Command Line Options for version 4.0 of pico. A comfortable knowledge of them truly makes vi and emacs unnecessary for most purposes, I feel. Excerpted from the man page.
Syntax
pico options file
Options
+n Causes pico to be started with the cursor located n
lines into the file. (Note: no space between "+"
sign and number)
-a Display all files including those beginning with a
period (.).
-b Enable the option to Replace text matches found
using the "Where is" command.
-d Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor
is on is rubbed out rather than the character to
its left.
-e Enable file name completion.
-f Use function keys for commands. This option sup-
ported only in conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA
telnet.
-h List valid command line options.
-j Enable "Goto" command in the file browser. This
enables the command to permit explicitly telling
pilot which directory to visit.
-g Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser. Cause
cursor to be positioned before the current selec-
tion rather than placed at the lower left of the
display.
-k Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from
the cursor position to the end of the line rather
than remove the entire line.
-m Enable mouse functionality. This only works when
pico is run from within an X Window System "xterm"
window.
-nn The -nn option enables new mail notification. The
n argument is optional, and specifies how often, in
seconds, your mailbox is checked for new mail. For
example, -n60 causes pico to check for new mail
once every minute. The default interval is 180
seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no
space between "n" and the number)
-o dir Sets operating directory. Only files within this
directory are accessible. Likewise, the file
browser is limited to the specified directory sub-
tree.
-rn Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's
right margin
-s speller
Specify an alternate program spell to use when
spell checking.
-t Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when pico is used
as the editor within other tools (e.g., Elm,
Pnews). Pico will not prompt for save on exit, and
will not rename the buffer during the "Write Out"
command.
-v View the file only, disallowing any editing.
-w Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long
lines).
-x Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.
-z Enable ^Z suspension of pico.
-q Termcap or terminfo definition for input escape
sequences are used in preference to sequences
defined by default. This option is only available
if pico was compiled with the TERMCAP_WINS define
turned on.