Using TAB to Move Whole Blocks of Text in QB.EXE or QBX.EXE (57601)






This article was previously published under Q57601

SUMMARY

In the QuickBasic environment, you can move a whole block of text horizontally by highlighting the block and then pressing the TAB key to move it. You can move it any number of spaces by changing the length of the tab stop in the Options menu and then highlighting the text and pressing TAB to move it to the new tab stop.

If you wish to move the block to the left, press SHIFT+TAB while the block is highlighted.

One limitation is that you can move only whole lines at a time. You cannot select a column range.

This information applies to QB.EXE in Microsoft QuickBasic Versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50 for MS-DOS, to QB.EXE in Microsoft Basic Compiler Versions 6.00 and 6.00b for MS-DOS, and to QBX.EXE (QuickBasic Extended) in Microsoft Basic Professional Development System (PDS) 7.00 for MS-DOS.

MORE INFORMATION

In QB.EXE Versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50, do not try to move the selected block of text using the SPACEBAR because this will delete the text. There is no way to restore this text, since these versions can undo only the last edit. The last edit, in this case, is the space entered by pressing the SPACEBAR, not the deletion of the text. Pressing ALT+BACKSPACE (or selecting Undo from the Edit menu) simply removes the space and does not bring back the deleted text.

QBX.EXE in Microsoft Basic PDS Version 7.00 allows you to undo the last 20 edits performed, so in the same situation as above, the text is recoverable by pressing ALT+BACKSPACE several times consecutively.

Modification Type: Minor Last Reviewed: 1/8/2003
Keywords: KB57601