Using the Command Line

You type commands on the command line at the bottom of the command window. You can type in this box whenever it is highlighted and an I-shaped cursor, called an I-beam, appears in it. See Table 2-2 for a list of keystrokes you can use in editing the command line. Press Return to issue the command. Type Control-c to interrupt execution of a command (or choose the Interrupt selection from the Execute menu).

You can issue multiple commands on the Prism command line; separate them with a semicolon (;). One exception: If a command takes a file name as an argument, you cannot follow it with a semicolon, because Prism can't tell if the semicolon is part of the file name.

Prism keeps the commands that you issue in a buffer. Type Control-p to display the previous command in this buffer. Type Control-n to display the next command in the buffer. You can then edit the command and issue it in the usual way.

During long-running commands (for example, when you have issued the run command to start a program executing), you may still be able to execute other commands. If you issue a command that requires that the current command complete execution, you receive a warning message and Prism waits for the command to complete.