COPYRIGHT
Ex Reference Manual
Version 3.5/2.13 - September, 1980
William Joy
Revised for versions 3.5/2.13 by
Mark Horton
WWW version by John S. Urban, CRI
Science Division
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, Ca. 94720
Ex is a
line oriented text editor which supports both command and display
oriented editing. This reference manual describes the command
oriented part of ex; the display editing features of ex are
described in An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi. Other
documents about the editor include the introduction Edit: A
tutorial, the Ex/edit Command Summary, and a Vi Quick Reference
card.
The financial support of an IBM Graduate Fellowship and
the National Science Foundation under grants MCS74-07644-A03 and
MCS78-07291 is gratefully acknowledged.
Each instance of
the editor has a set of options, which can be set to tailor it to
your liking. The command edit invokes a version of ex designed
for more casual or beginning users by changing the default
settings of some of these options. To simplify the description
which follows we assume the default settings of the options.
When invoked, ex determines the terminal type from the TERM
variable in the environment. It there is a TERMCAP variable in
the environment, and the type of the terminal described there
matches the TERM variable, then that description is used. Also if
the TERMCAP variable contains a pathname (beginning with a /)
then the editor will seek the description of the terminal in that
file (rather than the default /etc/termcap.) If there is a
variable EXINIT in the environment, then the editor will execute
the commands in that variable, otherwise if there is a file .exrc
in your HOME directory ex reads commands from that file,
simulating a source command. Option setting commands placed in
EXINIT or .exrc will be executed before each editor session.
A command to enter ex has the following prototype:
ex [-] [-v] [-t tag] [-r] [-l] [-wn] [-x] [-R] [+command] name ...
where brackets `[' `]' surround optional parameters.
The most common case edits a single file with no options,
i.e.:
ex name
The - command line option option suppresses all
interactive-user feedback and is useful in processing editor
scripts in command files. The -v option is equivalent to using vi
rather than ex. The -t option is equivalent to an initial tag
command, editing the file containing the tag and positioning the
editor at its definition. The -r option is used in recovering after
an editor or system crash, retrieving the last saved version of the
named file or, if no file is specified, typing a list of saved
files. The - l option sets up for editing LISP, setting the
showmatch and lisp options. The -w option sets the default window
size to n, and is useful on dialups to start in small windows. The
-x option causes ex to prompt for a key, which is used to encrypt
and decrypt the contents of the file, which should already be
encrypted using the same key, see crypt(1). The -R option sets the
readonly option at the start. Name arguments ( Not available in
all v2 editors due to memory constraints) indicate files to be
edited. An argument of the form +command indicates that the editor
should begin by executing the specified command. If command is
omitted, then 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 ``/pat'' or line numbers, e.g.
``+100'' starting at line 100.
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 current 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 (The file
command will say ``[Not edited]'' if the current file is not
considered edited.).
Each time a
new value is given to the current file name, the previous current
file name is saved as the alternate file name. Similarly if a
file is mentioned but does not become the current file, it is
saved as the alternate file name.
Filenames within the editor may be specified
using the normal shell expansion conventions. In addition, the
character `%' in filenames is replaced by the current file name
and the character `#' by the alternate file name. (This makes it
easy to deal alternately with two files and eliminates the need
for retyping the name supplied on an edit command after a No
write since last change diagnostic is received).
If more than one file is given on the command
line, then the first file is edited as described above. The
remaining arguments are placed with the first file in the
argument list. The current argument list may be displayed with
the args command. The next file in the argument list may be
edited with the next command. The argument list may also be
respecified by specifying a list of names to the next command.
These names are expanded, the resulting list of names becomes the
new argument list, and ex edits the first file on the list.
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. ( It is also possible to refer to A
through Z; the upper case buffers are the same as the lower but
commands append to named buffers rather than replacing if upper
case names are used. )
It is possible
to use ex in read only mode to look at files that you have no
intention of modifying. This mode protects you from accidently
overwriting the file. Read only mode is on when the readonly
option is set. It can be turned on with the -R command line
option, by the view command line invocation, or by setting the
readonly option. It can be cleared by setting noreadonly. It is
possible to write, even while in read only mode, by indicating
that you really know what you are doing. You can write to a
different file, or can use the ! form of write, even while in
read only mode.
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 you log in you should be able to recover
the work you were doing, losing at most a few lines of changes
from the last point before the hangup or editor crash. To recover
a file you can use the -r option. If you were editing the file
resume, then you should change to the directory where you were
when the crash occurred, giving the command
ex -r resume
After checking that the retrieved file is indeed ok, you can
write it over the previous contents of that file.
You will normally get mail from the system telling you 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 you.
(In the case of a hangup, the file will not appear in the list,
although it can be recovered.)
Ex has five
distinct modes. The primary mode is command mode. Commands 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 you are in text input mode. This mode is left by
typing a `.' alone at the beginning 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 performed 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.
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. As an
example, the command substitute can be abbreviated `s' while the
shortest available abbreviation for the set command is `se'.
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 (Counts are rounded down if necessary).
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. (Examples
would be option names in a set command i.e. ``set number'', a
file name in an edit command, a regular expression in a
substitute command, or a target address for a copy command, i.e.
``1,5 copy 25''. )
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 special case `dp'.) In this case, the command abbreviated
by
these characters 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 useful when
making complex editor scripts for which comments are desired. The
comment character is the double quote: ". Any command line
beginning 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 `|'.
Most commands which change the contents of the
editor buffer give feedback if the scope of the change exceeds a
threshold given by the report option. This feedback helps to
detect undesirably large changes so that they may be quickly and
easily reversed with an undo. After commands with more global
effect such as global or visual, you will be informed if the net
change in the number of lines in the buffer during this command
exceeds this threshold.
- .
- 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.
- '' '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 context. Marks may also be established by the
mark command, using single lower case letters x and the marked
lines referred to as `'x'. (The forms \/ and \? scan using the
last regular expression used in a scan; after a substitute //
and ?? would scan using the substitute's regular
expression).
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).
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 visual 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
text
.
abbr: a
- 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
autoindent option during the input of text.
- args
- The members of the argument list are printed, with the
current argument delimited by `[' and `]'.
- ( . , . ) change count text
.
abbr: c
- 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.
- ( . , . )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 current 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 (as indicated by the first word)). 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. If there were
any non-ASCII characters in the file they are stripped of
their non-ASCII high bits, and 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 current 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 you have 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
executed with `.' initially set to each marked line.
The command list consists of the remaining commands on the
current 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 visual commands are permitted in the command
list and take input from the terminal.
The global command itself may not appear in cmds. The undo
command 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 temporarily 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
text
.
abbr: i
- 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
processing; 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
trailing `$'. 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
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 without
function keys, you can type ``#n''. 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. (Not available in all v2 editors due to
memory constraints).
- 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 and you don't know how
to save your work. After a preserve you should seek help.
- ( . , . )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, you
will wish to save your changes, and you should give a write
command; if you wish to discard them, use 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
buffer 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
accidental hangup of the phone** or a system crash (The system
saves a copy of the file you were editing only if you have made
changes to the file). or preserve command. Except when you use
preserve you 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
interpreted left-to-right.
- 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
substituted; 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 substitute 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 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 (If you have
modified the current file before giving a tag command, you
must write it out; giving another tag command, specifying no
tag will reuse the previous tag).
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. (Not available in all v2 editors due to
memory constraints).
- 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
editing 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
specified 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 (The editor
writes to a file only if it is the current file and is
edited, if the file does not exist, or if the file is
actually a teletype, /dev/tty, /dev/null. Otherwise, you must
give the variant form w! to force the write). 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, 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. (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. On some v2 editors, no type may be given). 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 display begins unless a count which is less
than the screen size is given. The current line is left at the
last line printed.
- ! 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.
A
regular expression specifies a set of strings of characters. A
member of this set of strings is said to be matched by the
regular expression. Ex remembers two previous regular
expressions: the previous regular 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
regular expressions allowed by ex are constructed in one of two
ways depending on the setting of the magic option. The ex and vi
default setting of magic gives quick access to a powerful set of
regular expression metacharacters. The disadvantage of magic is
that the user must remember that these metacharacters are magic
and precede them with the character `\' to use them as
``ordinary'' characters. With nomagic, the default for edit,
regular expressions are much simpler, there being only two
metacharacters. The power of the other metacharacters is still
available by preceding the (now) ordinary character with a `\'.
Note that `\' is thus always a metacharacter.
The remainder of the discussion of regular expressions assumes
that that the setting of this option is magic.
To discern what is true with nomagic it suffices to remember
that the only special characters in this case will be `^' at the
beginning of a regular expression, `$' at the end of a regular
expression, and `\'. With nomagic the characters `~' and `&'
also lose their special meanings related to the replacement
pattern of a substitute.
The following basic constructs are used to
construct magic mode regular expressions.
- char
- An ordinary character matches itself. The characters ` ^ '
at the beginning of a line, `$' 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 succeed
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 newline
character.
- \<
- 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
character 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 regular expression matches any
(single) lower-case letter. 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 a
lower-case letter (and of course a newline). To place any of
the characters `^', `[', or ` - ' in string you must escape
them with a preceding `\'.
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. Any of the (single
character matching) regular expressions mentioned above may be
followed 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.
The character `~' may be used in a regular expression, and
matches the text which defined the replacement part of the last
substitute command. A regular expression may be enclosed between
the sequences `\(' and `\)' with side effects in the substitute
replacement patterns.
The basic metacharacters for the replacement
pattern are `&' and `~'; these are given as `\&' and `\~'
when nomagic is set. Each instance of `&' is replaced by the
characters which the regular expression matched. The
metacharacter `~' stands, in the replacement pattern, for the
defining text of the previous replacement pattern.
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-case 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.
- 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. You 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
immediately followed by a ^D. This causes the input to be
repositioned at the beginning of the line, but retaining the
previous indent for the next line. Similarly, a `0' followed by a
^D repositions 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
command. 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 you have modified it and give a next, rewind,
stop, tag, or ! command, or a ^ ^ (switch files) or ^] (tag
goto) command in visual. Note, that the edit and ex commands do
not autowrite. In each case, there is an equivalent way of
switching 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 &.
Note: Version 3 only.
- errorbells, eb
default: noeb
- Error messages are preceded by a bell. 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.
Note: Bell ringing in open and visual on errors is not
suppressed by setting noeb.
- 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
meaning for lisp.
- list
default: nolist
- All printed lines will be displayed (more) unambiguously,
showing tabs and end-of-lines as in the list command.
- magic
default: magic for ex and vi (Nomagic for
edit(1))
- If nomagic is set, the number of regular expression
metacharacters 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 you are in visual mode, if nomesg is set. ==
- 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.
This is set for edit to prevent confusion resulting from
accidental entry to open or visual mode.
- optimize, opt
default: optimize
- Throughput of text is expedited by setting the terminal to
not do automatic carriage returns when printing more than one
(logical) line of output, greatly speeding output on terminals
without 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
intelligent 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.
Version 3 only.
- 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 provide 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=1/2 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.
- 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
(Version 3 only). A requested tag is searched for in the
specified files, sequentially. By default (even in version 2)
files called tags are searched for in the current directory and
in /usr/lib (a master file for the entire system.)
- term
- read from environment variable TERM at startup. 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.
Editor limits
that the user is likely to encounter are as follows: 1024
characters per line, 256 characters per global command list, 128
characters per file name, 128 characters in the previous inserted
and deleted text in open or visual, 100 characters in a shell
escape command, 63 characters in a string valued option, and 30
characters in a tag name, and a limit of 250000 lines in the file
is silently enforced.
The visual implementation limits the number of macros defined
with map to 32, and the total number of characters in macros to
be less than 512.
Acknowledgments. Chuck Haley contributed greatly to the early
development of ex. Bruce Englar encouraged the redesign which led
to ex version 1. Bill Joy wrote versions 1 and 2.0 through 2.7,
and created the framework that users see in the present editor.
Mark Horton added macros and other features and made the editor
work on a large number of terminals and Unix systems.
this page is maintained by John
Urban.
[Created: 19960717][Last modified: 19960717]