
    Ŀ
                                                                      
           RPL 1.21    Copyright (c) 1985, by TurboPower Software     
                                                                      
           "UpGraded" to compile with Tp6.0 by Steve Whalen 3-92      
                                                                      
    


First, my thanks to Kim Kokkonen for writing RPL and sharing it with us, both
in it's original commercial form (nearly 10 years ago!?!) and for releasing it
for public use recently. I find RPL constantly useful in new ways, usually
after I think I'll never need to do another regular expression search /
replace again....


Ŀ
          Version History            


      Ŀ
       Rpl Version 1.21.60 released 3-27-92 
      

Original conversion from Tp3 to Tp6 by Steve Whalen (see below for more).

      Ŀ
       Rpl Version 1.21.60b released 1-1-93 
      

Bug fix release by Steve Whalen:

Bug: FoundFile routine would not find command files on the path, and
     left MsDos system in unstable state (later executions ran out of
     environment space, or pipes were unreliable, etc.)

Fix: Replaced guts of FoundFile routine in RplFind.Inc with call to
     Opro's ExistOnPath and Tp6's FExpand routines.

Other:
  - Added Com3 & 4 to device names checked for in RealDiskFile routine
  - dropped Time routine in RplLow and used Opro's TimeMs routine in Rpl.Pas
  - changed WrdCnt.Bat example in RplSampl.Exe: dropped % in pattern as
    current MsDos versions insist on substituting for % (something that MsDos
    did NOT do back in 1986!)... i.e. the example didn't work any more, but
    I didn't catch it last time I tested.


Ŀ
                                     
  Original Documentation and Source  
                                     


The original Tp3 source and executables for RPL are available as TPOSRC.LZH
and TPOWER.LZH on CompuServe's PcVenB SIG, Library 6 for the original RPL and
other utilities ... The descriptive catalog entries for these excellent
collections of utilities are included at the bottom of this file.

Basic documentation on how to use RPL is in the file Rpl.Doc. This is the
original file included with RPL version 1.21. The source is in files with the
same names as the original with the exception of RplHelp.Inc which is new (I
just extracted the lengthy help text to get it out of the main program and
make it easier to convert).


Ŀ
                                     
  Changes made to Rpl 1.21 for Tp3   
                                     


- Ran Borland's Tp3 "UpGrade" program to automate as much of the conversion to
Tp6 as possible.

- Changed Version # to 1.21.60 to reflect functional version 1.21 converted to
Turbo Pascal 6.0

- I left in the "UpGrade" comments that I ignored

- Replaced use of WriteLn(Con, ...) with WrL subroutine, etc.

- Used Opro inline macros for upcase ... (note: no international support)

- Used Dos Registers type instead of old case ... record .. regs trick

- Used OpCrt for up-to-date compatibility & OpString for a few routines

- Changed a few colors in messages & progress message format may not be
identical ...

- Had to substitute for SPtr (which is now a reserved element)

- etc....


Ŀ
                  
  Warnings, etc.  
                  


RPL 1.21 as I've converted it to 1.21.60b for Tp6 appears to function
correctly, however use at your own risk.... Neither I nor Kim nor Turbo Power
are in any way liable for what your do with RPL.... Kim's original copyright's
apply.... I take no credit for Rpl60, but I accept all blame if I screwed up
in the conversion to Tp6 (but I still accept no liability)....


Ŀ
                            
  Future improvements....   
                            


In a message on CompuServe Kim pointed out the Oct 92 issue of Communications
of the ACM where new pattern search and matching methods are being discussed.
Some of these could greatly improve the performance of RPL. If you incorporate
them into RPL, please share them by uploading them to CompuServe SIG PcVenB
Library 6.


Ŀ
                                     
  Description of Original files      
  CompuServe PcVenB Library 6 as:    
                                     


[76004,2611]
TPOSRC.LZH/binary         28-Mar-91 90644              47

    Title   : TurboPower Utilities Source
    Keywords: UTILITIES SDIR REP RPL DIFF ROOT SOURCE

    TPOSRC.LZH contains Turbo Pascal 3.0 source code for several programs from
    TurboPower's 1985 product TurboPower Utilities. Includes SDIR (super
    directory), ROOT (file finder), REP (command repeater), DIFF (file
    comparison), RPL (regular expression search and replace). TPOWER.LZH
    contains documentation and source code.



[76004,2611]
TPOWER.LZH/binary         28-Mar-91 118912             27

    Title   : TurboPower Utilities Executable
    Keywords: UTILITIES SDIR REP RPL DIFF ROOT EXECUTABLE

    TPOWER.LZH contains several programs from TurboPower's 1985 product
    TurboPower Utilities. Includes SDIR (super directory), ROOT (file finder),
    REP (command repeater), DIFF (file comparison), RPL (regular expression
    search and replace). This archive contains documentation and COM files.
    TPOSRC.LZH contains source code. TPOWER.LZH is copyrighted freeware.

