--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/README.txt	Wed May 14 10:56:05 2008 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+`cmd2` is a tool for writing command-line interactive applications.  It is based on the Python Standard Library's `cmd` module, and can be used anyplace `cmd` is used simply by importing `cmd2` instead.
+
+`cmd2` provides the following features, in addition to those already existing in `cmd`:
+
+- Searchable command history
+- Load commands from file, save to file, edit commands in file
+- Multi-line commands
+- Case-insensitive commands
+- Special-character shortcut commands (beyond cmd's "@" and "!")
+- Settable environment parameters
+- Parsing commands with flags
+
+Instructions for implementing each feature follow.
+
+- Searchable command history
+
+    All commands will automatically be tracked in the session's history, unless the command is listed in Cmd's excludeFromHistory attribute.  
+    The history is accessed through the `history`, `list`, and `run` commands 
+    (and their abbreviations: `hi`, `li`, `l`, `r`).
+    If you wish to exclude some of your custom commands from the history, append their names
+    to the list at Cmd.ExcludeFromHistory.
+
+- Load commands from file, save to file, edit commands in file
+
+    Type `help load`, `help save`, `help edit` for details.
+  
+- Multi-line commands
+
+    Any command accepts multi-line input when its name is listed in `Cmd.multilineCommands`.
+    The program will keep expecting input until a line ends with any of the characters 
+    in `Cmd.terminators` .  The default terminators are `;` and `/n` (empty newline).
+    
+- Case-insensitive commands
+
+    All commands are case-insensitive, unless `Cmd.caseInsensitive` is set to `False`.
+  
+- Special-character shortcut commands (beyond cmd's "@" and "!")
+
+    To create a single-character shortcut for a command, update `Cmd.shortcuts`.
+  
+- Settable environment parameters
+
+    To allow a user to change an environment parameter during program execution, 
+    append the parameter's name to `Cmd.settable`.
+    
+- Parsing commands with flags
+
+    To allow a command to parse flags:
+  
+    1. Create a flagset: `flags = flagReader.FlagSet([flagReader.Flag('option')])`
+    2. Within the command's function, `(opts, arg) = flags.parse(arg)`
+    3. `opts` is a dictionary whose keys are the flags given, and whose values
+       are the arguments to those flags (if any).
+
+- Catherine Devlin, catherinedevlin.blogspot.com
+
+cmd2 can be installed with `easy_install cmd2`
+
+Cheese Shop page: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/cmd2/0.1
+
+Example cmd2 application (cmd2_example.py) ::
+
+    from cmd2 import Cmd, flagReader
+    
+    class CmdLineApp(Cmd):
+        multilineCommands = ['orate']
+        Cmd.shortcuts.update({'&': 'speak'})
+        maxrepeats = 3
+        Cmd.settable.append('maxrepeats')
+        speakflags = flagReader.FlagSet([flagReader.Flag('piglatin'),
+                                         flagReader.Flag('shout'),
+                                         flagReader.Flag('repeat', nargs=1)
+                                         ])                
+        def do_speak(self, arg):
+            """Repeats what you tell me to.
+            
+            args: --piglatin, -p: translate to Pig Latin
+                  --shout, -s: emulate internet newbie
+                  --repeat (nTimes), -r: be redundant"""
+            (options, arg) = self.speakflags.parse(arg)
+            
+            if options.has_key('piglatin'):
+                arg = '%s%say' % (arg[1:], arg[0])
+            if options.has_key('shout'):
+                arg = arg.upper()            
+            repetitions = options.get('repeat')
+            repetitions = int(repetitions[0]) if repetitions else 1
+            for i in range(min(repetitions, self.maxrepeats)):
+                self.stdout.write(arg)
+                self.stdout.write('\n')
+                # self.stdout.write is better than "print", because Cmd can be 
+                # initialized with a non-standard output destination
+        do_say = do_speak     # now "say" is a synonym for "speak"
+        do_orate = do_speak   # another synonym, but this one takes multi-line input
+            
+    app = CmdLineApp()
+    app.cmdloop()    
+
+Sample session using the above code ::
+
+    c:\cmd2>python cmd2_example.py
+    (Cmd) speak softly
+    softly    
+    (Cmd) speak --piglatin softly
+    oftlysay
+    (Cmd) speak -psr 2 softly
+    OFTLYSAY
+    OFTLYSAY
+    (Cmd) speak --repeat 1000000 softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    (Cmd) show maxrepeats
+    maxrepeats: 3
+    (Cmd) set maxrepeats 5
+    maxrepeats - was: 3
+    now: 5
+    (Cmd) speak --repeat 1000000 softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    softly
+    (Cmd) orate blah blah
+    > blah
+    > and furthermore
+    > blah
+    >
+    blah blah blah and furthermore blah
+    (Cmd) &greetings
+    greetings 
+    (Cmd) history
+    -------------------------[1]
+    speak softly
+    -------------------------[2]
+    speak --piglatin softly
+    -------------------------[3]
+    speak -psr 2 softly
+    -------------------------[4]
+    speak --repeat 1000000 softly
+    -------------------------[5]
+    show maxrepeats
+    -------------------------[6]
+    set maxrepeats 5
+    -------------------------[7]
+    speak --repeat 1000000 softly
+    -------------------------[8]
+    orate blah blah
+    blah
+    and furthermore
+    blah
+    
+    -------------------------[9]
+    &greetings  
+    (Cmd) run
+    orate blah blah
+    blah
+    and furthermore
+    blah
+    
+    blah blah blah and furthermore blah
+    (Cmd) run 3
+    speak -psr 2 softly
+    OFTLYSAY
+    OFTLYSAY
+    (Cmd) history maxrepeats
+    -------------------------[5]
+    set maxrepeats
+    -------------------------[6]
+    set maxrepeats 5
+    (Cmd)