EKI Read Documentation

The eki_read program is a tool for processing strings that follow the EKI standard, specifically EKI-0000 (Unrestricted).

This tool is designed to be scriptable and accepts piped input.

Different ways of interpreting and printing strings are available.

The entire string can be printed, replacing all EKI Variables and even allowing for primitive substitution or only the EKI Variables (or their Content) can be printed.

Standard Parameters

Short	Long	Description
`-h`	`--help`	Print the help message.
`+C`	`++copyright`	Print the copyright.
`+d`	`++dark`	Output using colors that show up better on dark backgrounds.
`+l`	`++light`	Output using colors that show up better on light backgrounds.
`+n`	`++no_color`	Do not print using color.
`+Q`	`++quiet`	Decrease verbosity, silencing most output.
`+E`	`++error`	Decrease verbosity, using only error output.
`+N`	`++normal`	Set verbosity to normal.
`+V`	`++verbose`	Increase verbosity beyond normal output.
`+D`	`++debug`	Enable debugging, significantly increasing verbosity beyond normal output.
`+v`	`++version`	Print only the version number.

The +Q/++quiet parameter silences all output that is not the intent and purpose of the program.
For example, the purpose of the utf8 program is to print the Unicode code point or the UTF-8 byte code.
The +Q/++quiet will not suppress this output.
The new line printed at the end of the program, is however, not printed.
The +Q/++quiet is ideal for using in scripting to help guarantee more consistent and controlled output.

The +N/++no_color simplifies the output to avoid the special color character codes.
The special color character codes tend to take up a lot of extra space and may slow down printing performance.

Program Parameters

Short	Long	Description
`-a`	`--at`	Select variable at this numeric index.
`-n`	`--name`	Select variables with this name.
`-s`	`--select`	Select Vocabulay (aka: Object) at this index.
`-c`	`--content`	Print the variable value (aka: content) (default).
`-l`	`--line`	Print only the variables at the given line within the file.
`-L`	`--literal`	Print the entire variable (aka: object, content, and syntax).
`-o`	`--object`	Print the variable name (aka: object).
`-t`	`--total`	Print the total number of variables.
`-w`	`--whole`	Print all of the data instead of just the IKI variable data.
`-R`	`--reassign`	Re-assign the variable for the given name and matching content value with the given string.
`-r`	`--replace`	Simple substitution, replacing the variable for the given name with the given string.
`-s`	`--substitute`	Substitute the variable for the given name and matching content value with the given string.
`-W`	`--wrap`	Prepend and append strings for the given name.

This program will find and print Variables, Vocabularies, or Content following the EKI standard, without focusing on any particular Vocabulary specification.

The -r/--replace option requires 2 additional parameters: <vocabulary> <with>.

vocabulary: The name of the Vocabulary whose Content is to be substituted.
with: The new string to use as the substitute.

The Vocabulary is case-sensitive and must exactly match.

The -R/--reassign option and the -s/--substitute options require 3 additional parameters:: <vocabulary> <replace> <with>.

vocabulary: The name of the Vocabulary whose Content is to be substituted.
replace: The Content matching this exact string will be substituted.
with: The new string to use as the substitute.

The Vocabulary and replacement are case-sensitive and must exactly match.

The -W/--wrap option requires 3 additional parameters: <vocabulary> <before> <after>.

vocabulary: The name of the vocabulary whose Content is to be wrapped.
before: The string to prepend.
after: The string to append.

The Vocabulary is case-sensitive and must exactly match.

The difference between -r/--replace and -s/--substitute is that the -r/--replace option substitutes all matching Vocabulary names and the -s/--substitute option substitutes all matching Vocabulary names that must also have the given matching Content.

The -s/--reassign option is identical to the -s/--substitute option except that the -W/--wrap option is ignored (not applied).

The -s/--substitute option takes priority over the -r/--replace option when matching the same Variable.

The default behavior is to only display Content portion of the IKI variable.