illumos: manual page: ex.1has

EX(1HAS) User Commands EX(1HAS)

NAME

ex - text editor

SYNOPSIS

/usr/bin/ex [-| -s] [-l] [-L] [-R] [-r [file]] [-t tag]
[-v] [-V] [-x] [-wn] [-C] [+command | -c command] file...

/usr/xpg4/bin/ex [-| -s] [-l] [-L] [-R] [-r [file]]
[-t tag] [-v] [-V] [-x] [-wn] [-C]
[+command | -c command] file...

/usr/xpg6/bin/ex [-| -s] [-l] [-L] [-R] [-r [file]]
[-t tag] [-v] [-V] [-x] [-wn] [-C]
[+command | -c command] file...

DESCRIPTION

The ex utility is the root of a family of editors: ex and vi. ex is a
superset of ed(1), with the most notable extension being a display
editing facility. Display based editing is the focus of vi.

If you have a CRT terminal, you can wish to use a display based editor;
in this case see vi(1), which is a command which focuses on the display-
editing portion of ex.

If you have used ed you find that, in addition to having all of the ed
commands available, ex has a number of additional features useful on CRT
terminals. Intelligent terminals and high speed terminals are very
pleasant to use with vi. Generally, the ex editor uses far more of the
capabilities of terminals than ed does, and uses the terminal capability
data base (see terminfo(5)) and the type of the terminal you are using
from the environment variable TERM to determine how to drive your
terminal efficiently. The editor makes use of features such as insert and
delete character and line in its visual command (which can be abbreviated
vi) and which is the central mode of editing when using the vi command.

The ex utility contains a number of features for easily viewing the text
of the file. The z command gives easy access to windows of text. Typing
^D (CTRL-D) causes the editor to scroll a half-window of text and is more
useful for quickly stepping through a file than just typing return. Of
course, the screen-oriented visual mode gives constant access to editing
context.

The ex utility gives you help when you make mistakes. The undo (u)
command allows you to reverse any single change which goes astray. ex
gives you a lot of feedback, normally printing changed lines, and
indicates when more than a few lines are affected by a command so that it
is easy to detect when a command has affected more lines than it should
have.

The editor also normally prevents overwriting existing files, unless you
edited them, so that you do not accidentally overwrite a file other than
the one you are editing. If the system (or editor) crashes, or you
accidentally hang up the telephone, you can use the editor recover
command (or -r file option) to retrieve your work. This gets you back to
within a few lines of where you left off.

The ex utility has several features for dealing with more than one file
at a time. You can give it a list of files on the command line and use
the next (n) command to deal with each in turn. The next command can also
be given a list of file names, or a pattern as used by the shell to
specify a new set of files to be dealt with. In general, file names in
the editor can be formed with full shell metasyntax. The metacharacter
`%' is also available in forming file names and is replaced by the name
of the current file.

The editor has a group of buffers whose names are the ASCII lower-case
letters (a-z). You can place text in these named buffers where it is
available to be inserted elsewhere in the file. The contents of these
buffers remain available when you begin editing a new file using the edit
(e) command.

There is a command & in ex which repeats the last substitute command. In
addition, there is a confirmed substitute command. You give a range of
substitutions to be done and the editor interactively asks whether each
substitution is desired.

It is possible to ignore the case of letters in searches and
substitutions. ex also allows regular expressions which match words to
be constructed. This is convenient, for example, in searching for the
word ``edit'' if your document also contains the word ``editor.''

ex has a set of options which you can set to tailor it to your liking.
One option which is very useful is the autoindent option that allows the
editor to supply leading white space to align text automatically. You can
then use ^D as a backtab and space or tab to move forward to align new
code easily.

Miscellaneous useful features include an intelligent join (j) command
that supplies white space between joined lines automatically, commands <
and > which shift groups of lines, and the ability to filter portions of
the buffer through commands such as sort.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

- | -s
Suppresses all interactive user feedback. This
is useful when processing editor scripts.

-l
Sets up for editing LISP programs.

-L
Lists the name of all files saved as the result
of an editor or system crash.

-R
Readonly mode. The readonly flag is set,
preventing accidental overwriting of the file.

-r file
Edits file after an editor or system crash.
(Recovers the version of file that was in the
buffer when the crash occurred.)

-t tag
Edits the file containing the tag and positions
the editor at its definition. It is an error to
specify more than one -t option.

-v
Starts up in display editing state, using vi.
You can achieve the same effect by typing the vi
command itself.

-V
Verbose. When ex commands are read by means of
standard input, the input is echoed to standard
error. This can be useful when processing ex
commands within shell scripts.

-x
Encryption option. Simulates the X command and
prompts the user for a key. This key is used to
encrypt and decrypt text using the algorithm of
the crypt command. 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.

-wn
Sets the default window size to n. This is
useful when using the editor over a slow speed
line.

-C
Encryption option. Same as the -x option, except
that -C simulates the C command. The C command
is like the X command, except that all text read
in is assumed to have been encrypted.

+command | -c command
Begins editing by executing the specified editor
command (usually a search or positioning
command).

/usr/xpg4/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

If both the -t tag and the -c command options are given, the -t tag
is processed first. That is, the file containing the tag is selected
by -t and then the command is executed.

OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

file
A path name of a file to be edited.

USAGE

This section defines the ex states, commands, initializing options, and
scanning pattern formations.

ex States
Command
Normal and initial state. Input prompted for by ":". The line
kill character cancels a partial command.

Insert
Entered by a, i, or c. Arbitrary text can be entered. Insert
state normally is terminated by a line having only "." on it,
or, abnormally, with an interrupt.

Visual
Entered by typing vi. Terminated by typing Q or ^\
(Control-\).

ex Command Names and Abbreviations
Command Abbrevi- Command Abbrevi- Command Abbrevi-
Name ation Name ation Name ation

abbrev ab map set se

append a mark ma shell sh

args ar move m source so

change c next n substitute s

copy co number nu unabbrev unab

delete d preserve pre undo u

edit e print p unmap unm

file f put pu version ve

global g quit q visual vi

insert i read r write
w

join j recover rec xit x

list l rewind rew yank ya

Join Command Arguments

Join [range] j[oin][!] [count] [flags]

If count is specified:

/usr/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

If no address is specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr were
the current line and the current line plus count (.,. + count). If
one address is specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr were
the specified address and the specified address plus count ( addr,
addr + count).

/usr/xpg4/bin/ex

If no address is specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr were
the current line and the current line plus count -1 (.,. + count -1).
If one address is specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr
were the specified address and the specified address plus count -1 (
addr, addr + count -1).

/usr/bin/ex, /usr/xpg4/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

If two or more addresses are specified, the join command behaves as
if an additional address, equal to the last address plus count -1
(addr1, ..., lastaddr, lastaddr + count -1), was specified. If this
results in a second address greater than the last line of the edit
buffer, it is corrected to be equal to the last line of the edit
buffer.

If no count is specified:

/usr/bin/ex, /usr/xpg4/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

If no address is specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr were
the current line and the next line (.,. +1). If one address is
specified, the join command behaves as if 2addr were the specified
address and the next line ( addr, addr +1).

Additional ex Command Arguments

/usr/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

For the following ex commands, if count is specified, it is
equivalent to specifying an additional address to the command. The
additional address is equal to the last address specified to the
command (either explicitly or by default) plus count-1. If this
results in an address greater than the last line of the edit buffer,
it is corrected to equal the last line of the edit buffer.

/usr/xpg4/bin/ex

For the following ex commands, if both a count and a range are
specified for a command that uses them, the number of lines affected
is taken from the count value rather than the range. The starting
line for the command is taken to be the first line addressed by the
range.

Abbreviate ab[brev] word rhs
Append [line]a[ppend][!]
Arguments ar[gs]
Change [range] c[hange][!] [count]
Change Directory chd[ir][!] [directory]; cd[!]
[directory]
Copy [range] co[py] line [flags]; [range] t
line [flags]
Delete [range] d[elete] [buffer] [count]
[flags]
Edit e[dit][!] [+line][file]; ex[!] [+line]
[file]
File f[ile] [file]
Global [range] g[lobal] /pattern/ [commands];
[range] v /pattern/ [commands]
Insert [line] i[nsert][!]
List [range] l[ist] [count] [flags]
Map map[!] [x rhs]
Mark [line] ma[rk] x; [line] k x
Move [range] m[ove] line
Next n[ext][!] [file ...]
Open [line] o[pen] /pattern/ [flags]
Preserve pre[serve]
Put [line] pu[t] [buffer]
Quit q[uit][!]
Read [line] r[ead][!] [file]
Recover rec[over] file
Rewind rew[ind][!]
Set se[t] [option[=[value]]...]
[nooption...] [option?...] [all]
Shell sh[ell]
Source so[urce] file
Suspend su[spend][!]; st[op][!]
Tag ta[g][!] tagstring
Unabbreviate una[bbrev] word
Undo u[ndo]
Unmap unm[ap][!] x
Visual [line] v[isual] [type] [count] [flags]
Write [range] w[rite][!] [>>] [file];
[range] w[rite][!] [file]; [range]
wq[!] [>>] [file]
Write and Exit [range] x[it][!] [file]
Yank [range] ya[nk] [buffer] [count]
Adjust Window [line] z [type] [count] [flags]
Escape ! command [range]! command
Scroll EOF
Write Line Number [line] = [flags]
Execute @ buffer; * buffer

/usr/bin/ex, /usr/xpg4/bin/ex, /usr/xpg6/bin/ex

For the following ex commands, if count is specified, it is
equivalent to specifying an additional address to the command. The
additional address is equal to the last address specified to the
command (either explicitly or by default) plus count-1. If this
results in an address greater than the last line of the edit buffer,
it is corrected to equal the last line of the edit buffer.

Number [range] nu[mber] [count]
[flags]; [range] |
# [count] [flags]
Print [range] p[rint] [count] [flags]
Substitute [range] s[ubstitute]
[/pattern/repl/[options]
[count] [flags]]
Shift Left [range] < [count] [flags]
Shift Right [range] > [count] [flags]
Resubstitute [range] & [options] [count]
[flags]; [range] s[ubstitute]
[options] [count] [flags];
[range] ~ [options] [count
[flags]

ex Commands

C forced encryption
X heuristic encryption
& resubst
CR print next
> rshift
< lshift
^D scroll
z window
! shell escape

ex Command Addresses

n line n
. current
$ last
+ next
- previous
+n n forward
% 1,$
/pat next with pat
?pat previous with pat
x-n n before x
x,y x through y
'x marked with x
" previous context

Initializing Options

EXINIT place set's here in environment variable
$HOME/.exrc editor initialization file
./.exrc editor initialization file
set x enable option x
set nox disable option x
set x=val give value val to option x
set show changed options
set all show all options
set x? show value of option x

Useful Options and Abbreviations

autoindent ai supply indent
autowrite aw write before changing files
directory pathname of directory for
temporary work files
exrc ex allow vi/ex to read the .exrc in
the current directory. This option
is set in the EXINIT shell
variable or in the .exrc file in
the $HOMEdirectory.
ignorecase ic ignore case of letters in scanning
list print ^I for tab, $ at end
magic treat . [ * special in patterns
modelines first five lines and last five
lines executed as vi/ex commands
if they are of the form
ex:command: or vi:command:
number nu number lines
paragraphs para macro names that start paragraphs
redraw simulate smart terminal
report informs you if the number of lines
modified by the last command is
greater than the value of the
report variable
scroll command mode lines
sections sect macro names that start sections
shiftwidth sw for < >, and input ^D
showmatch sm to ) and } as typed
showmode smd show insert mode in vi
slowopen slow stop updates during insert
term specifies to vi the type of
terminal being used (the default
is the value of the environment
variable TERM)
window visual mode lines
wrapmargin wm automatic line splitting
wrapscan ws search around end (or beginning)
of buffer

Scanning Pattern Formation

^ beginning of line
$ end of line
. any character
\< beginning of word
\> end of word
[str] any character in str
[^str] any character not in str
[xy] any character between x and y
* any number of preceding characters

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

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

COLUMNS
Override the system-selected horizontal screen size.

EXINIT
Determine a list of ex commands that are executed on editor
start-up, before reading the first file. The list can contain
multiple commands by separating them using a vertical-line (|)
character.

LINES
Override the system-selected vertical screen size, used as the
number of lines in a screenful and the vertical screen size in
visual mode.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.

>0
An error occurred.

FILES

/var/tmp/Exnnnnn
editor temporary

/var/tmp/Rxnnnnn
named buffer temporary

/usr/lib/expreserve
preserve command

/usr/lib/exrecover
recover command

/usr/lib/exstrings
error messages

/usr/share/lib/terminfo/*
describes capabilities of terminals

/var/preserve/login
preservation directory (where login is the
user's login)

$HOME/.exrc
editor startup file

./.exrc
editor startup file

ATTRIBUTES

AUTHOR

The vi and ex utilities are based on software developed by The University
of California, Berkeley California, Computer Science Division, Department
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

NOTES

Several options, although they continue to be supported, have been
replaced in the documentation by options that follow the Command Syntax
Standard (see Intro(1)). The - option has been replaced by -s, a -r
option that is not followed with an option-argument has been replaced by
-L, and +command has been replaced by -c command.

The message file too large to recover with -r option, which is seen when
a file is loaded, indicates that the file can be edited and saved
successfully, but if the editing session is lost, recovery of the file
with the -r option is not possible.

The z command prints the number of logical rather than physical lines.
More than a screen full of output can result if long lines are present.

File input/output errors do not print a name if the command line -s
option is used.

The editing environment defaults to certain configuration options. When
an editing session is initiated, ex attempts to read the EXINIT
environment variable. If it exists, the editor uses the values defined in
EXINIT, otherwise the values set in $HOME/.exrc are used. If $HOME/.exrc
does not exist, the default values are used.

To use a copy of .exrc located in the current directory other than $HOME,
set the exrc option in EXINIT or $HOME/.exrc. Options set in EXINIT can
be turned off in a local .exrc only if exrc is set in EXINIT or
$HOME/.exrc. In order to be used, .exrc in $HOME or the current directory
must fulfill these conditions:

o It must exist.

o It must be owned by the same userid as the real userid of the
process, or the process has appropriate privileges.

o It is not writable by anyone other than the owner.

There is no easy way to do a single scan ignoring case.

The editor does not warn if text is placed in named buffers and not used
before exiting the editor.

Null characters are discarded in input files and cannot appear in
resultant files.

June 15, 2004 EX(1HAS)