THE - The Hessling Editor
Environmental Variables

THE_HOME_DIR

the directory in which THE looks for its help file(s) and macro(s)

THE_HELP_FILE

the fully qualified file name containing help information.

THE_PROFILE_FILE

the fully qualified file name for the default profile file.

THE_MACRO_PATH

a list of all directories in which THE is to look for macro files.

THE_HOME_DIR

THE will use its home directory as the default value for ${THE_HOME_DIR}.

THE home directories:

BORG	/usr/local/src/the/THE
ICARUS	/usr/local/src/the-2.2/THE
TIGGER	/usr/local/src/the-2.1

Changing THE_HOME_DIR

cd
THE_HOME_DIR=.
export THE_HOME_DIR

THE_HELP_FILE

The default value of THE_HELP_FILE is ${THE_HOME_DIR}/${TERM}.hlp.

Remember, the "help" command in THE operates differently from help in XEDIT. When help is invoked, THE determines what terminal type UNIX thinks you are using and searches for a help file defined for that terminal type.

Creating your own customized help file

You may copy the default THE help file from the THE home directory and then customize it. The following instructions show how it would be done on Tigger (it is assummed that your terminal type setting is a VT220):

cd
cp /usr/local/src/the-2.1/vt220.hlp .
chmod ugo+r vt220.hlp
THE_HELP_FILE=vt220.hlp
export THE_HELP_FILE

THE_PROFILE_FILE

The following is the search sequence THE follows to find a profile:

• THE checks if a profile file was named via the -p profile option when starting THE.
  
  
• If the -p option was not used, then THE uses the file identified by the environmental variable 'THE_PROFILE_FILE.'
  
  
• If the variable 'THE_PROFILE_FILE' has not been set, then THE checks if a file called '.therc' is in your current directory.
  
  
• If a profile could not be found using any of the above searches, then THE will use the default profile.

  The default profile is ${THE_HOME_DIR}/.therc
  

Click here to see how to create your own profile file.

The Macro Path

The following is the search sequence THE follows to find a macro file:

• THE uses the file identified by the environmental variable THE_MACRO_PATH.
  
  
• If the variable 'THE_PROFILE_FILE' has not been set, then THE will look for a macro file in ${THE_HOME_DIR}.
  
  
• The default value of THE_MACRO_PATH is ${THE_HOME_DIR}.
  
  
• If a macro file is not in the THE home directory, THE will look in the current directory.

The format of THE_MACRO_PATH is dir1:dir2:dir3 Each directory is separated by colons. Up to 20 directories may be specified.