27. A method of processing a text file comprising: in a computer system having at least a processor and a memory, retrieving the text file; displaying the text file and a tree structure showing processing commands; performing a set of visual editing operations to extract given portions of the text file while discarding other text, characters or white space, the displayed tree structure updated to include all processing commands representative of the visual editing operations used to parse the text file, the set of visual editing operations including a first operation that splits off a fragment of the text file; and previewing results of and/or debugging the editing operations using the displayed processing commands in the tree structure.
27. A method of processing a text file comprising: in a computer system having at least a processor and a memory, retrieving the text file; displaying the text file and a tree structure showing processing commands; performing a set of visual editing operations to extract given portions of the text file while discarding other text, characters or white space, the displayed tree structure updated to include all processing commands representative of the visual editing operations used to parse the text file, the set of visual editing operations including a first operation that splits off a fragment of the text file; and previewing results of and/or debugging the editing operations using the displayed processing commands in the tree structure. 36. The method of claim 27 wherein the set of visual editing operations includes a sixth operation that enables a fragment of the text file to be extracted in a given format.