NAME

ex, edit − text editor

SYNTAX

ex [ − ] [ −v ] [ −t tag ] [ −r ] [ +cmd ] [ −l ] name... 
edit [ ex options ]

DESCRIPTION

The ex editor is the root of a family of editors: edit, ex and vi.  The ex editor is a superset of ed, 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 are a casual user, you will find that the editor edit is convenient for you.  It avoids some of the complexities of ex used mostly by systems programmers and persons very familiar with ed. 

If you have a CRT terminal, you may wish to use a display based editor; in this case see vi(1), which is a command which focuses on the display editing portion of ex. 

The − option suppresses all interactive-user feedback.  This option is useful in processing editor scripts in command files. 

The −v option is equivalent to using vi rather than ex. 

The −t option is equivalent to an initial tag command, that is, editing the file containing the tag and positioning the editor at its definition. 

The −r option is used to recover after an editor or system crash.  It recovers by retrieving the last saved version of the named file.  If no file is specified, it displays a list of saved files. 

The −l option sets up for LISP.  That is, it sets the showmatch and lisp options. 

DOCUMENTATION

The document “Edit: A tutorial” provides a comprehensive introduction to edit assuming no previous knowledge of computers or the UNIX system. 

The “Ex Reference Manual” is a comprehensive and complete manual for the command mode features of ex, but you cannot learn to use the editor by reading it.  For an introduction to more advanced forms of editing using the command mode of ex see the editing documents written by Brian Kernighan for the editor ed.  The material in the introductory and advanced documents works also with ex. 

“An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi” introduces the display editor vi and provides reference material on vi.  All of these documents can be found in the ULTRIX-11 Supplementary Documents.  In addition, the B Vi Quick Reference card summarizes the commands of vi in a useful, functional way, and is most useful for a beginner. 

RESTRICTIONS

The undo command causes all marks to be lost on lines changed and then restored if the marked lines were changed. 

The undo command never clears the buffer modified condition. 

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

File input/output errors do not print a name if the command line − option is used. 

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?.?stringserror messages
/usr/lib/ex?.?recoverrecover command
/usr/lib/ex?.?preservepreserve command
/etc/termcapdescribes capabilities of terminals
~/.exrceditor startup file
/tmp/Exnnnnneditor temporary
/tmp/Rxnnnnnnamed buffer temporary
/usr/preservepreservation directory

SEE ALSO

awk(1), ed(1), grep(1), sed(1), vi(1), environ(5), termcap(5)