EX(1,C) AIX Commands Reference EX(1,C) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ex PURPOSE Edits lines interactively with screen display. SYNTAX +------------+ +--------+ +------------------+ ex ---| +--------+ |---| one of |---| +----------+ |---> +-| -l |-+ | +----+ | +- + -|1 |-+ | -R | +-| -v |-+ +- subcmd -+ | -t tag | | - | | -w num | +----+ +--------+ +-----------------+ +------------+ >---| +--------+ |---| |---| +- -r -| |-+ +--- file ---+ +- file -+ ^ | +--------+ ----------------- 1 Do not put a blank between these items. DESCRIPTION The ex command is a line-oriented text editor that is a subset of the vi screen editor. The ex editor is similar to ed, but is more powerful, providing multi-line displays and access to a screen editing mode. You may prefer to call vi directly to have environmental variables set for screen editing. Also edit, a limited subset of ex, is available for novice or casual use. For more information on vi, see "vi, vedit, view." For more information on edit, see "edit." Notes: 1. Some vi subcommands have meanings that differ from ed subcommands. 2. To determine how to drive your work station more efficiently, ex uses the work station capability data base terminfo and the type of the work station you are using from the shell environment variable TERM. The ex editor has the following features: Processed November 8, 1990 EX(1,C) 1 EX(1,C) AIX Commands Reference EX(1,C) o You can view text in files. The z subcommand lets you access windows of text, and you can scroll through text by pressing Ctrl-D. The vi subcommand provides further viewing options and active screen-editing by invoking the vi editor. o You can you revoke the last previous subcommand entered (except for q and w). The undo subcommand allows you to "undo" the last subcommand, even if it's an undo subcommand. Thus you can switch back and forth between the latest change in the edit file and the last prior file status and view the effect of a subcommand without that effect being permanent. The ex command displays changed lines and indicates when more than a few lines are affected by a subcommand. The undo subcommand causes all marks to be lost on lines changed and then restored if the marked lines were changed. It does not clear the "buffer modified" condition. o You can retrieve your work (except changes that were in the buffer) if the system or the editor crashes by re-entering the editor with the -r flag and the file name. When the file name is not specified, all open files in your partition are listed. o You can queue a sequence or group of files to edit. You can list the files in the ex command and then use the next subcommand to access each file sequentially. Or after you enter the editor, you can enter the next subcommand with a list of file names or a pattern (as used by the shell) to specify a set of files. In general, you can designate file names to the editor using the pattern-matching symbols that the shell accepts. You can use the wild card character "%" to form file names and represent the name of the current edit file. o You can use a group of buffers (buffers named a through z) to move text between files and within a file. You can temporarily place text in these buffers and copy or reinsert it in a file, or you can carry it over to another file. The buffers are cleared when you quit the editor. The editor does not notify you if text is placed in a buffer and not used before exiting the editor. The buffer names can contain only ASCII digits. o You can use patterns that match words. For example, you can search only for the word "ink" when your document also contains the word "inkblot" or "blink". The patterns can contain Japanese characters. o You can display a window of logical lines. The z subcommand allows you to select the number of lines displayed and locate the current line within the display simultaneously. More than a screen of output can result when the file lines are longer than the output display lines because the set number of logical lines are displayed rather than a number of physical lines. o You can read a file of editor subcommands. The so command allows you to read and execute a file of subcommands. Nesting of source files is permitted, allowing one file to call another; however, no return mechanism is provided. Processed November 8, 1990 EX(1,C) 2 EX(1,C) AIX Commands Reference EX(1,C) The ex editor has the following maximum limits. If have selected a language (through the LANG environment variable) that supports multibyte characters, the character limits can be reduced by as much as 50%, depending on the character code set being used. o 1024 characters per line o 256 characters per global command list o 128 characters in the previous inserted and deleted text o 100 characters in a shell escape command o 63 characters in a string-valued option o 30 characters in a tag name o 250,000 lines of 1024 characters per line silently enforced o 128 map macros with 2048 characters total o 100 characters per each map macro subcommand (or rhs). Editing States command Normal and initial state. Input is prompted for by : (colon). Pressing END OF FILE (Ctrl-D) clears an uncompleted subcommand from the command line. visual Entered by vi, vi., vi-, or o. Each of the first three commands gives you a full screen vi editor, but puts the current line in a different place on entry. Enter vi to put the current line at the top of the screen; enter vi. to put the current line in the middle of the screen; and enter vi- to put the current line at the bottom of the screen. The o command opens a one-line window. All three commands share the input state of the visual editor. Press the Esc key to exit the input state. To return to the ex command state at the current line, enter Q or ^\ while not in the input state. entry Entered by a, i and c. In this state you can enter text. Entry state ends normally with a line that has only a . (period) on it or ends abnormally if you press INTERRUPT (Ctrl-C). Note: This editing state applies only to the RT PC. PARAMETERS The following is a list of the ex subcommands. Most of these subcommands are discussed under "edit" or "vi, vedit, view." ab abbrev n next una unabbrev a append nu number u undo ar args unm unmap c change pre preserve co copy p print vi visual d delete pu put w write e edit q quit x exit Processed November 8, 1990 EX(1,C) 3 EX(1,C) AIX Commands Reference EX(1,C) f file re read ya yank g global rec recover z window i insert rew rewind ! escape j join se set < lshift l list sh shell CR print next map map so source & resubst ma mark > rshift m move s substitute^D scroll Subcommand Addresses "$" The last line x-num The numth line before x + The next line x,y Lines x through y - The previous line 'm The line marked with m + num The numth line '' The previous context forward -num The numth previous /pat$ The next line with pat at line end of line "%" The first through /^pat The next line with pat at last lines start of line num line num /pat The next line with pat . The current line ?pat The previous line with pat Scanning Pattern Formation ^ The beginning of the line $ The end of the line . Any character \< The beginning of the word \> The end of the word [string] Any character in string [^string] Any character not in string [x-y] Any character between x and y, inclusive * Any number of the preceding character. FLAGS -l Indents appropriately for Lisp code, and modifies the functions of the () {} [ and ] characters when used as vi subcommands. The Lisp modifier is active in open or visual modes. -r [file] Recovers file after an editor or system crash. If you do not specify file, a list of all saved files is displayed. -R The readonly option is set, preventing you from altering the file if you are an ordinary user. Processed November 8, 1990 EX(1,C) 4 EX(1,C) AIX Commands Reference EX(1,C) -t tag Loads the file that contains tag and positions the editor at tag. The tag can contain only ASCII characters. -v Invokes the visual editor. Note: When the v flag is selected, an enlarged set of subcommands are available, including screen editing and cursor movement features. See "vi, vedit, view." - Suppresses all interactive-user feedback. If you use this flag, file input/output errors do not generate a helpful error message. +subcmd Begins the edit at the specified editor search or subcommand. When subcom is not entered, +places the current line to the bottom of the file. Normally ex sets current line to the start of the file, or to some specified tag or pattern. -w num Defines the number of lines desired in the window. The num variable can contain only ASCII characters. FILES /usr/lib/exrecover Recover subcommand. /usr/lib/expreserve Preserve subcommand. /usr/lib/*/* Describes capabilities of work stations. $HOME/.exrc Editor startup file. ./.exrc Editor startup file. /tmp/Exnnnnn Editor temporary. /tmp/Rxnnnnn Names buffer temporary. /usr/preserve Preservation directory. RELATED INFORMATION See the following commands: "vi, vedit, view," "edit," "ctags" "awk, nawk, oawk," "ed, red," "grep, egrep, fgrep," and "sed." See curses subroutine and the TERM and terminfo files in AIX Operating System Technical Reference. Processed November 8, 1990 EX(1,C) 5