EX(1)                                BSD                                 EX(1)



NAME
     ex, edit - text editor

SYNOPSIS
     ex [ - ] [ -v ] [ -t tag ] [ -r ] [ +command ] [ -l ] name ...
     edit [ options ]

DESCRIPTION
     ex is the root of a family of editors, which also includes edit and
     vi(1).  ex is a superset of ed(1), with the most notable extension being
     a display editing facility.  Display-based editing is the focus of vi.

     If you have not used ed, or you are a casual user, you will find that the
     editor edit is convenient for you.  It avoids some of the complexities of
     ex, which is used mostly by systems programmers and persons very familiar
     with ed.  edit uses the same options as ex.

     If you want to use a display-based editor, see vi(1).  The vi editor
     focuses on the display editing portion of ex.

     See UNIX Text Processing for details concerning the use of these text
     editors.

OPTIONS
     -         Suppress all interactive user feedback.  This is useful in
               processing editor scripts.

     -v        Invoke vi(1).

     -t tag    Edit the file containing the tag and position the editor at its
               definition.

     +command  Begin editing by executing the specified editor search or
               positioning command.

     -l        Set lisp mode to indent appropriately for LISP code.  Modify
               the parentheses, braces, and left and right double brackets
               commands, that is, (), {}, [[, and ]], in vi(1) to have meaning
               for LISP.

BUGS
     The undo command causes all marks to be lost on lines that are changed
     and then restored, if the marked lines are changed.

     undo never clears the buffer modified condition.

     The z command prints a number of logical rather than physical lines.
     More than a screenful of output may result if long lines are present.

     File input/output errors don't print a name if you specify the command
     line option, -.

     There is no easy way to do a single scan ignoring case.

     The editor does not warn if text is placed in named buffers and not used
     before exiting the editor.

     Null characters are discarded in input files, and cannot appear in
     resultant files.

FILES

     /usr/lib/ex?.?strings         Error messages
     /usr/lib/ex?.?recover         Recover command
     /usr/lib/ex?.?preserve        Preserve command
     /etc/termcap             Describes capabilities of terminals
     ~/.exrc                  Editor startup file
     /tmp/Exnnnnn             Editor temporary
     /tmp/Rxnnnnn             Named buffer temporary
     /usr/preserve            Preservation directory

SEE ALSO
     awk(1), ed(1), grep(1), sed(1), vi(1), termcap(5), environ(7);
     UNIX Text Processing.