MULTIPLE COPIES IN WORDSTAR

"WordStar is the most powerful word processor ever developed for CP/M
computers.  It's hard to learn, though, because you have to memorize so
many multiple-keystroke commands.  In addition, it lacks two of Perfect
Writer's capabilities: (1) block-deletes can't be "yanked back": once
you delete something from WordStar it's gone forever; and (2) WordStar
can't print multiple copies."

If you can't find at least five errors in that statement, you're not
trying.  The multiple-copy canard, for example, is so often repeated
that you'd think nobody had ever seen MailMerge.  If you've seen it (as
a file on your WordStar disk that's called MAILMRGE.OVR), then all you
have to do to print multiple copies is type M (instead of P) followed by
a <CR> when you return to the Opening Menu to print your file.  You will
be presented with a dialogue that's exactly like the customary printing
dialogue, except for the fourth question, "Number of copies".

And if you don't have MailMerge?  In that case, the only program you'll
really need is an interactive batch-processor like EX.COM, a
public-domain utility that's available from most bulletin boards.  Copy
it to your WordStar disk, put that disk in Drive A and the file you want
to print in Drive B, and bring up CP/M's A> prompt.  Then turn your
printer on and type the following, substituting the actual name of your
file for "filename.ext".

     EX <CR>
     WS <CR>
     P B:filename.ext <ESC> <CR>
     P B:filename.ext <ESC> <CR>
     X <CR>
     <CR>

That will print two copies of FILENAME.EXT.  If you want three copies,
add another repetition of P B:FILENAME.EXT <ESC> <CR>.  And so on.

THE WORDSTAR YANKBACK

To be able to recover from a bungled block-delete in WordStar you must
make it a habit always to save your text (<CTRL>-K S) before issuing the
block-delete command (<CTRL>-K Y).  Then if you find that you've deleted
something you wanted to keep, all you have to do is abandon the file
(<CTRL>-K Q), which will return you to the Opening Menu, from which you
can then call the file back exactly as it was the moment before you
carried out your ill-fated deletion.

That's all well and good, but of course the very absent-mindedness that
led you to mark the wrong passage for deletion in the first place, is
just as likely to make you forget to save the file before doing a
block-delete.  That's why you'd be better off using a key-definition
package like SmartKey or Backgrounder to automate the whole process, by
defining two special keys as follows:

     BLOCK-DELETE | UNDO
     <CTRL>-K S | <CTRL>-K Q
     <CTRL>-Q P |  Y
     <CTRL>-K Y |  D
      | <CTRL>-R
      | <CR>

Mark the block in the usual way, but execute the actual deletion by
pressing your new Block-Delete key.  If the results distress you, press
the new Undo key immediately and the missing text will be yanked back,
almost as if you were using Perfect Writer.

A word of caution, however: be sure to locate your Undo key someplace
where you'll be unlikely to strike it by accident.  You can recover from
a block-delete now, but a careless yankback can still do you in.
