### 3.1 Arguments

The main arguments you can give to `ne` are the names of files you want to edit. They will be loaded into separate documents. If you specify `--help` anywhere on the command line, a simple help text describing `ne`'s arguments will be printed.

The `+`N option causes `ne` to advance to the Nth line of the first document loaded. This option is fairly common among editors and text display programs like `vi` and `less`. The N itself is optional. Without it, a bare `+` on the command line causes `ne` to advance to the last line of the first document.

The `--no-config` option skips the reading of the key bindings and menu configuration files (see Configuration). This is essential if you are experimenting with a new configuration and you make mistakes in it.

The `--macro` filename option specifies the name of a macro that will be started just after all documents have been loaded. A typical macro would move the cursor to a certain line.

The `--keys` filename option and the `--menus` filename option specify a name different from the default one (`.keys` and `.menus`, respectively) for the key bindings and the menu configuration files. Note that `ne` searches for these files first in the current directory, and then in your `~/.ne` directory.

The `--ansi` and the `--no-ansi` options manage `ne`'s built-in ANSI sequences. Usually `ne` tries to retrieve from your system some information that is necessary to handle your terminal. If for some reason this is impossible, you can ask `ne` to use a built-in set of sequences that will work on many terminals using the `--ansi` option (to be true, `ne` can be even compiled so that it uses directly the built-in set, but you need not know this). If you want to be sure (usually for debugging purposes) that `ne` is not using the built-in set, you can specify `--no-ansi`.

The `--no-syntax` option disables `ne`'s normal syntax highlighting capability. For most editing situations, this would be unnecessary, but for extremely large files it may be helpful. Syntax highlighting incurs small memory usage and processor overhead penalties for each line of text. The `--no-syntax` option eliminates that overhead.

The `--utf8` and `--no-utf8` options can be used to force or inhibit UTF-8 I/O, overriding the choice imposed by the system locale. Note, however, that in general it is more advisable to set the `LANG` environment variable to a locale supporting UTF-8 (you can usually see the locale list with `locale -a`). See UTF-8 Support.

If you need to open a file whose name starts with ‘`--`’, you can put ‘`--`’ before the filename, which will skip command recognition for the next word.

Finally, `ne` has a global directory where the system administrator can store macros, default preferences, and syntax definitions for all users of the system. The location of this directory is defined when `ne` is built, but you can override it by creating and exporting the `NE_GLOBAL_DIR` environment variable prior to invoking `ne`. If you load no files when you start `ne`, it will display a splash screen. The last line on that screen shows the global directory `ne` is using, if it exists, or an error message, otherwise.