The following is a list of commands that can be used within the pico editor. The symbol ^X means to hold down the control or CTRL key then tap the X key.
^G Get Help Gives a list of all available commands.
^X Finish Saves the message in a temporary file, and
puts you back into elm.
^O WriteOut Saves the message into a file. You will be
prompted to type in a file name, and that file
will be placed in your directory. File names
cannot have spaces in them.
^J Justify Rearranges paragraph to fit screen width.
Paragraphs are recognized in pico using
blank lines or indentation.
^R Read File Reads in a file from your directory.
^W Where is Asks you for a word to search for in the
message, and moves the cursor to the word.
Or, you can search for a number or a string
of letters.
^Y Prev Pg Moves to previous or next page (screen-full)
^V Next Pg of the message you are editing.
^C Del Line Deletes the entire line where the cursor is.
^U UnDel Line Puts back the line where the cursor is.
You can use these two keys to move an entire
paragraph or to duplicate a paragraph. First,
place the cursor at the top line of the paragraph.
Next, repeatedly type ^K until the entire para-
graph is deleted. Then, move the cursor to the
paragraph's new location. Last, type ^U to
undelete the paragraph. If you type ^U again,
another copy of the paragraph will appear.
The next time you use a ^K, pico will discard the
paragraph, and start with newly deleted material.
^C Cur Pos Reports the position of the cursor.
^ T To Spell Runs a spelling checker program on the message.
Other commands can be found if you type ^G. Here is one of them:
^L Refresh Redraws the screen. If a message is sent to your
terminal, such as a system shutdown notice, it
may appear in the middle of your mail message.
^L will remove it.