ed.1 - 9base - revived minimalist port of Plan 9 userland to Unix
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ed.1 (13921B)
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1 .TH ED 1
2 .SH NAME
3 ed \- text editor
4 .SH SYNOPSIS
5 .B ed
6 [
7 .B -
8 ]
9 [
10 .B -o
11 ]
12 [
13 .I file
14 ]
15 .SH DESCRIPTION
16 .I Ed
17 is a venerable text editor.
18 .PP
19 If a
20 .I file
21 argument is given,
22 .I ed
23 simulates an
24 .L e
25 command (see below) on that file:
26 it is read into
27 .I ed's
28 buffer so that it can be edited.
29 The options are
30 .TP
31 .B -
32 Suppress the printing
33 of character counts by
34 .LR e ,
35 .LR r ,
36 and
37 .L w
38 commands and of the confirming
39 .L !
40 by
41 .L !
42 commands.
43 .TP
44 .B -o
45 (for output piping)
46 Write all output to the standard error file except writing by
47 .L w
48 commands.
49 If no
50 .I file
51 is given, make
52 .B /dev/stdout
53 the remembered file; see the
54 .L e
55 command below.
56 .PP
57 .I Ed
58 operates on a `buffer', a copy of the file it is editing;
59 changes made
60 in the buffer have no effect on the file until a
61 .L w
62 (write)
63 command is given.
64 The copy of the text being edited resides
65 in a temporary file called the
66 .IR buffer .
67 .PP
68 Commands to
69 .I ed
70 have a simple and regular structure: zero, one, or
71 two
72 .I addresses
73 followed by a single character
74 .IR command ,
75 possibly
76 followed by parameters to the command.
77 These addresses specify one or more lines in the buffer.
78 Missing addresses are supplied by default.
79 .PP
80 In general, only one command may appear on a line.
81 Certain commands allow the
82 addition of text to the buffer.
83 While
84 .I ed
85 is accepting text, it is said
86 to be in
87 .I "input mode."
88 In this mode, no commands are recognized;
89 all input is merely collected.
90 Input mode is left by typing a period
91 .L .
92 alone at the
93 beginning of a line.
94 .PP
95 .I Ed
96 supports the
97 .I "regular expression"
98 notation described in
99 .IR regexp (7).
100 Regular expressions are used in addresses to specify
101 lines and in one command
102 (see
103 .I s
104 below)
105 to specify a portion of a line which is to be replaced.
106 If it is desired to use one of
107 the regular expression metacharacters as an ordinary
108 character, that character may be preceded by
109 .RB ` \e '.
110 This also applies to the character bounding the regular
111 expression (often
112 .LR / )
113 and to
114 .L \e
115 itself.
116 .PP
117 To understand addressing in
118 .I ed
119 it is necessary to know that at any time there is a
120 .I "current line."
121 Generally, the current line is
122 the last line affected by a command; however,
123 the exact effect on the current line
124 is discussed under the description of
125 each command.
126 Addresses are constructed as follows.
127 .TP
128 1.
129 The character
130 .LR . ,
131 customarily called `dot',
132 addresses the current line.
133 .TP
134 2.
135 The character
136 .L $
137 addresses the last line of the buffer.
138 .TP
139 3.
140 A decimal number
141 .I n
142 addresses the
143 .IR n -th
144 line of the buffer.
145 .TP
146 4.
147 .BI \'x
148 addresses the line marked with the name
149 .IR x ,
150 which must be a lower-case letter.
151 Lines are marked with the
152 .L k
153 command.
154 .TP
155 5.
156 A regular expression enclosed in slashes (
157 .LR / )
158 addresses
159 the line found by searching forward from the current line
160 and stopping at the first line containing a
161 string that matches the regular expression.
162 If necessary the search wraps around to the beginning of the
163 buffer.
164 .TP
165 6.
166 A regular expression enclosed in queries
167 .L ?
168 addresses
169 the line found by searching backward from the current line
170 and stopping at the first line containing
171 a string that matches the regular expression.
172 If necessary
173 the search wraps around to the end of the buffer.
174 .TP
175 7.
176 An address followed by a plus sign
177 .L +
178 or a minus sign
179 .L -
180 followed by a decimal number specifies that address plus
181 (resp. minus) the indicated number of lines.
182 The plus sign may be omitted.
183 .TP
184 8.
185 An address followed by
186 .L +
187 (or
188 .LR - )
189 followed by a
190 regular expression enclosed in slashes specifies the first
191 matching line following (or preceding) that address.
192 The search wraps around if necessary.
193 The
194 .L +
195 may be omitted, so
196 .L 0/x/
197 addresses the
198 .I first
199 line in the buffer with an
200 .LR x .
201 Enclosing the regular expression in
202 .L ?
203 reverses the search direction.
204 .TP
205 9.
206 If an address begins with
207 .L +
208 or
209 .L -
210 the addition or subtraction is taken with respect to the current line;
211 e.g.\&
212 .L -5
213 is understood to mean
214 .LR .-5 .
215 .TP
216 10.
217 If an address ends with
218 .L +
219 or
220 .LR - ,
221 then 1 is added (resp. subtracted).
222 As a consequence of this rule and rule 9,
223 the address
224 .L -
225 refers to the line before the current line.
226 Moreover,
227 trailing
228 .L +
229 and
230 .L -
231 characters
232 have cumulative effect, so
233 .L --
234 refers to the current
235 line less 2.
236 .TP
237 11.
238 To maintain compatibility with earlier versions of the editor,
239 the character
240 .L ^
241 in addresses is
242 equivalent to
243 .LR - .
244 .PP
245 Commands may require zero, one, or two addresses.
246 Commands which require no addresses regard the presence
247 of an address as an error.
248 Commands which accept one or two addresses
249 assume default addresses when insufficient are given.
250 If more addresses are given than a command requires,
251 the last one or two (depending on what is accepted) are used.
252 .PP
253 Addresses are separated from each other typically by a comma
254 .LR , .
255 They may also be separated by a semicolon
256 .LR ; .
257 In this case the current line
258 is set to
259 the previous address before the next address is interpreted.
260 If no address precedes a comma or semicolon, line 1 is assumed;
261 if no address follows, the last line of the buffer is assumed.
262 The second address of any two-address sequence
263 must correspond to a line following the line corresponding to the first address.
264 .PP
265 In the following list of
266 .I ed
267 commands, the default addresses
268 are shown in parentheses.
269 The parentheses are not part of
270 the address, but are used to show that the given addresses are
271 the default.
272 `Dot' means the current line.
273 .TP
274 .RB (\|\fL.\fP\|) \|a
275 .br
276 .ns
277 .TP
278 <text>
279 .br
280 .ns
281 .TP
282 .B .
283 Read the given text
284 and append it after the addressed line.
285 Dot is left
286 on the last line input, if there
287 were any, otherwise at the addressed line.
288 Address
289 .L 0
290 is legal for this command; text is placed
291 at the beginning of the buffer.
292 .TP
293 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|b [ +- ][\fIpagesize\fP][ pln\fR]
294 Browse.
295 Print a `page', normally 20 lines.
296 The optional
297 .L +
298 (default) or
299 .L -
300 specifies whether the next or previous
301 page is to be printed.
302 The optional
303 .I pagesize
304 is the number of lines in a page.
305 The optional
306 .LR p ,
307 .LR n ,
308 or
309 .L l
310 causes printing in the specified format, initially
311 .LR p .
312 Pagesize and format are remembered between
313 .L b
314 commands.
315 Dot is left at the last line displayed.
316 .TP
317 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|c
318 .br
319 .ns
320 .TP
321 <text>
322 .br
323 .ns
324 .TP
325 .B .
326 Change.
327 Delete the addressed lines, then accept input
328 text to replace these lines.
329 Dot is left at the last line input; if there were none,
330 it is left at the line preceding the deleted lines.
331 .TP
332 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|d
333 Delete the addressed lines from the buffer.
334 Dot is set to the line following the last line deleted, or to
335 the last line of the buffer if the deleted lines had no successor.
336 .TP
337 .BI e " filename"
338 Edit.
339 Delete the entire contents of the buffer;
340 then read the named file into the buffer.
341 Dot is set to the last line of the buffer.
342 The number of characters read is typed.
343 The file name is remembered for possible use in later
344 .LR e ,
345 .LR r ,
346 or
347 .L w
348 commands.
349 If
350 .I filename
351 is missing, the remembered name is used.
352 .TP
353 .BI E " filename"
354 Unconditional
355 .LR e ;
356 see
357 .RL ` q '
358 below.
359 .TP
360 .BI f " filename"
361 Print the currently remembered file name.
362 If
363 .I filename
364 is given,
365 the currently remembered file name is first changed to
366 .IR filename .
367 .TP
368 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|g/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIcommand\ list\fP
369 .PD 0
370 .TP
371 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|g/\fIregular\ expression\fP/
372 .TP
373 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|g/\fIregular\ expression\fP
374 .PD
375 Global.
376 First mark every line which matches
377 the given
378 .IR regular expression .
379 Then for every such line, execute the
380 .I command list
381 with dot initially set to that line.
382 A single command or the first of multiple commands
383 appears on the same line with the global command.
384 All lines of a multi-line list except the last line must end with
385 .LR \e .
386 The
387 .RB \&` \&. \&'
388 terminating input mode for an
389 .LR a ,
390 .LR i ,
391 .L c
392 command may be omitted if it would be on the
393 last line of the command list.
394 The commands
395 .L g
396 and
397 .L v
398 are not permitted in the command list.
399 Any character other than space or newline may
400 be used instead of
401 .L /
402 to delimit the regular expression.
403 The second and third forms mean
404 .BI g/ regular\ expression /p \f1.
405 .TP
406 .RB (\| .\| ) \|i
407 .PD 0
408 .TP
409 <text>
410 .TP
411 .B .
412 Insert the given text before the addressed line.
413 Dot is left at the last line input, or, if there were none,
414 at the line before the addressed line.
415 This command differs from the
416 .I a
417 command only in the placement of the
418 text.
419 .PD
420 .TP
421 .RB (\| .,.+1 \|) \|j
422 Join the addressed lines into a single line;
423 intermediate newlines are deleted.
424 Dot is left at the resulting line.
425 .TP
426 .RB (\|\fL.\fP\|) \|k\fIx\fP
427 Mark the addressed line with name
428 .IR x ,
429 which must be a lower-case letter.
430 The address form
431 .BI \' x
432 then addresses this line.
433 .ne 2.5
434 .TP
435 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|l
436 List.
437 Print the addressed lines in an unambiguous way:
438 a tab is printed as
439 .LR \et ,
440 a backspace as
441 .LR \eb ,
442 backslashes as
443 .LR \e\e ,
444 and non-printing characters as
445 a backslash, an
446 .LR x ,
447 and four hexadecimal digits.
448 Long lines are folded,
449 with the second and subsequent sub-lines indented one tab stop.
450 If the last character in the line is a blank,
451 it is followed by
452 .LR \en .
453 An
454 .L l
455 may be appended, like
456 .LR p ,
457 to any non-I/O command.
458 .TP
459 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|m\fIa
460 Move.
461 Reposition the addressed lines after the line
462 addressed by
463 .IR a .
464 Dot is left at the last moved line.
465 .TP
466 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|n
467 Number.
468 Perform
469 .LR p ,
470 prefixing each line with its line number and a tab.
471 An
472 .L n
473 may be appended, like
474 .LR p ,
475 to any non-I/O command.
476 .TP
477 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|p
478 Print the addressed lines.
479 Dot is left at the last line printed.
480 A
481 .L p
482 appended to any non-I/O command causes the then current line
483 to be printed after the command is executed.
484 .TP
485 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|P
486 This command is a synonym for
487 .LR p .
488 .TP
489 .B q
490 Quit the editor.
491 No automatic write
492 of a file is done.
493 A
494 .L q
495 or
496 .L e
497 command is considered to be in error if the buffer has
498 been modified since the last
499 .LR w ,
500 .LR q ,
501 or
502 .L e
503 command.
504 .TP
505 .B Q
506 Quit unconditionally.
507 .TP
508 .RB ( $ )\|r\ \fIfilename\fP
509 Read in the given file after the addressed line.
510 If no
511 .I filename
512 is given, the remembered file name is used.
513 The file name is remembered if there were no
514 remembered file name already.
515 If the read is successful, the number of characters
516 read is printed.
517 Dot is left at the last line read from the file.
518 .TP
519 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP/
520 .PD 0
521 .TP
522 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP/g
523 .TP
524 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP
525 .PD
526 Substitute.
527 Search each addressed
528 line for an occurrence of the specified regular expression.
529 On each line in which
530 .I n
531 matches are found
532 .RI ( n
533 defaults to 1 if missing),
534 the
535 .IR n th
536 matched string is replaced by the replacement specified.
537 If the global replacement indicator
538 .L g
539 appears after the command,
540 all subsequent matches on the line are also replaced.
541 It is an error for the substitution to fail on all addressed lines.
542 Any character other than space or newline
543 may be used instead of
544 .L /
545 to delimit the regular expression
546 and the replacement.
547 Dot is left at the last line substituted.
548 The third form means
549 .BI s n / regular\ expression / replacement\fP/p\f1.
550 The second
551 .L /
552 may be omitted if the replacement is
553 empty.
554 .IP
555 An ampersand
556 .L &
557 appearing in the replacement
558 is replaced by the string matching the regular expression.
559 The characters
560 .BI \e n\f1,
561 where
562 .I n
563 is a digit,
564 are replaced by the text matched by the
565 .IR n -th
566 regular subexpression
567 enclosed between
568 .L (
569 and
570 .LR ) .
571 When
572 nested parenthesized subexpressions
573 are present,
574 .I n
575 is determined by counting occurrences of
576 .L (
577 starting from the left.
578 .IP
579 A literal
580 .LR & ,
581 .LR / ,
582 .L \e
583 or newline may be included in a replacement
584 by prefixing it with
585 .LR \e .
586 .TP
587 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|t\|\fIa
588 Transfer.
589 Copy the addressed lines
590 after the line addressed by
591 .IR a .
592 Dot is left at the last line of the copy.
593 .TP
594 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|u
595 Undo.
596 Restore the preceding contents
597 of the first addressed line (sic), which must be the last line
598 in which a substitution was made (double sic).
599 .TP
600 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|v/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIcommand\ list\fP
601 This command is the same as the global command
602 .L g
603 except that the command list is executed with
604 dot initially set to every line
605 .I except
606 those
607 matching the regular expression.
608 .TP
609 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|w " \fIfilename\fP"
610 Write the addressed lines to
611 the given file.
612 If the file does not exist,
613 it is created with mode 666 (readable and writable by everyone).
614 If no
615 .I filename
616 is given, the remembered file name, if any, is used.
617 The file name is remembered if there were no
618 remembered file name already.
619 Dot is unchanged.
620 If the write is successful, the number of characters written is
621 printed.
622 .TP
623 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|W " \fIfilename\fP"
624 Perform
625 .LR w ,
626 but append to, instead of overwriting, any existing file contents.
627 .TP
628 .RB ( $ ) \|=
629 Print the line number of the addressed line.
630 Dot is unchanged.
631 .TP
632 .BI ! shell\ command
633 Send the remainder of the line after the
634 .L !
635 to
636 .IR rc (1)
637 to be interpreted as a command.
638 Dot is unchanged.
639 .TP
640 .RB (\| .+1 )\|<newline>
641 An address without a command is taken as a
642 .L p
643 command.
644 A terminal
645 .L /
646 may be omitted from the address.
647 A blank line alone is equivalent to
648 .LR .+1p ;
649 it is useful
650 for stepping through text.
651 .PP
652 If an interrupt signal
653 .SM (DEL)
654 is sent,
655 .I ed
656 prints a
657 .L ?
658 and returns to its command level.
659 .PP
660 When reading a file,
661 .I ed
662 discards
663 .SM NUL
664 characters
665 and all characters after the last newline.
666 .SH FILES
667 .B /tmp/e*
668 .br
669 .B ed.hup
670 \ \ work is saved here if terminal hangs up
671 .SH SOURCE
672 .B \*9/src/cmd/ed.c
673 .SH "SEE ALSO"
674 .IR sam (1),
675 .IR sed (1),
676 .IR regexp (7)
677 .SH DIAGNOSTICS
678 .BI ? name
679 for inaccessible file;
680 .L ?TMP
681 for temporary file overflow;
682 .L ?
683 for errors in commands or other overflows.