EX(1) EX(1)
NAME
ex - text editor
SYNOPSIS
ex [ - ] [ -v ] [ -t tag ] [ -r ] [ -R ] [ -x ] [ +command ]
name ...
DESCRIPTION
ex is the root of a family of editors: ex and vi. ex 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 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.
For ed Users
If you have used ed you will find that ex has a number of
new features useful on CRT terminals. Intelligent terminals
and high speed terminals are very pleasant to use with vi.
Generally, the editor uses far more of the capabilities of
terminals than ed does, and uses the terminal capability
data base (see Terminal Information Utilities Guide) and the
type of the terminal you are using from the variable TERM in
the environment to determine how to drive your terminal
efficiently. The editor makes use of features such as
insert and delete character and line in its visual command
(which can be abbreviated vi) and which is the central mode
of editing when using vi(1).
ex contains a number of new features for easily viewing the
text of the file. The z command gives easy access to
windows of text. Hitting ^D causes the editor to scroll a
half-window of text and is more useful for quickly stepping
through a file than just hitting return. Of course, the
screen-oriented visual mode gives constant access to editing
context.
ex gives you more help when you make mistakes. The undo (u)
command allows you to reverse any single change which goes
astray. ex gives you a lot of feedback, normally printing
changed lines, and indicates when more than a few lines are
affected by a command so that it is easy to detect when a
command has affected more lines than it should have.
The editor also normally prevents overwriting existing files
unless you edited them so that you do not accidentally
clobber with a write a file other than the one you are
editing. If the system (or editor) crashes, or you
accidentally hang up the telephone, you can use the editor
recover command to retrieve your work. This will get you
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back to within a few lines of where you left off.
ex has several features for dealing with more than one file
at a time. You can give it a list of files on the command
line and use the next (n) command to deal with each in turn.
The next command can also be given a list of file names, or
a pattern as used by the shell to specify a new set of files
to be dealt with. In general, file names in the editor may
be formed with full shell metasyntax. The metacharacter `%'
is also available in forming file names and is replaced by
the name of the current file.
For moving text between files and within a file the editor
has a group of buffers, named a through z. You can place
text in these named buffers and carry it over when you edit
another file.
There is a command & in ex which repeats the last substitute
command. In addition there is a confirmed substitute
command. You give a range of substitutions to be done and
the editor interactively asks whether each substitution is
desired.
It is possible to ignore case of letters in searches and
substitutions. ex also allows regular expressions which
match words to be constructed. This is convenient, for
example, in searching for the word ``edit'' if your document
also contains the word ``editor.''
ex has a set of options which you can set to tailor it to
your liking. One option which is very useful is the
autoindent option which allows the editor to automatically
supply leading white space to align text. You can then use
the ^D key as a backtab and space and tab forward to align
new code easily.
Miscellaneous new useful features include an intelligent
join (j) command which supplies white space between joined
lines automatically, commands < and > which shift groups of
lines, and the ability to filter portions of the buffer
through commands such as sort.
INVOCATION OPTIONS
The following invocation options are interpreted by ex:
- Suppress all interactive-user feedback. This
is useful in processing editor scripts.
-v Invokes vi
-t tagfR Edit the file containing the tag and position
the editor at its definition.
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-r file Recover file after an editor or system crash.
If file is not specified a list of all saved
files will be printed.
-R Readonly mode set, prevents accidentally
overwriting the file.
-x Encryption option; when this option is used,
the file will be encrypted as it is being
written and will require an encryption key to
be read (see crypt(1)). Also, see the
WARNING section at the end of this manual
page.
+command Begin editing by executing the specified
editor search or positioning command.
The name argument indicates files to be edited.
ex States
Command Normal and initial state. Input prompted for
by :. Your kill character cancels partial
command.
Insert Entered by a, i, or c. Arbitrary text may be
entered. Insert is normally terminated by a
line having only . on it, or abnormally with
an interrupt.
Visual Entered by vi, terminates with Q or ^\.
ex command names and abbreviations
abbrev ab next n unabbrev una
append a number nu undo u
args ar unmap unm
change c preserve pre version ve
copy co print p visual vi
delete d put pu write w
edit e quit q xit x
file f read re yank ya
global g recover rec window z
insert i rewind rew escape !
join j set se lshift <
list l shell sh print next CR
map source so resubst &
mark ma stop st rshift >
move m substitute s scroll ^D
ex Command Addresses
n line n /pat next with pat
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. current ?pat previous with pat
$ last x-n n before x
+ next x,y x through y
- previous 'x marked with x
+n n forward '' previous context
% 1,$
Initializing options
EXINIT place set's here in environment var.
$HOME/.exrc editor initialization file
./.exrc editor initialization file
set x enable option
set nox disable option
set x=val give value val
set show changed options
set all show all options
set x? show value of option x
Most useful options
autoindent ai supply indent
autowrite aw write before changing files
ignorecase ic in scanning
list print ^I for tab, $ at end
magic . [ * special in patterns
number nu number lines
paragraphs para macro names which start ...
redraw simulate smart terminal
scroll command mode lines
sections sect macro names ...
shiftwidth sw for < >, and input ^D
showmatch sm to ) and } as typed
showmode smd show insert mode in vi
slowopen slow stop updates during insert
window visual mode lines
wrapscan ws around end of buffer?
wrapmargin wm automatic line splitting
Scanning pattern formation
^ beginning of line
$ end of line
. any character
\< beginning of word
\> end of word
[str] any char in str
[^str] ... not in str
[x-y] ... between x and y
* any number of preceding
AUTHOR
Vi and ex are based on software developed by The University
of California, Berkeley California, Computer Science
Division, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
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Science.
FILES
/usr/lib/ex?.?strings error messages
/usr/lib/ex?.?recover recover command
/usr/lib/ex?.?preserve preserve command
/usr/lib/*/* describes capabilities of terminals
$HOME/.exrc editor startup file
./.exrc editor startup file
/tmp/Exnnnnn editor temporary
/tmp/Rxnnnnn named buffer temporary
/usr/preserve/login preservation directory
(where login is the user's login)
SEE ALSO
awk(1), ed(1), edit(1), grep(1), sed(1), vi(1).
curses(3X), term(4), terminfo(4) in the Programmer's
Reference Manual.
WARNING
The -x option is provided with the Security Administration
Utilities, which is available only in the United States.
BUGS
The undo command causes all marks to be lost on lines
changed and then restored if the marked lines were changed.
Undo 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.
ORIGIN
AT&T V.3
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