ex(1) General Commands Manual ex(1)
Name
ex, edit - text editor
Syntax
ex [ - ] [ -v ] [ -x ] [ -t tag ] [ -r ] [ +command ] [ -l ] name...
edit [ ex options ]
Description
The editor is the root of a family of editors: and The editor is a superset of with the most notable extension being a display-editing
facility. Display-based editing is the focus of
The name argument indicates the files to be edited.
Options
- Suppresses all interactive-user feedback. This option is useful in processing editor scripts in command files.
-v Equivalent to using rather than
-t Equivalent to an initial tag command, that is, editing the file containing the tag and positioning the editor at its definition.
-r 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.
-R Sets the read-only option at the start.
+command
Indicates that the editor should begin by executing the specified command. If the command is omitted, it defaults to $, positioning
the editor at the last line of the first file, initially. Other useful commands here are scanning patterns of the form +/pattern or
line numbers.
-l Sets up for LISP. That is, it sets the showmatch and lisp options. The -x option is available only if the Encryption layered product
is installed.
-x Causes to prompt for a key. The key is used to encrypt and decrypt the contents of the file. If the file contents have been encrypted
with one key, you must use the same key to decrypt them.
Restrictions
The command causes all marks to be lost on lines changed and then restored if the marked lines were changed.
The command does not clear the buffer modified condition.
The z command prints a number of logical rather than physical lines. More than a screenful of output may result if long lines are present.
File input/output errors do not print a name if the command line minus sign (-) option is used.
There is no easy way to do a single scan ignoring case.
The editor does not warn you if you place text in named buffers and do not use it before exiting the editor.
Null characters are discarded from input files, and cannot appear in output files.
Files
/usr/lib/ex?.?recover recover command
/usr/lib/ex?.?preserve preserve command
/etc/termcap terminal capabilities
~/.exrc editor startup file
/tmp/Exnnnnn editor temporary
/tmp/Rxnnnnn named buffer temporary
/usr/preserve preservation directory
See Also
awk(1), ed(1), grep(1), sed(1), vi(1), termcap(5), environ(7)
"Edit: A Tutorial" and the "Ex Reference Manual" in the
Supplementary Documents, Volume 1: General User
ex(1)