ED(1) User Commands ED(1)

NAME

ed, red - text editor

SYNOPSIS

/usr/bin/ed [-s | -] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]


/usr/xpg4/bin/ed [-s | -] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]


/usr/xpg6/bin/ed [-s | -] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]


/usr/bin/red [-s | -] [-p string] [-x] [-C] [file]

DESCRIPTION

The ed utility is the standard text editor. If file is specified, ed
simulates an e command (see below) on the named file. That is, the file
is read into ed's buffer so that it can be edited.


The ed utility 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.


The red utility is a restricted version of ed. It will only allow editing
of files in the current directory. red prohibits executing shell commands
via !shell command. Attempts to bypass these restrictions result in an
error message (restricted shell).


Both ed and red support the fspec(5) formatting capability. The default
terminal mode is either stty -tabs or stty tab3, where tab stops are set
at eight columns (see stty(1)). If, however, the first line of file
contains a format specification, that specification will override the
default mode. For example, tab stops would be set at 5, 10, and 15, and a
maximum line length of 72 would be imposed if the first line of file
contains

<:t5,10,15 s72:>


Commands to ed have a simple and regular structure: zero, one, or two
addresses followed by a single-character command, 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 commands 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.


If ed executes commands with arguments, it uses the default shell
/usr/bin/sh (see sh(1)).

Regular Expressions

The ed utility supports a limited form of regular expression notation.
Regular expressions are used in addresses to specify lines and in some
commands (for example, s) to specify portions of a line that are to be
substituted. 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.


Internationalized Basic Regular Expressions are used for all system-
supplied locales. See regex(7).

ed Commands
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
determine 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.


For /usr/xpg6/bin/ed, the address can be omitted on either side of the
comma or semicolon separator, in which case the resulting address pairs
are as follows:


+----------+-------------+
|Specified | Resulting |
+----------+-------------+
|, | 1 , $ |
+----------+-------------+
|, addr | 1 , addr |
+----------+-------------+
|addr , | addr , addr |
+----------+-------------+
|; | 1 ; $ |
+----------+-------------+
|; addr | 1 ; addr |
+----------+-------------+
|addr ; | addr ; addr |
+----------+-------------+


Any <blank>s included between addresses, address separators, or address
offsets are ignored.


In the following list of ed commands, the parentheses shown prior to the
command are not part of the address. Rather, the parentheses show the
default address(es) for the command.


Each address component can be preceded by zero or more blank characters.
The command letter can be preceded by zero or more blank characters. If a
suffix letter (l, n, or p) is given, it must immediately follow the
command.


The e, E, f, r, and w commands take an optional file parameter, separated
from the command letter by one or more blank characters.


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 the editor buffer via the e or q commands. The ed utility writes
the string:

"?\n"


(followed by an explanatory message if help mode has been enabled via the
H command) to standard output and continues in command mode with the
current line number unchanged. If the e or q command is repeated with no
intervening command, ed takes effect.


If an end-of-file is detected on standard input when a command is
expected, the ed utility acts as if a q command had been entered.


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 written,
respectively, as discussed 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 character).


(.,.)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. If the lines deleted were originally at
the end of the buffer, the current line number will be set to
the address of the new last line. If no lines remain in the
buffer, the current line number will be set to 0.

/usr/xpg4/bin/ed
Address 0 is not legal for this command.


/usr/xpg6/bin/ed
Address 0 is valid for this command. It is
interpreted as if the address 1 were
specified.


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. If
no lines remain in the buffer, the current line number will be
set to 0.


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 command). The number of bytes read will be written
to standard output, unless the -s option was specified, in the
following format:

"%d\n" <number of bytes read>

file is remembered for possible use as a default file name in
subsequent e, 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. Such a shell command is not
remembered as the current file name. See also DIAGNOSTICS
below. All marks are discarded upon the completion of a
successful e command. If the buffer has changed since the last
time the entire buffer was written, the user is warned, as
described previously.


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 f command changes the currently
remembered path name to file. Whether the name is changed or
not, the f command then writes the (possibly new) currently
remembered path name to the standard output in the following
format:

"%s\n"pathname

The current line number is unchanged.


(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. When the g command
completes, the current line number has the
value assigned by the last command in the
command list. If there were no matching lines,
the current line number is not changed. 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 backslash
(\); a, i, and c commands and associated input
are permitted. 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, V,
and ! commands are not permitted in the command
list. See also the NOTES and the last paragraph
before FILES below. Any character other than
space or newline can be used instead of a slash
to delimit the RE. Within the RE, the RE
delimiter itself can be used as a literal
character if it is preceded by a backslash.


(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 written to standard output, 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 written, and so on. A
new-line acts as a null command. An & causes
the re-execution of the most recent non-null
command executed within the current invocation
of G. Note: The commands input as part of the
execution of the G command may address and
affect any lines in the buffer. The final
value of the current line number is the value
set by the last command successfully executed.
(Notice that the last command successfully
executed is the G command itself if a command
fails or the null command is specified.) If
there were no matching lines, the current line
number is not changed. The G command can be
terminated by a SIGINT signal. The G command
can be terminated by an interrupt signal (ASCII
DEL or BREAK). Any character other than space
or newline can be used instead of a slash to
delimit the RE. Within the RE, the RE delimiter
itself can be used as a literal character if it
is preceded by a backslash.


h
The help command gives a short error message
that explains the reason for the most recent ?
diagnostic. The current line number is
unchanged.


H
The Help command causes ed to enter a mode in
which error messages are written for all
subsequent ? diagnostics. It also explains the
previous ? if there was one. The H command
alternately turns this mode on and off; it is
initially off. The current line number is
unchanged.


(.,.)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
placement of the input text. The maximum number
of characters that may be entered from a
terminal is 256 per line (including the new-
line character).

/usr/xpg4/bin/ed
Address 0 is not legal for
this command.


/usr/xpg6/bin/ed
Address 0 is valid for this
command. It is interpreted
as if the address 1 were
specified.


(.,.+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. If lines are joined, the current
line number is set to the address of the joined
line. Otherwise, the current line number is
unchanged.


(.)kx
The mark command marks the addressed line with
name x, which must be an ASCII lower-case
letter (a-z). The address a'x then addresses
this line. The current line (.) is unchanged.


(.,.)l
The l command writes to standard output the
addressed lines in a visually unambiguous form.
The characters ( \\, \a, \b, \f, \r, \t, \v)
are written as the corresponding escape
sequence. The \n in that table is not
applicable. Non-printable characters not in the
table are written as one three-digit octal
number (with a preceding backslash character)
for each byte in the character, with the most
significant byte first.

Long lines are folded, with the point of
folding indicated by writing backslash/newline
character. The length at which folding occurs
is unspecified, but should be appropriate for
the output device. The end of each line is
marked with a $. When using the
/usr/xpg6/bin/ed command, the end of each line
is marked with a $ due to folding, and $
characters within the text are written with a
preceding backslash. An l command can be
appended to any other command other than e, E,
f, q, Q, r, w, or !. The current line number is
set to the address of the last line written.


(.,.)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 writes the addressed lines,
preceding each line by its line number and a
tab character. The current line (.) is left at
the last line written. The n command may be
appended to any command other than e, E, f, q,
Q, r, w, or !.


(.,.)p
The print command writes the addressed lines to
standard output. The current line (.) is left
at the last line written. The p command may be
appended to any command other than e, E, f, q,
Q, r, w, or !. For example, dp deletes the
current line and writes the new current line.


P
The P command causes ed to prompt with an
asterisk (*) (or string, if -p is specified)
for all subsequent commands. The P command
alternatively turns this mode on and off; it is
initially on if the -p option is specified,
otherwise off. The current line is unchanged.


q
The quit command causes ed to exit. If the
buffer has changed since the last time the
entire buffer was written, the user is warned.
See DIAGNOSTICS.


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 and
the -s option was not specified, the number of
characters read is written to standard output
in the following format:

%d\n, <number of bytes read>


The current line (.) is set to the last line
read. If file is replaced by !, the rest of the
line is taken to be a shell command (see sh(1))
whose output is to be read. For example, $r !ls
appends the 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/
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/count, count=[1-2047]
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/g
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/l
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/n
(.,.)s/RE/replacement/p

The substitute command searches each addressed line for an occurrence
of the specified RE. Zero or more substitution commands can be
specified. 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 count appears after the
command, only the count-th occurrence of the matched string on each
addressed line is replaced. It is an error if the substitution fails
on all addressed lines. Any character other than space or new-line
may be used instead of the slash (/) to delimit the RE and the
replacement. The current line (.) is left at the last line on which a
substitution occurred. Within the RE, the RE delimiter itself can be
used as a literal character if it is preceded by a backslash. 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 subexpression of the
specified RE enclosed between \( and \). When nested parenthesized
subexpressions are present, n is determined by counting occurrences
of \( starting from the left. When the character % is the only
character in the replacement, the replacement used in the most recent
substitute command is used as the replacement in the current
substitute command. If there was no previous substitute command, the
use of % in this manner is an error. The % loses its special meaning
when it is in a replacement string of more than one character or is
preceded by a \. For each backslash (\) encountered in scanning
replacement from beginning to end, the following character loses its
special meaning (if any). It is unspecified what special meaning is
given to any character other than &, \, %, or digits.

A line may be split by substituting a new-line character 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.
The current line number is set to the address of the last line on
which a substitution is performed. If no substitution is performed,
the current line number is unchanged. If a line is split, a
substitution is considered to have been performed on each of the new
lines for the purpose of determining the new current line number. A
substitution is considered to have been performed even if the
replacement string is identical to the string that it replaces.

The substitute command supports the following indicators:

count
Substitute for the countth occurrence only of the RE found
on each addressed line. count must be between 1-2047.


g
Globally substitute for all non-overlapping instances of the
RE rather than just the first one. If both g and count are
specified, the results are unspecified.


l
Write to standard output the final line in which a
substitution was made. The line is written in the format
specified for the l command.


n
Write to standard output the final line in which a
substitution was made. The line is written in the format
specified for the n command.


p
Write to standard output the final line in which a
substitution was made. The line will be written in the
format specified for the p command.


(.,.)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, u, v, G, or V command. All changes made to the
buffer by a g, G, v, or V global command is undone as a single
change.If no changes were made by the global command (such as with g/
RE/p), the u command has no effect. The current line number is set to
the value it had immediately before the command being undone
started.


(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 command 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. 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
successful, the number of characters written is printed, unless the
-s option is specified in the following format:

"%d\n",<number of bytes written>


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 path name. This
usage of the write command with ! is to be considered as a ``last w
command that wrote the entire buffer''.


(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
An educated guess is made to determine whether text
read for the e and r commands is encrypted. A null key
turns off encryption. Subsequent e, r, and w commands
will use this key to encrypt or decrypt the text. An
explicitly empty key turns off encryption. Also, see
the -x option of ed.


($)=
The line number of the addressed line is written to
standard output in the following format:

"%d\n"<line number>


The current line number 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
unescaped 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
previous shell command. Thus, !! repeats the last
shell command. If any replacements of % or ! are
performed, the modified line is written to the
standard output before command is executed. The !
command will write:

"!\n"

to standard output upon completion, unless the -s
option is specified. The current line number is
unchanged.


(.+1)<new-line>
An address alone on a line causes the addressed line
to be written. A new-line alone is equivalent to .+1p.
It is useful for stepping forward through the buffer.
The current line number will be set to the address of
the written line.


If an interrupt signal (ASCII DEL or BREAK) is sent, ed writes a "?\n"
and returns to its command level.


The ed utility takes the standard action for all signals with the
following exceptions:

SIGINT
The ed utility interrupts its current activity, writes the
string "?\n" to standard output, and returns to command mode.


SIGHUP
If the buffer is not empty and has changed since the last
write, the ed utility attempts to write a copy of the buffer in
a file. First, the file named ed.hup in the current directory
is used. If that fails, the file named ed.hup in the directory
named by the HOME environment variable is used. In any case,
the ed utility exits without returning to command mode.


Some size limitations are in effect: 512 characters in a line, 256
characters in a global command list, and 255 characters in the path name
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 and 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 an RE or of a replacement string (for
example, /) would be the last character before a new-line, that delimiter
may be omitted, in which case the addressed line is written. The
following pairs of commands are equivalent:

s/s1/s2
s/s1/s2/p


g/s1
g/s1/p


?s1
?s1?


If an invalid command is entered, ed writes the string:


"?\n"


(followed by an explanatory message if help mode has been enabled by the
H command) to standard output and continues in command mode with the
current line number unchanged.

OPTIONS

-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.


-pstring
Allows the user to specify a prompt string. By default,
there is no prompt string.


-s | -;
Suppresses the writing of character counts by e, r, and w
commands, of diagnostics from e and q commands, and of the !
prompt after a !shell command.


-x
Encryption option. When -x is used, ed simulates an X
command and prompts the user for a key. 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 NOTES.

OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

file
If file is specified, ed simulates an e command on the file named
by the path name file before accepting commands from the standard
input.

USAGE

See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of ed and red when
encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of ed: HOME, LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE,
LC_COLLATE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion without any file or command errors.


>0
An error occurred.

FILES

$TMPDIR
If this environment variable is not NULL, its value is used
in place of /var/tmp as the directory 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 environment 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.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

/usr/bin/ed, /usr/bin/red

+---------------+-----------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+-----------------+
|CSI | Enabled |
+---------------+-----------------+

/usr/xpg4/bin/ed

+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|CSI | Enabled |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Standard |
+--------------------+-----------------+

/usr/xpg6/bin/ed

+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|CSI | Enabled |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Standard |
+--------------------+-----------------+

SEE ALSO

edit(1), ex(1), grep(1), ksh(1), sed(1), sh(1), stty(1), umask(1), vi(1),
fspec(5), attributes(7), environ(7), largefile(7), regex(7), standards(7)

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 writes ? and allows one
to continue editing. 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)).


A ! command cannot be subject to a g or a v command.


The ! command and the ! escape from the e, r, and w commands cannot be
used if the editor is invoked from a restricted shell (see sh(1)).


The sequence \n in an RE does not match a new-line character.


If the editor input is coming from a command file (for example, ed file <
ed_cmd_file), the editor exits at the first failure.


Loading an alternate malloc() library using the environment variable
LD_PRELOAD can cause problems for /usr/bin/ed.

August 13, 2023 ED(1)