ted.1 - plan9port - [fork] Plan 9 from user space
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ted.1 (14142B)
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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 .MR 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 ASCII characters as
445 a backslash, an
446 .LR x ,
447 and two hexadecimal digits.
448 non-ASCII characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane
449 are printed as a backslash, a small
450 .LR u ,
451 and four hexadecimal digits; and characters above the
452 Basic Multilingual Plane are printed as a backslash,
453 a big
454 .LR U ,
455 and eight hexadecimal digits.
456 Long lines are folded,
457 with the second and subsequent sub-lines indented one tab stop.
458 If the last character in the line is a blank,
459 it is followed by
460 .LR \en .
461 An
462 .L l
463 may be appended, like
464 .LR p ,
465 to any non-I/O command.
466 .TP
467 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|m\fIa
468 Move.
469 Reposition the addressed lines after the line
470 addressed by
471 .IR a .
472 Dot is left at the last moved line.
473 .TP
474 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|n
475 Number.
476 Perform
477 .LR p ,
478 prefixing each line with its line number and a tab.
479 An
480 .L n
481 may be appended, like
482 .LR p ,
483 to any non-I/O command.
484 .TP
485 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|p
486 Print the addressed lines.
487 Dot is left at the last line printed.
488 A
489 .L p
490 appended to any non-I/O command causes the then current line
491 to be printed after the command is executed.
492 .TP
493 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|P
494 This command is a synonym for
495 .LR p .
496 .TP
497 .B q
498 Quit the editor.
499 No automatic write
500 of a file is done.
501 A
502 .L q
503 or
504 .L e
505 command is considered to be in error if the buffer has
506 been modified since the last
507 .LR w ,
508 .LR q ,
509 or
510 .L e
511 command.
512 .TP
513 .B Q
514 Quit unconditionally.
515 .TP
516 .RB ( $ )\|r\ \fIfilename\fP
517 Read in the given file after the addressed line.
518 If no
519 .I filename
520 is given, the remembered file name is used.
521 The file name is remembered if there were no
522 remembered file name already.
523 If the read is successful, the number of characters
524 read is printed.
525 Dot is left at the last line read from the file.
526 .TP
527 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP/
528 .PD 0
529 .TP
530 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP/g
531 .TP
532 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|s\fIn\fP/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIreplacement\fP
533 .PD
534 Substitute.
535 Search each addressed
536 line for an occurrence of the specified regular expression.
537 On each line in which
538 .I n
539 matches are found
540 .RI ( n
541 defaults to 1 if missing),
542 the
543 .IR n th
544 matched string is replaced by the replacement specified.
545 If the global replacement indicator
546 .L g
547 appears after the command,
548 all subsequent matches on the line are also replaced.
549 It is an error for the substitution to fail on all addressed lines.
550 Any character other than space or newline
551 may be used instead of
552 .L /
553 to delimit the regular expression
554 and the replacement.
555 Dot is left at the last line substituted.
556 The third form means
557 .BI s n / regular\ expression / replacement\fP/p\f1.
558 The second
559 .L /
560 may be omitted if the replacement is
561 empty.
562 .IP
563 An ampersand
564 .L &
565 appearing in the replacement
566 is replaced by the string matching the regular expression.
567 The characters
568 .BI \e n\f1,
569 where
570 .I n
571 is a digit,
572 are replaced by the text matched by the
573 .IR n -th
574 regular subexpression
575 enclosed between
576 .L (
577 and
578 .LR ) .
579 When
580 nested parenthesized subexpressions
581 are present,
582 .I n
583 is determined by counting occurrences of
584 .L (
585 starting from the left.
586 .IP
587 A literal
588 .LR & ,
589 .LR / ,
590 .L \e
591 or newline may be included in a replacement
592 by prefixing it with
593 .LR \e .
594 .TP
595 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|t\|\fIa
596 Transfer.
597 Copy the addressed lines
598 after the line addressed by
599 .IR a .
600 Dot is left at the last line of the copy.
601 .TP
602 .RB (\|\fL.,.\fP\|) \|u
603 Undo.
604 Restore the preceding contents
605 of the first addressed line (sic), which must be the last line
606 in which a substitution was made (double sic).
607 .TP
608 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|v/\fIregular\ expression\fP/\fIcommand\ list\fP
609 This command is the same as the global command
610 .L g
611 except that the command list is executed with
612 dot initially set to every line
613 .I except
614 those
615 matching the regular expression.
616 .TP
617 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|w " \fIfilename\fP"
618 Write the addressed lines to
619 the given file.
620 If the file does not exist,
621 it is created with mode 666 (readable and writable by everyone).
622 If no
623 .I filename
624 is given, the remembered file name, if any, is used.
625 The file name is remembered if there were no
626 remembered file name already.
627 Dot is unchanged.
628 If the write is successful, the number of characters written is
629 printed.
630 .TP
631 .RB (\|\fL1,$\fP\|) \|W " \fIfilename\fP"
632 Perform
633 .LR w ,
634 but append to, instead of overwriting, any existing file contents.
635 .TP
636 .RB ( $ ) \|=
637 Print the line number of the addressed line.
638 Dot is unchanged.
639 .TP
640 .BI ! shell\ command
641 Send the remainder of the line after the
642 .L !
643 to
644 .MR rc (1)
645 to be interpreted as a command.
646 Dot is unchanged.
647 .TP
648 .RB (\| .+1 )\|<newline>
649 An address without a command is taken as a
650 .L p
651 command.
652 A terminal
653 .L /
654 may be omitted from the address.
655 A blank line alone is equivalent to
656 .LR .+1p ;
657 it is useful
658 for stepping through text.
659 .PP
660 If an interrupt signal
661 .SM (DEL)
662 is sent,
663 .I ed
664 prints a
665 .L ?
666 and returns to its command level.
667 .PP
668 When reading a file,
669 .I ed
670 discards
671 .SM NUL
672 characters
673 and all characters after the last newline.
674 .SH FILES
675 .B /tmp/e*
676 .br
677 .B ed.hup
678 \ \ work is saved here if terminal hangs up
679 .SH SOURCE
680 .B \*9/src/cmd/ed.c
681 .SH "SEE ALSO"
682 .MR sam (1) ,
683 .MR sed (1) ,
684 .MR regexp (7)
685 .SH DIAGNOSTICS
686 .BI ? name
687 for inaccessible file;
688 .L ?TMP
689 for temporary file overflow;
690 .L ?
691 for errors in commands or other overflows.