when copied (the $ prefix is still
honored for these cells when copying). Enclosing the @fixed operator
in parentheses will have the opposite effect. That is, it will cause
cell references to be fixed while copying, while allowing them to be
adjusted when the function is being evaluated, subject to any $
prefixes present. Note that only the @fixed operator itself should be
enclosed in parentheses for this to work properly.
The second difference is that any references in the expression that
refer to cells in the range in the first argument of the range function
will have any $ prefixes ignored, and the references will be treated
instead as if they had the same $ prefixes as the left side of the
range argument. For example, if the left side of the range argument
(the cell address on the left side of the colon) has a fixed row, but
does not have a fixed column, any cell references that refer to cells
in that range will also have a fixed row, but will not have a fixed
column. This is so that if the range reference moves when copying,
references to any cells in that range will also move accordingly.
Note that the test expression will be evaluated once for every cell in
the range, which means that excessive use of these functions with the
optional test expression, or the use of overly complex test expressions
or with very large ranges can greatly slow down the recalculation of a
spreadsheet, and may require turning off autocalc for speed, and then
manually recalculating with the @ command.
@sum(r)
@sum(r,e) Sum all valid (nonblank) entries in the region whose
two corners are defined by the two variable names
(e.g. c5:e14) or the range name specified. The
optional second argument is an expression which can
be used to determine which cells in the range to sum
(see above).
@prod(r)
@prod(r,e) Multiply together all valid (nonblank) entries in the
specified region. The optional second argument is an
expression which can be used to determine which cells
in the range to multiply (see above).
@avg(r)
@avg(r,e) Average all valid (nonblank) entries in the specified
region. The optional second argument is an
expression which can be used to determine which cells
in the range to average (see above).
@count(r)
@count(r,e) Count all valid (nonblank) entries in the specified
region. The optional second argument is an
expression which can be used to determine which cells
in the range to count (see above).
@max(r)
@max(r,e) Return the maximum value in the specified region.
The optional second argument is an expression which
can be used to exclude specific cells in the range
when determining this maximum value (see above). See
also the multi argument version of @max below.
@min(r)
@min(r,e) Return the minimum value in the specified region.
The optional second argument is an expression which
can be used to exclude specific cells in the range
when determining this minimum value (see above). See
also the multi argument version of @min below.
@stddev(r)
@stddev(r,e) Return the sample standard deviation of the cells in
the specified region. The optional second argument
is an expression which can be used to exclude
specific cells in the range when calculating the
standard deviation (see above).
@rows(r) Return the number of rows in the specified range.
@cols(r) Return the number of columns in the specified range.
@lookup(e,r)
@lookup(r,e)
@lookup(se,r)
@lookup(r,se) Evaluates the expression then searches through the
range r for a matching value. The range should be
either a single row or a single column. The
expression can be either a string expression or a
numeric expression. If it is a numeric expression,
the range is searched for the the last value less
than or equal to e. If the expression is a string
expression, the string portions of the cells in the
range are searched for an exact string match. The
value returned is the numeric value from the next row
and the same column as the match, if the range was a
single row, or the value from the next column and the
same row as the match if the range was a single
column.
@hlookup(e,r,n)
@hlookup(r,e,n)
@hlookup(se,r,n)
@hlookup(r,se,n) Evaluates the expression then searches through the
first row in the range r for a matching value. The
expression can be either a string expression or a
numeric expression. If it is a numeric expression,
the row is searched for the the last value less than
or equal to e. If the expression is a string
expression, the string portions of the cells in the
row are searched for an exact string match. The
value returned is the numeric value from the same
column n rows below the match.
@vlookup(e,r,n)
@vlookup(r,e,n)
@vlookup(se,r,n)
@vlookup(r,se,n) Evaluates the expression then searches through the
first column in the range r for a matching value.
The expression can be either a string expression or a
numeric expression. If it is a numeric expression,
the column is searched for the the last value less
than or equal to e. If the expression is a string
expression, the string portions of the cells in the
column are searched for an exact string match. The
value returned is the numeric value from the same row
n columns to the right of the match.
@index(e1,r)
@index(r,e1)
@index(r,e1,e2) Use the values of expressions e1 and (optionally) e2
to index into the range r. The numeric value at that
position is returned. With two arguments, the range
should be either a single row or a single column. An
expression with the value 1 selects the first item in
the range, 2 selects the second item, etc. With
three arguments, the range must come first, and the
second and third arguments will then be interpreted
as row and column, respectively, for indexing into a
two-dimensional table.
@stindex(e1,r)
@stindex(r,e1)
@stindex(r,e1,e2) Use the values of expressions e1 and (optionally) e2
to index into the range r. The string value at that
position is returned. With two arguments, the range
should be either a single row or a single column. An
expression with the value 1 selects the first item in
the range, 2 selects the second item, etc. With
three arguments, the range must come first, and the
second and third arguments will then be interpreted
as row and column, respectively, for indexing into a
two-dimensional table.
Built-in Numeric Functions
All of these functions operate on floating point numbers (doubles) and
return numeric values. Most of them are standard system functions more
fully described in math(3). The trig functions operate with angles in
radians.
@sqrt(e) Return the square root of e.
@exp(e) Return the exponential function of e.
@ln(e) Return the natural logarithm of e.
@log(e) Return the base 10 logarithm of e.
@floor(e) Return the largest integer not greater than e.
@ceil(e) Return the smallest integer not less than e.
@rnd(e) Round e to the nearest integer. default: *.5 will be
rounded up to the next integer; doing a ’set
rndtoeven’ will cause it to be rounded to the closest
even number instead (aka banker’s round). Round-to-
even has advantages over the default rounding for
some applications. For example, if X+Y is an
integer, then X+Y = rnd(X)+rnd(Y) with round-to-even,
but not always with the defaulting rounding method.
This could be an advantage, for example, when trying
to split an odd amount of money evenly between two
people (it would determine who gets the extra penny).
@round(e,n) Round e to n decimal places. n may be positive to
round off the right side of the decimal or negative
to round off the left side. See @rnd(e) above for
rounding types.
@abs(e)
@fabs(e) Return the absolute value of e.
@pow(e1,e2) Return e1 raised to the power of e2.
@hypot(e1,e2) Return sqrt(e1∗e1+e2∗e2), taking precautions against
unwarranted overflows.
@pi A constant quite close to pi.
@dtr(e) Convert e in degrees to radians.
@rtd(e) Convert e in radians to degrees.
@sin(e)
@cos(e)
@tan(e) Return trigonometric functions of radian arguments.
The magnitude of the arguments are not checked to
assure meaningful results.
@asin(e) Return the arc sine of e in the range -pi/2 to pi/2.
@acos(e) Return the arc cosine of e in the range 0 to pi.
@atan(e) Return the arc tangent of e in the range -pi/2 to
pi/2.
@atan2(e1,e2) Returns the arc tangent of e1/e2 in the range -pi to
pi.
@max(e1,e2,...) Return the maximum of the values of the expressions.
Two or more expressions may be specified. See also
the range version of @max above.
@min(e1,e2,...) Return the minimum of the values of the expressions.
Two or more expressions may be specified. See also
the range version of @min above.
@ston(se) Convert string expression se to a numeric value.
@eqs(se1,se2) Return 1 if string expression se1 has the same value
as string expression se2, 0 otherwise.
@nval(se,e) Return the numeric value of a cell selected by name.
String expression se must evaluate to a column name
(‘‘A’’-‘‘AE’’) and e must evaluate to a row number
(0-199). If se or e is out of bounds, or the cell
has no numeric value, the result is 0. You can use
this for simple table lookups. Be sure the table
doesn’t move unexpectedly! See also @sval() below.
@err Force an error. This will force the expression which
contains it to result in an error.
String Expressions
String expressions are made up of constant strings (characters
surrounded by double quotation marks), variables (cell names, which
refer to the cells’s label strings or expressions), and string
functions. Note that string expressions are only allowed when entering
a cell’s label string, not its numeric part. Also note that string
expression results may be left or right flushed or centered, according
to the type of the cell’s string label.
# Concatenate strings. For example, the string expression
A0 # "zy dog"
displays the string ‘‘the lazy dog’’ in the cell if the value of
A0’s string is ‘‘the la’’.
Built-in String Functions
@filename(e) Return the current default filename, as specified
when the file was first loaded or created, or during
the last save, with the Put command. If e is 0, only
the actual filename will be returned, with any path
removed. If non-zero, the full path specified on the
command line or in the last Get or Put command will
be returned. If the path begins with ‘‘~’’, it will
be expanded to the appropriate users home directory.
@substr(se,e1,e2) Extract and return from string expression se the
substring indexed by character number e1 through
character number e2 (defaults to the size of se if
beyond the end of it). If e1 is less than 1 or
greater than e2, the result is the null string. For
example,
@substr ("Nice jacket", 4, 8)
returns the string ‘‘e jac’’.
@fmt(se,e) Convert a number to a string. The argument se must
be a valid printf(3) format string. e is converted
according to the standard rules. For example, the
expression
@fmt ("∗∗%6.3f∗∗", 10.5)
yields the string ‘‘∗∗10.500∗∗’’. e is a double, so
applicable formats are e, E, f, g, and G. Try ‘‘%g’’
as a starting point.
@sval(se,e) Return the string value of a cell selected by name.
String expression se must evaluate to a column name
(‘‘A’’-‘‘AE’’) and e must evaluate to a row number
(0-199). If se or e is out of bounds, or the cell
has no string value, the result is the null string.
You can use this for simple table lookups. Be sure
the table doesn’t move unexpectedly!
@upper(se)
@lower(se) will case the string expression to upper or lower.
@capital(se) will convert the first letter of words in a string
into upper case and other letters to lower case (the
latter if all letters of the string are upper case).
@ext(se,e) Call an external function (program or script). The
purpose is to allow arbitrary functions on values,
e.g. table lookups and interpolations. String
expression se is a command or command line to call
with popen(3). The value of e is converted to a
string and appended to the command line as an
argument. The result of @ext() is a string: the
first line printed to standard output by the command.
The command should emit exactly one output line.
Additional output, or output to standard error,
messes up the screen. @ext() returns a null string
and prints an appropriate warning if external
functions are disabled, se is null, or the attempt to
run the command fails.
External functions can be slow to run, and if enabled
are called at each screen update, so they are
disabled by default. You can enable them with ^T
when you really want them called.
A simple example:
@ext ("echo", a1)
You can use @ston() to convert the @ext() result back
to a number. For example:
@ston (@ext ("form.sc.ext", a9 + b9))
Note that you can build a command line (including
more argument values) from a string expression with
concatenation. You can also "hide" the second
argument by ending the command line (first argument)
with ‘‘ #’’ (shell comment).
@coltoa(e) Returns a string name for a column from the numeric
argument. For example:
@coltoa(@mycol-1) @nval(coltoa(@mycol-1),
@myrow+1)
Built-in Financial Functions
Financial functions compute the mortgage (or loan) payment, future
value, and the present value functions. Each accepts three arguments,
an amount, a rate of interest (per period), and the number of periods.
These functions are the same as those commonly found in other
spreadsheets and financial calculators
@pmt(e1,e2,e3) @pmt(60000,.01,360) computes the monthly payments for
a $60000 mortgage at 12% annual interest (.01 per
month) for 30 years (360 months).
@fv(e1,e2,e3) @fv(100,.005,36) computes the future value for 36
monthly payments of $100 at 6% interest (.005 per
month). It answers the question: "How much will I
have in 36 months if I deposit $100 per month in a
savings account paying 6% interest compounded
monthly?"
@pv(e1,e2,e3) @pv(1000,.015,36) computes the present value of an
ordinary annuity of 36 monthly payments of $1000 at
18% annual interest. It answers the question: "How
much can I borrow at 18% for 3 years if I pay $1000
per month?"
Built-in Date and Time Functions
Time for sc follows the system standard: the number of seconds since
the beginning of 1970. All date and time functions except @date()
return numbers, not strings.
@now Return the current time encoded as the number of
seconds since the beginning of the epoch (December
31, 1969, midnight, GMT).
@dts(e1,e2,e3) Convert a date to the number of seconds from the
epoch to the first second of the specified date,
local time. Dates may be specified in either (m,d,y)
or (y,m,d) format, although the latter is preferred,
since it’s more universally recognized (m,d,y is only
used in America). If e2 > 12 or e3 > 31, then
(m,d,y) is assumed. Otherwise, (y,m,d) is assumed.
For example, @date(@dts(1976,12,14)) yields
Tue Dec 14 00:00:00 1976
The month should range from 1 to 12; the day should
range from 1 to the number of days in the specified
month; and the year should include the century (e.g.
1999 instead of 99). Any date capable of being
handled by the system is valid, typically 14 Dec 1901
to 18 Jan 2038 on a system that uses a 32 bit time_t.
Invalid dates or dates outside of this range will
return ERROR. For rapid entry of dates using only
the numeric keypad, sc provides the alternate syntax
y.m.d or m.d.y, which is automatically converted to
the @dts(...) format above. The year, month, and day
must be entered numerically in the alternate syntax;
formulas are not allowed.
@tts(e1,e2,e3) @tts(8,20,45) converts the time 8:40:45 to the number
of seconds since midnight, the night before. The
hour should range from 0 to 23; the minutes and
seconds should range from 0 to 59.
The following functions take the time in seconds (e.g. from @now) as an
argument and return the specified value. The functions all convert
from GMT to local time.
@date(e)
@date(e,se) Convert the time in seconds to a date string. With a
single numeric argument, the date will be 24
characters long in the following form:
Sun Sep 16 01:03:52 1973
Note that you can extract parts of this fixed-format
string with @substr(). A format string compatible
with the strftime() function may optionally be given
as a second argument to override the default format.
See the strftime(3) man page for details.
@year(e) Return the year. Valid years begin with 1970,
although many systems will return years prior to 1970
if e is negative. The last legal year is system
dependent.
@month(e) Return the month, encoded as 1 (January) to 12
(December).
@day(e) Return the day of the month, encoded as 1 to 31.
@hour(e) Return the number of hours since midnight, encoded as
0 to 23.
@minute(e) Return the number of minutes since the last full
hour, encoded as 0 to 59.
@second(e) Return the number of seconds since the last full
minute, encoded as 0 to 59.
Spreadsheet Update
Re-evaluation of spreadsheet expressions is done by row or by column
depending on the selected calculation order. Evaluation is repeated up
to iterations times for each update if necessary, so forward references
usually work as expected. See set above. If stability is not reached
after ten iterations, a warning is printed. This is usually due to a
long series of forward references, or to unstable cyclic references
(for example, set A0’s expression to ‘‘A0+1’’).
@numiter Returns the number of iterations performed so far.
Programmable Function Keys
Function keys can be used in sc if your terminal supports them, and
they are programmable. To program the function keys, you use the fkey
command. This command may be used in a .scrc file or a macro file, or
it may be entered directly into sc’s command line. Defined function
keys will be saved with the file. There is no shortcut, as there is
with most commands, so the full command must be typed in. Pressing
enter when not editing a line will start you off with a blank line for
this purpose. The format of the fkey command is:
fkey n = "command"
where n is the function key number (n = 1 for F1, n = 2 for F2, etc.),
and command is the command to be run. For example,
fkey 2 = "merge \"|~/scmacros/macro1\""
will run the macro called macro1 located in a subdirectory of your home
directory called scmacros when the F2 key is pressed. Note that
embedded quotes must be escaped by a backslash. If you want to include
the cell address of the current cell in the command line, you may do so
by entering ‘‘$$’’ in its place in the command. For example,
fkey 5 = "fmt $$ \"^D%A\""
will cause the F5 key to format the current cell to display the full
weekday name of the numeric date value stored there. The ^D is a CTRL-
D character, which denotes a date format.
Although it may be overridden by the fkey command, the F1 key is
predefined by default to execute man sc. Unlike the user-defined
function keys, this definition will also work in edit, insert, replace,
and navigate modes.
To undefine a function key, merely define it as the empty string ("").
Undefining the F1 key will restore the default behavior.
Plugins
There are three ways in which external programs can be used as plugins
with sc. First, they can be used as external commands. When used as
an external command, any command not recognized by sc will be searched
for first in $HOME/.sc/plugins, and then in /usr/share/doc/sc/plugins.
If found, it will be run with its standard input and standard output
redirected back to sc. These are used to send commands to, and receive
responses back from sc in the same way that advanced macros do.
The second and third ways that programs can be used as plugins with sc
are to automatically convert files to and from sc format based on their
extensions. In order to use them in this way, you must first associate
a given extension to a corresponding plugin (for reading) or plugout
(for writing) using the plugin and plugout commands. These commands
should be placed in your .scrc file, and have the following syntax:
plugin "ext" = "programname"
or
plugout "ext" = "programname"
where ext is the extension and programname is the name of the plugin
program to be used for filenames with that extension. For input, the
plugin merely reads the specified file, performs whatever conversion is
necessary, and writes the resulting data to standard output. For
output, the plugin writes sc commands to standard output and reads the
replies from standard input in the same way that an advanced macro
would, and then converts the data to the appropriate format and writes
it to a file with the specified filename.
FILES
/usr/share/doc/sc/tutorial.sc Tutorial spreadsheet.
$HOME/.scrc Initialization commands.
./.scrc More initialization commands.
SEE ALSO
bc(1), dc(1), crypt(1), psc(1)
BUGS
Top-to-bottom, left-to-right evaluation of expressions is silly. A
proper following of the dependency graph with (perhaps) recourse to
relaxation should be implemented.
On some systems, if the cell cursor is in column 0 with topline enabled
(so the current cell is highlighted), or if any cell in column 0 is
highlighted, the corresponding row number gets displayed and then
blanked during a screen refresh. This looks like a bug in curses.
Many commands give no indication (a message or beep) if they have null
effect. Some should give confirmation of their action, but they don’t.
AUTHORS
This is a much modified version of a public domain spread sheet
originally authored by James Gosling, and subsequently modified and
posted to USENET by Mark Weiser under the name vc. The program was
subsequently renamed sc, and further modified by numerous contributors,
Jeff Buhrt of Proslink, Inc. and Robert Bond of Sequent, prominent
among them. The current maintainer is Chuck Martin
(nrocinu@myrealbox.com).
Other contributors include: Tom Anderson, Glenn T. Barry, Gregory Bond,
Stephen (Steve) M. Brooks, Peter Brower, John Campbell, Lawrence
Cipriani, Jim Clausing, Dave Close, Chris Cole, Jonathan Crompron,
David I. Dalva, Glen Ditchfield, Sam Drake, James P. Dugal, Paul
Eggert, Andy Fyfe, Jack Goral, Piercarlo "Peter" Grandi, Henk
Hesselink, Jeffrey C Honig, Kurt Horton, Jonathan I. Kamens, Peter
King, Tom Kloos, Michael Lapsley, Casey Leedom, Jay Lepreau, Dave
Lewis, Rick Linck, Soren Lundsgaard, Tad Mannes, Rob McMahon, Chris
Metcalf, Mark Nagel, Ulf Noren, Marius Olafsson, Gene H. Olson, Henk P.
Penning, Rick Perry, Larry Philps, Eric Putz, Jim Richardson, Michael
Richardson, R. P. C. Rodgers, Kim Sanders, Mike Schwartz, Alan
Silverstein, Lowell Skoog, Herr Soeryantono, Tim Theisen, Tom Tkacik,
Andy Valencia, Adri Verhoef, Rick Walker, Petri Wessman, and Tim
Wilson.