4th(1) (3.3d Release 2) 4th(1)
NAME
4th - a portable Forth compiler supporting a (modified)
subset of ANS-Forth
SYNTAX
4th [options] [file] [file | argument .. argument]
4thx [file] [argument .. argument]
DESCRIPTION
4th is a menudriven bytecode compiler, virtual machine,
decompiler, line editor, RPN calculator and C-source
generator rolled into one small program. You can use it to
create portable bytecode programs, embeddable C-source,
standalone executables or as a scripting language or a
Forth-to-C translator. For details read the manual.
OPTIONS
m enter interactive mode
e edit a 4tH screenfile
h convert an objectfile to a C includefile (default:
out.h)
c load a sourcefile (.4th) and compile it
l load an objectfile (.hx)
d decompile a 4tH program
g generate a C sourcefile (default: out.c)
s save a 4tH program (default: out.hx)
x execute a 4tH program
v enter verbose mode
q suppress copyright message
EDITOR
n D Delete line n but hold it in PAD. Line 15 becomes free
as all statements move up 1 line.
n E Erase line n with blanks.
n I Insert the text from PAD at line n, moving the old line
n and following lines down. Line 15 is lost.
4th(1) (3.3d Release 2) 4th(1)
n H Hold line n at PAD (used by system more often than by
user).
n R Replace line n with the text in PAD.
n S Spread at line n. Line n and following lines move down
1 line. Line n becomes blank. Line 15 is lost.
n T Display line n and copy it to PAD.
n P text
Put 'text' at line n, overwriting its previous
contents.
n LIST
List screen n and select it for editing: if screen n is
not the current screen, it will request to load from
memory.
n CLEAR
Clear screen n with blanks and select it for editing.
n INSERT
Insert screen n. The current screen n and all screens
following it are moved down. The last screen is lost.
Clear screen n with blanks and select it for editing.
FLUSH Used at the end of an editing session to save the
current screen to memory.
UNDO Used to reload the current screen again, thus undoing
all changes since the last flush (triggered by CLEAR,
FLUSH or LIST).
FLUSH
Write updated screen to memory.
L List the current screen. The cursor line is relisted
after the screen listing to show the cursor position.
n M Move the cursor by n characters and the cursor line.
The position of the cursor on its line is shown by a ^
(caret).
n W Wipe n characters to the left of the cursor.
TOP Position the cursor at the start of the screen.
B Used after F to back up the cursor by the length of the
most recent text.
C text
Copy in text to the cursor line at the cursor position.
4th(1) (3.3d Release 2) 4th(1)
F text
Search forward from the current cursor position until
string 'text' is found. The cursor is left at the end
of the string and the cursor line printed. If the
string is not found an error message is given and the
cursor repositioned to the top of the screen.
N Find the next occurrence of the string found by an F
command
TlLL text
Delete on the cursor line from the cursor till the end
of string text.
X text
Find and delete the next occurrence of the string
'text'.
WRITE
Saves the current contents of all screens to the
block-file. No flushing is done.
WQ Flushes the current screen and saves the current
contents of all screens to the block-file.
Q Quits the editor without saving.
FILES
*.4th; text files containing 4tH source (script)
*.scr; block files containing 4tH source (script)
*.hx; Hcode eXecutables (bytecode)
*.h; C include files
*.c; C source files
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
None.
EXAMPLES
To compile a 4tH program and save the object code:
4th csv source.4th [object.hx]
To compile a 4tH program and execute it:
4th cx source.4th
To decompile object code:
4th ld object.hx
To convert object code to embeddable C:
4th(1) (3.3d Release 2) 4th(1)
4th h object.hx [source.h]
To convert object code to C source:
4th lg object.hx [source.c]
To load and execute object code:
4th lx object.hx [arguments]
To load and execute object code without arguments:
4th object.hx
To edit a 4tH screenfile:
4th e source.scr
To enter interactive mode:
4th m source.scr
To enter interactive mode (without a screenfile):
4th
AUTHORS
4tH was written by Hans Bezemer <hansoft@bigfoot.com>
SEE ALSO
gforth(1)