ed(1) CLIX ed(1)
NAME
ed, red - Runs a line-oriented text editor
SYNOPSIS
ed [-s] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]
red [-s] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]
FLAGS
-s Suppresses the printing of character counts by e, r, and w
commands, of diagnostics from e and q commands, and of the !
prompt after a !shell command.
-p string Allows the user to specify a prompt string.
-x Simulates an X command and prompts the user for a key. This
key is used to encrypt and decrypt text using the algorithm of
crypt. The X command makes an educated guess to determine
whether text read in is encrypted or not. The temporary
buffer file is encrypted also, using a transformed version of
the key typed in for the -x flag. See crypt. Also, see the
CAUTION section at the end of this manual page.
-C Invokes encryption. This flag is the same as the -x flag,
except that ed simulates a C command. The C command is like
the X command, except that all text read in is assumed to have
been encrypted.
DESCRIPTION
The ed command runs the standard line-oriented text editor. If the file
argument is given, ed simulates an e command (see below) on the named
file; the file is read into ed's buffer so that it can be edited.
The ed command operates on a copy of the file it is editing; changes made
to 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
buffer. There is only one buffer.
The red command is a restricted version of ed. It will only allow editing
of files in the current directory. It prohibits executing shell commands
with !shell_command. Attempts to bypass these restrictions result in an
error message (restricted shell).
Both ed and red support the fspec formatting capability. After including
a format specification as the first line of file and invoking ed with your
terminal in stty -tabs or stty tab3 mode (see stty), the specified tab
stops will automatically be used when scanning file. For example, if the
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first line of a file contained:
<:t5,10,15 s72:>
tab stops would be set at columns 5, 10, and 15, and a maximum line length
of 72 would be imposed. NOTE: when you are entering text into the file,
this format is not in effect; instead, because of being in stty -tabs or
stty tab3 mode, tabs are expanded to every eighth column.
Commands to ed have a simple and regular structure: zero, one, or two
addresses followed by a single-character command, possibly followed by
parameters to that command. These addresses specify one or more lines in
the buffer. Every command that requires addresses has default addresses,
so that the addresses can very 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 ed is accepting text, it is said to be in input mode. In
this mode, no commands are recognized; all input is merely collected.
Leave input mode by typing a dot (.) at the beginning of a line, followed
immediately by a carriage return.
The ed command supports a limited form of regular expression notation;
regular expressions are used in addresses to specify lines and in some
commands (for example, s) to specify portions of a line that are to be
substituted. A regular expression (RE) specifies a set of character
strings. A member of this set of strings is said to be matched by the RE.
The REs allowed by ed are constructed as follows:
The following one-character REs match a single character:
1.1 An ordinary character (not one of those discussed in 1.2 below) is a
one-character RE that matches itself.
1.2 A backslash (\) followed by any special character is a one-character
RE that matches the special character itself. The special
characters are:
a. ., *, [, and \ (dot, asterisk, left square bracket, and
backslash, respectively), which are always special, except when
they appear within square brackets ([]);(see 1.4 below).
b. ^ (circumflex), which is special at the beginning of an entire
RE (see 3.1 and 3.2 below), or when it immediately follows the
left of a pair of square brackets ([]) (see 1.4 below).
c. $ (dollar sign), which is special at the end of an entire RE
(see 3.2 below).
d. The character used to bound (that is, delimit) an entire RE,
which is special for that RE (for example, see how slash (/) is
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used in the g command, below.)
1.3 A dot (.) is a one-character RE that matches any character except
newline.
1.4 A nonempty string of characters enclosed in square brackets ([]) is
a one-character RE that matches any one character in that string.
If, however, the first character of the string is a circumflex (^),
the one-character RE matches any character except newline and the
remaining characters in the string. The ^ has this special meaning
only if it occurs first in the string. The minus (-) may be used to
indicate a range of consecutive ASCII characters; for example, [0-9]
is equivalent to [0123456789]. The - loses this special meaning if
it occurs first (after an initial ^, if any) or last in the string.
The right square bracket (]) does not terminate such a string when
it is the first character within it (after an initial ^, if any);
for example, []a-f] matches either a right square bracket (]) or one
of the letters a through f inclusive. The four characters listed in
1.2.a above stand for themselves within such a string of characters.
The following rules may be used to construct REs from one-character REs:
2.1 A one-character RE is an RE that matches whatever the one-character
RE matches.
2.2 A one-character RE followed by an asterisk (*) is an RE that matches
zero or more occurrences of the one-character RE. If there is any
choice, the longest leftmost string that permits a match is chosen.
2.3 A one-character RE followed by \{m\}, \{m,\}, or \{m,n\} is an RE
that matches a range of occurrences of the one-character RE. The
values of m and n must be non-negative integers less than 256; \{m\}
matches exactly m occurrences; \{m,\} matches at least m
occurrences; \{m,n\} matches any number of occurrences between m and
n inclusive. Whenever a choice exists, the RE matches as many
occurrences as possible.
2.4 The concatenation of REs is an RE that matches the concatenation of
the strings matched by each component of the RE.
2.5 An RE enclosed between the character sequences \( and \) is an RE
that matches whatever the unadorned RE matches.
2.6 The expression \n matches the same string of characters as was
matched by an expression enclosed between \( and \) earlier in the
same RE. Here n is a digit; the sub-expression specified is that
beginning with the n-th occurrence of \( counting from the left.
For example, the expression ^\(.*\)\1$ matches a line consisting of
two repeated appearances of the same string.
Finally, an entire RE may be constrained to match only an initial segment
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or final segment of a line (or both).
3.1 A circumflex (^) at the beginning of an entire RE constrains that RE
to match an initial segment of a line.
3.2 A dollar sign ($) at the end of an entire RE constrains that RE to
match a final segment of a line.
The construction ^entire RE $ constrains the entire RE to match the entire
line.
The null RE (for example, //) is equivalent to the last RE encountered.
See also the last paragraph before FILES below.
To understand addressing in ed 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; the exact effect on the current line is
discussed under the description of each 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 n addresses the n-th line of the buffer.
4. The command x addresses the line marked with the mark name character
x, which must be an ASCII lowercase letter (a-z). Lines are marked
with the k command described below.
5. An RE enclosed by slashes (/) addresses the first line found by
searching forward from the line following the current line toward the
end of the buffer and stopping at the first line containing a string
matching the RE. If necessary, the search wraps around to the
beginning of the buffer and continues up to and including the current
line, so that the entire buffer is searched. See also the last
paragraph before FILES below.
6. An RE enclosed in question marks (?) addresses the first line found by
searching backward from the line preceding the current line toward the
beginning of the buffer and stopping at the first line containing a
string matching the RE. If necessary, the search wraps around to the
end of the buffer and continues up to and including the current line.
See also the last paragraph before FILES below.
7. An address followed by a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) followed by
a decimal number specifies that address plus (respectively 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.
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9. If an address ends with + or -, then 1 is added to or subtracted from
the address, respectively. As a consequence of this rule and of Rule
8, immediately above, the address - refers to the line preceding the
current line. (To maintain compatibility with earlier versions of the
editor, the character ^ in addresses is entirely equivalent to -.)
Moreover, trailing + and - characters have a cumulative effect, so --
refers to the current line less 2.
10. For convenience, a comma (,) stands for the address pair 1,$, while a
semicolon (;) stands for the pair .,$.
Commands may require zero, one, or two addresses. Commands that require
no addresses regard the presence of an address as an error. Commands that
accept one or two addresses assume default addresses when an insufficient
number of addresses is given; if more addresses are given than such a
command requires, the last one(s) are used.
Typically, addresses are separated from each other by a comma (,). They
may also be separated by a semicolon (;). In the latter case, the current
line (.) is set to the first address, and only then is the second address
calculated. This feature can be used to determine the starting line for
forward and backward searches (see Rules 5 and 6, above). The second
address of any two-address sequence must correspond to a line that
follows, in the buffer, the line corresponding to the first address.
In the following list of ed commands, the default addresses are shown in
parentheses. The parentheses are not part of the address; they show that
the given addresses are the default.
It is generally illegal for more than one command to appear on a line.
However, any command (except e, f, r, or w) may be suffixed by l, n, or p
in which case the current line is either listed, numbered or printed,
respectively, as discussed below under the l, n, and p commands.
(.)a
text
. The append command reads the given text and appends it after the
addressed line; . is left at the last inserted line, or, if there
were none, at the addressed line. Address 0 is legal for this
command: it causes the ``appended'' text to be placed at the
beginning of the buffer. The maximum number of characters that may
be entered from a terminal is 256 per line (including the newline
character).
(.)c
text
. The change command deletes the addressed lines, then accepts input
text that replaces these lines; . is left at the last line input,
or, if there were none, at the first line that was not deleted.
C Same as the X command, except that ed assumes all text read in for
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the e and r commands is encrypted unless a null key is typed in.
(.,.)d The delete command deletes the addressed lines from the buffer.
The line after the last line deleted becomes the current line; if
the lines deleted were originally at the end of the buffer, the new
last line becomes the current line.
e file 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. If no filename is given, the currently
remembered filename, if any, is used (see the f command). The
number of characters read is typed; file is remembered for possible
use as a default filename in subsequent e, r, and w commands. If
file is replaced by !, the rest of the line is taken to be a shell
(sh) command whose output is to be read. Such a shell command is
not remembered as the current filename. See also DIAGNOSTICS
below.
E file The Edit command is like e, except that the editor does not check
to see if any changes have been made to the buffer since the last w
command.
f file If file is given, the file-name command changes the currently
remembered filename to file; otherwise, it prints the currently
remembered filename.
(1,$)g /RE/command list
In the global command, the first step is to mark every line that
matches the given RE. Then, for every such line, the given command
list is executed with . initially set to that line. A single
command or the first of a list of commands appears on the same line
as the global command. All lines of a multi-line list except the
last line must be ended with a \; a, i, and c commands and
associated input are permitted. The . terminating input mode may
be omitted if it would be the last line of the command list. An
empty command list is equivalent to the p command. The g G, v, and
V commands are not permitted in the command list See also NOTES and
the last paragraph before FILES below.
(1,$)G/RE/
In the interactive Global command, the first step is to mark every
line that matches the given RE. Then, for every such line, that
line is printed, . is changed to that line, and any one command
(other than one of the a, c, i, g, G, v, and V commands) may be
input and is executed. After the execution of that command, the
next marked line is printed, and so on; a newline acts as a null
command; an & causes the re-execution of the most recent command
executed within the current invocation of G. Note that the
commands input as part of the execution of the G command may
address and affect any lines in the buffer. The G command can be
terminated by an interrupt signal (ASCII DEL or BREAK).
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h The help command gives a short error message that explains the
reason for the most recent ? diagnostic.
H The Help command causes ed to enter a mode in which error messages
are printed for all subsequent ? diagnostics. It will also explain
the previous ? if there was one. The H command alternately turns
this mode on and off; it is initially off.
(.)i
text
. The insert command inserts the given text before the addressed
line; . is left at the last inserted line, or, if there were none,
at the addressed line. This command differs from the a command
only in the placement of the input text. Address 0 is not legal
for this command. The maximum number of characters that may be
entered from a terminal is 256 per line (including the newline
character).
(.,.+1)j
The join command joins contiguous lines by removing the appropriate
newline characters. If exactly one address is given, this command
does nothing.
(.)kx The mark command marks the addressed line with name x, which must
be an ASCII lowercase letter (a - z). The address x then addresses
this line; . is unchanged.
(.,.)l The list command prints the addressed lines in an unambiguous way:
a few nonprinting characters (for example, tab, backspace) are
represented by visually mnemonic overstrikes. All other
nonprinting characters are printed in octal, and long lines are
folded. An l command may be appended to any other command other
than e, f, r, or w.
(.,.)ma
The move command repositions the addressed line(s) after the line
addressed by a. Address 0 is legal for a and causes the addressed
line(s) to be moved to the beginning of the file. It is an error
if address a falls within the range of moved lines; . is left at
the last line moved.
(.,.)n The number command prints the addressed lines, preceding each line
by its line number and a tab character; . is left at the last line
printed. The n command may be appended to any other command other
than e, f, r, or w.
(.,.)p The print command prints the addressed lines; . is left at the last
line printed. The p command may be appended to any other command
other than e, f, r, or w. For example, dp deletes the current line
and prints the new current line.
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P The editor will prompt with a * for all subsequent commands. The P
command alternately turns this mode on and off; it is initially
off.
q The quit command causes ed to exit. No automatic write of a file
is done; however, see DIAGNOSTICS, below.
Q The editor exits without checking if changes have been made in the
buffer since the last w command.
($)rfile
The read command reads in the given file after the addressed line.
If no filename is given, the currently remembered filename, if any,
is used (see e and f commands). The currently remembered filename
is not changed unless file is the very first filename mentioned
since ed was invoked. Address 0 is legal for r and causes the file
to be read at the beginning of the buffer. If the read is
successful, the number of characters read is typed; . is set to the
last line read in. If file is replaced by !, the rest of the line
is taken to be a shell (sh) command whose output is to be read.
For example, "$r !ls" appends current directory to the end of the
file being edited. Such a shell command is not remembered as the
current filename.
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/g 1
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/n (n = 1-512)
The substitute command searches each addressed line for an
occurrence of the specified RE. In each line in which a match is
found, all (nonoverlapped) matched strings are replaced by the
replacement 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. If a number n
appears after the command, only the n th occurrence of the matched
string on each addressed line is replaced. It is an error for the
substitution to fail on all addressed lines. Any character other
than space or newline may be used instead of / to delimit the RE
and the replacement; . is left at the last line on which a
substitution occurred. See also the last paragraph before FILES
below.
An ampersand (&) appearing in the replacement is replaced by the
string matching the RE on the current line. The special meaning of
& in this context may be suppressed by preceding it by \. As a
more general feature, the characters \n, where n is a digit, are
replaced by the text matched by the n -th regular subexpression of
the specified RE enclosed between \( and \). When nested
parenthesized subexpressions are present, n is determined by
counting occurrences of \( starting from the left. When the
character % is the only character in the replacement, the
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replacement used in the most recent substitute command is used as
the replacement in the current substitute command. The % loses its
special meaning when it is in a replacement string of more than one
character or is preceded by a \.
A line may be split by substituting a newline character into it.
The newline in the replacement must be escaped by preceding it by
\. Such substitution cannot be done as part of a g or v command
list.
(.,.)ta
This command acts just like the m command, except that a copy of
the addressed lines is placed after address a (which may be 0); .
is left at the last line of the copy.
u The undo command that modified anything in the buffer, namely the
most recent a, c, d, g, i, j, m, r, s, t, v, VG, or V command.
(1,$)v/RE/command list
This command is the same as the global command g except that the
command list is executed with . initially set to every line that
does not match the RE.
(1,$)V/RE/
This command is the same as the interactive global command G except
that the lines that are marked during the first step are those that
do not match the RE.
(1,$)wfile
The write command writes the addressed lines into the named file.
If the file does not exist, it is created with mode 666 (readable
and writable by everyone), unless your umask setting (see umask)
dictates otherwise. The currently remembered filename is not
changed unless file is the very first filename mentioned since ed
was invoked. If no filename is given, the currently remembered
filename, if any, is used (see e and f commands); . is unchanged.
If the command is successful, the number of characters written is
typed. If file is replaced by !, the rest of the line is taken to
be a shell (sh) command whose stdin is the addressed lines. Such a
shell command is not remembered as the current filename.
X A key is prompted for, and it is used in subsequent e, r, and w
commands to decrypt and encrypt text using the crypt algorithm. An
educated guess is made to determine whether text read in for the e
and r commands is encrypted. A null key turns off encryption.
Subsequent e, r, and w commands will use this key to encrypt or
decrypt the text (see crypt). An explicitly empty key turns off
encryption. Also, see the -x flag of ed.
($)= The line number of the addressed line is typed; . is unchanged by
this command.
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!shell command
The remainder of the line after the ! is sent to the UNIX system
shell (sh) to be interpreted as a command. Within the text of that
command, the unescaped character % is replaced with the remembered
filename; if a ! appears as the first character of the shell
command, it is replaced with the text of the previous shell
command. Thus, !! will repeat the last shell command. If any
expansion is performed, the expanded line is echoed; . is
unchanged.
(.+1)<newline>
An address alone on a line causes the addressed line to be printed.
A newline alone is equivalent to .+1p; it is useful for stepping
forward through the buffer.
If an interrupt signal (ASCII DEL or BREAK) is sent, ed prints a ? and
returns to its command level.
Some size limitations: 512 characters in a line, 256 characters in a
global command list, and 64 characters in the pathname of a file (counting
slashes). The limit on the number of lines depends on the amount of user
memory: each line takes 1 word.
When reading a file, ed discards ASCII NUL characters.
If a file is not terminated by a newline character, ed adds one and puts
out a message explaining what it did.
If the closing delimiter of a RE or of a replacement string (for example,
/) would be the last character before a newline, that delimiter may be
omitted, in which case the addressed line is printed. The following pairs
of commands are equivalent:
s/s1/s2 s/s1/s2/p
g/s1 g/s1/p
?s1 ?s1?
EXAMPLES
1. To edit a file and set the prompt, enter the following:
ed -p "text>" foo
This command will allow you to edit the file foo, setting the prompt
to the string text>.
2. To exit a file using encryption, enter the following:
ed -s -x foo
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This command will allow you to edit the file foo using encryption. It
will also suppress some diagnostic messages.
FILES
$TMPDIR If this environmental variable is not null, its value is used in
place of /usr/tmp as the directory name for the temporary work
file.
/usr/tmp If /usr/tmp exists, it is used as the directory name for the
temporary work file.
/tmp If the environment variable $TMPDIR does not exist or is null,
and if /usr/tmp does not exist, then /tmp is used as the
directory name for the temporary work file.
ed.hup Work is saved here if the terminal is hung up.
NOTES
The - flag, although it continues to be supported, has been replaced in
the documentation by the -s flag that follows the Command Syntax Standard
(see intro). A ! command cannot be subject to a g or a v command.
The ! command and the ! escape from the e, r, and w command cannot be used
if the editor is invoked from a restricted shell (see sh).
The sequence \n in an RE does not match a newline character.
If the editor input is coming from a command file (for example, ed file <
ed-cmd-file), the editor will exit at the first failure.
CAUTION
The encryption flags and commands are provided with the Security
Administration Utilities package, which is available only in the United
States.
DIAGNOSTICS
? For command errors.
?'file For an inaccessible file. (use the help and Help commands for
detailed explanations).
If changes have been made in the buffer since the last w command that
wrote the entire buffer, ed warns the user if an attempt is made to
destroy ed's buffer with the e or q commands. It prints ? and allows one
to continue editing. A second e or q command at this point will take
effect. The -s command-line flag inhibits this feature.
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EXIT VALUES
The ed command returns one of the following values on error:
128 Exit due to signal
2 Exit due to error
1 Could not exec shell.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: edit(1), ex(1), grep(1), sed(1), sh(1), stty(1), umask(1), vi(1)
Files: fspec(4)
Miscellany: regexp(0)
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