Using Pico

Pico is a simple and easy to use editor which works much like notepad in Windows or simpletext on a Mac. It can be used to create simple text messages, or it can be used to edit the HTML of your Web pages DIRECTLY ON THE WEB SERVER. (If you know HTML, this can save you the trouble of downloading the page, editing it, then uploading it again.)

Start the editor by typing pico on the command line. If you know the name of the file you wish to edit, you can type the command pico file to open it. Edit the text like you would using notepad or simpletext. To save the file, hit ^O (i.e. hold the Control Key and hit O). To exit, hit ^X (Control-X). Commonly used key strokes in Pico are listed below. The most common keystrokes also are associated with Function Keys eg. Forward is F8, Backward is F7. The list of the most basic pico commands is shown below.

Keystroke	Description
^G (F1)	Display this help text.
^F	move Forward a character.
^B	move Backward a character.
^P	move to the Previous line.
^N	move to the Next line.
^A	move to the beginning of the current line.
^E	move to the End of the current line.
^V (F8)	move forward a page of text.
^Y (F7)	move backward a page of text.
^W (F6)	Search for (where is) text, neglecting case.
^L	Refresh the display.
^D	Delete the character at the cursor position.
^^	Mark cursor position as beginning of selected text.
^K (F9)	Cut selected text (displayed in inverse characters). Note: The selected text's boundary on the cursor side ends at the left edge of the cursor. So, with selected text to the left of the cursor, the character under the cursor is not selected.
^U (F10)	Uncut (paste) last cut text inserting it at the current cursor position.
^I.	Insert a tab at the current cursor position
^J (F4)	Format (justify) the current paragraph. Note: paragraphs delimited by blank lines or indentation.
^T (F12)	To invoke the spelling checker
^C (F11)	Report current cursor position
^R (F5)	Insert an external file at the current cursor position.
^O (F3)	Output the current buffer to a file, saving it.
^X (F2)	Exit pico, saving buffer.

Here's what an HTML file would look like in the Pico editor.