.BX (BOX)

The BOX format word defines and initializes a horizontal rule for output and defines vertical rules for subsequent output lines.

Format
Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram .BX vOFF

Operands

v
is a position at which you want to place vertical rules in output text. This format of the format word initializes the box and draws a horizontal line with vertical descenders at the columns indicated. Subsequently entering the .BX format word with no operands causes HELPCONV to create a horizontal line with vertical bars at the columns indicated. The maximum value that may be entered for operands v1-vn is 239.

OFF
causes HELP to finish drawing the box by printing a horizontal line with vertical ascenders at the columns specified in a previous .BX format word.

Usage Notes

  1. The .BX format word describes an overlay structure for subsequent text that is processed by HELPCONV. After the ‘.BX v1 v2 ...’ line is processed, HELPCONV continues processing output lines as usual. However, before a line is printed, HELPCONV places vertical bars in the columns indicated by v1, v2, and so on, unless a column is already occupied by a data character. In this case, HELPCONV does not place a vertical bar in the column.
  2. The .BX control word causes a break in the text.
  3. The terminal output characters for boxes are formed with dashes (-), vertical bars (|), and plus signs (+).
  4. You can specify a .BX format word with different columns while a box is being drawn. When this happens, HELPCONV puts in vertical ascenders for all the old columns and vertical descenders for all the new columns. The vertical rules then appear in all subsequent output lines in the new columns designated.
  5. The column specification for the .BX format word uses a different rule than is used elsewhere in HELPCONV. In some control words the numbers in the format word represent not columns but displacements. For example the HELPCONV format word .IN 5 means a blank character should be expanded to enough blanks to fill up through column 5; the next word starts in column 6. In the .BX control word, .BX 5 means to put vertical rules in column 5. Thus, you can use the same numbers for a .IN control word as for a .BX control word, and the vertical bar will appear in the column immediately preceding the first word on that line.

Example

Consider the HELP file called ‘MARYHADA’ that looks like this:
  .fo off
  .bx 1 43
  .in 5
  Mary had a little lamb,
  Whose fleece was white as snow,
  And everywhere that Mary went,
  The lamb was sure to go.
  .bx off
This file, when processed by HELPCONV, creates the following output:
     Mary had a little lamb,
     Whose fleece was white as snow,
     And everywhere that Mary went,
     The lamb was sure to go.