Unix |
Unix v6 |
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ed(1) |
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ed text editor [ ] [ name ] is the standard text editor.
If a argument is given, simulates an command (see below) on
the named file; that is to say, the file is read into buffer
so that it can be edited. The optional suppresses the
printing of character counts by and commands. operates on a
copy of any file it is editing; changes made in the copy
have no effect on the file until a w (write) command
is given. The copy of the text being edited resides in a
temporary file called the There is only one buffer. Commands
to have a simple and regular structure: zero or more
followed by a single character possibly followed by
parameters to the command. These addresses specify one or
more lines in the buffer. Every command which requires
addresses has default addresses, so that the addresses can
often be omitted. In general, only one command may appear on
a line. Certain commands allow the input of text. This text
is placed in the appropriate place in the buffer. While is
accepting text, it is said to be in input mode. In
this mode, no commands are recognized; all input is merely
collected. Input mode is left by typing a period
‘.’ alone at the beginning of a line.
supports a limited form of notation. A regular expression
specifies a set of strings of characters. A member of this
set of strings is said to be by the regular expression. The
regular expressions allowed by are constructed as follows:
1. An ordinary character (not one of those discussed below)
is a regular expression and matches that character. 2. A
circumflex ‘^’ at the beginning of a regular
expression matches the empty string at the beginning of a
line. 3. A currency symbol ‘$’ at the end of a
regular expression matches the null character at the end of
a line. 4. A period ‘.’ matches any
character except a new-line character. 5. A regular
expression followed by an asterisk ‘*’ matches
any number of adjacent occurrences (including zero) of the
regular expression it follows. 6. A string of characters
enclosed in square brackets ‘[ ]’ matches any
character in the string but no others. If, however, the
first character of the string is a circumflex
‘^’ the regular expression matches any character
except new-line and the characters in the string. 7. The
concatenation of regular expressions is a regular expression
which matches the concatenation of the strings matched by
the components of the regular expression. 8. A regular
expression enclosed between the sequences ‘\(’
and ‘\)’is identical to the unadorned
expression; the construction has side effects discussed
under the command. 9. The null regular expression standing
alone is equivalent to the last regular expression
encountered. Regular expressions are used in addresses to
specify lines and in one command (see below) to specify a
portion of a line which is to be replaced. If it is desired
to use one of the regular expression metacharacters as an
ordinary character, that character may be preceded by
‘\’. This also applies to the character bounding
the regular expression (often ‘/’) and to
‘\’ itself. To understand addressing in it is
necessary to know that at any time there is a current
line. Generally speaking, the current line is the last
line affected by a command; however, the exact effect on the
current line is discussed under the description of the
command. Addresses are constructed as follows. 1. The
character ‘.’ addresses the current line.
2. The character ‘$’ addresses the last line of
the buffer. 3. A decimal number addresses the n-th
line of the buffer. 4. ‘’x’
addresses the line marked with the mark name character
x, which must be a lower-case letter. Lines are
marked with the command described below. 5. A regular
expression enclosed in slashes ‘/’ addresses the
first line found by searching toward the end of the buffer
and stopping at the first line containing a string matching
the regular expression. If necessary the search wraps around
to the beginning of the buffer. 6. A regular expression
enclosed in queries ‘?’ addresses the first line
found by searching toward the beginning of the buffer and
stopping at the first line containing a string matching the
regular expression. If necessary the search wraps around to
the end of the buffer. 7. An address followed by a plus sign
‘+’ or a minus sign ‘’ followed by a
decimal number specifies that address plus (resp. minus) the
indicated number of lines. The plus sign may be omitted. 8.
If an address begins with ‘+’ or
‘−’ the addition or subtraction is taken
with respect to the current line; e.g.
‘−5’ is understood to mean
‘.−5’. 9. If an address ends with
‘+’ or ‘−’, then 1 is added
(resp. subtracted). As a consequence of this rule and rule
8, the address ‘−’ refers to the line
before the current line. Moreover, trailing ‘+’
and ‘−’ characters have cumulative effect,
so ‘−−’ refers to the current line
less 2. 10. To maintain compatibility with earlier version
of the editor, the character ‘^’ in addresses is
entirely equivalent to ‘−’. Commands may
require zero, one, or two addresses. Commands which require
no addresses regard the presence of an address as an error.
Commands which accept one or two addresses assume default
addresses when insufficient are given. If more addresses are
given than such a command requires, the last one or two
(depending on what is accepted) are used. Addresses are
separated from each other typically by a comma
‘,’. They may also be separated by a
semicolon ‘;’. In this case the current
line ‘.’ is set to the previous address
before the next address is interpreted. This feature can be
used to determine the starting line for forward and backward
searches (‘/’, ‘?’). The second
address of any two-address sequence must correspond to a
line following the line corresponding to the first address.
In the following list of commands, the default addresses are
shown in parentheses. The parentheses are not part of the
address, but are used to show that the given addresses are
the default. As mentioned, it is generally illegal for more
than one command to appear on a line. However, any command
may be suffixed by ‘p’ or by ‘l’, in
which case the current line is either printed or listed
respectively in the way discussed below. ( . )a
<text> . The append command reads the given
text and appends it after the addressed line.
‘.’ is left on the last line input, if
there were any, otherwise at the addressed line. Address
‘0’ is legal for this command; text is placed at
the beginning of the buffer. ( . , . )c
<text> . The change command deletes the
addressed lines, then accepts input text which replaces
these lines. ‘.’ is left at the last line
input; if there were none, it is left at the first line not
deleted. ( . , . ) d
The delete command deletes the addressed lines from the
buffer. The line originally after the last line deleted
becomes the current line; if the lines deleted were
originally at the end, the new last line becomes the current
line. e filename
The edit command causes the entire contents of the buffer to
be deleted, and then the named file to be read in.
‘.’ is set to the last line of the
buffer. The number of characters read is typed.
‘filename’ is remembered for possible use as a
default file name in a subsequent or command. f filename
The filename command prints the currently remembered file
name. If ‘filename’ is given, the currently
remembered file name is changed to ‘filename’.
(1,$)g/regular expression/command list
In the global command, the first step is to mark every line
which matches the given regular expression. Then for every
such line, the given command list is executed with
‘.’ initially set to that line. A single
command or the first of multiple commands appears on the
same line with the global command. All lines of a multi-line
list except the last line must be ended with
‘\’. and commands and associated input are
permitted; the ‘.’ terminating input mode
may be omitted if it would be on the last line of the
command list. The (global) commands, and are not permitted
in the command list. ( . )i <text> .
This command inserts the given text before the addressed
line. ‘.’ is left at the last line input;
if there were none, at the addressed line. This command
differs from the command only in the placement of the text.
( . )kx
The mark command marks the addressed line with name which
must be a lower-case letter. The address form
‘’x’ then addresses this line. (
. , . )l
The list command prints the addressed lines in an
unambiguous way: non-graphic characters are printed in
octal, and long lines are folded. An command may follow any
other on the same line. ( . , . )ma
The move command repositions the addressed lines after the
line addressed by The last of the moved lines becomes the
current line. ( . , . )p
The print command prints the addressed lines.
‘.’ is left at the last line printed. The
command may be placed on the same line after any command. q
The quit command causes to exit. No automatic write of a
file is done. ($)r filename
The read command reads in the given file after the addressed
line. If no file name is given, the remembered file name, if
any, is used (see and commands). The remembered file name is
not changed unless ‘filename’ is the very first
file name mentioned. Address ‘0’ is legal for
and causes the file to be read at the beginning of the
buffer. If the read is successful, the number of characters
read is typed. ‘.’ is left at the last
line read in from the file. ( . , . )s/regular
expression/replacement/ or, ( . , . )s/regular
expression/replacement/g
The substitute command searches each addressed line for an
occurrence of the specified regular expression. On each line
in which a match is found, all matched strings are replaced
by the replacement specified, if the global replacement
indicator ‘g’ appears after the command. If the
global indicator does not appear, only the first occurrence
of the matched string is replaced. It is an error for the
substitution to fail on all addressed lines. Any character
other than space or new-line may be used instead of
‘/’ to delimit the regular expression and the
replacement. ‘.’ is left at the last line
substituted. An ampersand ‘&’ appearing in
the replacement is replaced by the string matching the
regular expression. The special meaning of
‘&’ in this context may be suppressed by
preceding it by ‘\’. As a more general feature,
the characters ‘\n’, where is a digit,
are replaced by the text matched by the n-th regular
subexpression enclosed between ‘\(’ and
‘\)’. When nested, parenthesized subexpressions
are present, is determined by counting occurrences of
‘\(’ starting from the left. Lines may be split
by substituting new-line characters into them. The new-line
in the replacement string must be escaped by preceding it by
‘\’. ( . , . ) t a
This command acts just like the command, except that a copy
of the addressed lines is placed after address (which may be
0). ‘.’ is left on the last line of the
copy. (1,$)v/regular expression/command list
This command is the same as the global command except that
the command list is executed with ‘.’
initially set to every line those matching the regular
expression. (1,$)w filename
The write command writes the addressed lines onto the given
file. If the file does not exist, it is created mode 666
(readable and writeable by everyone). The remembered file
name is changed unless ‘filename’ is the very
first file name mentioned. If no file name is given, the
remembered file name, if any, is used (see and commands).
‘.’ is unchanged. If the command is
successful, the number of characters written is typed. ($)=
The line number of the addressed line is typed.
‘.’ is unchanged by this command. !UNIX
command
The remainder of the line after the ‘!’ is sent
to UNIX to be interpreted as a command.
‘.’ is unchanged. ( .+1
)<newline>
An address alone on a line causes the addressed line to be printed. A blank line alone is equivalent to ‘.+1p’; it is useful for stepping through text. If an interrupt signal (ASCII DEL) is sent, prints a ‘?’ and returns to its command level. Some size limitations: 512 characters per line, 256 characters per global command list, 64 characters per file name, and 128K characters in the temporary file. The limit on the number of lines depends on the amount of core: each line takes 1 word. /tmp/#, temporary; ‘#’ is the process number (in octal). ‘?’ for errors in commands; ‘TMP’ for temporary file overflow. A Tutorial Introduction to the ED Text Editor (B. W. Kernighan) The command causes all marks to be lost on lines changed.
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ed(1) | ![]() |