ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
NAME
ed, red - text editor
SYNOPSIS
ed [-s] [-p string ] [-x] [-C] [file]
red [-s] [-p string ] [-x] [-C] [file]
DESCRIPTION
ed is the standard text editor. If the file argument is
given, ed simulates an e command (see below) on the named
file; that is to say, the file is read into ed's buffer so
that it can be edited.
-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 Allows the user to specify a prompt string.
-x Encryption option; when used, ed 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(1). 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
option. See crypt(1). Also, see the NOTES section at
the end of this manual page.
-C Encryption option; the same as the -x option, 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.
ed 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.
red is a restricted version of ed. It will only allow edit-
ing of files in the current directory. It prohibits execut-
ing shell commands via !shell command. Attempts to bypass
these restrictions result in an error message (restricted
shell).
Both ed and red support the fspec(4) 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(1)], the specified tab stops will
automatically be used when scanning file. For example, if
1
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
the first line of a file contained:
<:t5,10,15 s72:>
tab stops would be set at columns 5, 10, and 15, and a max-
imum 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 com-
mand, 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 com-
mands are recognized; all input is merely collected. Leave
input mode by typing a period (.) at the beginning of a
line, followed immediately by a carriage return.
ed supports a limited form of regular expression notation;
regular expressions are used in addresses to specify lines
and in some commands (e.g., 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 \ (period, asterisk, left square
bracket, and backslash, respectively), which
are always special, except when they appear
within square brackets ([]; see 1.4 below).
b. ^ (caret or circumflex), which is special at
the beginning of an entire RE (see 4.1 and 4.3
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
2
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
an entire RE (see 4.2 below).
d. The character used to bound (i.e., delimit) an
entire RE, which is special for that RE (for
example, see how slash (/) is used in the g
command, below.)
1.3 A period (.) is a one-character RE that matches any
character except new-line.
1.4 A non-empty 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 new-
line 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 characters; for example, [0-9]
is equivalent to [0123456789]. The - loses this spe-
cial 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); e.g., []a-f] matches either a right square
bracket (]) or one of the ASCII letters a through f
inclusive. The four characters listed in 1.2.a above
stand for themselves within such a string of charac-
ters.
The following rules may be used to construct REs from one-
character REs:
2.1 A one-character RE is a RE that matches whatever the
one-character RE matches.
2.2 A one-character RE followed by an asterisk (*) is a
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 a 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 a RE that matches the
3
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
concatenation of the strings matched by each com-
ponent of the RE.
2.5 A RE enclosed between the character sequences \( and
\) is a RE that matches whatever the unadorned RE
matches.
2.6 The expression \n matches the same string of charac-
ters 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.
A RE may be constrained to match words.
3.1 \< constrains a RE to match the beginning of a string
or to follow a character that is not a digit, under-
score, or letter. The first character matching the
RE must be a digit, underscore, or letter.
3.2 \> constrains a RE to match the end of a string or to
precede a character that is not a digit, underscore,
or letter.
An entire RE may be constrained to match only an initial
segment or final segment of a line (or both).
4.1 A circumflex (^) at the beginning of an entire RE
constrains that RE to match an initial segment of a
line.
4.2 A dollar sign ($) at the end of an entire RE con-
strains that RE to match a final segment of a line.
4.3 The construction ^entire RE$ constrains the entire RE
to match the entire line.
The null RE (e.g., //) is equivalent to the last RE encoun-
tered. 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:
4
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
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. 'x addresses the line marked with the mark name char-
acter x, which must be an ASCII lower-case letter
(a-z). Lines are marked with the k command described
below.
5. A 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 match-
ing 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. A 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. A shorthand for .+5 is .5.
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 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 ear-
lier 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
5
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
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 first address is calculated, the
current line (.) is set to that value, and then the second
address is calculated. This feature can be used to deter-
mine 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 in the buffer
that follows the line corresponding to the first address.
6
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
In the following list of ed commands, the parentheses shown
prior to the command are not part of the address; rather
they show the default address(es) for the command.
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 dis-
cussed below under the l, n, and p commands.
(.)a
<text>
.
The append command accepts zero or more lines of text
and appends it after the addressed line in the buffer.
The current 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 new-line char-
acter).
(.)c
<text>
.
The change command deletes the addressed lines from the
buffer, then accepts zero or more lines of text that
replaces these lines in the buffer. The current line
(.) 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, described later, except that ed
assumes all text read in for 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 deletes the entire contents of the
buffer and then reads the contents of file into the
buffer. The current line (.) is set to the last line
of the buffer. If file is not given, the currently
remembered file name, if any, is used (see the f com-
mand). The number of characters read in is printed;
7
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
file is remembered for possible use as a default file
name in subsequent e, r, and w commands. If file is
replaced by !, the rest of the line is taken to be a
shell [sh(1)] command whose output is to be read in.
Such a shell command is not remembered as the current
file name. 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 file name to file; otherwise, it
prints the currently remembered file name.
(1,$)g/RE/command list
In the global command, the first step is to mark every
line that matches the given RE. Then, for every such
line, the given command list is executed with the
current line (.) initially set to that line. A single
command or the first of a list of commands appears on
the same line as the global command. All lines of a
multi-line list except the last line must be ended with
a \; a, i, and c commands and associated input are per-
mitted. The . terminating input mode may be omitted if
it would be the last line of the command list. An
empty command list is equivalent to the p command. The
g, G, v, and V commands are not permitted in the com-
mand list. See also the NOTES and the last paragraph
before FILES below.
(1,$)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, the current line
(.) 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
new-line 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 com-
mand can be terminated by an interrupt signal (ASCII
DEL or BREAK).
h
The help command gives a short error message that
explains the reason for the most recent ? diagnostic.
8
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
H
The Help command causes ed to enter a mode in which
error messages are printed for all subsequent ? diag-
nostics. 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 accepts zero or more lines of text
and inserts it before the addressed line in the buffer.
The current 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 place-
ment 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 (includ-
ing the new-line character).
(.,.+1)j
The join command joins contiguous lines by removing the
appropriate new-line 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 lower-case letter (a-z). The
address 'x then addresses this line; the current line
(.) is unchanged.
(.,.)l
The list command prints the addressed lines in an unam-
biguous way: a few non-printing characters (e.g., tab,
backspace) are represented by visually mnemonic over-
strikes. All other non-printing characters are printed
in octal, and long lines are folded. An l command may
be appended to any 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; the current line
(.) is left at the last line moved.
(.,.)n
The number command prints the addressed lines, preced-
ing each line by its line number and a tab character;
the current line (.) is left at the last line printed.
The n command may be appended to any command other than
9
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
e, f, r, or w.
(.,.)p
The print command prints the addressed lines; the
current line (.) is left at the last line printed. The
p command may be appended to any command other than e,
f, r, or w. For example, dp deletes the current line
and prints the new current line.
P
The editor will prompt with a * for all subsequent com-
mands. 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.
($)r file
The read command reads the contents of file into the
buffer. If file is not given, the currently remembered
file name, if any, is used (see the e and f commands).
The currently remembered file name is not changed
unless file is the very first file name mentioned since
ed was invoked. Address 0 is legal for r and causes
the file to be read in at the beginning of the buffer.
If the read is successful, the number of characters
read in is printed; the current line (.) is set to the
last line read in. If file is replaced by !, the rest
of the line is taken to be a shell [see sh(1)] command
whose output is to be read in. 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 file name.
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/ or
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/g or
(.,.)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 (non-overlapped) 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 if the substitution fails
10
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
on all addressed lines. Any character other than space
or new-line may be used instead of / to delimit the RE
and the replacement; the current line (.) 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 subex-
pression 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 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 new-line charac-
ter into it. The new-line 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); the current line (.) is left at the
last line copied.
u
The undo command nullifies the effect of the most
recent command that modified anything in the buffer,
namely the most recent a, c, d, g, i, j, m, r, s, t, v,
G, or V command.
(1,$)v/RE/command list
This command is the same as the global command g,
except that the lines marked during the first step are
those that do not match the RE.
(1,$)V/RE/
This command is the same as the interactive global com-
mand G, except that the lines that are marked during
the first step are those that do not match the RE.
(1,$)w file
The write command writes the addressed lines into file.
11
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
If file does not exist, it is created with mode 666
(readable and writable by everyone), unless your file
creation mask dictates otherwise; see the description
of the umask special command on sh(1). The currently
remembered file name is not changed unless file is the
very first file name mentioned since ed was invoked.
If no file name is given, the currently remembered file
name, if any, is used (see the e and f commands); the
current line (.) is unchanged. If the command is suc-
cessful, the number of characters written is printed.
If file is replaced by !, the rest of the line is taken
to be a shell [see sh(1)] command whose standard input
is the addressed lines. Such a shell command is not
remembered as the current file name.
(1,$)W file
This command is the same as the write command above,
except that it appends the addressed lines to the end
of file if it exists. If file does not exist, it is
created as described above for the w command.
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(1) 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. Subse-
quent e, r, and w commands will use this key to encrypt
or decrypt the text [see crypt(1)]. An explicitly
empty key turns off encryption. Also, see the -x
option of ed.
($)=
The line number of the addressed line is typed; the
current line (.) is unchanged by this command.
!shell command
The remainder of the line after the ! is sent to the
UNIX system shell [see sh(1)] to be interpreted as a
command. Within the text of that command, the unes-
caped character % is replaced with the remembered file
name; if a ! appears as the first character of the
shell command, it is replaced with the text of the pre-
vious shell command. Thus, !! will repeat the last
shell command. If any expansion is performed, the
expanded line is echoed; the current line (.) is
unchanged.
(.+1)<new-line>
An address alone on a line causes the addressed line to
be printed. A new-line alone is equivalent to .+1p; it
is useful for stepping forward through the buffer.
12
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
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 char-
acters 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 new-line 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
(e.g., /) would be the last character before a new-line,
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?
FILES
$TMPDIR if this environmental variable is not null, its
value is used in place of /var/tmp as the direc-
tory name for the temporary work file.
/var/tmp if /var/tmp exists, it is used as the directory
name for the temporary work file.
/tmp if the environmental variable TMPDIR does not
exist or is null, and if /var/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.
SEE ALSO
edit(1), ex(1), grep(1), sed(1), sh(1), stty(1), umask(1),
vi(1).
fspec(4), regexp(5) in the System Administrator's Reference
Manual.
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 via the e or q
commands. It prints ? and allows one to continue editing.
13
ed(1) USER COMMANDS ed(1)
A second e or q command at this point will take effect. The
-s command-line option inhibits this feature.
NOTES
The - option, although it continues to be supported, has
been replaced in the documentation by the -s option that
follows the Command Syntax Standard [see intro(1)].
The encryption options and commands are provided with the
Security Administration Utilities package, which is avail-
able only in the United States.
A ! command cannot be subject to a g or a v command.
The ! command and the ! escape from the e, r, and w com-
mands cannot be used if the editor is invoked from a res-
tricted shell [see sh(1)].
The sequence \n in a RE does not match a new-line character.
If the editor input is coming from a command file (e.g., ed
file < ed_cmd_file), the editor exits at the first failure.
14