# Help for Textpads

(These were earlier called TextViews )

Textpads allow display of multiline textual information and provide for basic search, and vim-like navigation keys.

Some textpads are extended to display multiple buffers such as the help screens. Textpads may display text that has ANSI escape codes such as unix `man` pages, or the output of commands such as `ri` or `dooby` or any other unix command that outputs colored output.

There is a second format that provides a lot more control than ANSI, which is a `tmux` like format. This is used in the `status_line`.

Finally, there is a (new) help format, much like markdown (very restricted, though). This page is formatted using the help format.

Following are some styles it provides:

inside.

A block follows in white and bold (start with a single > on previous line, and end with a single < char after block: >

I think most of these need to be fixed so they don't start capturing
if surrounded by spaces. A lookahead and lookbehind is required other
wise they can wreak havoc.

<

Textpads do not provide row selection, but do allow mapping of the <ENTER> key and provide the `word_under_cursor` to the calling block as part of the action event. For instance, on this (or other) help pages, pressing the <TAB> key will take the cursor to the next link (if there is one). Pressing <ENTER> on the link will open the linked help file. This is the link to the [[index]] or main help page.