EX(1) User Commands EX(1)NAME
ex, edit - text editor
SYNOPSISex [-c command|+command] [-r [filename]] [-s|-] [-t tagstring]
[-w size] [-lLRvV] [file ...]
edit [-c command|+command] [-r [filename]] [-s|-] [-t tagstring]
[-w size] [-lLRvV] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
Ex is the root of a family of editors: edit, ex and vi. Ex is a super‐
set of ed, with the most notable extension being a display editing
facility. Display based editing on CRT terminals is the focus of vi.
For those who have not used ed, or for casual users, the editor edit
may be convenient. It avoids some of the complexities of ex used
mostly by systems programmers and persons very familiar with ed.
The following options are accepted:
-c command or +command
Execute command when editing begins.
-l Start in a special mode useful for the Lisp programming lan‐
guage.
-r [filename] or -L
When no argument is supplied with this option, all files to be
recovered are listed and the editor exits immediately. If a
filename is specified, the corresponding temporary file is
opened in recovery mode.
-R Files are opened read-only when this option is given.
-s or -
Script mode; all feedback for interactive editing is disabled.
EXINIT and .exrc files are not processed.
-t tagstring
Read the tags file, then choose the file and position specified
by tagstring for editing.
-v Start in visual mode even if called as ex.
-V Echo command input to standard error, unless it originates from
a terminal.
-w size
Specify the size of the editing window for visual mode.
File manipulation
Ex is normally editing the contents of a single file, whose name is
recorded in the current file name. Ex performs all editing actions in
a buffer (actually a temporary file) into which the text of the file is
initially read. Changes made to the buffer have no effect on the file
being edited unless and until the buffer contents are written out to
the file with a write command. After the buffer contents are written,
the previous contents of the written file are no longer accessible.
When a file is edited, its name becomes the current file name, and its
contents are read into the buffer.
The current file is almost always considered to be edited. This means
that the contents of the buffer are logically connected with the cur‐
rent file name, so that writing the current buffer contents onto that
file, even if it exists, is a reasonable action. If the current file
is not edited then ex will not normally write on it if it already
exists.
For saving blocks of text while editing, and especially when editing
more than one file, ex has a group of named buffers. These are similar
to the normal buffer, except that only a limited number of operations
are available on them. The buffers have names a through z.
Exceptional Conditions
When errors occur ex (optionally) rings the terminal bell and, in any
case, prints an error diagnostic. If the primary input is from a file,
editor processing will terminate. If an interrupt signal is received,
ex prints “Interrupt” and returns to its command level. If the primary
input is a file, then ex will exit when this occurs.
If a hangup signal is received and the buffer has been modified since
it was last written out, or if the system crashes, either the editor
(in the first case) or the system (after it reboots in the second) will
attempt to preserve the buffer. The next time the user logs in he
should be able to recover the work he was doing, losing at most a few
lines of changes from the last point before the hangup or editor crash.
To recover a file one can use the -r option. If one was editing the
file resume, then he should change to the directory where he were when
the crash occurred, giving the command
ex-r resume
After checking that the retrieved file is indeed ok, he can write it
over the previous contents of that file.
The user will normally get mail from the system telling him when a file
has been saved after a crash. The command
ex-r
will print a list of the files which have been saved for the user.
Editing modes
Ex has five distinct modes. The primary mode is command mode. Com‐
mands are entered in command mode when a `:' prompt is present, and are
executed each time a complete line is sent. In text input mode ex
gathers input lines and places them in the file. The append, insert,
and change commands use text input mode. No prompt is printed when in
text input mode. This mode is left by typing a `.' alone at the begin‐
ning of a line, and command mode resumes.
The last three modes are open and visual modes, entered by the commands
of the same name, and, within open and visual modes text insertion
mode. Open and visual modes allow local editing operations to be per‐
formed on the text in the file. The open command displays one line at
a time on any terminal while visual works on CRT terminals with random
positioning cursors, using the screen as a (single) window for file
editing changes. These modes are described (only) in An Introduction
to Display Editing with Vi.
Command structure
Most command names are English words, and initial prefixes of the words
are acceptable abbreviations. The ambiguity of abbreviations is
resolved in favor of the more commonly used commands.
Most commands accept prefix addresses specifying the lines in the file
upon which they are to have effect. The forms of these addresses will
be discussed below. A number of commands also may take a trailing
count specifying the number of lines to be involved in the command.
Thus the command “10p” will print the tenth line in the buffer while
“delete 5” will delete five lines from the buffer, starting with the
current line.
Some commands take other information or parameters, this information
always being given after the command name.
A number of commands have two distinct variants. The variant form of
the command is invoked by placing an `!' immediately after the command
name. Some of the default variants may be controlled by options; in
this case, the `!' serves to toggle the default.
The characters `#', `p' and `l' may be placed after many commands (A
`p' or `l' must be preceded by a blank or tab except in the single spe‐
cial case `dp'). In this case, the command abbreviated by these char‐
acters is executed after the command completes. Since ex normally
prints the new current line after each change, `p' is rarely necessary.
Any number of `+' or `-' characters may also be given with these flags.
If they appear, the specified offset is applied to the current line
value before the printing command is executed.
It is possible to give editor commands which are ignored. This is use‐
ful when making complex editor scripts for which comments are desired.
The comment character is the double quote: ". Any command line begin‐
ning with " is ignored. Comments beginning with " may also be placed
at the ends of commands, except in cases where they could be confused
as part of text (shell escapes and the substitute and map commands).
More than one command may be placed on a line by separating each pair
of commands by a `|' character. However the global commands, comments,
and the shell escape `!' must be the last command on a line, as they
are not terminated by a `|'.
Command addressing
. The current line. Most commands leave the current
line as the last line which they affect. The
default address for most commands is the current
line, thus `.' is rarely used alone as an address.
n The nth line in the editor's buffer, lines being
numbered sequentially from 1.
$ The last line in the buffer.
% An abbreviation for “1,$”, the entire buffer.
+n -n An offset relative to the current buffer line. The
forms `.+3' `+3' and `+++' are all equivalent; if
the current line is line 100 they all address line
103.
/pat/ ?pat? Scan forward and backward respectively for a line
containing pat, a regular expression (as defined
below). The scans normally wrap around the end of
the buffer. If all that is desired is to print the
next line containing pat, then the trailing / or ?
may be omitted. If pat is omitted or explicitly
empty, then the last regular expression specified
is located. The forms \/ and \? scan using the
last regular expression used in a scan; after a
substitute // and ?? would scan using the substi‐
tute's regular expression.
´´ ´x Before each non-relative motion of the current line
`.', the previous current line is marked with a
tag, subsequently referred to as `´´'. This makes
it easy to refer or return to this previous con‐
text. Marks may also be established by the mark
command, using single lower case letters x and the
marked lines referred to as `´x'.
Addresses to commands consist of a series of addressing primitives,
separated by `,' or `;'. Such address lists are evaluated left-to-
right. When addresses are separated by `;' the current line `.' is
set to the value of the previous addressing expression before the next
address is interpreted. If more addresses are given than the command
requires, then all but the last one or two are ignored. If the command
takes two addresses, the first addressed line must precede the second
in the buffer.
Null address specifications are permitted in a list of addresses, the
default in this case is the current line `.'; thus `,100' is equivalent
to `.,100'. It is an error to give a prefix address to a command which
expects none.
Command descriptions
The following form is a prototype for all ex commands:
address command ! parameters count flags
All parts are optional; the degenerate case is the empty command which
prints the next line in the file. For sanity with use from within vis‐
ual mode, ex ignores a “:” preceding any command.
In the following command descriptions, the default addresses are shown
in parentheses, which are not, however, part of the command.
abbreviate word rhs abbr: ab
Add the named abbreviation to the current list. When in input
mode in visual, if word is typed as a complete word, it will be
changed to rhs .
( . ) append abbr: a
text
.
Reads the input text and places it after the specified line.
After the command, `.' addresses the last line input or the
specified line if no lines were input. If address `0' is given,
text is placed at the beginning of the buffer.
a!
text
.
The variant flag to append toggles the setting for the autoin‐
dent option during the input of text.
args The members of the argument list are printed, with the current
argument delimited by `[' and `]'.
cd directory
The cd command is a synonym for chdir.
( . , . ) change count abbr: c
text
.
Replaces the specified lines with the input text. The current
line becomes the last line input; if no lines were input it is
left as for a delete.
c!
text
.
The variant toggles autoindent during the change.
chdir directory
The specified directory becomes the current directory. If no
directory is specified, the current value of the home option is
used as the target directory. After a chdir the current file is
not considered to have been edited so that write restrictions on
pre-existing files apply.
( . , . )copy addr flags abbr: co
A copy of the specified lines is placed after addr, which may be
`0'. The current line `.' addresses the last line of the copy.
The command t is a synonym for copy.
( . , . )delete buffer count flags abbr: d
Removes the specified lines from the buffer. The line after the
last line deleted becomes the current line; if the lines deleted
were originally at the end, the new last line becomes the cur‐
rent line. If a named buffer is specified by giving a letter,
then the specified lines are saved in that buffer, or appended
to it if an upper case letter is used.
edit file abbr: e
ex file
Used to begin an editing session on a new file. The editor
first checks to see if the buffer has been modified since the
last write command was issued. If it has been, a warning is
issued and the command is aborted. The command otherwise
deletes the entire contents of the editor buffer, makes the
named file the current file and prints the new filename. After
insuring that this file is sensible (i.e., that it is not a
binary file such as a directory, a block or character special
file other than /dev/tty, a terminal, or a binary or executable
file), the editor reads the file into its buffer.
If the read of the file completes without error, the number of
lines and characters read is typed. Any null characters in the
file are discarded. If none of these errors occurred, the file
is considered edited. If the last line of the input file is
missing the trailing newline character, it will be supplied and
a complaint will be issued. This command leaves the current
line `.' at the last line read. If executed from within open or
visual, the current line is initially the first line of the
file.
e! file
The variant form suppresses the complaint about modifications
having been made and not written from the editor buffer, thus
discarding all changes which have been made before editing the
new file.
e +n file
Causes the editor to begin at line n rather than at the last
line; n may also be an editor command containing no spaces,
e.g.: “+/pat”.
file abbr: f
Prints the current file name, whether it has been `[Modified]'
since the last write command, whether it is read only , the cur‐
rent line, the number of lines in the buffer, and the percentage
of the way through the buffer of the current line. In the rare
case that the current file is `[Not edited]' this is noted also;
in this case one has to use the form w! to write to the file,
since the editor is not sure that a write will not destroy a
file unrelated to the current contents of the buffer.
file file
The current file name is changed to file which is considered
`[Not edited]'.
( 1 , $ ) global /pat/ cmds abbr: g
First marks each line among those specified which matches the
given regular expression. Then the given command list is exe‐
cuted with `.' initially set to each marked line.
The command list consists of the remaining commands on the cur‐
rent input line and may continue to multiple lines by ending all
but the last such line with a `\'. If cmds (and possibly the
trailing / delimiter) is omitted, each line matching pat is
printed. Append, insert, and change commands and associated
input are permitted; the `.' terminating input may be omitted if
it would be on the last line of the command list. Open and vis‐
ual commands are permitted in the command list and take input
from the terminal.
The global command itself may not appear in cmds. The undo com‐
mand is also not permitted there, as undo instead can be used to
reverse the entire global command. The options autoprint and
autoindent are inhibited during a global, (and possibly the
trailing / delimiter) and the value of the report option is tem‐
porarily infinite, in deference to a report for the entire
global. Finally, the context mark `´´' is set to the value of
`.' before the global command begins and is not changed during a
global command, except perhaps by an open or visual within the
global.
g! /pat/ cmds abbr: v
The variant form of global runs cmds at each line not matching
pat.
( . )insert abbr: i
text
.
Places the given text before the specified line. The current
line is left at the last line input; if there were none input it
is left at the line before the addressed line. This command
differs from append only in the placement of text.
i!
text
.
The variant toggles autoindent during the insert.
( . , .+1 ) join count flags abbr: j
Places the text from a specified range of lines together on one
line. White space is adjusted at each junction to provide at
least one blank character, two if there was a `.' at the end of
the line, or none if the first following character is a `)'. If
there is already white space at the end of the line, then the
white space at the start of the next line will be discarded.
j! The variant causes a simpler join with no white space process‐
ing; the characters in the lines are simply concatenated.
( . ) k x
The k command is a synonym for mark. It does not require a
blank or tab before the following letter.
( . , . ) list count flags
Prints the specified lines in a more unambiguous way: tabs are
printed as `^I' and the end of each line is marked with a trail‐
ing `$'. The current line is left at the last line printed.
map[!] lhs rhs
The map command is used to define macros for use in visual com‐
mand mode. Lhs should be a single character, or the sequence
“#n”, for n a digit, referring to function key n. When this
character or function key is typed in visual mode, it will be as
though the corresponding rhs had been typed. On terminals with‐
out function keys, the user can type “#n”. If the `!' character
follows the command name, the mapping is interpreted in input
mode. See section 6.9 of the “Introduction to Display Editing
with Vi” for more details.
( . ) mark x
Gives the specified line mark x, a single lower case letter.
The x must be preceded by a blank or a tab. The addressing form
`´x' then addresses this line. The current line is not affected
by this command.
( . , . ) move addr abbr: m
The move command repositions the specified lines to be after
addr . The first of the moved lines becomes the current line.
next abbr: n
The next file from the command line argument list is edited.
n! The variant suppresses warnings about the modifications to the
buffer not having been written out, discarding (irretrievably)
any changes which may have been made.
n filelist
n +command filelist
The specified filelist is expanded and the resulting list
replaces the current argument list; the first file in the new
list is then edited. If command is given (it must contain no
spaces), then it is executed after editing the first such file.
( . , . ) number count flags abbr: # or nu
Prints each specified line preceded by its buffer line number.
The current line is left at the last line printed.
( . ) open flags abbr: o
( . ) open /pat/ flags
Enters intraline editing open mode at each addressed line. If
pat is given, then the cursor will be placed initially at the
beginning of the string matched by the pattern. To exit this
mode use Q. See An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi for
more details.
preserve
The current editor buffer is saved as though the system had just
crashed. This command is for use only in emergencies when a
write command has resulted in an error.
( . , . )print count abbr: p or P
Prints the specified lines with non-printing characters printed
as control characters `^x'; delete (octal 177) is represented as
`^?'. The current line is left at the last line printed.
( . )put buffer abbr: pu
Puts back previously deleted or yanked lines. Normally used
with delete to effect movement of lines, or with yank to effect
duplication of lines. If no buffer is specified, then the last
deleted or yanked text is restored. But no modifying commands
may intervene between the delete or yank and the put, nor may
lines be moved between files without using a named buffer. By
using a named buffer, text may be restored that was saved there
at any previous time.
quit abbr: q
Causes ex to terminate. No automatic write of the editor buffer
to a file is performed. However, ex issues a warning message if
the file has changed since the last write command was issued,
and does not quit. Ex will also issue a diagnostic if there are
more files in the argument list. Normally, the user will wish
to save his changes, and he should give a write command; if he
wishes to discard them, he should the q! command variant.
q! Quits from the editor, discarding changes to the buffer without
complaint.
( . ) read file abbr: r
Places a copy of the text of the given file in the editing buf‐
fer after the specified line. If no file is given the current
file name is used. The current file name is not changed unless
there is none in which case file becomes the current name. The
sensibility restrictions for the edit command apply here also.
If the file buffer is empty and there is no current name then ex
treats this as an edit command.
Address `0' is legal for this command and causes the file to be
read at the beginning of the buffer. Statistics are given as
for the edit command when the read successfully terminates.
After a read the current line is the last line read. Within
open and visual the current line is set to the first line read
rather than the last.
( . ) read !command
Reads the output of the command command into the buffer after
the specified line. This is not a variant form of the command,
rather a read specifying a command rather than a filename; a
blank or tab before the ! is mandatory.
recover file
Recovers file from the system save area. Used after a acciden‐
tal hangup of the phone or a system crash or preserve command.
Except when preserve is used, the user will be notified by mail
when a file is saved.
rewind abbr: rew
The argument list is rewound, and the first file in the list is
edited.
rew! Rewinds the argument list discarding any changes made to the
current buffer.
set parameter
With no arguments, prints those options whose values have been
changed from their defaults; with parameter all it prints all of
the option values.
Giving an option name followed by a `?' causes the current
value of that option to be printed. The `?' is unnecessary
unless the option is Boolean valued. Boolean options are given
values either by the form `set option' to turn them on or `set
nooption' to turn them off; string and numeric options are
assigned via the form `set option=value'.
More than one parameter may be given to set ; they are inter‐
preted left-to-right.
A list of options can be found below.
shell abbr: sh
A new shell is created. When it terminates, editing resumes.
source file abbr: so
Reads and executes commands from the specified file. Source
commands may be nested.
( . , . ) substitute /pat/repl/ options count flags
abbr: s
On each specified line, the first instance of pattern pat is
replaced by replacement pattern repl. If the global indicator
option character `g' appears, then all instances are substi‐
tuted; if the confirm indication character `c' appears, then
before each substitution the line to be substituted is typed
with the string to be substituted marked with `^' characters.
By typing an `y' one can cause the substitution to be performed,
any other input causes no change to take place. After a substi‐
tute the current line is the last line substituted.
Lines may be split by substituting new-line characters into
them. The newline in repl must be escaped by preceding it with
a `\'. Other metacharacters available in pat and repl are
described below.
stop Suspends the editor, returning control to the top level shell.
If autowrite is set and there are unsaved changes, a write is
done first unless the form stop ! is used. This commands is
only available where supported by the teletype driver, shell and
operating system.
( . , . ) substitute options count flags abbr: s
If pat and repl are omitted, then the last substitution is
repeated. This is a synonym for the & command.
( . , . ) t addr flags
The t command is a synonym for copy .
ta tag The focus of editing switches to the location of tag, switching
to a different line in the current file where it is defined, or
if necessary to another file.
The tags file is normally created by a program such as ctags,
and consists of a number of lines with three fields separated by
blanks or tabs. The first field gives the name of the tag, the
second the name of the file where the tag resides, and the third
gives an addressing form which can be used by the editor to find
the tag; this field is usually a contextual scan using `/pat/'
to be immune to minor changes in the file. Such scans are
always performed as if nomagic was set.
The tag names in the tags file must be sorted alphabetically.
unabbreviate word abbr: una
Delete word from the list of abbreviations.
undo abbr: u
Reverses the changes made in the buffer by the last buffer edit‐
ing command. Note that global commands are considered a single
command for the purpose of undo (as are open and visual.) Also,
the commands write and edit which interact with the file system
cannot be undone. Undo is its own inverse.
Undo always marks the previous value of the current line `.' as
`´´'. After an undo the current line is the first line restored
or the line before the first line deleted if no lines were
restored. For commands with more global effect such as global
and visual the current line regains it's pre-command value after
an undo.
unmap[!] lhs
The macro expansion associated by map for lhs is removed.
( 1 , $ ) v /pat/ cmds
A synonym for the global command variant g!, running the speci‐
fied cmds on each line which does not match pat.
version abbr: ve
Prints the current version number of the editor as well as the
date the editor was last changed.
( . ) visual type count flags abbr: vi
Enters visual mode at the specified line. Type is optional and
may be `-' , `^' or `.' as in the z command to specify the
placement of the specified line on the screen. By default, if
type is omitted, the specified line is placed as the first on
the screen. A count specifies an initial window size; the
default is the value of the option window. See the document An
Introduction to Display Editing with Vi for more details. To
exit this mode, type Q.
visual file
visual +n file
From visual mode, this command is the same as edit.
( 1 , $ ) write file abbr: w
Writes changes made back to file, printing the number of lines
and characters written. Normally file is omitted and the text
goes back where it came from. If a file is specified, then text
will be written to that file. If the file does not exist it is
created. The current file name is changed only if there is no
current file name; the current line is never changed.
If an error occurs while writing the current and edited file,
the editor considers that there has been “No write since last
change” even if the buffer had not previously been modified.
( 1 , $ ) write>> file abbr: w>>
Writes the buffer contents at the end of an existing file.
w! name
Overrides the checking of the normal write command, and will
write to any file which the system permits.
( 1 , $ ) w !command
Writes the specified lines into command. Note the difference
between w! which overrides checks and w ! which writes to a
command.
wq name
Like a write and then a quit command.
wq! name
The variant overrides checking on the sensibility of the write
command, as w! does.
xit name
If any changes have been made and not written to any file,
writes the buffer out. Then, in any case, quits.
( . , . )yank buffer count abbr: ya
Places the specified lines in the named buffer, for later
retrieval via put. If no buffer name is specified, the lines go
to a more volatile place; see the put command description.
( .+1 ) z count
Print the next count lines, default window.
( . ) z type count
Prints a window of text with the specified line at the top. If
type is `-' the line is placed at the bottom; a `.' causes the
line to be placed in the center. A count gives the number of
lines to be displayed rather than double the number specified by
the scroll option. On a CRT the screen is cleared before dis‐
play begins unless a count which is less than the screen size is
given. The current line is left at the last line printed.
Forms `z=' and `z^' also exist; `z=' places the current line in
the center, surrounds it with lines of `-' characters and leaves
the current line at this line. The form `z^' prints the window
before `z-' would. The characters `+', `^' and `-' may be
repeated for cumulative effect.
! command
The remainder of the line after the `!' character is sent to a
shell to be executed. Within the text of command the characters
`%' and `#' are expanded as in filenames and the character `!'
is replaced with the text of the previous command. Thus, in
particular, `!!' repeats the last such shell escape. If any
such expansion is performed, the expanded line will be echoed.
The current line is unchanged by this command.
If there has been “[No write]” of the buffer contents since the
last change to the editing buffer, then a diagnostic will be
printed before the command is executed as a warning. A single
`!' is printed when the command completes.
( addr , addr ) ! command
Takes the specified address range and supplies it as standard
input to command; the resulting output then replaces the input
lines.
( $ ) =
Prints the line number of the addressed line. The current line
is unchanged.
( . , . ) > count flags
( . , . ) < count flags
Perform intelligent shifting on the specified lines; < shifts
left and > shift right. The quantity of shift is determined by
the shiftwidth option and the repetition of the specification
character. Only white space (blanks and tabs) is shifted; no
non-white characters are discarded in a left-shift. The current
line becomes the last line which changed due to the shifting.
^D An end-of-file from a terminal input scrolls through the file.
The scroll option specifies the size of the scroll, normally a
half screen of text.
( .+1 , .+1 )
( .+1 , .+1 ) |
An address alone causes the addressed lines to be printed. A
blank line prints the next line in the file.
( . , . ) & options count flags
Repeats the previous substitute command.
( . , . ) ~ options count flags
Replaces the previous regular expression with the previous
replacement pattern from a substitution.
Regular expressions
A regular expression specifies a set of strings of characters. A mem‐
ber of this set of strings is said to be matched by the regular expres‐
sion. Ex remembers two previous regular expressions: the previous reg‐
ular expression used in a substitute command and the previous regular
expression used elsewhere (referred to as the previous scanning regular
expression.) The previous regular expression can always be referred to
by a null re, e.g. `//' or `??'.
The following basic constructs are used to construct magic mode regular
expressions.
char An ordinary character matches itself. The characters
`^' at the beginning of a line, `$' at the end of line,
`*' as any character other than the first, `.', `\',
`[', and `~' are not ordinary characters and must be
escaped (preceded) by `\' to be treated as such.
^ At the beginning of a pattern forces the match to suc‐
ceed only at the beginning of a line.
$ At the end of a regular expression forces the match to
succeed only at the end of the line.
. Matches any single character except the new-line charac‐
ter.
\< Forces the match to occur only at the beginning of a
“variable” or “word”; that is, either at the beginning
of a line, or just before a letter, digit, or underline
and after a character not one of these.
\> Similar to `\<', but matching the end of a “variable” or
“word”, i.e. either the end of the line or before char‐
acter which is neither a letter, nor a digit, nor the
underline character.
[string] Matches any (single) character in the class defined by
string. Most characters in string define themselves.
A pair of characters separated by `-' in string
defines the set of characters collating between the
specified lower and upper bounds, thus `[a-z]' as a reg‐
ular expression matches any (single) ASCII lower-case
letter.
If the sequence `[:class:]' appears in string, where
class is one of `alnum', `alpha', `blank', `cntrl',
`digit', `graph', `lower', `print', `punct', `space',
`upper', `xdigit', or a locale-specific character class,
all characters that belong to the given class are
matched. Thus `[[:lower:]]' matches any lower-case let‐
ter, possibly including characters beyond the scope of
ASCII.
If the first character of string is an `^' then the
construct matches those characters which it otherwise
would not; thus `[^a-z]' matches anything but an ASCII
lower-case letter (and of course a newline).
Backslash `\' is interpreted as an escape character.
To place a `\' character in string, write it twice:
`\\'; to place any of the characters `^', `[', or `-' in
string, you escape them with a preceding `\'.
Characters also lose their special meaning by posi‐
tion: `^' is an ordinary character unless immediately
following the initial `[', `]' is an ordinary character
if immediately following the initial `[' (or `^', if
present), and `-' is an ordinary character if placed
immediately behind `[' or `^', or before ']'.
The concatenation of two regular expressions matches the leftmost and
then longest string which can be divided with the first piece matching
the first regular expression and the second piece matching the second.
A regular expression may be enclosed between the sequences `\(' and
`\)', which matches whatever the enclosed expression matches.
Any of the (single character matching) regular expressions mentioned
above or a regular expression surrounded by `\(' and '\)' may be fol‐
lowed by the character `*' to form a regular expression which matches
any number of adjacent occurrences (including 0) of characters matched
by the regular expression it follows.
A single character regular expression or a regular expression sur‐
rounded by `\(' and '\)' followed by `\{m,n\}' matches a sequence of m
through n occurences, inclusive, of the single character expression.
The values of m and n must be non-negative and smaller than 255. The
form `\{m\}' matches exactly m occurences, `\{m,\}' matches at least m
occurences.
The character `~' may be used in a regular expression, and matches the
text which defined the replacement part of the last substitute command.
The sequence `\n' matches the text that was matched by the n-th regular
subexpression enclosed between `\(' and `\)' earlier in the expression.
Substitute replacement patterns
The basic metacharacters for the replacement pattern are `&', `~', and
`#'; the first two of them are given as `\&' and `\~' when nomagic is
set. Each instance of `&' is replaced by the characters which the reg‐
ular expression matched. The metacharacter `~' stands, in the replace‐
ment pattern, for the defining text of the previous replacement pat‐
tern. If the entire replacement pattern is `#', the defining text of
the previous replacement pattern is used.
Other metasequences possible in the replacement pattern are always
introduced by the escaping character `\'. The sequence `\n' is
replaced by the text matched by the n-th regular subexpression enclosed
between `\(' and `\)'. When nested, parenthesized subexpressions are
present, n is determined by counting occurrences of `\(' starting from
the left. The sequences `\u' and `\l' cause the immediately following
character in the replacement to be converted to upper- or lower-case
respectively if this character is a letter. The sequences `\U' and
`\L' turn such conversion on, either until `\E' or `\e' is encountered,
or until the end of the replacement pattern.
Option descriptions
autoindent, ai default: noai
Can be used to ease the preparation of structured program text.
At the beginning of each append , change or insert command or
when a new line is opened or created by an append , change ,
insert , or substitute operation within open or visual mode, ex
looks at the line being appended after, the first line changed
or the line inserted before and calculates the amount of white
space at the start of the line. It then aligns the cursor at
the level of indentation so determined.
If the user then types lines of text in, they will continue to
be justified at the displayed indenting level. If more white
space is typed at the beginning of a line, the following line
will start aligned with the first non-white character of the
previous line. To back the cursor up to the preceding tab stop
one can hit ^D. The tab stops going backwards are defined at
multiples of the shiftwidth option. The user cannot backspace
over the indent, except by sending an end-of-file with a ^D.
Specially processed in this mode is a line with no characters
added to it, which turns into a completely blank line (the white
space provided for the autoindent is discarded.) Also specially
processed in this mode are lines beginning with an `^' and imme‐
diately followed by a ^D. This causes the input to be reposi‐
tioned at the beginning of the line, but retaining the previous
indent for the next line. Similarly, a `0' followed by a ^D re‐
positions at the beginning but without retaining the previous
indent.
Autoindent doesn't happen in global commands or when the input
is not a terminal.
autoprint, ap default: ap
Causes the current line to be printed after each delete , copy ,
join , move , substitute , t , undo or shift command. This has
the same effect as supplying a trailing `p' to each such com‐
mand. Autoprint is suppressed in globals, and only applies to
the last of many commands on a line.
autowrite, aw default: noaw
Causes the contents of the buffer to be written to the current
file if the user has modified it and gives a next, rewind, stop,
tag, or ! command, or a ^^ (switch files) or ^] (tag goto) com‐
mand in visual. Note, that the edit and ex commands do not
autowrite. In each case, there is an equivalent way of switch‐
ing when autowrite is set to avoid the autowrite (edit for next
, rewind! for .I rewind , stop! for stop , tag! for tag ,
shell for ! , and :e # and a :ta! command from within visual).
beautify, bf default: nobeautify
Causes all control characters except tab, newline and form-feed
to be discarded from the input. A complaint is registered the
first time a backspace character is discarded. Beautify does
not apply to command input.
directory, dir default: dir=/tmp
Specifies the directory in which ex places its buffer file. If
this directory in not writable, then the editor will exit
abruptly when it fails to be able to create its buffer there.
edcompatible default: noedcompatible
Causes the presence of absence of g and c suffixes on substitute
commands to be remembered, and to be toggled by repeating the
suffices. The suffix r makes the substitution be as in the ~
command, instead of like &.
errorbells, eb default: noeb
Error messages are preceded by a bell. Bell ringing in open and
visual on errors is not suppressed by setting noeb. If possible
the editor always places the error message in a standout mode of
the terminal (such as inverse video) instead of ringing the
bell.
exrc default: noexrc
If set, the current directory is searched for a .exrc file on
startup. If this file is found, its content is treated as ex
commands and executed immediately after the contents of
$HOME/.exrc on startup.
flash, fl default: flash
If the terminal provides the “visual bell” capability, ex will
use it instead of the audible bell if flash is set.
hardtabs, ht default: ht=8
Gives the boundaries on which terminal hardware tabs are set (or
on which the system expands tabs).
ignorecase, ic default: noic
All upper case characters in the text are mapped to lower case
in regular expression matching. In addition, all upper case
characters in regular expressions are mapped to lower case
except in character class specifications.
lisp default: nolisp
Autoindent indents appropriately for lisp code, and the ( ) { }
[[ and ]] commands in open and visual are modified to have mean‐
ing for lisp.
list default: nolist
All printed lines will be displayed (more) unambiguously, show‐
ing tabs and end-of-lines as in the list command.
magic default: magic for ex and vi, Nomagic for edit.
If nomagic is set, the number of regular expression metacharac‐
ters is greatly reduced, with only `^' and `$' having special
effects. In addition the metacharacters `~' and `&' of the
replacement pattern are treated as normal characters. All the
normal metacharacters may be made magic when nomagic is set by
preceding them with a `\'.
mesg default: mesg
Causes write permission to be turned off to the terminal while
the user is in visual mode, if nomesg is set.
modelines, ml default: nomodelines
If modelines is set, then the first 5 lines and the last five
lines of the file will be checked for ex command lines and the
comands issued. To be recognized as a command line, the line
must have the string ex: or vi: in it. This string may be any‐
where in the line and anything after the : is interpeted as edi‐
tor commands. This option defaults to off because of unexpected
behavior when editting files such as /etc/passwd.
number, nu default: nonumber
Causes all output lines to be printed with their line numbers.
In addition each input line will be prompted for by supplying
the line number it will have.
open default: open
If noopen, the commands open and visual are not permitted.
optimize, opt default: optimize
Throughput of text is expedited by setting the terminal to not
do automatic carriage returns when printing more than one (logi‐
cal) line of output, greatly speeding output on terminals with‐
out addressable cursors when text with leading white space is
printed.
paragraphs, para default: para=IPLPPPQPP LIbp
Specifies the paragraphs for the { and } operations in open and
visual. The pairs of characters in the option's value are the
names of the macros which start paragraphs.
prompt default: prompt
Command mode input is prompted for with a `:'.
redraw default: noredraw
The editor simulates (using great amounts of output), an intel‐
ligent terminal on a dumb terminal (e.g. during insertions in
visual the characters to the right of the cursor position are
refreshed as each input character is typed.) Useful only at
very high speed.
remap default: remap
If on, macros are repeatedly tried until they are unchanged.
For example, if o is mapped to O , and O is mapped to I , then
if remap is set, o will map to I , but if noremap is set, it
will map to O .
report default: report=5, 2 for edit.
Specifies a threshold for feedback from commands. Any command
which modifies more than the specified number of lines will pro‐
vide feedback as to the scope of its changes. For commands such
as global , open , undo , and visual which have potentially more
far reaching scope, the net change in the number of lines in the
buffer is presented at the end of the command, subject to this
same threshold. Thus notification is suppressed during a global
command on the individual commands performed.
scroll default: scroll=½ window
Determines the number of logical lines scrolled when an end-of-
file is received from a terminal input in command mode, and the
number of lines printed by a command mode z command (double the
value of scroll ).
sections default: sections=SHNHH HU
Specifies the section macros for the [[ and ]] operations in
open and visual. The pairs of characters in the options's value
are the names of the macros which start paragraphs.
shell, sh default: sh=/bin/sh
Gives the path name of the shell forked for the shell escape
command `!', and by the shell command. The default is taken
from SHELL in the environment, if present.
shiftwidth, sw default: sw=8
Gives the width a software tab stop, used in reverse tabbing
with ^D when using autoindent to append text, and by the shift
commands.
showmatch, sm default: nosm
In open and visual mode, when a ) or } is typed, move the cursor
to the matching ( or { for one second if this matching character
is on the screen. Extremely useful with lisp.
showmode, smd default: nosmd
In visual mode, show a description of the current editing mode
in the window's lower right corner.
slowopen, slow terminal dependent
Affects the display algorithm used in visual mode, holding off
display updating during input of new text to improve throughput
when the terminal in use is both slow and unintelligent. See An
Introduction to Display Editing with Vi for more details.
tabstop, ts default: ts=8
The editor expands tabs in the input file to be on tabstop
boundaries for the purposes of display.
taglength, tl default: tl=0
Tags are not significant beyond this many characters. A value
of zero (the default) means that all characters are significant.
tags default: tags=tags /usr/lib/tags
A path of files to be used as tag files for the tag command. A
requested tag is searched for in the specified files, sequen‐
tially. By default, files called tags are searched for in the
current directory and in /usr/lib (a master file for the entire
system).
term from environment TERM
The terminal type of the output device.
terse default: noterse
Shorter error diagnostics are produced for the experienced user.
warn default: warn
Warn if there has been `[No write since last change]' before a
`!' command escape.
window default: window=speed dependent
The number of lines in a text window in the visual command. The
default is 8 at slow speeds (600 baud or less), 16 at medium
speed (1200 baud), and the full screen (minus one line) at
higher speeds.
w300, w1200, w9600
These are not true options but set window only if the speed is
slow (300), medium (1200), or high (9600), respectively. They
are suitable for an EXINIT and make it easy to change the
8/16/full screen rule.
wrapscan, ws default: ws
Searches using the regular expressions in addressing will wrap
around past the end of the file.
wrapmargin, wm default: wm=0
Defines a margin for automatic wrapover of text during input in
open and visual modes. See An Introduction to Text Editing with
Vi for details.
writeany, wa default: nowa
Inhibit the checks normally made before write commands, allowing
a write to any file which the system protection mechanism will
allow.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the behaviour of ex:
COLUMNS
Overrides the system-supplied number of terminal columns.
EXINIT Contains commands to execute at editor startup. If this vari‐
able is present, the .exrc file in the user's home directory is
ignored.
HOME Used to locate the editor startup file.
LANG, LC_ALL
See locale(7).
LC_CTYPE
Determines the mapping of bytes to characters, types of charac‐
ters, case conversion and composition of character classes in
regular expressions.
LC_MESSAGES
Sets the language used for diagnostic and informal messages.
LINES Overrides the system-supplied number of terminal lines.
NLSPATH
See catopen(3).
SHELL The program file used to execute external commands.
TERM Determines the terminal type.
FILES
/usr/lib/ex/expreserve
preserve command
/usr/lib/ex/exrecover
recover command
/etc/termcap
describes capabilities of terminals
$HOME/.exrc
editor startup file
/var/tmp/Exnnnnnnnnnn
editor temporary
/var/tmp/Rxnnnnnnnnnn
named buffer temporary
/var/lib/ex
preservation directory
DOCUMENTATION
The document Edit: A tutorial (USD:14) provides a comprehensive intro‐
duction to edit assuming no previous knowledge of computers or the UNIX
system.
The Ex Reference Manual – Version 3.7 (USD:16) is a comprehensive and
complete manual for the command mode features of ex. The USAGE section
of this page is taken from the manual. 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 (USD:15) introduces the dis‐
play editor vi and provides reference material on vi. (This reference
now forms the vi(1) manual page). In addition, the Vi Quick Reference
card summarizes the commands of vi in a useful, functional way, and is
useful with the Introduction.
SEE ALSOawk(1), ed(1), grep(1), sed(1), grep(1), vi(1), catopen(3), termcap(5),
environ(7), locale(7), regex(7)AUTHOR
Originally written by William Joy.
Mark Horton has maintained the editor since version 2.7, adding macros,
support for many unusual terminals, and other features such as word
abbreviation mode.
This version incorporates changes by Gunnar Ritter.
NOTES
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 don't print a name if the command line `-'
option is used.
The editor does not warn if text is placed in named buffers and not
used before exiting the editor.
Null (00) characters are converted to 0200 characters when reading
input files, and cannot appear in resultant files.
LC_COLLATE locales are ignored; collating symbols `[.c.]' and equiva‐
lence classes `[=c=]' in bracket expressions are recognized but useless
since `c' is restricted to a single character and is the only character
matched; range expressions `[a-m]' are always evaluated in byte order.
Ancient Unix Ports 12/1/04 EX(1)