Many
line editor commands are
not particularly useful in scripts. The two commands that you will use far and
away the most often are s (substitute), to
replace one pattern with another, and d
(delete), to delete one or more lines. On occasion, though, you'll want to
insert text from a script. (Editing scripts built by
diff (Section 18.6)
make heavy use of insert, append, delete, and change commands.) And of course,
you need commands to write the file and quit the editor.
Here's the
syntax of most of the commands you may encounter in ex editing scripts. (The ed
editor understands the abbreviated versions of some, but not all, of these
commands.) Elements in [brackets] are optional; don't type the [ or ].
The leading colon (:) shown in examples is the
ex command character used to issue an
ex command from vi; in a script, the colon would be omitted. The autoindent
feature referred to below aids anyone writing structured text. Your editor can
ease the burden of creating outlines and source code by positioning the cursor
beneath the first character of the previous line.
append[
address
] a[!]
text
.
Append
text at specified
address, or at present address if
none is specified. Add a ! to
switch the autoindent setting
that will be used during input. For example, if autoindent was enabled, ! disables it.
change[
address
] c[!]
text
.
Replace the specified lines with text. Add a
! to switch the autoindent setting during input of
text.
copy[
address
] co
destination
[
address
] t
destination
Copy[1] the lines included in address
to the specified destination address.
:1,10 co 50 :1,10t50
delete[
address
] d [
buffer
]
Delete the lines included in address.
If
buffer is specified, save or append
the text to the named buffer.
:/Part I/,/Part II/-1d Delete to line above "Part II" :/main/+d Delete line below "main" :.,$d Delete from this line to last line
global[
address
] g[!]/pattern/[
commands
]
Execute commands on all lines that
contain pattern, or if
address
is specified, on all
lines within that range. If commands are
not specified, print all such lines. (Exception: doesn't print when
you use it from vi by typing :
first. You'll need to add a p, as in the
second example below). If ! is
used, execute commands on all lines that
don't contain
pattern.
:g/Unix/ :g/Unix/p :g/Name:/s/tom/Tom/
insert[
address
] i[!]
text
.
Insert text at line before the
specified address, or at present
address if none is
specified. Add a ! to switch the
autoindent setting during
input of text.
move[
address
] m
destination
Move the lines specified by address to
the destination address.
:.,/Note/m /END/ Move block after line containing "END"print[
address
] p [
count
]
Print the lines specified by address.
count
specifies the number of
lines to print, starting with
address.
:100;+5p Show line 100 and the next five linesquitq[!]
Terminate current editing session. Use ! to discard changes made since
the last save. If the editing session includes additional files in
the argument list that were never accessed, quit by typing q! or by typing q twice.
read[
address
] r
file
Copy in the text from file on the line
below the specified address
. If
file is not specified, the current
filename is used.
:0r $HOME/data Read file in at top of current fileread[
address
] r !
command
Read the output of Unix command into
the text after the line specified by
address.
:$r !cal Place a calendar at end of filesourceso
file
Read and execute ex commands from
file.
:so $HOME/.exrc
substitute[
address
] s [
/pattern/replacement/
] [
options
] [
count
]
Replace first instance of pattern on
each of the specified lines with
replacement
. If
pattern and
replacement are omitted, repeat last
substitution. count specifies the number
of lines on which to substitute, starting with
address. The following can be used as
options:
cPrompt for confirmation before each change.
gSubstitute all instances of
pattern on each
line.
pPrint the last line on which a substitution was made.
c
Section 17.9,
\U
Section
17.14
:1,10s/yes/no/g Substitute on first 10 lines :%s/[Hh]ello/Hi/gc Confirm global substitutions :s/Fortran/\U&/ 3 Uppercase "Fortran" on next 3 lines
write[
address
] w[!] [>>]
file
]
Write lines specified by address to
file, or write full contents of buffer
if address is not specified. If
file is also omitted, save the
contents of the buffer to the current filename. If >>
file is used, write contents to the end
of an existing file. The ! flag forces the editor to write over
any current contents of file.
:1,10w name_list Copy first 10 lines to name_list :50w >> name_list Now append line 50
write[
address
] w !
command
Write lines specified by address, or
write full contents of buffer if address
is not specified, to the standard
input (Section
43.1) of command.
:1,10w !spell Send first 10 lines to the spell command :w !lpr Print entire buffer with lpr command
— TOR and DG
[1] Note that "t" is short for "to." The ed editor only has one-letter commands and since "c" was already taken for "change," they used "t" for "copy TO."