SNOBOL4BLOCKS(1) CSNOBOL4 Manual SNOBOL4BLOCKS(1)NAMEsnobol4blocks - SNOBOL4 BLOCKS extension
DESCRIPTION
The BLOCKS extension was developed by Jim Gimpel while at Bell Labs. A
BLOCK is a data type that extends string concatenation to three
dimensions.
Enabling the BLOCKS extension with the -BLOCKS control line (see
snobol4ctrl(1)) or the -B command line option (see snobol4cmd(1))
alters the definition and precedence of percent and pound (see
snobol4op(1)):
White space concatenates two BLOCKs in the horizontal dimension, the
percent sign (%) concatenates two BLOCKs in the vertical dimension, and
the pound sign (#) concatenates two BLOCKs in the dimension “normal” to
the paper (over-strike).
The functions defined below are always present when CSNOBOL4 has been
built with blocks enabled.
Functions
For dir arguments: 0=“vertical”, 1=“horizontal”, 2=“normal”
BCHAR(b)
Returns character representation of BLOCK b as an ARRAY of strings,
dimensioned d x h, where d is the depth of the block and h is the
height of the block (renamed from CHAR).
BOX(h,w,d)
Returns a BLOCK of fill characters of height h, width w and depth
d.
BLOCKSIZE(b,dir)
Return INTEGER size of block b in direction dir.
CC(unit)
Accessor function to change carriage control on I/O unit unit. If
value is positive ASA (FORTRAN style) carriage control is output in
column one (the asa2pdf program converts ASA format to PDF). If
value is zero, no carriage control is output. If value is
negative, ASCII carriage control characters are output (CSNOBOL4
extension).
DEF(b)
Returns a BLOCK whose organization is deferred.
DEPTH(b)
Returns INTEGER depth of BLOCK b.
DUP(b,dir,n)
Duplicate BLOCK b n times in direction dir.
EJECT([i,...])
Eject a page and return the null string. Optional unit numbers may
be given to “broadcast” the form feed.
FIX(b)
Returns a block whose organization is physical -- all positioning
is done at this time, and no information on how the block was
formed is retained.
FRONT(h,w)
A special case of BOX(). Returns a BLOCK of fill characters of
height h and width w and of depth zero.
HEIGHT(b)
Returns INTEGER height of BLOCK b.
HOR(n)
A special case of BOX(). Returns a block of fill characters whose
width in n and height and depth zero.
HOR_REG(b)
Accessor which returns or sets the horizontal registration of BLOCK
b. Values: 'RIGHT', 'RIGHT', ´´ (centered).
IT(b)
Returns a block whose organization is iterated orthogonally to
parent.
LOC(n,b,dir)
Returns the location of NODE n in BLOCK b in direction dir.
LRECL(unit)
Undocumented!! Accessor for I/O unit record length???
MERGE(b1,b2,....)
Returns a BLOCK whose organization is merged.
NODE(b)
Returns a BLOCK whose organization is deferred.
NORM_REG(b)
Accessor which returns or sets the normal plane registration of
BLOCK b. Values: 'FRONT', 'REAR', ´´ (centered).
OVY(b1,b2)
“Overlay” -- concatenation in the “normal” plane.
PRINT(b,[i1,....])
Prints block to I/O unit 5. Additional unit numbers may be given
to “broadcast” BLOCK b.
REP(b)
Returns a BLOCK whose organization is replicated.
SER(b1,b2)
“Serial?” -- concatenation in the vertical plane.
SLAB(b,dir,offset,length)
Returns a physical block which is a cross-sectional cut of b, in
direction dir
VER(n)
A special case of BOX(). Returns a BLOCK of fill characters whose
height is n.
VER_REG(b)
Accessor which returns or sets the vertical registration of BLOCK
b. Values: 'TOP', 'BOTTOM', ´´ (centered).
WIDTH(b)
Returns INTEGER width of BLOCK b.
Keywords
&FILL
The fill character (defaults to space).
SEE ALSOsnobol4(1)
Blocks a new datatype for SNOBOL4, James F. Gimpel, Communications of
the ACM, Volume 15 Issue 6, June 1972, Pages 438-447
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/79574/MTSVol09-SNOBOLInMTS-
May1984.pdf
Contains a manual for the BLOCKS extension.
http://home.comcast.net/~urbanjost/LIBRARY/EXE/ASA/html/asa2pdf_doc.html
A utility to convert “ASA carriage control” into PDF, complete with
green stripes.
http://www.snobol4.org/blocks/
CSNOBOL4B 2.0 January 1, 2015 SNOBOL4BLOCKS(1)
