Manpages

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

-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.

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:

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.

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.

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

a

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.

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.

Cursor Control Commands

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.

PAGE-DOWN PAGE-UP

Same as J and K above.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

#

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 ’-’.

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.

^H

ESC edit the string you typed
CR search
^H backspace

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

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.

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 ’’)+’’.

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 ’’)-’’.

File Commands

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’’.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

color range number

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@if(e,e,e)

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.

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.

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.

Built-in String Functions

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

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.

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.

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’’).

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

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 [AT] 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.