If you make an error in entering a record, you can go back to the last line with the caret or hat (^) key. After you type the caret key, enter will prompt you with the previous line. If you need to go up two lines, keep typing carets until you get a prompt for the line you wish to reenter.

-fc

use c (instead of TAB) as the output column separation character.

-Dn

turn on debugging at level n, or 1 if n is not specified.

-limit exit the

enter program when limit records have been entered.

Name    Company Street  City    State   ZIP Phone
----    ------- ------  ----    -----   --- -----
Ronald McDonald McDonald's      123 Mac Attack    Memphis TEN
N    30000   (111) 222-3333

The row is so long that it wrapped around to the next line. Also, the column names and column data do not line up. Names and Companies and Street Addresses are usually too long to fit nicely into such a table. Therefore, we need a list format like this:

Name    Ronald McDonald
Company McDonald's
Street  123 Mac Attack
City    Memphis
State   TENN
ZIP     30000
Phone   (111) 222-3333

These two formats (table and list) are interchangeable by using the listtotable and tabletolist programs:

$ listtotable < maillist | column Name Phone

Name            Phone
--------------- --------------
Ronald McDonald (111) 222-3333

It is better to use the enter command than an editor on list-formatted files. Otherwise, you must include all of the column names, in the same order and spelled correctly. Follow these simple rules for using enter on list files.

1.

Use the editor first to create the list file. Type each column name followed by a single TAB. Also enter the information for the first row (record).

2.

Be sure to put a newline (blank line) as the first line of the file, and at the end of each row (record), to tell the program that it has reached the end of the row.

Save the file and use the enter program. Type:

$ enter maillist

Name    _

enter will respond with the first column name and a TAB and wait for you to enter whatever you wish for Name. The underscore (_) shows where your cursor will rest.

3.

Type in the data for the item. Use RETURN to end the information for this item. enter will print the name of the next column head and a TAB, and wait for your response.

4.

Exit the enter program when it has given you the first column name of a new record and is waiting for a response. Type CTRL-d.

$ enter maillist

Name    Chiquita  Banana
Company Standard Brands
Street  ^
Company United Brands
Street  Uno Avenido de la Reforma
City    San Jose
State   Costa Rica
ZIP     12345-6789
Phone   777-1234

Name    <CTRL-d>
$

We made an error entering Company and did not realize it until we were at Street. To correct our mistake, we typed caret (^), and enter re-prompted us for Company, allowing us to re-enter the correct response.

$ cat maillist

Name    Ronald McDonald
Company McDonald's
Street  123 Mac Attack
City    Memphis
State   TENN
ZIP     30000
Phone   (111) 222-3333

Name    Chiquita  Banana
Company United Brands
Street  Uno Avenido de la Reforma
City    San Jose
State   Costa Rica
ZIP     12345-6789
Phone   777-1234

The last row (actually eight lines and the bottom newline) is the one we entered. Just hit the return key if you have no data to put after a prompt.

Now for a table example. To add a line to the inventory table, type:

$ enter inventory

Item#   Amount   Cost    Value  Description
------- ------- ------- ------- ---------------
_

then start typing in your rows. Remember to insert TABs between columns.

8       123     5.98    0       widget
9       29      15.50   0       another widget
^d

Note the control-d represented here by: ^d. The inventory file now looks like this:

$ cat inventory
Item    Amount  Cost    Value  Description
------- ------- ------- ------- ---------------
1       3       5.00    0       rubber gloves
2       100     0.50    0       test tubes
3       5       8.00    0       clamps
4       23      1.98    0       plates
5       99      2.45    0       cleaning cloth
6       89      14.75   0       bunsen burners
7       5       175     0       scales
8       123     5.98    0       widget
9       29      15.50   0       another widget