Filename: STFTUT.TXT Copyright (c) 1995 by RPMcCormick STF compares 2 ASCII text files side-by-side. In the default text mode, only the first 39 characters are visible. There are 3 things you can do to see what is currently hidden. 1. Hold down the key and hit the right arrow several times. Notice the Sliding Centerline. 2. Use the Right Arrow key by itself, that is, without the key. This moves your viewing position 10 columns to the right. Note that for one Right Arrow, a "+10" appears on the top info bar. Scroll back with the Left Arrow, and the "+10" disappears. 3. If you have VGA graphics, hit the F6 function key. That gives you a view of the file using a custom font which allows you to see 62 columns initially. Use the F5 function key to return back to text mode. This resets the centerline to the middle of the screen. -- Please hit the "Page Down" key to continue. -- If two lines are identical, they are both bright white. If a line is different, the version on the right is dimmed text with black background. The top lines in this demo are different due to the filenames. This comparison is case sensitive. An upper case letter is considered different from lower case. Note that on this line, Arrow is not capitalized in the .OLD file. Sometimes lines will show up as different when they appear identical to you. This may be due to an unseen extra space as in this line, or a "tab" character as in this one, or an extra Carriage Return like this line has. If you would prefer that these are not marked as different, hit the B key to "toggle" blanks. Try it now. Notice the lines on the right are no longer dimmed. You can see the current state of this 2 position toggle in the first help file screen. Access the help screen by using the F1 function key. To get right back here, hit Escape. -- Please hit the "Page Down" key to continue. -- When one or more lines are inserted in one file and not the other, they will get out of synch. All lines will appear as unequal, or different. To re-synch these files, first observe the bright white squares before each filename on the top info bar. By default both files are active, so both squares are "on". Hit F4 to make file 2, active, while deactivating file 1. Note that the square for file1 has extinguished. Now hit the down arrow key twice to bring the files back into alignment. F2 makes both files active. To search for text, use F. The F is for Find. We will search for the string "Home" without the quotes. You can enter the letters in upper or lower case, as case is ignored in the search. Imbedded spaces do count, however. Go to the start of the file by hitting the Home key, then hit F. You will be prompted, on the upper info bar, to enter the search string after the word Find: type in "home" and hit the Enter or Return key. This should bring you back here. Hit A to search for "Home" again. -- Please hit the "Page Down" key to continue. -- If you want to cancel your "find" while entering the search string, you can hit the Escape key. Note that the search works only on file 1. If you have been following this tutorial, the files will be "out of synch" at this time. To get them back in line, activate File 2 and hit 2 down arrows. Then activate both files with the F2 key. For items not covered in this tutorial, read the help screens, which can be reached either by the F1 key while active, or by typing "STF h" at the DOS command line. Also see the file STF.DOC. To view the .DOC file now, hit Escape to see the current directory, then select STF.DOC from the list. When asked for the second file, choose "No 2nd file" from the second directory screen to view the .DOC file full width. When finished, you can "back out" by hitting Escape until you are back in DOS, or use " X" for a quick exit.