
%!postproc: '(?i)(</head>)' '<TITLE>The mtCellEdit Handbook - Chapter 6 - mtCedCLI</TITLE>\1'


[Previous chap_05.html] | [Contents chap_00.html] | [Next chap_A.html]
-------------------------------------------------

=6. mtCedCLI=

mtCedCLI is a program that provides spreadsheet functionality via a Command Line Interface (CLI).  It offers exactly the same functions as the GUI based mtCellEdit, but instead uses text commands.

Both GUI's and CLI's have value, and allow particular jobs to be done more efficiently.  For example I use mtCedCLI as part of the testing phase before I release the whole mtCellEdit suite.  I have created a number of tests in the form of scripts which test each part of the core libraries.  This exposes any problems that may have crept into the code, and is a good form of regression testing.


==6.1 Commands==[SEC1]

mtCedCLI reads instructions from the user via GNU Readline.  This offers useful interactive facilities like using the up and down arrows to access previous commands.

It is also possible to run a script from the command line like these examples:

```
cat script.txt | mtcedcli
mtcedcli < script.txt
mtcedcli < script.txt > log.txt 2>&1
```

Here is the complete list of commands that mtCedCLI accepts:

| **Command**            | **Arguments**             | **Notes** |
| about                  |                           | About the program
| clear content          |                           | Clear cell content in current selection
| clear prefs            |                           | Clear cell preferences in current selection
| clear                  |                           | Clear cells in current selection
| clip flip_h            |                           | Horizontal flip of clipboard
| clip flip_v            |                           | Vertical flip of clipboard
| clip load              | <OS FILENAME>             | Load clipboard from a file
| clip save              | <OS FILENAME>             | Save the current clipboard to this file
| clip rotate_a          |                           | Rotate the clipboard anticlockwise by 90 degrees
| clip rotate_c          |                           | Rotate the clipboard clockwise by 90 degrees
| clip transpose         |                           | Transpose the clipboard
| copy output            |                           | Copy the output of the currently selected cells to the clipboard
| copy values            |                           | Copy the values of the currently selected cells to the clipboard
| copy                   |                           | Copy the currently selected cells to the clipboard
| cut                    |                           | Copy the currently selected cells to the clipboard and clear the cells
| delete column          |                           | Delete the currently selected column(s)
| delete graph           |                           | Delete the currently active graph
| delete row             |                           | Delete the currently selected row(s)
| delete sheet           |                           | Delete the currently active sheet
| duplicate sheet        |                           | Duplicate the currently active sheet
| export graph           | <OS FILENAME>             | Export the current graph to this file
| export output graph    | <OS FILENAME> <FILETYPE>  | Export the current graph output to this file and type (as per [5.5.3 chap_05.html#SEC53])
| export output sheet    | <OS FILENAME> <FILETYPE>  | Export the current sheet output to this file and type (as per [5.5.4 chap_05.html#SEC54])
| export sheet           | <OS FILENAME> <FILETYPE>  | Export the current sheet to this file and type (as per [5.5.5 chap_05.html#SEC55])
| find                   | <TEXT> [wild] [case] [value] [all] | Find cells with this text (possibly using the current selection)
| help                   | [ARG]...                  | Display help on this command
| import book            | <OS FILENAME>             | Import a book from a file into the current book
| import graph           | <GRAPH NAME> <OS FILENAME> | Import a file as a graph and give it this name
| info                   |                           | Display current information
| insert column          | [clip]                    | Insert column(s) according to the current selection (or clipboard width)
| insert row             | [clip]                    | Insert row(s) according to the current selection (or clipboard height)
| list files             |                           | List files in the active book
| list graphs            |                           | List graphs in the active book
| list sheets            |                           | List sheets in the active book
| load                   | <OS FILENAME> [ csv **|** tsv ] | Load a new book
| new book               |                           | Destroy the current book and start a new book with a sheet called "Sheet 1"
| new sheet              |                           | Add a new empty sheet to the book
| new                    |                           | Destroy the current book and start a new book with a sheet called "Sheet 1"
| paste content          |                           | Paste clipboard contents onto the current selection
| paste prefs            |                           | Paste clipboard preferences onto the current selection
| paste                  |                           | Paste clipboard onto the current selection
| print cell num         |                           | Print the cell number for all the selected cells
| print cell text        |                           | Print the cell text for all the selected cells
| print cell type        |                           | Print the cell type for all the selected cells
| print prefs book       |                           | Print the book preferences
| print prefs cell       |                           | Print the cell preferences in all the selected cells (that are not default)
| print prefs sheet      |                           | Print sheet preferences
| print prefs state      |                           | Print state preferences
| print                  |                           | Print the cell output for all the selected cells
| q                      |                           | Quit the program
| quit                   |                           | Quit the program
| recalc book            |                           | Recalculate the book
| recalc sheet           |                           | Recalculate the sheet
| recalc                 |                           | Recalculate the sheet
| redo                   |                           | Redo next sheet action
| rename graph           | <NEW NAME>                | Rename the current graph
| rename sheet           | <NEW NAME>                | Rename the current sheet
| save                   |                           | Save the current book
| save as                | <OS FILENAME> [FILETYPE]  | Save the current book to this file (optionally changing the type as per [5.5.2 chap_05.html#SEC52])
| select                 | < all **|** CELLREF[:CELLREF] > | Set the current cursor selection
| set 2dyear             | [ YEAR START ]            | Change the currently selected cells if they contain a date with a 2 digit year
| set book               | <INTEGER>                 | Change the current active book (0..4)
| set cell               | <CELL CONTENT>            | Set the cell text
| set graph              | <GRAPH NAME>              | Set the current graph
| set prefs book         | <KEY> <DATA>              | Set book preference (as per [A.8.3 chap_A.html#SEC83])
| set prefs cell         | <KEY> <DATA>              | Set currently selected cell preferences (as per [A.8.1 chap_A.html#SEC81])
| set prefs cellborder   | <DATA>                    | Set currently selected cell border preferences (as per [5.5.6 chap_05.html#SEC56])
| set prefs sheet        | <KEY> <DATA>              | Set the preferences for the current sheet (as per [A.8.2 chap_A.html#SEC82])
| set prefs state        | <KEY> <DATA>              | Set the state preferences (as per [A.8.4 chap_A.html#SEC84])
| set sheet              | <SHEET NAME>              | Set active sheet
| set width              | < auto **|** INTEGER >    | Set selected columns width as integer > 0 (0=default=10), or by calculating the current maximum width
| sort column            | <EXPRESSION>              | Sort selected columns by expression as per [5.5.7 chap_05.html#SEC57]
| sort row               | <EXPRESSION>              | Sort selected rows by expression as per [5.5.7 chap_05.html#SEC57]
| undo                   |                           | Undo last sheet action



==6.2 Book File Types==[SEC2]

| tsv_book |
| tsv_value_book
| ledger_book
| ledger_value_book


==6.3 Graph Output Types==[SEC3]

| eps |
| pdf
| png
| ps
| svg


==6.4 Sheet Output Types==[SEC4]

| eps |
| html
| pdf
| pdf_paged
| png
| ps
| svg
| tsv
| tsv_q


==6.5 Sheet Types==[SEC5]

| tsv |
| tsv_gz
| tsv_noq
| tsv_val
| tsv_val_gz
| tsv_val_noq
| csv
| csv_noq
| csv_val
| csv_val_noq
| ledger
| ledger_gz
| ledger_val
| ledger_val_gz


==6.6 Cell Border Codes==[SEC6]

| -1 | Remove all borders |
| -2 | Thin Outside
| -3 | Thick Outside
| -4 | Double Outside
| -5 | Thin Top And Bottom
| -6 | Thick Top And Bottom
| -7 | Double Top And Bottom

```
```

|   | **Horizontal** |
| 0 | Clear Top
| 1 | Clear Middle
| 2 | Clear Bottom
| 3 | Thin Top
| 4 | Thin Middle
| 5 | Thin Bottom
| 6 | Thick Top
| 7 | Thick Middle
| 8 | Thick Bottom
| 9 | Double Top
| 10 | Double Middle
| 11 | Double Bottom

```
```

|    | **Vertical** |
| 12 | Clear Left
| 13 | Clear Centre
| 14 | Clear Right
| 15 | Thin Left
| 16 | Thin Centre
| 17 | Thin Right
| 18 | Thick Left
| 19 | Thick Centre
| 20 | Thick Right
| 21 | Double Left
| 22 | Double Centre
| 23 | Double Right


==6.7 Sorting Expressions==[SEC7]

<INTEGER> , < a | d > [c] [ , ... ]

For example, expression **1,ac,2,d** sorts by row/column 1 (ascending, case sensitive), then row/column 2 (descending).



==6.8 Shell Scripts==[SEC8]

Because the interface to mtCedCLI is just text, this means that shell scripts can control the program.

===6.8.1 Putting Several Sheets into a Book===[SEC81]

[DOWNLOAD FILE ../shawk/cedsheetbook.sh]

```
#!/bin/bash
# cedsheetbook.sh - Puts sheet files into a single book file
# usage: cedsheetbook.sh BOOKFILENAME SHEETFILE... | mtcedcli
# e.g. cedsheetbook.sh ~/output.zip *.tsv *.csv | mtcedcli
# by Mark Tyler 19th February 2013


echo "delete sheet"
echo "save as \"$1\""

shift

while [ "$1" != "" ]
do
	echo "import book \"$1\""
	shift
done

echo "save"
```

The handy thing with this approach is that you can dry run the script first
by using:

```
./cedsheetbook.sh ~/output.zip *.tsv *.csv
```

If you are happy with the text output then you can commit the actions with:

```
./cedsheetbook.sh ~/output.zip *.tsv *.csv | mtcedcli
```

===6.8.2 Extracting Sheets From a Book===[SEC82]

The following script does the reverse of the first script.
It reads a ZIP file and extracts all of the sheets to TSV files in the
given directory.

[DOWNLOAD FILE ../shawk/cedbooksplit.sh]

```
#!/bin/bash
# cedbooksplit.sh - Extracts the sheets from a book
# usage: cedbooksplit.sh BOOKFILENAME OUPUTDIRECTORY
# e.g. cedbooksplit.sh ~/output.zip ~/temp_sheet
# by Mark Tyler 19th February 2013

# On error exit
set -e

mkdir -p "$2"

TMP_FILE="$2"/tmp.txt

printf "load \"$1\"\n" > "$TMP_FILE"

printf "load \"$1\"\nlist sheets" |
mtcedcli -q |
awk '!/^$/ && !/^mtcedcli/' |
while read SHEET
do
	LOWER=$(echo "$SHEET" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

	case "$LOWER" in
	*csv )	TYPE=csv;;
	* )	TYPE=tsv;;
	esac

	echo set sheet \"$SHEET\" >> "$TMP_FILE"
	echo export sheet \"$2/$SHEET\" $TYPE >> "$TMP_FILE"
done

cat "$TMP_FILE"

echo
echo Type y and press ENTER to run this script

read KEY

if [ "$KEY" = "y" ]
then
	cat "$TMP_FILE" | mtcedcli
fi

echo
```



-------------------------------------------------
[Previous chap_05.html] | [Contents chap_00.html] | [Next chap_A.html]
