EX(P) POSIX Programmer's Manual EX(P)NAMEex - text editor
SYNOPSISex [-rR][-s | -v][-c command][-t tagstring][-w size][file ...]
DESCRIPTION
The ex utility is a line-oriented text editor. There are two other
modes of the editor-open and visual-in which screen-oriented editing is
available. This is described more fully by the ex open and visual com‐
mands and in vi .
This section uses the term edit buffer to describe the current working
text. No specific implementation is implied by this term. All editing
changes are performed on the edit buffer, and no changes to it shall
affect any file until an editor command writes the file.
Certain terminals do not have all the capabilities necessary to support
the complete ex definition, such as the full-screen editing commands (
visual mode or open mode). When these commands cannot be supported on
such terminals, this condition shall not produce an error message such
as "not an editor command" or report a syntax error. The implementation
may either accept the commands and produce results on the screen that
are the result of an unsuccessful attempt to meet the requirements of
this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 or report an error describing the
terminal-related deficiency.
OPTIONS
The ex utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
-c command
Specify an initial command to be executed in the first edit buf‐
fer loaded from an existing file (see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
section). Implementations may support more than a single -c
option. In such implementations, the specified commands shall be
executed in the order specified on the command line.
-r Recover the named files (see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section).
Recovery information for a file shall be saved during an editor
or system crash (for example, when the editor is terminated by a
signal which the editor can catch), or after the use of an ex
preserve command.
A crash in this context is an unexpected failure of the system or util‐
ity that requires restarting the failed system or utility. A system
crash implies that any utilities running at the time also crash. In the
case of an editor or system crash, the number of changes to the edit
buffer (since the most recent preserve command) that will be recovered
is unspecified.
If no file operands are given and the -t option is not specified, all
other options, the EXINIT variable, and any .exrc files shall be
ignored; a list of all recoverable files available to the invoking user
shall be written, and the editor shall exit normally without further
action.
-R Set readonly edit option.
-s Prepare ex for batch use by taking the following actions:
* Suppress writing prompts and informational (but not diagnos‐
tic) messages.
* Ignore the value of TERM and any implementation default ter‐
minal type and assume the terminal is a type incapable of
supporting open or visual modes; see the visual command and
the description of vi .
* Suppress the use of the EXINIT environment variable and the
reading of any .exrc file; see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION sec‐
tion.
* Suppress autoindentation, ignoring the value of the autoin‐
dent edit option.
-t tagstring
Edit the file containing the specified tagstring; see ctags .
The tags feature represented by -t tagstring and the tag command
is optional. It shall be provided on any system that also pro‐
vides a conforming implementation of ctags; otherwise, the use
of -t produces undefined results. On any system, it shall be an
error to specify more than a single -t option.
-v Begin in visual mode (see vi ).
-w size
Set the value of the window editor option to size.
OPERANDS
The following operand shall be supported:
file A pathname of a file to be edited.
STDIN
The standard input consists of a series of commands and input text, as
described in the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section. The implementation may
limit each line of standard input to a length of {LINE_MAX}.
If the standard input is not a terminal device, it shall be as if the
-s option had been specified.
If a read from the standard input returns an error, or if the editor
detects an end-of-file condition from the standard input, it shall be
equivalent to a SIGHUP asynchronous event.
INPUT FILES
Input files shall be text files or files that would be text files
except for an incomplete last line that is not longer than {LINE_MAX}-1
bytes in length and contains no NUL characters. By default, any incom‐
plete last line shall be treated as if it had a trailing <newline>. The
editing of other forms of files may optionally be allowed by ex imple‐
mentations.
The .exrc files and source files shall be text files consisting of ex
commands; see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.
By default, the editor shall read lines from the files to be edited
without interpreting any of those lines as any form of editor command.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of ex:
COLUMNS
Override the system-selected horizontal screen size. See the
Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 8,
Environment Variables for valid values and results when it is
unset or null.
EXINIT Determine a list of ex commands that are executed on editor
start-up. See the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section for more details
of the initialization phase.
HOME Determine a pathname of a directory that shall be searched for
an editor start-up file named .exrc; see the EXTENDED DESCRIP‐
TION section.
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables
that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
ables for the precedence of internationalization variables used
to determine the values of locale categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
the other internationalization variables.
LC_COLLATE
Determine the locale for the behavior of ranges, equivalence
classes, and multi-character collating elements within regular
expressions.
LC_CTYPE
Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files),
the behavior of character classes within regular expressions,
the classification of characters as uppercase or lowercase let‐
ters, the case conversion of letters, and the detection of word
boundaries.
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
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. See the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 8, Environment Variables for valid
values and results when it is unset or null.
NLSPATH
Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
LC_MESSAGES .
PATH Determine the search path for the shell command specified in the
ex editor commands !, shell, read, and write, and the open and
visual mode command !; see the description of command search and
execution in Command Search and Execution .
SHELL Determine the preferred command line interpreter for use as the
default value of the shell edit option.
TERM Determine the name of the terminal type. If this variable is
unset or null, an unspecified default terminal type shall be
used.
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
The following term is used in this and following sections to specify
command and asynchronous event actions:
complete write
A complete write is a write of the entire contents of the edit
buffer to a file of a type other than a terminal device, or the
saving of the edit buffer caused by the user executing the ex
preserve command. Writing the contents of the edit buffer to a
temporary file that will be removed when the editor exits shall
not be considered a complete write.
The following actions shall be taken upon receipt of signals:
SIGINT If the standard input is not a terminal device, ex shall not
write the file or return to command or text input mode, and
shall exit with a non-zero exit status.
Otherwise, if executing an open or visual text input mode command, ex
in receipt of SIGINT shall behave identically to its receipt of the
<ESC> character.
Otherwise:
1. If executing an ex text input mode command, all input lines
that have been completely entered shall be resolved into the
edit buffer, and any partially entered line shall be dis‐
carded.
2. If there is a currently executing command, it shall be
aborted and a message displayed. Unless otherwise specified
by the ex or vi command descriptions, it is unspecified
whether any lines modified by the executing command appear
modified, or as they were before being modified by the exe‐
cuting command, in the buffer.
If the currently executing command was a motion command, its
associated command shall be discarded.
3. If in open or visual command mode, the terminal shall be
alerted.
4. The editor shall then return to command mode.
SIGCONT
The screen shall be refreshed if in open or visual mode.
SIGHUP If the edit buffer has been modified since the last complete
write, ex shall attempt to save the edit buffer so that it can
be recovered later using the -r option or the ex recover com‐
mand. The editor shall not write the file or return to command
or text input mode, and shall terminate with a non-zero exit
status.
SIGTERM
Refer to SIGHUP.
The action taken for all other signals is unspecified.
STDOUT
The standard output shall be used only for writing prompts to the user,
for informational messages, and for writing lines from the file.
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
The output from ex shall be text files.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
Only the ex mode of the editor is described in this section. See vi
for additional editing capabilities available in ex.
When an error occurs, ex shall write a message. If the terminal sup‐
ports a standout mode (such as inverse video), the message shall be
written in standout mode. If the terminal does not support a standout
mode, and the edit option errorbells is set, an alert action shall pre‐
cede the error message.
By default, ex shall start in command mode, which shall be indicated by
a : prompt; see the prompt command. Text input mode can be entered by
the append, insert, or change commands; it can be exited (and command
mode re-entered) by typing a period ( '.' ) alone at the beginning of a
line.
Initialization in ex and vi
The following symbols are used in this and following sections to spec‐
ify locations in the edit buffer:
alternate and current pathnames
Two pathnames, named current and alternate, are maintained by
the editor. Any ex commands that take filenames as arguments
shall set them as follows:
1. If a file argument is specified to the ex edit, ex, or
recover commands, or if an ex tag command replaces the con‐
tents of the edit buffer.
a. If the command replaces the contents of the edit buffer,
the current pathname shall be set to the file argument
or the file indicated by the tag, and the alternate
pathname shall be set to the previous value of the cur‐
rent pathname.
b. Otherwise, the alternate pathname shall be set to the
file argument.
2. If a file argument is specified to the ex next command:
a. If the command replaces the contents of the edit buffer,
the current pathname shall be set to the first file
argument, and the alternate pathname shall be set to the
previous value of the current pathname.
3. If a file argument is specified to the ex file command, the
current pathname shall be set to the file argument, and the
alternate pathname shall be set to the previous value of the
current pathname.
4. If a file argument is specified to the ex read and write
commands (that is, when reading or writing a file, and not
to the program named by the shell edit option), or a file
argument is specified to the ex xit command:
a. If the current pathname has no value, the current path‐
name shall be set to the file argument.
b. Otherwise, the alternate pathname shall be set to the
file argument.
If the alternate pathname is set to the previous value of the current
pathname when the current pathname had no previous value, then the
alternate pathname shall have no value as a result.
current line
The line of the edit buffer referenced by the cursor. Each com‐
mand description specifies the current line after the command
has been executed, as the current line value. When the edit buf‐
fer contains no lines, the current line shall be zero; see
Addressing in ex .
current column
The current display line column occupied by the cursor. (The
columns shall be numbered beginning at 1.) Each command descrip‐
tion specifies the current column after the command has been
executed, as the current column value. This column is an ideal
column that is remembered over the lifetime of the editor. The
actual display line column upon which the cursor rests may be
different from the current column; see the cursor positioning
discussion in Command Descriptions in vi .
set to non-<blank>
A description for a current column value, meaning that the cur‐
rent column shall be set to the last display line column on
which is displayed any part of the first non- <blank> of the
line. If the line has no non- <blank> non- <newline>s, the cur‐
rent column shall be set to the last display line column on
which is displayed any part of the last non- <newline> in the
line. If the line is empty, the current column shall be set to
column position 1.
The length of lines in the edit buffer may be limited to {LINE_MAX}
bytes. In open and visual mode, the length of lines in the edit buffer
may be limited to the number of characters that will fit in the dis‐
play. If either limit is exceeded during editing, an error message
shall be written. If either limit is exceeded by a line read in from a
file, an error message shall be written and the edit session may be
terminated.
If the editor stops running due to any reason other than a user com‐
mand, and the edit buffer has been modified since the last complete
write, it shall be equivalent to a SIGHUP asynchronous event. If the
system crashes, it shall be equivalent to a SIGHUP asynchronous event.
During initialization (before the first file is copied into the edit
buffer or any user commands from the terminal are processed) the fol‐
lowing shall occur:
1. If the environment variable EXINIT is set, the editor shall execute
the ex commands contained in that variable.
2. If the EXINIT variable is not set, and all of the following are
true:
a. The HOME environment variable is not null and not empty.
b. The file .exrc in the directory referred to by the HOME envi‐
ronment variable:
1. Exists
2. Is owned by the same user ID as the real user ID of the
process or the process has appropriate privileges
3. Is not writable by anyone other than the owner
the editor shall execute the ex commands contained in that file.
3. If and only if all of the following are true:
a. The current directory is not referred to by the HOME environ‐
ment variable.
b. A command in the EXINIT environment variable or a command in
the .exrc file in the directory referred to by the HOME envi‐
ronment variable sets the editor option exrc.
c. The .exrc file in the current directory:
1. Exists
2. Is owned by the same user ID as the real user ID of the
process, or by one of a set of implementation-defined user
IDs
3. Is not writable by anyone other than the owner
the editor shall attempt to execute the ex commands contained in that
file.
Lines in any .exrc file that are blank lines shall be ignored. If any
.exrc file exists, but is not read for ownership or permission reasons,
it shall be an error.
After the EXINIT variable and any .exrc files are processed, the first
file specified by the user shall be edited, as follows:
1. If the user specified the -t option, the effect shall be as if the
ex tag command was entered with the specified argument, with the
exception that if tag processing does not result in a file to edit,
the effect shall be as described in step 3. below.
2. Otherwise, if the user specified any command line file arguments,
the effect shall be as if the ex edit command was entered with the
first of those arguments as its file argument.
3. Otherwise, the effect shall be as if the ex edit command was
entered with a nonexistent filename as its file argument. It is
unspecified whether this action shall set the current pathname. In
an implementation where this action does not set the current path‐
name, any editor command using the current pathname shall fail
until an editor command sets the current pathname.
If the -r option was specified, the first time a file in the initial
argument list or a file specified by the -t option is edited, if recov‐
ery information has previously been saved about it, that information
shall be recovered and the editor shall behave as if the contents of
the edit buffer have already been modified. If there are multiple
instances of the file to be recovered, the one most recently saved
shall be recovered, and an informational message that there are previ‐
ous versions of the file that can be recovered shall be written. If no
recovery information about a file is available, an informational mes‐
sage to this effect shall be written, and the edit shall proceed as
usual.
If the -c option was specified, the first time a file that already
exists (including a file that might not exist but for which recovery
information is available, when the -r option is specified) replaces or
initializes the contents of the edit buffer, the current line shall be
set to the last line of the edit buffer, the current column shall be
set to non- <blank>, and the ex commands specified with the -c option
shall be executed. In this case, the current line and current column
shall not be set as described for the command associated with the
replacement or initialization of the edit buffer contents. However, if
the -t option or a tag command is associated with this action, the -c
option commands shall be executed and then the movement to the tag
shall be performed.
The current argument list shall initially be set to the filenames spec‐
ified by the user on the command line. If no filenames are specified by
the user, the current argument list shall be empty. If the -t option
was specified, it is unspecified whether any filename resulting from
tag processing shall be prepended to the current argument list. In the
case where the filename is added as a prefix to the current argument
list, the current argument list reference shall be set to that file‐
name. In the case where the filename is not added as a prefix to the
current argument list, the current argument list reference shall logi‐
cally be located before the first of the filenames specified on the
command line (for example, a subsequent ex next command shall edit the
first filename from the command line). If the -t option was not speci‐
fied, the current argument list reference shall be to the first of the
filenames on the command line.
Addressing in ex
Addressing in ex relates to the current line and the current column;
the address of a line is its 1-based line number, the address of a col‐
umn is its 1-based count from the beginning of the line. Generally, the
current line is the last line affected by a command. The current line
number is the address of the current line. In each command description,
the effect of the command on the current line number and the current
column is described.
Addresses are constructed as follows:
1. The character '.' (period) shall address the current line.
2. The character '$' shall address the last line of the edit buffer.
3. The positive decimal number n shall address the nth line of the
edit buffer.
4. The address "'x" refers to the line marked with the mark name char‐
acter 'x' , which shall be a lowercase letter from the portable
character set or one of the characters '`' or '" . It shall be an
error if the line that was marked is not currently present in the
edit buffer or the mark has not been set. Lines can be marked with
the ex mark or k commands, or the vi m command.
5. A regular expression enclosed by slashes ( '/' ) shall address the
first line found by searching forwards from the line following the
current line toward the end of the edit buffer and stopping at the
first line for which the line excluding the terminating <newline>
matches the regular expression. As stated in Regular Expressions in
ex , an address consisting of a null regular expression delimited
by slashes "//" shall address the next line for which the line
excluding the terminating <newline> matches the last regular
expression encountered. In addition, the second slash can be omit‐
ted at the end of a command line. If the wrapscan edit option is
set, the search shall wrap around to the beginning of the edit buf‐
fer and continue up to and including the current line, so that the
entire edit buffer is searched. Within the regular expression, the
sequence "\/" shall represent a literal slash instead of the regu‐
lar expression delimiter.
6. A regular expression enclosed in question marks ( '?' ) shall
address the first line found by searching backwards from the line
preceding the current line toward the beginning of the edit buffer
and stopping at the first line for which the line excluding the
terminating <newline> matches the regular expression. An address
consisting of a null regular expression delimited by question marks
"??" shall address the previous line for which the line excluding
the terminating <newline> matches the last regular expression
encountered. In addition, the second question mark can be omitted
at the end of a command line. If the wrapscan edit option is set,
the search shall wrap around from the beginning of the edit buffer
to the end of the edit buffer and continue up to and including the
current line, so that the entire edit buffer is searched. Within
the regular expression, the sequence "\?" shall represent a literal
question mark instead of the RE delimiter.
7. A plus sign ( '+' ) or a minus sign ( '-' ) followed by a decimal
number shall address the current line plus or minus the number. A
'+' or '-' not followed by a decimal number shall address the cur‐
rent line plus or minus 1.
Addresses can be followed by zero or more address offsets, optionally
<blank>-separated. Address offsets are constructed as follows:
1. A '+' or '-' immediately followed by a decimal number shall add
(subtract) the indicated number of lines to (from) the address. A
'+' or '-' not followed by a decimal number shall add (subtract) 1
to (from) the address.
2. A decimal number shall add the indicated number of lines to the
address.
It shall not be an error for an intermediate address value to be less
than zero or greater than the last line in the edit buffer. It shall be
an error for the final address value to be less than zero or greater
than the last line in the edit buffer.
Commands take zero, one, or two addresses; see the descriptions of
1addr and 2addr in Command Descriptions in ex . If more than the
required number of addresses are provided to a command that requires
zero addresses, it shall be an error. Otherwise, if more than the
required number of addresses are provided to a command, the addresses
specified first shall be evaluated and then discarded until the maximum
number of valid addresses remain.
Addresses shall be separated from each other by a comma ( ',' ) or a
semicolon ( ';' ). If no address is specified before or after a comma
or semicolon separator, it shall be as if the address of the current
line was specified before or after the separator. In the case of a
semicolon separator, the current line ( '.' ) shall be set to the first
address, and only then will the next address be calculated. This fea‐
ture can be used to determine the starting line for forwards and back‐
wards searches (see rules 5. and 6.).
A percent sign ( '%' ) shall be equivalent to entering the two
addresses "1,$" .
Any delimiting <blank>s between addresses, address separators, or
address offsets shall be discarded.
Command Line Parsing in ex
The following symbol is used in this and following sections to describe
parsing behavior:
escape If a character is referred to as "backslash-escaped" or " <con‐
trol>-V-escaped," it shall mean that the character acquired or
lost a special meaning by virtue of being preceded, respec‐
tively, by a backslash or <control>-V character. Unless other‐
wise specified, the escaping character shall be discarded at
that time and shall not be further considered for any purpose.
Command-line parsing shall be done in the following steps. For each
step, characters already evaluated shall be ignored; that is, the
phrase "leading character" refers to the next character that has not
yet been evaluated.
1. Leading colon characters shall be skipped.
2. Leading <blank>s shall be skipped.
3. If the leading character is a double-quote character, the charac‐
ters up to and including the next non-backslash-escaped <newline>
shall be discarded, and any subsequent characters shall be parsed
as a separate command.
4. Leading characters that can be interpreted as addresses shall be
evaluated; see Addressing in ex .
5. Leading <blank>s shall be skipped.
6. If the next character is a vertical-line character or a <newline>:
a. If the next character is a <newline>:
1. If ex is in open or visual mode, the current line shall be
set to the last address specified, if any.
2. Otherwise, if the last command was terminated by a verti‐
cal-line character, no action shall be taken; for example,
the command "||<newline>" shall execute two implied com‐
mands, not three.
3. Otherwise, step 6.b. shall apply.
b. Otherwise, the implied command shall be the print command. The
last #, p, and l flags specified to any ex command shall be
remembered and shall apply to this implied command. Executing
the ex number, print, or list command shall set the remembered
flags to #, nothing, and l, respectively, plus any other flags
specified for that execution of the number, print, or list com‐
mand.
If ex is not currently performing a global or v command, and no
address or count is specified, the current line shall be incre‐
mented by 1 before the command is executed. If incrementing the
current line would result in an address past the last line in the
edit buffer, the command shall fail, and the increment shall not
happen.
c. The <newline> or vertical-line character shall be discarded and
any subsequent characters shall be parsed as a separate com‐
mand.
7. The command name shall be comprised of the next character (if the
character is not alphabetic), or the next character and any subse‐
quent alphabetic characters (if the character is alphabetic), with
the following exceptions:
a. Commands that consist of any prefix of the characters in the
command name delete, followed immediately by any of the charac‐
ters 'l' , 'p' , '+' , '-' , or '#' shall be interpreted as a
delete command, followed by a <blank>, followed by the charac‐
ters that were not part of the prefix of the delete command.
The maximum number of characters shall be matched to the com‐
mand name delete; for example, "del" shall not be treated as
"de" followed by the flag l.
b. Commands that consist of the character 'k' , followed by a
character that can be used as the name of a mark, shall be
equivalent to the mark command followed by a <blank>, followed
by the character that followed the 'k' .
c. Commands that consist of the character 's' , followed by char‐
acters that could be interpreted as valid options to the s com‐
mand, shall be the equivalent of the s command, without any
pattern or replacement values, followed by a <blank>, followed
by the characters after the 's' .
8. The command name shall be matched against the possible command
names, and a command name that contains a prefix matching the char‐
acters specified by the user shall be the executed command. In the
case of commands where the characters specified by the user could
be ambiguous, the executed command shall be as follows:
a append n next t t
c change p print u undo
ch change pr print un undo
e edit r read v v
m move re read w write
ma mark s s
Implementation extensions with names causing similar ambiguities shall
not be checked for a match until all possible matches for commands
specified by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 have been checked.
9. If the command is a ! command, or if the command is a read command
followed by zero or more <blank>s and a !, or if the command is a
write command followed by one or more <blank>s and a !, the rest of
the command shall include all characters up to a non-backslash-
escaped <newline>. The <newline> shall be discarded and any subse‐
quent characters shall be parsed as a separate ex command.
10. Otherwise, if the command is an edit, ex, or next command, or a
visual command while in open or visual mode, the next part of the
command shall be parsed as follows:
a. Any '!' character immediately following the command shall be
skipped and be part of the command.
b. Any leading <blank>s shall be skipped and be part of the com‐
mand.
c. If the next character is a '+' , characters up to the first
non-backslash-escaped <newline> or non-backslash-escaped
<blank> shall be skipped and be part of the command.
d. The rest of the command shall be determined by the steps speci‐
fied in paragraph 12.
11. Otherwise, if the command is a global, open, s, or v command, the
next part of the command shall be parsed as follows:
a. Any leading <blank>s shall be skipped and be part of the com‐
mand.
b. If the next character is not an alphanumeric, double-quote,
<newline>, backslash, or vertical-line character:
1. The next character shall be used as a command delimiter.
2. If the command is a global, open, or v command, characters
up to the first non-backslash-escaped <newline>, or first
non-backslash-escaped delimiter character, shall be skipped
and be part of the command.
3. If the command is an s command, characters up to the first
non-backslash-escaped <newline>, or second non-backslash-
escaped delimiter character, shall be skipped and be part
of the command.
c. If the command is a global or v command, characters up to the
first non-backslash-escaped <newline> shall be skipped and be
part of the command.
d. Otherwise, the rest of the command shall be determined by the
steps specified in paragraph 12.
12. Otherwise:
a. If the command was a map, unmap, abbreviate, or unabbreviate
command, characters up to the first non- <control>-V-escaped
<newline>, vertical-line, or double-quote character shall be
skipped and be part of the command.
b. Otherwise, characters up to the first non-backslash-escaped
<newline>, vertical-line, or double-quote character shall be
skipped and be part of the command.
c. If the command was an append, change, or insert command, and
the step 12.b. ended at a vertical-line character, any subse‐
quent characters, up to the next non-backslash-escaped <new‐
line> shall be used as input text to the command.
d. If the command was ended by a double-quote character, all sub‐
sequent characters, up to the next non-backslash-escaped <new‐
line>, shall be discarded.
e. The terminating <newline> or vertical-line character shall be
discarded and any subsequent characters shall be parsed as a
separate ex command.
Command arguments shall be parsed as described by the Synopsis and
Description of each individual ex command. This parsing shall not be
<blank>-sensitive, except for the ! argument, which must follow the
command name without intervening <blank>s, and where it would otherwise
be ambiguous. For example, count and flag arguments need not be
<blank>-separated because "d22p" is not ambiguous, but file arguments
to the ex next command must be separated by one or more <blank>s. Any
<blank> in command arguments for the abbreviate, unabbreviate, map, and
unmap commands can be <control>-V-escaped, in which case the <blank>
shall not be used as an argument delimiter. Any <blank> in the command
argument for any other command can be backslash-escaped, in which case
that <blank> shall not be used as an argument delimiter.
Within command arguments for the abbreviate, unabbreviate, map, and
unmap commands, any character can be <control>-V-escaped. All such
escaped characters shall be treated literally and shall have no special
meaning. Within command arguments for all other ex commands that are
not regular expressions or replacement strings, any character that
would otherwise have a special meaning can be backslash-escaped.
Escaped characters shall be treated literally, without special meaning
as shell expansion characters or '!' , '%' , and '#' expansion charac‐
ters. See Regular Expressions in ex and Replacement Strings in ex for
descriptions of command arguments that are regular expressions or
replacement strings.
Non-backslash-escaped '%' characters appearing in file arguments to any
ex command shall be replaced by the current pathname; unescaped '#'
characters shall be replaced by the alternate pathname. It shall be an
error if '%' or '#' characters appear unescaped in an argument and
their corresponding values are not set.
Non-backslash-escaped '!' characters in the arguments to either the ex
! command or the open and visual mode ! command, or in the arguments to
the ex read command, where the first non- <blank> after the command
name is a '!' character, or in the arguments to the ex write command
where the command name is followed by one or more <blank>s and the
first non- <blank> after the command name is a '!' character, shall be
replaced with the arguments to the last of those three commands as they
appeared after all unescaped '%' , '#' , and '!' characters were
replaced. It shall be an error if '!' characters appear unescaped in
one of these commands and there has been no previous execution of one
of these commands.
If an error occurs during the parsing or execution of an ex command:
* An informational message to this effect shall be written. Execution
of the ex command shall stop, and the cursor (for example, the cur‐
rent line and column) shall not be further modified.
* If the ex command resulted from a map expansion, all characters from
that map expansion shall be discarded, except as otherwise specified
by the map command.
* Otherwise, if the ex command resulted from the processing of an
EXINIT environment variable, a .exrc file, a :source command, a -c
option, or a + command specified to an ex edit, ex, next, or visual
command, no further commands from the source of the commands shall
be executed.
* Otherwise, if the ex command resulted from the execution of a buffer
or a global or v command, no further commands caused by the execu‐
tion of the buffer or the global or v command shall be executed.
* Otherwise, if the ex command was not terminated by a <newline>, all
characters up to and including the next non-backslash-escaped <new‐
line> shall be discarded.
Input Editing in ex
The following symbol is used in this and the following sections to
specify command actions:
word In the POSIX locale, a word consists of a maximal sequence of
letters, digits, and underscores, delimited at both ends by
characters other than letters, digits, or underscores, or by the
beginning or end of a line or the edit buffer.
When accepting input characters from the user, in either ex command
mode or ex text input mode, ex shall enable canonical mode input pro‐
cessing, as defined in the System Interfaces volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
If in ex text input mode:
1. If the number edit option is set, ex shall prompt for input using
the line number that would be assigned to the line if it is
entered, in the format specified for the ex number command.
2. If the autoindent edit option is set, ex shall prompt for input
using autoindent characters, as described by the autoindent edit
option. autoindent characters shall follow the line number, if any.
If in ex command mode:
1. If the prompt edit option is set, input shall be prompted for using
a single ':' character; otherwise, there shall be no prompt.
The input characters in the following sections shall have the following
effects on the input line.
Scroll
Synopsis:
eof
See the description of the stty eof character in stty .
If in ex command mode: If the eof character is the first character
entered on the line, the line shall be evaluated as if it contained two
characters: a <control>-D and a <newline>.
Otherwise, the eof character shall have no special meaning.
If in ex text input mode: If the cursor follows an autoindent charac‐
ter, the autoindent characters in the line shall be modified so that a
part of the next text input character will be displayed on the first
column in the line after the previous shiftwidth edit option column
boundary, and the user shall be prompted again for input for the same
line.
Otherwise, if the cursor follows a '0' , which follows an autoindent
character, and the '0' was the previous text input character, the '0'
and all autoindent characters in the line shall be discarded, and the
user shall be prompted again for input for the same line.
Otherwise, if the cursor follows a '^' , which follows an autoindent
character, and the '^' was the previous text input character, the '^'
and all autoindent characters in the line shall be discarded, and the
user shall be prompted again for input for the same line. In addition,
the autoindent level for the next input line shall be derived from the
same line from which the autoindent level for the current input line
was derived.
Otherwise, if there are no autoindent or text input characters in the
line, the eof character shall be discarded.
Otherwise, the eof character shall have no special meaning.
<newline>
Synopsis:
<newline>
<control>-J
If in ex command mode: Cause the command line to be parsed; <control>-J
shall be mapped to the <newline> for this purpose.
If in ex text input mode: Terminate the current line. If there are no
characters other than autoindent characters on the line, all characters
on the line shall be discarded.
Prompt for text input on a new line after the current line. If the
autoindent edit option is set, an appropriate number of autoindent
characters shall be added as a prefix to the line as described by the
ex autoindent edit option.
<backslash>
Synopsis:
<backslash>
Allow the entry of a subsequent <newline> or <control>-J as a literal
character, removing any special meaning that it may have to the editor
during text input mode. The backslash character shall be retained and
evaluated when the command line is parsed, or retained and included
when the input text becomes part of the edit buffer.
<control>-V
Synopsis:
<control>-V
Allow the entry of any subsequent character as a literal character,
removing any special meaning that it may have to the editor during text
input mode. The <control>-V character shall be discarded before the
command line is parsed or the input text becomes part of the edit buf‐
fer.
If the "literal next" functionality is performed by the underlying sys‐
tem, it is implementation-defined whether a character other than <con‐
trol>-V performs this function.
<control>-W
Synopsis:
<control>-W
Discard the <control>-W, and the word previous to it in the input line,
including any <blank>s following the word and preceding the <con‐
trol>-W. If the "word erase" functionality is performed by the underly‐
ing system, it is implementation-defined whether a character other than
<control>-W performs this function.
Command Descriptions in ex
The following symbols are used in this section to represent command
modifiers. Some of these modifiers can be omitted, in which case the
specified defaults shall be used.
1addr A single line address, given in any of the forms described in
Addressing in ex ; the default shall be the current line ( '.'
), unless otherwise specified.
If the line address is zero, it shall be an error, unless otherwise
specified in the following command descriptions.
If the edit buffer is empty, and the address is specified with a com‐
mand other than =, append, insert, open, put, read, or visual, or the
address is not zero, it shall be an error.
2addr Two addresses specifying an inclusive range of lines. If no
addresses are specified, the default for 2addr shall be the cur‐
rent line only ( ".,." ), unless otherwise specified in the fol‐
lowing command descriptions. If one address is specified, 2addr
shall specify that line only, unless otherwise specified in the
following command descriptions.
It shall be an error if the first address is greater than the second
address.
If the edit buffer is empty, and the two addresses are specified with a
command other than the !, write, wq, or xit commands, or either address
is not zero, it shall be an error.
count A positive decimal number. If count is specified, it shall be
equivalent to specifying an additional address to the command,
unless otherwise specified by the following command descrip‐
tions. The additional address shall be equal to the last
address specified to the command (either explicitly or by
default) plus count-1.
If this would result in an address greater than the last line of the
edit buffer, it shall be corrected to equal the last line of the edit
buffer.
flags One or more of the characters '+' , '-' , '#' , 'p' , or 'l'
(ell). The flag characters can be <blank>-separated, and in any
order or combination. The characters '#' , 'p' , and 'l' shall
cause lines to be written in the format specified by the print
command with the specified flags.
The lines to be written are as follows:
1. All edit buffer lines written during the execution of the ex
&, ~, list, number, open, print, s, visual, and z commands
shall be written as specified by flags.
2. After the completion of an ex command with a flag as an
argument, the current line shall be written as specified by
flags, unless the current line was the last line written by
the command.
The characters '+' and '-' cause the value of the current line after
the execution of the ex command to be adjusted by the offset address as
described in Addressing in ex . This adjustment shall occur before the
current line is written as described in 2. above.
The default for flags shall be none.
buffer One of a number of named areas for holding text. The named buf‐
fers are specified by the alphanumeric characters of the POSIX
locale. There shall also be one "unnamed" buffer. When no buffer
is specified for editor commands that use a buffer, the unnamed
buffer shall be used. Commands that store text into buffers
shall store the text as it was before the command took effect,
and shall store text occurring earlier in the file before text
occurring later in the file, regardless of how the text region
was specified. Commands that store text into buffers shall store
the text into the unnamed buffer as well as any specified buf‐
fer.
In ex commands, buffer names are specified as the name by itself. In
open or visual mode commands the name is preceded by a double quote ( '
)' character.
If the specified buffer name is an uppercase character, and the buffer
contents are to be modified, the buffer shall be appended to rather
than being overwritten. If the buffer is not being modified, specifying
the buffer name in lowercase and uppercase shall have identical
results.
There shall also be buffers named by the numbers 1 through 9. In open
and visual mode, if a region of text including characters from more
than a single line is being modified by the vi c or d commands, the
motion character associated with the c or d commands specifies that the
buffer text shall be in line mode, or the commands %, `, /, ?, (, ), N,
n, {, or } are used to define a region of text for the c or d commands,
the contents of buffers 1 through 8 shall be moved into the buffer
named by the next numerically greater value, the contents of buffer 9
shall be discarded, and the region of text shall be copied into buffer
1. This shall be in addition to copying the text into a user-specified
buffer or unnamed buffer, or both. Numeric buffers can be specified as
a source buffer for open and visual mode commands; however, specifying
a numeric buffer as the write target of an open or visual mode command
shall have unspecified results.
The text of each buffer shall have the characteristic of being in
either line or character mode. Appending text to a non-empty buffer
shall set the mode to match the characteristic of the text being
appended. Appending text to a buffer shall cause the creation of at
least one additional line in the buffer. All text stored into buffers
by ex commands shall be in line mode. The ex commands that use buffers
as the source of text specify individually how buffers of different
modes are handled. Each open or visual mode command that uses buffers
for any purpose specifies individually the mode of the text stored into
the buffer and how buffers of different modes are handled.
file Command text used to derive a pathname. The default shall be the
current pathname, as defined previously, in which case, if no
current pathname has yet been established it shall be an error,
except where specifically noted in the individual command
descriptions that follow. If the command text contains any of
the characters '~' , '{' , '[' , '*' , '?' , '$' , '`' , '" , '
,' and '\' , it shall be subjected to the process of "shell
expansions", as described below; if more than a single pathname
results and the command expects only one, it shall be an error.
The process of shell expansions in the editor shall be done as follows.
The ex utility shall pass two arguments to the program named by the
shell edit option; the first shall be -c, and the second shall be the
string "echo" and the command text as a single argument. The standard
output and standard error of that command shall replace the command
text.
! A character that can be appended to the command name to modify
its operation, as detailed in the individual command descrip‐
tions. With the exception of the ex read, write, and ! commands,
the '!' character shall only act as a modifier if there are no
<blank>s between it and the command name.
remembered search direction
The vi commands N and n begin searching in a forwards or back‐
wards direction in the edit buffer based on a remembered search
direction, which is initially unset, and is set by the ex
global, v, s, and tag commands, and the vi / and ? commands.
Abbreviate
Synopsis:
ab[breviate][lhs rhs]
If lhs and rhs are not specified, write the current list of abbrevia‐
tions and do nothing more.
Implementations may restrict the set of characters accepted in lhs or
rh, except that printable characters and <blank>s shall not be
restricted. Additional restrictions shall be implementation-defined.
In both lhs and rhs, any character may be escaped with a <control>-V,
in which case the character shall not be used to delimit lhs from rhs,
and the escaping <control>-V shall be discarded.
In open and visual text input mode, if a non-word or <ESC> character
that is not escaped by a <control>-V character is entered after a word
character, a check shall be made for a set of characters matching lhs,
in the text input entered during this command. If it is found, the
effect shall be as if rhs was entered instead of lhs.
The set of characters that are checked is defined as follows:
1. If there are no characters inserted before the word and non-word or
<ESC> characters that triggered the check, the set of characters
shall consist of the word character.
2. If the character inserted before the word and non-word or <ESC>
characters that triggered the check is a word character, the set of
characters shall consist of the characters inserted immediately
before the triggering characters that are word characters, plus the
triggering word character.
3. If the character inserted before the word and non-word or <ESC>
characters that triggered the check is not a word character, the
set of characters shall consist of the characters that were
inserted before the triggering characters that are neither <blank>s
nor word characters, plus the triggering word character.
It is unspecified whether the lhs argument entered for the ex abbrevi‐
ate and unabbreviate commands is replaced in this fashion. Regardless
of whether or not the replacement occurs, the effect of the command
shall be as if the replacement had not occurred.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Append
Synopsis:
[1addr] a[ppend][!]
Enter ex text input mode; the input text shall be placed after the
specified line. If line zero is specified, the text shall be placed at
the beginning of the edit buffer.
This command shall be affected by the number and autoindent edit
options; following the command name with '!' shall cause the autoindent
edit option setting to be toggled for the duration of this command
only.
Current line: Set to the last input line; if no lines were input, set
to the specified line, or to the first line of the edit buffer if a
line of zero was specified, or zero if the edit buffer is empty.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Arguments
Synopsis:
ar[gs]
Write the current argument list, with the current argument-list entry,
if any, between '[' and ']' characters.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Change
Synopsis:
[2addr] c[hange][!][count]
Enter ex text input mode; the input text shall replace the specified
lines. The specified lines shall be copied into the unnamed buffer,
which shall become a line mode buffer.
This command shall be affected by the number and autoindent edit
options; following the command name with '!' shall cause the autoindent
edit option setting to be toggled for the duration of this command
only.
Current line: Set to the last input line; if no lines were input, set
to the line before the first address, or to the first line of the edit
buffer if there are no lines preceding the first address, or to zero if
the edit buffer is empty.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Change Directory
Synopsis:
chd[ir][!][directory]cd[!][directory]
Change the current working directory to directory.
If no directory argument is specified, and the HOME environment vari‐
able is set to a non-null and non-empty value, directory shall default
to the value named in the HOME environment variable. If the HOME envi‐
ronment variable is empty or is undefined, the default value of direc‐
tory is implementation-defined.
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, and the current pathname does
not begin with a '/' , it shall be an error.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Copy
Synopsis:
[2addr] co[py] 1addr [flags]
[2addr] t 1addr [flags]
Copy the specified lines after the specified destination line; line
zero specifies that the lines shall be placed at the beginning of the
edit buffer.
Current line: Set to the last line copied.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Delete
Synopsis:
[2addr] d[elete][buffer][count][flags]
Delete the specified lines into a buffer (defaulting to the unnamed
buffer), which shall become a line-mode buffer.
Flags can immediately follow the command name; see Command Line Parsing
in ex .
Current line: Set to the line following the deleted lines, or to the
last line in the edit buffer if that line is past the end of the edit
buffer, or to zero if the edit buffer is empty.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Edit
Synopsis:
e[dit][!][+command][file]ex[!][+command][file]
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, it shall be an error.
If file is specified, replace the current contents of the edit buffer
with the current contents of file, and set the current pathname to
file. If file is not specified, replace the current contents of the
edit buffer with the current contents of the file named by the current
pathname. If for any reason the current contents of the file cannot be
accessed, the edit buffer shall be empty.
The + command option shall be <blank>-delimited; <blank>s within + com‐
mand can be escaped by preceding them with a backslash character. The +
command shall be interpreted as an ex command immediately after the
contents of the edit buffer have been replaced and the current line and
column have been set.
If the edit buffer is empty:
Current line: Set to 0.
Current column: Set to 1.
Otherwise, if executed while in ex command mode or if the + command
argument is specified:
Current line: Set to the last line of the edit buffer.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Otherwise, if file is omitted or results in the current pathname:
Current line: Set to the first line of the edit buffer.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Otherwise, if file is the same as the last file edited, the line and
column shall be set as follows; if the file was previously edited, the
line and column may be set as follows:
Current line: Set to the last value held when that file was last
edited. If this value is not a valid line in the new edit buffer, set
to the first line of the edit buffer.
Current column: If the current line was set to the last value held when
the file was last edited, set to the last value held when the file was
last edited. Otherwise, or if the last value is not a valid column in
the new edit buffer, set to non- <blank>.
Otherwise:
Current line: Set to the first line of the edit buffer.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
File
Synopsis:
f[ile][file]
If a file argument is specified, the alternate pathname shall be set to
the current pathname, and the current pathname shall be set to file.
Write an informational message. If the file has a current pathname, it
shall be included in this message; otherwise, the message shall indi‐
cate that there is no current pathname. If the edit buffer contains
lines, the current line number and the number of lines in the edit buf‐
fer shall be included in this message; otherwise, the message shall
indicate that the edit buffer is empty. If the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, this fact shall be included in
this message. If the readonly edit option is set, this fact shall be
included in this message. The message may contain other unspecified
information.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Global
Synopsis:
[2addr] g[lobal] /pattern/ [commands]
[2addr] v /pattern/ [commands]
The optional '!' character after the global command shall be the same
as executing the v command.
If pattern is empty (for example, "//" ) or not specified, the last
regular expression used in the editor command shall be used as the pat‐
tern. The pattern can be delimited by slashes (shown in the Synopsis),
as well as any non-alphanumeric or non- <blank> other than backslash,
vertical line, double quote, or <newline>.
If no lines are specified, the lines shall default to the entire file.
The global and v commands are logically two-pass operations. First,
mark the lines within the specified lines for which the line excluding
the terminating <newline> matches ( global) or does not match ( v or
global!) the specified pattern. Second, execute the ex commands given
by commands, with the current line ( '.' ) set to each marked line. If
an error occurs during this process, or the contents of the edit buffer
are replaced (for example, by the ex :edit command) an error message
shall be written and no more commands resulting from the execution of
this command shall be processed.
Multiple ex commands can be specified by entering multiple commands on
a single line using a vertical line to delimit them, or one per line,
by escaping each <newline> with a backslash.
If no commands are specified:
1. If in ex command mode, it shall be as if the print command were
specified.
2. Otherwise, no command shall be executed.
For the append, change, and insert commands, the input text shall be
included as part of the command, and the terminating period can be
omitted if the command ends the list of commands. The open and visual
commands can be specified as one of the commands, in which case each
marked line shall cause the editor to enter open or visual mode. If
open or visual mode is exited using the vi Q command, the current line
shall be set to the next marked line, and open or visual mode reen‐
tered, until the list of marked lines is exhausted.
The global, v, and undo commands cannot be used in commands. Marked
lines may be deleted by commands executed for lines occurring earlier
in the file than the marked lines. In this case, no commands shall be
executed for the deleted lines.
If the remembered search direction is not set, the global and v com‐
mands shall set it to forward.
The autoprint and autoindent edit options shall be inhibited for the
duration of the g or v command.
Current line: If no commands executed, set to the last marked line.
Otherwise, as specified for the executed ex commands.
Current column: If no commands are executed, set to non- <blank>; oth‐
erwise, as specified for the individual ex commands.
Insert
Synopsis:
[1addr] i[nsert][!]
Enter ex text input mode; the input text shall be placed before the
specified line. If the line is zero or 1, the text shall be placed at
the beginning of the edit buffer.
This command shall be affected by the number and autoindent edit
options; following the command name with '!' shall cause the autoindent
edit option setting to be toggled for the duration of this command
only.
Current line: Set to the last input line; if no lines were input, set
to the line before the specified line, or to the first line of the edit
buffer if there are no lines preceding the specified line, or zero if
the edit buffer is empty.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Join
Synopsis:
[2addr] j[oin][!][count][flags]
If count is specified: If no address was specified, the join command
shall behave as if 2addr were the current line and the current line
plus count (.,. + count).
If one address was specified, the join command shall behave as if 2addr
were the specified address and the specified address plus count ( addr,
addr + count).
If two addresses were specified, the join command shall behave as if an
additional address, equal to the last address plus count -1 ( addr1,
addr2, addr2 + count -1), was specified.
If this would result in a second address greater than the last line of
the edit buffer, it shall be corrected to be equal to the last line of
the edit buffer.
If no count is specified: If no address was specified, the join command
shall behave as if 2addr were the current line and the next line (.,.
+1).
If one address was specified, the join command shall behave as if 2addr
were the specified address and the next line ( addr, addr +1).
Join the text from the specified lines together into a single line,
which shall replace the specified lines.
If a '!' character is appended to the command name, the join shall be
without modification of any line, independent of the current locale.
Otherwise, in the POSIX locale, set the current line to the first of
the specified lines, and then, for each subsequent line, proceed as
follows:
1. Discard leading <space>s from the line to be joined.
2. If the line to be joined is now empty, delete it, and skip steps 3
through 5.
3. If the current line ends in a <blank>, or the first character of
the line to be joined is a ')' character, join the lines without
further modification.
4. If the last character of the current line is a '.' , join the lines
with two <space>s between them.
5. Otherwise, join the lines with a single <space> between them.
Current line: Set to the first line specified.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
List
Synopsis:
[2addr] l[ist][count][flags]
This command shall be equivalent to the ex command:
[2addr] p[rint][count] l[flags]
See Print .
Map
Synopsis:
map[!][lhs rhs]
If lhs and rhs are not specified:
1. If '!' is specified, write the current list of text input mode
maps.
2. Otherwise, write the current list of command mode maps.
3. Do nothing more.
Implementations may restrict the set of characters accepted in lhs or
rhs, except that printable characters and <blank>s shall not be
restricted. Additional restrictions shall be implementation-defined. In
both lhs and rhs, any character can be escaped with a <control>-V, in
which case the character shall not be used to delimit lhs from rhs, and
the escaping <control>-V shall be discarded.
If the character '!' is appended to the map command name, the mapping
shall be effective during open or visual text input mode rather than
open or visual command mode. This allows lhs to have two different map
definitions at the same time: one for command mode and one for text
input mode.
For command mode mappings: When the lhs is entered as any part of a vi
command in open or visual mode (but not as part of the arguments to the
command), the action shall be as if the corresponding rhs had been
entered.
If any character in the command, other than the first, is escaped using
a <control>-V character, that character shall not be part of a match to
an lhs.
It is unspecified whether implementations shall support map commands
where the lhs is more than a single character in length, where the
first character of the lhs is printable.
If lhs contains more than one character and the first character is '#'
, followed by a sequence of digits corresponding to a numbered function
key, then when this function key is typed it shall be mapped to rhs.
Characters other than digits following a '#' character also represent
the function key named by the characters in the lhs following the '#'
and may be mapped to rhs. It is unspecified how function keys are named
or what function keys are supported.
For text input mode mappings: When the lhs is entered as any part of
text entered in open or visual text input modes, the action shall be as
if the corresponding rhs had been entered.
If any character in the input text is escaped using a <control>-V char‐
acter, that character shall not be part of a match to an lhs.
It is unspecified whether the lhs text entered for subsequent map or
unmap commands is replaced with the rhs text for the purposes of the
screen display; regardless of whether or not the display appears as if
the corresponding rhs text was entered, the effect of the command shall
be as if the lhs text was entered.
If only part of the lhs is entered, it is unspecified how long the edi‐
tor will wait for additional, possibly matching characters before
treating the already entered characters as not matching the lhs.
The rhs characters shall themselves be subject to remapping, unless
otherwise specified by the remap edit option, except that if the char‐
acters in lhs occur as prefix characters in rhs, those characters shall
not be remapped.
On block-mode terminals, the mapping need not occur immediately (for
example, it may occur after the terminal transmits a group of charac‐
ters to the system), but it shall achieve the same results as if it
occurred immediately.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Mark
Synopsis:
[1addr] ma[rk] character
[1addr] k character
Implementations shall support character values of a single lowercase
letter of the POSIX locale and the characters '`' and '" ; support of
other characters is implementation-defined.
If executing the vi m command, set the specified mark to the current
line and 1-based numbered character referenced by the current column,
if any; otherwise, column position 1.
Otherwise, set the specified mark to the specified line and 1-based
numbered first non- <blank> non- <newline> in the line, if any; other‐
wise, the last non- <newline> in the line, if any; otherwise, column
position 1.
The mark shall remain associated with the line until the mark is reset
or the line is deleted. If a deleted line is restored by a subsequent
undo command, any marks previously associated with the line, which have
not been reset, shall be restored as well. Any use of a mark not asso‐
ciated with a current line in the edit buffer shall be an error.
The marks ` and ' shall be set as described previously, immediately
before the following events occur in the editor:
1. The use of '$' as an ex address
2. The use of a positive decimal number as an ex address
3. The use of a search command as an ex address
4. The use of a mark reference as an ex address
5. The use of the following open and visual mode commands: <con‐
trol>-], %, (, ), [, ], {, }
6. The use of the following open and visual mode commands: ', G, H, L,
M, z if the current line will change as a result of the command
7. The use of the open and visual mode commands: /, ?, N, `, n if the
current line or column will change as a result of the command
8. The use of the ex mode commands: z, undo, global, v
For rules 1., 2., 3., and 4., the ` and ' marks shall not be set if the
ex command is parsed as specified by rule 6.a. in Command Line Parsing
in ex .
For rules 5., 6., and 7., the ` and ' marks shall not be set if the
commands are used as motion commands in open and visual mode.
For rules 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., and 8., the ` and ' marks shall
not be set if the command fails.
The ` and ' marks shall be set as described previously, each time the
contents of the edit buffer are replaced (including the editing of the
initial buffer), if in open or visual mode, or if in ex mode and the
edit buffer is not empty, before any commands or movements (including
commands or movements specified by the -c or -t options or the + com‐
mand argument) are executed on the edit buffer. If in open or visual
mode, the marks shall be set as if executing the vi m command; other‐
wise, as if executing the ex mark command.
When changing from ex mode to open or visual mode, if the ` and ' marks
are not already set, the ` and ' marks shall be set as described previ‐
ously.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Move
Synopsis:
[2addr] m[ove] 1addr [flags]
Move the specified lines after the specified destination line. A desti‐
nation of line zero specifies that the lines shall be placed at the
beginning of the edit buffer. It shall be an error if the destination
line is within the range of lines to be moved.
Current line: Set to the last of the moved lines.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Next
Synopsis:
n[ext][!][+command][file ...]
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, it shall be an error, unless
the file is successfully written as specified by the autowrite option.
If one or more files is specified:
1. Set the argument list to the specified filenames.
2. Set the current argument list reference to be the first entry in
the argument list.
3. Set the current pathname to the first filename specified.
Otherwise:
1. It shall be an error if there are no more filenames in the argument
list after the filename currently referenced.
2. Set the current pathname and the current argument list reference to
the filename after the filename currently referenced in the argu‐
ment list.
Replace the contents of the edit buffer with the contents of the file
named by the current pathname. If for any reason the contents of the
file cannot be accessed, the edit buffer shall be empty.
This command shall be affected by the autowrite and writeany edit
options.
The + command option shall be <blank>-delimited; <blank>s can be
escaped by preceding them with a backslash character. The + command
shall be interpreted as an ex command immediately after the contents of
the edit buffer have been replaced and the current line and column have
been set.
Current line: Set as described for the edit command.
Current column: Set as described for the edit command.
Number
Synopsis:
[2addr] nu[mber][count][flags]
[2addr] #[count][flags]
These commands shall be equivalent to the ex command:
[2addr] p[rint][count] #[flags]
See Print .
Open
Synopsis:
[1addr] o[pen] /pattern/ [flags]
This command need not be supported on block-mode terminals or terminals
with insufficient capabilities. If standard input, standard output, or
standard error are not terminal devices, the results are unspecified.
Enter open mode.
The trailing delimiter can be omitted from pattern at the end of the
command line. If pattern is empty (for example, "//" ) or not speci‐
fied, the last regular expression used in the editor shall be used as
the pattern. The pattern can be delimited by slashes (shown in the Syn‐
opsis), as well as any alphanumeric, or non- <blank> other than back‐
slash, vertical line, double quote, or <newline>.
Current line: Set to the specified line.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Preserve
Synopsis:
pre[serve]
Save the edit buffer in a form that can later be recovered by using the
-r option or by using the ex recover command. After the file has been
preserved, a mail message shall be sent to the user. This message shall
be readable by invoking the mailx utility. The message shall contain
the name of the file, the time of preservation, and an ex command that
could be used to recover the file. Additional information may be
included in the mail message.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Print
Synopsis:
[2addr] p[rint][count][flags]
Write the addressed lines. The behavior is unspecified if the number of
columns on the display is less than the number of columns required to
write any single character in the lines being written.
Non-printable characters, except for the <tab>, shall be written as
implementation-defined multi-character sequences.
If the # flag is specified or the number edit option is set, each line
shall be preceded by its line number in the following format:
"%6d ", <line number>
If the l flag is specified or the list edit option is set:
1. The characters listed in the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Table 5-1, Escape Sequences and Associated
Actions shall be written as the corresponding escape sequence.
2. Non-printable characters not in the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Table 5-1, Escape Sequences and Associated
Actions shall be written as one three-digit octal number (with a
preceding backslash) for each byte in the character (most signifi‐
cant byte first). If the size of a byte on the system is greater
than 9 bits, the format used for non-printable characters is imple‐
mentation-defined.
3. The end of each line shall be marked with a '$' , and literal '$'
characters within the line shall be written with a preceding back‐
slash.
Long lines shall be folded; the length at which folding occurs is
unspecified, but should be appropriate for the output terminal, consid‐
ering the number of columns of the terminal.
If a line is folded, and the l flag is not specified and the list edit
option is not set, it is unspecified whether a multi-column character
at the folding position is separated; it shall not be discarded.
Current line: Set to the last written line.
Current column: Unchanged if the current line is unchanged; otherwise,
set to non- <blank>.
Put
Synopsis:
[1addr] pu[t][buffer]
Append text from the specified buffer (by default, the unnamed buffer)
to the specified line; line zero specifies that the text shall be
placed at the beginning of the edit buffer. Each portion of a line in
the buffer shall become a new line in the edit buffer, regardless of
the mode of the buffer.
Current line: Set to the last line entered into the edit buffer.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Quit
Synopsis:
q[uit][!]
If no '!' is appended to the command name:
1. If the edit buffer has been modified since the last complete write,
it shall be an error.
2. If there are filenames in the argument list after the filename cur‐
rently referenced, and the last command was not a quit, wq, xit, or
ZZ (see Exit ) command, it shall be an error.
Otherwise, terminate the editing session.
Read
Synopsis:
[1addr] r[ead][!][file]
If '!' is not the first non- <blank> to follow the command name, a copy
of the specified file shall be appended into the edit buffer after the
specified line; line zero specifies that the copy shall be placed at
the beginning of the edit buffer. The number of lines and bytes read
shall be written. If no file is named, the current pathname shall be
the default. If there is no current pathname, then file shall become
the current pathname. If there is no current pathname or file operand,
it shall be an error. Specifying a file that is not of type regular
shall have unspecified results.
Otherwise, if file is preceded by '!' , the rest of the line after the
'!' shall have '%' , '#' , and '!' characters expanded as described in
Command Line Parsing in ex .
The ex utility shall then pass two arguments to the program named by
the shell edit option; the first shall be -c and the second shall be
the expanded arguments to the read command as a single argument. The
standard input of the program shall be set to the standard input of the
ex program when it was invoked. The standard error and standard output
of the program shall be appended into the edit buffer after the speci‐
fied line.
Each line in the copied file or program output (as delimited by <new‐
line>s or the end of the file or output if it is not immediately pre‐
ceded by a <newline>), shall be a separate line in the edit buffer. Any
occurrences of <carriage-return> and <newline> pairs in the output
shall be treated as single <newline>s.
The special meaning of the '!' following the read command can be over‐
ridden by escaping it with a backslash character.
Current line: If no lines are added to the edit buffer, unchanged.
Otherwise, if in open or visual mode, set to the first line entered
into the edit buffer. Otherwise, set to the last line entered into the
edit buffer.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Recover
Synopsis:
rec[over][!] file
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, it shall be an error.
If no file operand is specified, then the current pathname shall be
used. If there is no current pathname or file operand, it shall be an
error.
If no recovery information has previously been saved about file, the
recover command shall behave identically to the edit command, and an
informational message to this effect shall be written.
Otherwise, set the current pathname to file, and replace the current
contents of the edit buffer with the recovered contents of file. If
there are multiple instances of the file to be recovered, the one most
recently saved shall be recovered, and an informational message that
there are previous versions of the file that can be recovered shall be
written. The editor shall behave as if the contents of the edit buffer
have already been modified.
Current file: Set as described for the edit command.
Current column: Set as described for the edit command.
Rewind
Synopsis:
rew[ind][!]
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit buffer has been
modified since the last complete write, it shall be an error, unless
the file is successfully written as specified by the autowrite option.
If the argument list is empty, it shall be an error.
The current argument list reference and the current pathname shall be
set to the first filename in the argument list.
Replace the contents of the edit buffer with the contents of the file
named by the current pathname. If for any reason the contents of the
file cannot be accessed, the edit buffer shall be empty.
This command shall be affected by the autowrite and writeany edit
options.
Current line: Set as described for the edit command.
Current column: Set as described for the edit command.
Set
Synopsis:
se[t][option[=[value]] ...][nooption ...][option? ...][all]
When no arguments are specified, write the value of the term edit
option and those options whose values have been changed from the
default settings; when the argument all is specified, write all of the
option values.
Giving an option name followed by the character '?' shall cause the
current value of that option to be written. The '?' can be separated
from the option name by zero or more <blank>s. The '?' shall be neces‐
sary only for Boolean valued options. Boolean options can be given val‐
ues by the form set option to turn them on or set no option to turn
them off; string and numeric options can be assigned by the form set
option= value. Any <blank>s in strings can be included as is by preced‐
ing each <blank> with an escaping backslash. More than one option can
be set or listed by a single set command by specifying multiple argu‐
ments, each separated from the next by one or more <blank>s.
See Edit Options in ex for details about specific options.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Shell
Synopsis:
sh[ell]
Invoke the program named in the shell edit option with the single argu‐
ment -i (interactive mode). Editing shall be resumed when the program
exits.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Source
Synopsis:
so[urce] file
Read and execute ex commands from file. Lines in the file that are
blank lines shall be ignored.
Current line: As specified for the individual ex commands.
Current column: As specified for the individual ex commands.
Substitute
Synopsis:
[2addr] s[ubstitute][/pattern/repl/[options][count][flags]]
[2addr] &[options][count][flags]]
[2addr] ~[options][count][flags]]
Replace the first instance of the pattern pattern by the string repl on
each specified line. (See Regular Expressions in ex and Replacement
Strings in ex .) Any non-alphabetic, non- <blank> delimiter other than
'\' , '|' , double quote, or <newline> can be used instead of '/' .
Backslash characters can be used to escape delimiters, backslash char‐
acters, and other special characters.
The trailing delimiter can be omitted from pattern or from repl at the
end of the command line. If both pattern and repl are not specified or
are empty (for example, "//" ), the last s command shall be repeated.
If only pattern is not specified or is empty, the last regular expres‐
sion used in the editor shall be used as the pattern. If only repl is
not specified or is empty, the pattern shall be replaced by nothing. If
the entire replacement pattern is '%' , the last replacement pattern to
an s command shall be used.
Entering a <carriage-return> in repl (which requires an escaping back‐
slash in ex mode and an escaping <control>-V in open or vi mode) shall
split the line at that point, creating a new line in the edit buffer.
The <carriage-return> shall be discarded.
If options includes the letter 'g' ( global), all non-overlapping
instances of the pattern in the line shall be replaced.
If options includes the letter 'c' ( confirm), then before each substi‐
tution the line shall be written; the written line shall reflect all
previous substitutions. On the following line, <space>s shall be writ‐
ten beneath the characters from the line that are before the pattern to
be replaced, and '^' characters written beneath the characters included
in the pattern to be replaced. The ex utility shall then wait for a
response from the user. An affirmative response shall cause the substi‐
tution to be done, while any other input shall not make the substitu‐
tion. An affirmative response shall consist of a line with the affirma‐
tive response (as defined by the current locale) at the beginning of
the line. This line shall be subject to editing in the same way as the
ex command line.
If interrupted (see the ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS section), any modifications
confirmed by the user shall be preserved in the edit buffer after the
interrupt.
If the remembered search direction is not set, the s command shall set
it to forward.
In the second Synopsis, the & command shall repeat the previous substi‐
tution, as if the & command were replaced by:
s/pattern/repl/
where pattern and repl are as specified in the previous s, &, or ~ com‐
mand.
In the third Synopsis, the ~ command shall repeat the previous substi‐
tution, as if the '~' were replaced by:
s/pattern/repl/
where pattern shall be the last regular expression specified to the
editor, and repl shall be from the previous substitution (including &
and ~) command.
These commands shall be affected by the LC_MESSAGES environment vari‐
able.
Current line: Set to the last line in which a substitution occurred,
or, unchanged if no substitution occurred.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Suspend
Synopsis:
su[spend][!]st[op][!]
Allow control to return to the invoking process; ex shall suspend
itself as if it had received the SIGTSTP signal. The suspension shall
occur only if job control is enabled in the invoking shell (see the
description of set -m).
These commands shall be affected by the autowrite and writeany edit
options.
The current susp character (see stty ) shall be equivalent to the sus‐
pend command.
Tag
Synopsis:
ta[g][!] tagstring
The results are unspecified if the format of a tags file is not as
specified by the ctags utility (see ctags ) description.
The tag command shall search for tagstring in the tag files referred to
by the tag edit option, in the order they are specified, until a refer‐
ence to tagstring is found. Files shall be searched from beginning to
end. If no reference is found, it shall be an error and an error mes‐
sage to this effect shall be written. If the reference is not found, or
if an error occurs while processing a file referred to in the tag edit
option, it shall be an error, and an error message shall be written at
the first occurrence of such an error.
Otherwise, if the tags file contained a pattern, the pattern shall be
treated as a regular expression used in the editor; for example, for
the purposes of the s command.
If the tagstring is in a file with a different name than the current
pathname, set the current pathname to the name of that file, and
replace the contents of the edit buffer with the contents of that file.
In this case, if no '!' is appended to the command name, and the edit
buffer has been modified since the last complete write, it shall be an
error, unless the file is successfully written as specified by the
autowrite option.
This command shall be affected by the autowrite, tag, taglength, and
writeany edit options.
Current line: If the tags file contained a line number, set to that
line number. If the line number is larger than the last line in the
edit buffer, an error message shall be written and the current line
shall be set as specified for the edit command.
If the tags file contained a pattern, set to the first occurrence of
the pattern in the file. If no matching pattern is found, an error mes‐
sage shall be written and the current line shall be set as specified
for the edit command.
Current column: If the tags file contained a line-number reference and
that line-number was not larger than the last line in the edit buffer,
or if the tags file contained a pattern and that pattern was found, set
to non- <blank>. Otherwise, set as specified for the edit command.
Unabbreviate
Synopsis:
una[bbrev] lhs
If lhs is not an entry in the current list of abbreviations (see Abbre‐
viate ), it shall be an error. Otherwise, delete lhs from the list of
abbreviations.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Undo
Synopsis:
u[ndo]
Reverse the changes made by the last command that modified the contents
of the edit buffer, including undo. For this purpose, the global, v,
open, and visual commands, and commands resulting from buffer execu‐
tions and mapped character expansions, are considered single commands.
If no action that can be undone preceded the undo command, it shall be
an error.
If the undo command restores lines that were marked, the mark shall
also be restored unless it was reset subsequent to the deletion of the
lines.
Current line:
1. If lines are added or changed in the file, set to the first line
added or changed.
2. Set to the line before the first line deleted, if it exists.
3. Set to 1 if the edit buffer is not empty.
4. Set to zero.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Unmap
Synopsis:
unm[ap][!] lhs
If '!' is appended to the command name, and if lhs is not an entry in
the list of text input mode map definitions, it shall be an error. Oth‐
erwise, delete lhs from the list of text input mode map definitions.
If no '!' is appended to the command name, and if lhs is not an entry
in the list of command mode map definitions, it shall be an error. Oth‐
erwise, delete lhs from the list of command mode map definitions.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Version
Synopsis:
ve[rsion]
Write a message containing version information for the editor. The for‐
mat of the message is unspecified.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Visual
Synopsis:
[1addr] vi[sual][type][count][flags]
If ex is currently in open or visual mode, the Synopsis and behavior of
the visual command shall be the same as the edit command, as specified
by Edit .
Otherwise, this command need not be supported on block-mode terminals
or terminals with insufficient capabilities. If standard input, stan‐
dard output, or standard error are not terminal devices, the results
are unspecified.
If count is specified, the value of the window edit option shall be set
to count (as described in window ). If the '^' type character was also
specified, the window edit option shall be set before being used by the
type character.
Enter visual mode. If type is not specified, it shall be as if a type
of '+' was specified. The type shall cause the following effects:
+ Place the beginning of the specified line at the top of the dis‐
play.
- Place the end of the specified line at the bottom of the dis‐
play.
. Place the beginning of the specified line in the middle of the
display.
^ If the specified line is less than or equal to the value of the
window edit option, set the line to 1; otherwise, decrement the
line by the value of the window edit option minus 1. Place the
beginning of this line as close to the bottom of the displayed
lines as possible, while still displaying the value of the win‐
dow edit option number of lines.
Current line: Set to the specified line.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Write
Synopsis:
[2addr] w[rite][!][>>][file]
[2addr] w[rite][!][file]
[2addr] wq[!][>>][file]
If no lines are specified, the lines shall default to the entire file.
The command wq shall be equivalent to a write command followed by a
quit command; wq! shall be equivalent to write! followed by quit. In
both cases, if the write command fails, the quit shall not be
attempted.
If the command name is not followed by one or more <blank>s, or file is
not preceded by a '!' character, the write shall be to a file.
1. If the >> argument is specified, and the file already exists, the
lines shall be appended to the file instead of replacing its con‐
tents. If the >> argument is specified, and the file does not
already exist, it is unspecified whether the write shall proceed as
if the >> argument had not been specified or if the write shall
fail.
2. If the readonly edit option is set (see readonly ), the write shall
fail.
3. If file is specified, and is not the current pathname, and the file
exists, the write shall fail.
4. If file is not specified, the current pathname shall be used. If
there is no current pathname, the write command shall fail.
5. If the current pathname is used, and the current pathname has been
changed by the file or read commands, and the file exists, the
write shall fail. If the write is successful, subsequent writes
shall not fail for this reason (unless the current pathname is
changed again).
6. If the whole edit buffer is not being written, and the file to be
written exists, the write shall fail.
For rules 1., 2., 4., and 5., the write can be forced by appending the
character '!' to the command name.
For rules 2., 4., and 5., the write can be forced by setting the
writeany edit option.
Additional, implementation-defined tests may cause the write to fail.
If the edit buffer is empty, a file without any contents shall be writ‐
ten.
An informational message shall be written noting the number of lines
and bytes written.
Otherwise, if the command is followed by one or more <blank>s, and the
file is preceded by '!' , the rest of the line after the '!' shall have
'%' , '#' , and '!' characters expanded as described in Command Line
Parsing in ex .
The ex utility shall then pass two arguments to the program named by
the shell edit option; the first shall be -c and the second shall be
the expanded arguments to the write command as a single argument. The
specified lines shall be written to the standard input of the command.
The standard error and standard output of the program, if any, shall be
written as described for the print command. If the last character in
that output is not a <newline>, a <newline> shall be written at the end
of the output.
The special meaning of the '!' following the write command can be over‐
ridden by escaping it with a backslash character.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Write and Exit
Synopsis:
[2addr] x[it][!][file]
If the edit buffer has not been modified since the last complete write,
xit shall be equivalent to the quit command, or if a '!' is appended to
the command name, to quit!.
Otherwise, xit shall be equivalent to the wq command, or if a '!' is
appended to the command name, to wq!.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Yank
Synopsis:
[2addr] ya[nk][buffer][count]
Copy the specified lines to the specified buffer (by default, the
unnamed buffer), which shall become a line-mode buffer.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Adjust Window
Synopsis:
[1addr] z[!][type ...][count][flags]
If no line is specified, the current line shall be the default; if type
is omitted as well, the current line value shall first be incremented
by 1. If incrementing the current line would cause it to be greater
than the last line in the edit buffer, it shall be an error.
If there are <blank>s between the type argument and the preceding z
command name or optional '!' character, it shall be an error.
If count is specified, the value of the window edit option shall be set
to count (as described in window ). If count is omitted, it shall
default to 2 times the value of the scroll edit option, or if ! was
specified, the number of lines in the display minus 1.
If type is omitted, then count lines starting with the specified line
shall be written. Otherwise, count lines starting with the line speci‐
fied by the type argument shall be written.
The type argument shall change the lines to be written. The possible
values of type are as follows:
- The specified line shall be decremented by the following value:
(((number of "-" characters) x count) -1)
If the calculation would result in a number less than 1, it shall be an
error. Write lines from the edit buffer, starting at the new value of
line, until count lines or the last line in the edit buffer has been
written.
+ The specified line shall be incremented by the following value:
(((number of "+" characters) -1) x count) +1
If the calculation would result in a number greater than the last line
in the edit buffer, it shall be an error. Write lines from the edit
buffer, starting at the new value of line, until count lines or the
last line in the edit buffer has been written.
=,. If more than a single '.' or '=' is specified, it shall be an
error. The following steps shall be taken:
1. If count is zero, nothing shall be written.
2. Write as many of the N lines before the current line in the
edit buffer as exist. If count or '!' was specified, N shall
be:
(count -1) /2
Otherwise, N shall be:
(count -3) /2
If N is a number less than 3, no lines shall be written.
3. If '=' was specified as the type character, write a line
consisting of the smaller of the number of columns in the
display divided by two, or 40 '-' characters.
4. Write the current line.
5. Repeat step 3.
6. Write as many of the N lines after the current line in the
edit buffer as exist. N shall be defined as in step 2. If N
is a number less than 3, no lines shall be written. If count
is less than 3, no lines shall be written.
^ The specified line shall be decremented by the following value:
(((number of "^" characters) +1) x count) -1
If the calculation would result in a number less than 1, it shall be an
error. Write lines from the edit buffer, starting at the new value of
line, until count lines or the last line in the edit buffer has been
written.
Current line: Set to the last line written, unless the type is =, in
which case, set to the specified line.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Escape
Synopsis:
! command
[addr]! command
The contents of the line after the '!' shall have '%' , '#' , and '!'
characters expanded as described in Command Line Parsing in ex . If the
expansion causes the text of the line to change, it shall be redis‐
played, preceded by a single '!' character.
The ex utility shall execute the program named by the shell edit
option. It shall pass two arguments to the program; the first shall be
-c, and the second shall be the expanded arguments to the ! command as
a single argument.
If no lines are specified, the standard input, standard output, and
standard error of the program shall be set to the standard input, stan‐
dard output, and standard error of the ex program when it was invoked.
In addition, a warning message shall be written if the edit buffer has
been modified since the last complete write, and the warn edit option
is set.
If lines are specified, they shall be passed to the program as standard
input, and the standard output and standard error of the program shall
replace those lines in the edit buffer. Each line in the program output
(as delimited by <newline>s or the end of the output if it is not imme‐
diately preceded by a <newline>), shall be a separate line in the edit
buffer. Any occurrences of <carriage-return> and <newline> pairs in the
output shall be treated as single <newline>s. The specified lines shall
be copied into the unnamed buffer before they are replaced, and the
unnamed buffer shall become a line-mode buffer.
If in ex mode, a single '!' character shall be written when the program
completes.
This command shall be affected by the shell and warn edit options. If
no lines are specified, this command shall be affected by the autowrite
and writeany edit options. If lines are specified, this command shall
be affected by the autoprint edit option.
Current line:
1. If no lines are specified, unchanged.
2. Otherwise, set to the last line read in, if any lines are read in.
3. Otherwise, set to the line before the first line of the lines spec‐
ified, if that line exists.
4. Otherwise, set to the first line of the edit buffer if the edit
buffer is not empty.
5. Otherwise, set to zero.
Current column: If no lines are specified, unchanged. Otherwise, set to
non- <blank>.
Shift Left
Synopsis:
[2addr] <[< ...][count][flags]
Shift the specified lines to the start of the line; the number of col‐
umn positions to be shifted shall be the number of command characters
times the value of the shiftwidth edit option. Only leading <blank>s
shall be deleted or changed into other <blank>s in shifting; other
characters shall not be affected.
Lines to be shifted shall be copied into the unnamed buffer, which
shall become a line-mode buffer.
This command shall be affected by the autoprint edit option.
Current line: Set to the last line in the lines specified.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Shift Right
Synopsis:
[2addr] >[> ...][count][flags]
Shift the specified lines away from the start of the line; the number
of column positions to be shifted shall be the number of command char‐
acters times the value of the shiftwidth edit option. The shift shall
be accomplished by adding <blank>s as a prefix to the line or changing
leading <blank>s into other <blank>s. Empty lines shall not be
changed.
Lines to be shifted shall be copied into the unnamed buffer, which
shall become a line-mode buffer.
This command shall be affected by the autoprint edit option.
Current line: Set to the last line in the lines specified.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
<control>-D
Synopsis:
<control>-D
Write the next n lines, where n is the minimum of the values of the
scroll edit option and the number of lines after the current line in
the edit buffer. If the current line is the last line of the edit buf‐
fer it shall be an error.
Current line: Set to the last line written.
Current column: Set to non- <blank>.
Write Line Number
Synopsis:
[1addr] = [flags]
If line is not specified, it shall default to the last line in the edit
buffer. Write the line number of the specified line.
Current line: Unchanged.
Current column: Unchanged.
Execute
Synopsis:
[2addr] @ buffer[2addr] * buffer
If no buffer is specified or is specified as '@' or '*' , the last buf‐
fer executed shall be used. If no previous buffer has been executed, it
shall be an error.
For each line specified by the addresses, set the current line ( '.' )
to the specified line, and execute the contents of the named buffer (as
they were at the time the @ command was executed) as ex commands. For
each line of a line-mode buffer, and all but the last line of a charac‐
ter-mode buffer, the ex command parser shall behave as if the line was
terminated by a <newline>.
If an error occurs during this process, or a line specified by the
addresses does not exist when the current line would be set to it, or
more than a single line was specified by the addresses, and the con‐
tents of the edit buffer are replaced (for example, by the ex :edit
command) an error message shall be written, and no more commands
resulting from the execution of this command shall be processed.
Current line: As specified for the individual ex commands.
Current column: As specified for the individual ex commands.
Regular Expressions in ex
The ex utility shall support regular expressions that are a superset of
the basic regular expressions described in the Base Definitions volume
of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 9.3, Basic Regular Expressions. A null
regular expression ( "//" ) shall be equivalent to the last regular
expression encountered.
Regular expressions can be used in addresses to specify lines and, in
some commands (for example, the substitute command), to specify por‐
tions of a line to be substituted.
The following constructs can be used to enhance the basic regular
expressions:
\< Match the beginning of a word. (See the definition of word at
the beginning of Command Descriptions in ex .)
\> Match the end of a word.
~ Match the replacement part of the last substitute command. The
tilde ( '~' ) character can be escaped in a regular expression
to become a normal character with no special meaning. The back‐
slash shall be discarded.
When the editor option magic is not set, the only characters with spe‐
cial meanings shall be '^' at the beginning of a pattern, '$' at the
end of a pattern, and '\' . The characters '.' , '*' , '[' , and '~'
shall be treated as ordinary characters unless preceded by a '\' ; when
preceded by a '\' they shall regain their special meaning, or in the
case of backslash, be handled as a single backslash. Backslashes used
to escape other characters shall be discarded.
Replacement Strings in ex
The character '&' ( '\&' if the editor option magic is not set) in the
replacement string shall stand for the text matched by the pattern to
be replaced. The character '~' ( '\~' if magic is not set) shall be
replaced by the replacement part of the previous substitute command.
The sequence '\n' , where n is an integer, shall be replaced by the
text matched by the pattern enclosed in the nth set of parentheses '\('
and '\)' .
The strings '\l' , '\u' , '\L' , and '\U' can be used to modify the
case of elements in the replacement string (using the '\&' or "\"
digit) notation. The string '\l' ( '\u' ) shall cause the character
that follows to be converted to lowercase (uppercase). The string '\L'
( '\U' ) shall cause all characters subsequent to it to be converted to
lowercase (uppercase) as they are inserted by the substitution until
the string '\e' or '\E' , or the end of the replacement string, is
encountered.
Otherwise, any character following a backslash shall be treated as that
literal character, and the escaping backslash shall be discarded.
An example of case conversion with the s command is as follows:
:p
The cat sat on the mat.
:s/\<.at\>/\u&/gp
The Cat Sat on the Mat.
:s/S\(.*\)M/S\U\1\eM/p
The Cat SAT ON THE Mat.
Edit Options in ex
The ex utility has a number of options that modify its behavior. These
options have default settings, which can be changed using the set com‐
mand.
Options are Boolean unless otherwise specified.
autoindent, ai
[Default unset]
If autoindent is set, each line in input mode shall be indented (using
first as many <tab>s as possible, as determined by the editor option
tabstop, and then using <space>s) to align with another line, as fol‐
lows:
1. If in open or visual mode and the text input is part of a line-ori‐
ented command (see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION in vi ), align to the
first column.
2. Otherwise, if in open or visual mode, indentation for each line
shall be set as follows:
a. If a line was previously inserted as part of this command, it
shall be set to the indentation of the last inserted line by
default, or as otherwise specified for the <control>-D charac‐
ter in Input Mode Commands in vi .
b. Otherwise, it shall be set to the indentation of the previous
current line, if any; otherwise, to the first column.
3. For the ex a, i, and c commands, indentation for each line shall be
set as follows:
a. If a line was previously inserted as part of this command, it
shall be set to the indentation of the last inserted line by
default, or as otherwise specified for the eof character in
Scroll .
b. Otherwise, if the command is the ex a command, it shall be set
to the line appended after, if any; otherwise to the first col‐
umn.
c. Otherwise, if the command is the ex i command, it shall be set
to the line inserted before, if any; otherwise to the first
column.
d. Otherwise, if the command is the ex c command, it shall be set
to the indentation of the line replaced.
autoprint, ap
[Default set]
If autoprint is set, the current line shall be written after each ex
command that modifies the contents of the current edit buffer, and
after each tag command for which the tag search pattern was found or
tag line number was valid, unless:
1. The command was executed while in open or visual mode.
2. The command was executed as part of a global or v command or @ buf‐
fer execution.
3. The command was the form of the read command that reads a file into
the edit buffer.
4. The command was the append, change, or insert command.
5. The command was not terminated by a <newline>.
6. The current line shall be written by a flag specified to the com‐
mand; for example, delete # shall write the current line as speci‐
fied for the flag modifier to the delete command, and not as speci‐
fied by the autoprint edit option.
autowrite, aw
[Default unset]
If autowrite is set, and the edit buffer has been modified since it was
last completely written to any file, the contents of the edit buffer
shall be written as if the ex write command had been specified without
arguments, before each command affected by the autowrite edit option is
executed. Appending the character '!' to the command name of any of the
ex commands except '!' shall prevent the write. If the write fails, it
shall be an error and the command shall not be executed.
beautify, bf
[Default unset]
If beautify is set, all non-printable characters, other than <tab>s,
<newline>s, and <form-feed>s, shall be discarded from text read in from
files.
directory, dir
[Default implementation-defined]
The value of this option specifies the directory in which the editor
buffer is to be placed. If this directory is not writable by the user,
the editor shall quit.
edcompatible, ed
[Default unset]
Causes the presence of g and c suffixes on substitute commands to be
remembered, and toggled by repeating the suffixes.
errorbells, eb
[Default unset]
If the editor is in ex mode, and the terminal does not support a stand‐
out mode (such as inverse video), and errorbells is set, error messages
shall be preceded by alerting the terminal.
exrc
[Default unset]
If exrc is set, ex shall access any .exrc file in the current direc‐
tory, as described in Initialization in ex and vi . If exrc is not set,
ex shall ignore any .exrc file in the current directory during initial‐
ization, unless the current directory is that named by the HOME envi‐
ronment variable.
ignorecase, ic
[Default unset]
If ignorecase is set, characters that have uppercase and lowercase rep‐
resentations shall have those representations considered as equivalent
for purposes of regular expression comparison.
The ignorecase edit option shall affect all remembered regular expres‐
sions; for example, unsetting the ignorecase edit option shall cause a
subsequent vi n command to search for the last basic regular expression
in a case-sensitive fashion.
list
[Default unset]
If list is set, edit buffer lines written while in ex command mode
shall be written as specified for the print command with the l flag
specified. In open or visual mode, each edit buffer line shall be dis‐
played as specified for the ex print command with the l flag specified.
In open or visual text input mode, when the cursor does not rest on any
character in the line, it shall rest on the '$' marking the end of the
line.
magic
[Default set]
If magic is set, modify the interpretation of characters in regular
expressions and substitution replacement strings (see Regular Expres‐
sions in ex and Replacement Strings in ex ).
mesg
[Default set]
If mesg is set, the permission for others to use the write or talk com‐
mands to write to the terminal shall be turned on while in open or vis‐
ual mode. The shell-level command mesg n shall take precedence over any
setting of the ex mesg option; that is, if mesg y was issued before the
editor started (or in a shell escape), such as:
:!mesg y
the mesg option in ex shall suppress incoming messages, but the mesg
option shall not enable incoming messages if mesg n was issued.
number, nu
[Default unset]
If number is set, edit buffer lines written while in ex command mode
shall be written with line numbers, in the format specified by the
print command with the # flag specified. In ex text input mode, each
line shall be preceded by the line number it will have in the file.
In open or visual mode, each edit buffer line shall be displayed with a
preceding line number, in the format specified by the ex print command
with the # flag specified. This line number shall not be considered
part of the line for the purposes of evaluating the current column;
that is, column position 1 shall be the first column position after the
format specified by the print command.
paragraphs, para
[Default in the POSIX locale IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp]
The paragraphs edit option shall define additional paragraph boundaries
for the open and visual mode commands. The paragraphs edit option can
be set to a character string consisting of zero or more character
pairs. It shall be an error to set it to an odd number of characters.
prompt
[Default set]
If prompt is set, ex command mode input shall be prompted for with a
colon ( ':' ); when unset, no prompt shall be written.
readonly
[Default see text]
If the readonly edit option is set, read-only mode shall be enabled
(see Write ). The readonly edit option shall be initialized to set if
either of the following conditions are true:
* The command-line option -R was specified.
* Performing actions equivalent to the access() function called with
the following arguments indicates that the file lacks write permis‐
sion:
1. The current pathname is used as the path argument.
2. The constant W_OK is used as the amode argument.
The readonly edit option may be initialized to set for other, implemen‐
tation-defined reasons. The readonly edit option shall not be initial‐
ized to unset based on any special privileges of the user or process.
The readonly edit option shall be reinitialized each time that the con‐
tents of the edit buffer are replaced (for example, by an edit or next
command) unless the user has explicitly set it, in which case it shall
remain set until the user explicitly unsets it. Once unset, it shall
again be reinitialized each time that the contents of the edit buffer
are replaced.
redraw
[Default unset]
The editor simulates an intelligent terminal on a dumb terminal. (Since
this is likely to require a large amount of output to the terminal, it
is useful only at high transmission speeds.)
remap
[Default set]
If remap is set, map translation shall allow for maps defined in terms
of other maps; translation shall continue until a final product is
obtained. If unset, only a one-step translation shall be done.
report
[Default 5]
The value of this report edit option specifies what number of lines
being added, copied, deleted, or modified in the edit buffer will cause
an informational message to be written to the user. The following con‐
ditions shall cause an informational message. The message shall contain
the number of lines added, copied, deleted, or modified, but is other‐
wise unspecified.
* An ex or vi editor command, other than open, undo, or visual, that
modifies at least the value of the report edit option number of
lines, and which is not part of an ex global or v command, or ex or
vi buffer execution, shall cause an informational message to be
written.
* An ex yank or vi y or Y command, that copies at least the value of
the report edit option plus 1 number of lines, and which is not part
of an ex global or v command, or ex or vi buffer execution, shall
cause an informational message to be written.
* An ex global, v, open, undo, or visual command or ex or vi buffer
execution, that adds or deletes a total of at least the value of the
report edit option number of lines, and which is not part of an ex
global or v command, or ex or vi buffer execution, shall cause an
informational message to be written. (For example, if 3 lines were
added and 8 lines deleted during an ex visual command, 5 would be
the number compared against the report edit option after the command
completed.)
scroll, scr
[Default (number of lines in the display -1)/2]
The value of the scroll edit option shall determine the number of lines
scrolled by the ex <control>-D and z commands. For the vi <control>-D
and <control>-U commands, it shall be the initial number of lines to
scroll when no previous <control>-D or <control>-U command has been
executed.
sections
[Default in the POSIX locale NHSHH HUnhsh]
The sections edit option shall define additional section boundaries for
the open and visual mode commands. The sections edit option can be set
to a character string consisting of zero or more character pairs; it
shall be an error to set it to an odd number of characters.
shell, sh
[Default from the environment variable SHELL ]
The value of this option shall be a string. The default shall be taken
from the SHELL environment variable. If the SHELL environment variable
is null or empty, the sh (see sh ) utility shall be the default.
shiftwidth, sw
[Default 8]
The value of this option shall give the width in columns of an indenta‐
tion level used during autoindentation and by the shift commands ( <
and >).
showmatch, sm
[Default unset]
The functionality described for the showmatch edit option need not be
supported on block-mode terminals or terminals with insufficient capa‐
bilities.
If showmatch is set, in open or visual mode, when a ')' or '}' is
typed, if the matching '(' or '{' is currently visible on the display,
the matching '(' or '{' shall be flagged moving the cursor to its loca‐
tion for an unspecified amount of time.
showmode
[Default unset]
If showmode is set, in open or visual mode, the current mode that the
editor is in shall be displayed on the last line of the display. Com‐
mand mode and text input mode shall be differentiated; other unspeci‐
fied modes and implementation-defined information may be displayed.
slowopen
[Default unset]
If slowopen is set during open and visual text input modes, the editor
shall not update portions of the display other than those display line
columns that display the characters entered by the user (see Input Mode
Commands in vi ).
tabstop, ts
[Default 8]
The value of this edit option shall specify the column boundary used by
a <tab> in the display (see autoprint, ap and Input Mode Commands in vi
).
taglength, tl
[Default zero]
The value of this edit option shall specify the maximum number of char‐
acters that are considered significant in the user-specified tag name
and in the tag name from the tags file. If the value is zero, all char‐
acters in both tag names shall be significant.
tags
[Default see text]
The value of this edit option shall be a string of <blank>-delimited
pathnames of files used by the tag command. The default value is
unspecified.
term
[Default from the environment variable TERM ]
The value of this edit option shall be a string. The default shall be
taken from the TERM variable in the environment. If the TERM environ‐
ment variable is empty or null, the default is unspecified. The editor
shall use the value of this edit option to determine the type of the
display device.
The results are unspecified if the user changes the value of the term
edit option after editor initialization.
terse
[Default unset]
If terse is set, error messages may be less verbose. However, except
for this caveat, error messages are unspecified. Furthermore, not all
error messages need change for different settings of this option.
warn
[Default set]
If warn is set, and the contents of the edit buffer have been modified
since they were last completely written, the editor shall write a warn‐
ing message before certain ! commands (see Escape ).
window
[Default see text]
A value used in open and visual mode, by the <control>-B and <con‐
trol>-F commands, and, in visual mode, to specify the number of lines
displayed when the screen is repainted.
If the -w command-line option is not specified, the default value shall
be set to the value of the LINES environment variable. If the LINES
environment variable is empty or null, the default shall be the number
of lines in the display minus 1.
Setting the window edit option to zero or to a value greater than the
number of lines in the display minus 1 (either explicitly or based on
the -w option or the LINES environment variable) shall cause the window
edit option to be set to the number of lines in the display minus 1.
The baud rate of the terminal line may change the default in an imple‐
mentation-defined manner.
wrapmargin, wm
[Default 0]
If the value of this edit option is zero, it shall have no effect.
If not in the POSIX locale, the effect of this edit option is implemen‐
tation-defined.
Otherwise, it shall specify a number of columns from the ending margin
of the terminal.
During open and visual text input modes, for each character for which
any part of the character is displayed in a column that is less than
wrapmargin columns from the ending margin of the display line, the edi‐
tor shall behave as follows:
1. If the character triggering this event is a <blank>, it, and all
immediately preceding <blank>s on the current line entered during
the execution of the current text input command, shall be dis‐
carded, and the editor shall behave as if the user had entered a
single <newline> instead. In addition, if the next user-entered
character is a <space>, it shall be discarded as well.
2. Otherwise, if there are one or more <blank>s on the current line
immediately preceding the last group of inserted non- <blank>s
which was entered during the execution of the current text input
command, the <blank>s shall be replaced as if the user had entered
a single <newline> instead.
If the autoindent edit option is set, and the events described in 1. or
2. are performed, any <blank>s at or after the cursor in the current
line shall be discarded.
The ending margin shall be determined by the system or overridden by
the user, as described for COLUMNS in the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section
and the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 8,
Environment Variables.
wrapscan, ws
[Default set]
If wrapscan is set, searches (the ex / or ? addresses, or open and
visual mode /, ?, N, and n commands) shall wrap around the beginning or
end of the edit buffer; when unset, searches shall stop at the begin‐
ning or end of the edit buffer.
writeany, wa
[Default unset]
If writeany is set, some of the checks performed when executing the ex
write commands shall be inhibited, as described in editor option
autowrite.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
When any error is encountered and the standard input is not a terminal
device file, ex shall not write the file or return to command or text
input mode, and shall terminate with a non-zero exit status.
Otherwise, when an unrecoverable error is encountered, it shall be
equivalent to a SIGHUP asynchronous event.
Otherwise, when an error is encountered, the editor shall behave as
specified in Command Line Parsing in ex .
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
If a SIGSEGV signal is received while ex is saving a file, the file
might not be successfully saved.
The next command can accept more than one file, so usage such as:
next `ls [abc]*`
is valid; it would not be valid for the edit or read commands, for
example, because they expect only one file and unspecified results
occur.
EXAMPLES
None.
RATIONALE
The ex/ vi specification is based on the historical practice found in
the 4 BSD and System V implementations of ex and vi. A freely redis‐
tributable implementation of ex/ vi, which is tracking
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 fairly closely, and demonstrates the intended
changes between historical implementations and IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
may be obtained by anonymous FTP from:
ftp://ftp.rdg.opengroup.org/pub/mirrors/nvi
A restricted editor (both the historical red utility and modifications
to ex) were considered and rejected for inclusion. Neither option pro‐
vided the level of security that users might expect.
It is recognized that ex visual mode and related features would be dif‐
ficult, if not impossible, to implement satisfactorily on a block-mode
terminal, or a terminal without any form of cursor addressing; thus, it
is not a mandatory requirement that such features should work on all
terminals. It is the intention, however, that an ex implementation
should provide the full set of capabilities on all terminals capable of
supporting them.
Options
The -c replacement for + command was inspired by the -e option of sed.
Historically, all such commands (see edit and next as well) were exe‐
cuted from the last line of the edit buffer. This meant, for example,
that "+/pattern" would fail unless the wrapscan option was set.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice. His‐
torically, some implementations restricted the ex commands that could
be listed as part of the command line arguments. For consistency,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit these restrictions.
In historical implementations of the editor, the -R option (and the
readonly edit option) only prevented overwriting of files; appending to
files was still permitted, mapping loosely into the csh noclobber vari‐
able. Some implementations, however, have not followed this semantic,
and readonly does not permit appending either. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
follows the latter practice, believing that it is a more obvious and
intuitive meaning of readonly.
The -s option suppresses all interactive user feedback and is useful
for editing scripts in batch jobs. The list of specific effects is his‐
torical practice. The terminal type "incapable of supporting open and
visual modes" has historically been named "dumb".
The -t option was required because the ctags utility appears in
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 and the option is available in all historical
implementations of ex.
Historically, the ex and vi utilities accepted a -x option, which did
encryption based on the algorithm found in the historical crypt util‐
ity. The -x option for encryption, and the associated crypt utility,
were omitted because the algorithm used was not specifiable and the
export control laws of some nations make it difficult to export crypto‐
graphic technology. In addition, it did not historically provide the
level of security that users might expect.
Standard Input
An end-of-file condition is not equivalent to an end-of-file character.
A common end-of-file character, <control>-D, is historically an ex com‐
mand.
There was no maximum line length in historical implementations of ex.
Specifically, as it was parsed in chunks, the addresses had a different
maximum length than the filenames. Further, the maximum line buffer
size was declared as BUFSIZ, which was different lengths on different
systems. This version selected the value of {LINE_MAX} to impose a rea‐
sonable restriction on portable usage of ex and to aid test suite writ‐
ers in their development of realistic tests that exercise this limit.
Input Files
It was an explicit decision by the standard developers that a <newline>
be added to any file lacking one. It was believed that this feature of
ex and vi was relied on by users in order to make text files lacking a
trailing <newline> more portable. It is recognized that this will
require a user-specified option or extension for implementations that
permit ex and vi to edit files of type other than text if such files
are not otherwise identified by the system. It was agreed that the
ability to edit files of arbitrary type can be useful, but it was not
considered necessary to mandate that an ex or vi implementation be
required to handle files other than text files.
The paragraph in the INPUT FILES section, "By default, ...", is
intended to close a long-standing security problem in ex and vi; that
of the "modeline" or "modelines" edit option. This feature allows any
line in the first or last five lines of the file containing the strings
"ex:" or "vi:" (and, apparently, "ei:" or "vx:" ) to be a line contain‐
ing editor commands, and ex interprets all the text up to the next ':'
or <newline> as a command. Consider the consequences, for example, of
an unsuspecting user using ex or vi as the editor when replying to a
mail message in which a line such as:
ex:! rm -rf :
appeared in the signature lines. The standard developers believed
strongly that an editor should not by default interpret any lines of a
file. Vendors are strongly urged to delete this feature from their
implementations of ex and vi.
Asynchronous Events
The intention of the phrase "complete write" is that the entire edit
buffer be written to stable storage. The note regarding temporary files
is intended for implementations that use temporary files to back edit
buffers unnamed by the user.
Historically, SIGQUIT was ignored by ex, but was the equivalent of the
Q command in visual mode; that is, it exited visual mode and entered ex
mode. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits, but does not require, this behav‐
ior. Historically, SIGINT was often used by vi users to terminate text
input mode ( <control>-C is often easier to enter than <ESC>). Some
implementations of vi alerted the terminal on this event, and some did
not. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that SIGINT behave identically to
<ESC>, and that the terminal not be alerted.
Historically, suspending the ex editor during text input mode was simi‐
lar to SIGINT, as completed lines were retained, but any partial line
discarded, and the editor returned to command mode.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 is silent on this issue; implementations are
encouraged to follow historical practice, where possible.
Historically, the vi editor did not treat SIGTSTP as an asynchronous
event, and it was therefore impossible to suspend the editor in visual
text input mode. There are two major reasons for this. The first is
that SIGTSTP is a broadcast signal on UNIX systems, and the chain of
events where the shell execs an application that then execs vi usually
caused confusion for the terminal state if SIGTSTP was delivered to the
process group in the default manner. The second was that most implemen‐
tations of the UNIX curses package are not reentrant, and the receipt
of SIGTSTP at the wrong time will cause them to crash.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 is silent on this issue; implementations are
encouraged to treat suspension as an asynchronous event if possible.
Historically, modifications to the edit buffer made before SIGINT
interrupted an operation were retained; that is, anywhere from zero to
all of the lines to be modified might have been modified by the time
the SIGINT arrived. These changes were not discarded by the arrival of
SIGINT. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits this behavior, noting that the
undo command is required to be able to undo these partially completed
commands.
The action taken for signals other than SIGINT, SIGCONT, SIGHUP, and
SIGTERM is unspecified because some implementations attempt to save the
edit buffer in a useful state when other signals are received.
Standard Error
For ex/ vi, diagnostic messages are those messages reported as a result
of a failed attempt to invoke ex or vi, such as invalid options or
insufficient resources, or an abnormal termination condition. Diagnos‐
tic messages should not be confused with the error messages generated
by inappropriate or illegal user commands.
Initialization in ex and vi
If an ex command (other than cd, chdir, or source) has a filename argu‐
ment, one or both of the alternate and current pathnames will be set.
Informally, they are set as follows:
1. If the ex command is one that replaces the contents of the edit
buffer, and it succeeds, the current pathname will be set to the
filename argument (the first filename argument in the case of the
next command) and the alternate pathname will be set to the previ‐
ous current pathname, if there was one.
2. In the case of the file read/write forms of the read and write com‐
mands, if there is no current pathname, the current pathname will
be set to the filename argument.
3. Otherwise, the alternate pathname will be set to the filename argu‐
ment.
For example, :edit foo and :recover foo, when successful, set the cur‐
rent pathname, and, if there was a previous current pathname, the
alternate pathname. The commands :write, !command, and :edit set nei‐
ther the current or alternate pathnames. If the :edit foo command were
to fail for some reason, the alternate pathname would be set. The read
and write commands set the alternate pathname to their file argument,
unless the current pathname is not set, in which case they set the cur‐
rent pathname to their file arguments. The alternate pathname was not
historically set by the :source command. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
conformance to historical practice. Implementations adding commands
that take filenames as arguments are encouraged to set the alternate
pathname as described here.
Historically, ex and vi read the .exrc file in the $HOME directory
twice, if the editor was executed in the $HOME directory.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 prohibits this behavior.
Historically, the 4 BSD ex and vi read the $HOME and local .exrc files
if they were owned by the real ID of the user, or the sourceany option
was set, regardless of other considerations. This was a security prob‐
lem because it is possible to put normal UNIX system commands inside a
.exrc file. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not specify the sourceany
option, and historical implementations are encouraged to delete it.
The .exrc files must be owned by the real ID of the user, and not
writable by anyone other than the owner. The appropriate privileges
exception is intended to permit users to acquire special privileges,
but continue to use the .exrc files in their home directories.
System V Release 3.2 and later vi implementations added the option
[no]exrc. The behavior is that local .exrc files are read-only if the
exrc option is set. The default for the exrc option was off, so by
default, local .exrc files were not read. The problem this was
intended to solve was that System V permitted users to give away files,
so there is no possible ownership or writeability test to ensure that
the file is safe. This is still a security problem on systems where
users can give away files, but there is nothing additional that
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 can do. The implementation-defined exception is
intended to permit groups to have local .exrc files that are shared by
users, by creating pseudo-users to own the shared files.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not mention system-wide ex and vi start-up
files. While they exist in several implementations of ex and vi, they
are not present in any implementations considered historical practice
by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. Implementations that have such files should
use them only if they are owned by the real user ID or an appropriate
user (for example, root on UNIX systems) and if they are not writable
by any user other than their owner. System-wide start-up files should
be read before the EXINIT variable, $HOME/.exrc, or local .exrc files
are evaluated.
Historically, any ex command could be entered in the EXINIT variable or
the .exrc file, although ones requiring that the edit buffer already
contain lines of text generally caused historical implementations of
the editor to drop core. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that any ex com‐
mand be permitted in the EXINIT variable and .exrc files, for simplic‐
ity of specification and consistency, although many of them will obvi‐
ously fail under many circumstances.
The initialization of the contents of the edit buffer uses the phrase
"the effect shall be" with regard to various ex commands. The intent of
this phrase is that edit buffer contents loaded during the initializa‐
tion phase not be lost; that is, loading the edit buffer should fail if
the .exrc file read in the contents of a file and did not subsequently
write the edit buffer. An additional intent of this phrase is to spec‐
ify that the initial current line and column is set as specified for
the individual ex commands.
Historically, the -t option behaved as if the tag search were a + com‐
mand; that is, it was executed from the last line of the file specified
by the tag. This resulted in the search failing if the pattern was a
forward search pattern and the wrapscan edit option was not set.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior, requiring that the
search for the tag pattern be performed on the entire file, and, if not
found, that the current line be set to a more reasonable location in
the file.
Historically, the empty edit buffer presented for editing when a file
was not specified by the user was unnamed. This is permitted by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; however, implementations are encouraged to pro‐
vide users a temporary filename for this buffer because it permits them
the use of ex commands that use the current pathname during temporary
edit sessions.
Historically, the file specified using the -t option was not part of
the current argument list. This practice is permitted by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; however, implementations are encouraged to
include its name in the current argument list for consistency.
Historically, the -c command was generally not executed until a file
that already exists was edited. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires confor‐
mance to this historical practice. Commands that could cause the -c
command to be executed include the ex commands edit, next, recover,
rewind, and tag, and the vi commands <control>-^ and <control>-]. His‐
torically, reading a file into an edit buffer did not cause the -c com‐
mand to be executed (even though it might set the current pathname)
with the exception that it did cause the -c command to be executed if:
the editor was in ex mode, the edit buffer had no current pathname, the
edit buffer was empty, and no read commands had yet been attempted. For
consistency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does
not permit this behavior.
Historically, the -r option was the same as a normal edit session if
there was no recovery information available for the file. This allowed
users to enter:
vi -r *.c
and recover whatever files were recoverable. In some implementations,
recovery was attempted only on the first file named, and the file was
not entered into the argument list; in others, recovery was attempted
for each file named. In addition, some historical implementations
ignored -r if -t was specified or did not support command line file
arguments with the -t option. For consistency and simplicity of speci‐
fication, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 disallows these special cases, and
requires that recovery be attempted the first time each file is edited.
Historically, vi initialized the ` and ' marks, but ex did not. This
meant that if the first command in ex mode was visual or if an ex com‐
mand was executed first (for example, vi +10 file), vi was entered
without the marks being initialized. Because the standard developers
believed the marks to be generally useful, and for consistency and sim‐
plicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that they
always be initialized if in open or visual mode, or if in ex mode and
the edit buffer is not empty. Not initializing it in ex mode if the
edit buffer is empty is historical practice; however, it has always
been possible to set (and use) marks in empty edit buffers in open and
visual mode edit sessions.
Addressing
Historically, ex and vi accepted the additional addressing forms '\/'
and '\?' . They were equivalent to "//" and "??" , respectively. They
are not required by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, mostly because nobody can
remember whether they ever did anything different historically.
Historically, ex and vi permitted an address of zero for several com‐
mands, and permitted the % address in empty files for others. For con‐
sistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires support for the former in the
few commands where it makes sense, and disallows it otherwise. In addi‐
tion, because IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that % be logically equiva‐
lent to "1,$" , it is also supported where it makes sense and disal‐
lowed otherwise.
Historically, the % address could not be followed by further addresses.
For consistency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that additional addresses be supported.
All of the following are valid addresses:
+++ Three lines after the current line.
/re/- One line before the next occurrence of re.
-2 Two lines before the current line.
3 ---- 2
Line one (note intermediate negative address).
1 2 3 Line six.
Any number of addresses can be provided to commands taking addresses;
for example, "1,2,3,4,5p" prints lines 4 and 5, because two is the
greatest valid number of addresses accepted by the print command. This,
in combination with the semicolon delimiter, permits users to create
commands based on ordered patterns in the file. For example, the com‐
mand 3;/foo/;+2print will display the first line after line 3 that con‐
tains the pattern foo, plus the next two lines. Note that the address
3; must be evaluated before being discarded because the search origin
for the /foo/ command depends on this.
Historically, values could be added to addresses by including them
after one or more <blank>s; for example, 3 - 5p wrote the seventh line
of the file, and /foo/ 5 was the same as /foo/+5. However, only abso‐
lute values could be added; for example, 5 /foo/ was an error.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
Address offsets are separately specified from addresses because they
could historically be provided to visual mode search commands.
Historically, any missing addresses defaulted to the current line.
This was true for leading and trailing comma-delimited addresses, and
for trailing semicolon-delimited addresses. For consistency,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires it for leading semicolon addresses as
well.
Historically, ex and vi accepted the '^' character as both an address
and as a flag offset for commands. In both cases it was identical to
the '-' character. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require or prohibit
this behavior.
Historically, the enhancements to basic regular expressions could be
used in addressing; for example, '~' , '\<' , and '\>' .
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice; that
is, that regular expression usage be consistent, and that regular
expression enhancements be supported wherever regular expressions are
used.
Command Line Parsing in ex
Historical ex command parsing was even more complex than that described
here. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires the subset of the command parsing
that the standard developers believed was documented and that users
could reasonably be expected to use in a portable fashion, and that was
historically consistent between implementations. (The discarded func‐
tionality is obscure, at best.) Historical implementations will require
changes in order to comply with IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; however, users
are not expected to notice any of these changes. Most of the complexity
in ex parsing is to handle three special termination cases:
1. The !, global, v, and the filter versions of the read and write
commands are delimited by <newline>s (they can contain vertical-
line characters that are usually shell pipes).
2. The ex, edit, next, and visual in open and visual mode commands all
take ex commands, optionally containing vertical-line characters,
as their first arguments.
3. The s command takes a regular expression as its first argument, and
uses the delimiting characters to delimit the command.
Historically, vertical-line characters in the + command argument of the
ex, edit, next, vi, and visual commands, and in the pattern and
replacement parts of the s command, did not delimit the command, and in
the filter cases for read and write, and the !, global, and v commands,
they did not delimit the command at all. For example, the following
commands are all valid:
:edit +25 | s/abc/ABC/ file.c
:s/ | /PIPE/
:read !spell % | columnate
:global/pattern/p | l
:s/a/b/ | s/c/d | set
Historically, empty or <blank> filled lines in .exrc files and sourced
files (as well as EXINIT variables and ex command scripts) were treated
as default commands; that is, print commands. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
specifically requires that they be ignored when encountered in .exrc
and sourced files to eliminate a common source of new user error.
Historically, ex commands with multiple adjacent (or <blank>-separated)
vertical lines were handled oddly when executed from ex mode. For exam‐
ple, the command ||| <carriage-return>, when the cursor was on line 1,
displayed lines 2, 3, and 5 of the file. In addition, the command |
would only display the line after the next line, instead of the next
two lines. The former worked more logically when executed from vi mode,
and displayed lines 2, 3, and 4. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires the vi
behavior; that is, a single default command and line number increment
for each command separator, and trailing <newline>s after vertical-line
separators are discarded.
Historically, ex permitted a single extra colon as a leading command
character; for example, :g/pattern/:p was a valid command.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 generalizes this to require that any number of
leading colon characters be stripped.
Historically, any prefix of the delete command could be followed with‐
out intervening <blank>s by a flag character because in the command
d p, p is interpreted as the buffer p. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
conformance to historical practice.
Historically, the k command could be followed by the mark name without
intervening <blank>s. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to
historical practice.
Historically, the s command could be immediately followed by flag and
option characters; for example, s/e/E/|s|sgc3p was a valid command.
However, flag characters could not stand alone; for example, the com‐
mands sp and s l would fail, while the command sgp and s gl would suc‐
ceed. (Obviously, the '#' flag character was used as a delimiter char‐
acter if it followed the command.) Another issue was that option char‐
acters had to precede flag characters even when the command was fully
specified; for example, the command s/e/E/pg would fail, while the com‐
mand s/e/E/gp would succeed. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance
to historical practice.
Historically, the first command name that had a prefix matching the
input from the user was the executed command; for example, ve, ver, and
vers all executed the version command. Commands were in a specific
order, however, so that a matched append, not abbreviate.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice. The
restriction on command search order for implementations with extensions
is to avoid the addition of commands such that the historical prefixes
would fail to work portably.
Historical implementations of ex and vi did not correctly handle multi‐
ple ex commands, separated by vertical-line characters, that entered or
exited visual mode or the editor. Because implementations of vi exist
that do not exhibit this failure mode, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not
permit it.
The requirement that alphabetic command names consist of all following
alphabetic characters up to the next non-alphabetic character means
that alphabetic command names must be separated from their arguments by
one or more non-alphabetic characters, normally a <blank> or '!' char‐
acter, except as specified for the exceptions, the delete, k, and s
commands.
Historically, the repeated execution of the ex default print commands (
<control>-D, eof, <newline>, <carriage-return>) erased any prompting
character and displayed the next lines without scrolling the terminal;
that is, immediately below any previously displayed lines. This pro‐
vided a cleaner presentation of the lines in the file for the user.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require this behavior because it may be
impossible in some situations; however, implementations are strongly
encouraged to provide this semantic if possible.
Historically, it was possible to change files in the middle of a com‐
mand, and have the rest of the command executed in the new file; for
example:
:edit +25 file.c | s/abc/ABC/ | 1
was a valid command, and the substitution was attempted in the newly
edited file. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical
practice. The following commands are examples that exercise the ex
parser:
echo 'foo | bar' > file1; echo 'foo/bar' > file2;
vi
:edit +1 | s/|/PIPE/ | w file1 | e file2 | 1 | s/\//SLASH/ | wq
Historically, there was no protection in editor implementations to
avoid ex global, v, @, or * commands changing edit buffers during exe‐
cution of their associated commands. Because this would almost invari‐
ably result in catastrophic failure of the editor, and implementations
exist that do exhibit these problems, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
that changing the edit buffer during a global or v command, or during a
@ or * command for which there will be more than a single execution, be
an error. Implementations supporting multiple edit buffers simultane‐
ously are strongly encouraged to apply the same semantics to switching
between buffers as well.
The ex command quoting required by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 is a superset
of the quoting in historical implementations of the editor. For exam‐
ple, it was not historically possible to escape a <blank> in a file‐
name; for example, :edit foo\\\ bar would report that too many file‐
names had been entered for the edit command, and there was no method of
escaping a <blank> in the first argument of an edit, ex, next, or vis‐
ual command at all. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 extends historical practice,
requiring that quoting behavior be made consistent across all ex com‐
mands, except for the map, unmap, abbreviate, and unabbreviate com‐
mands, which historically used <control>-V instead of backslashes for
quoting. For those four commands, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires con‐
formance to historical practice.
Backslash quoting in ex is non-intuitive. Backslash escapes are ignored
unless they escape a special character; for example, when performing
file argument expansion, the string "\\%" is equivalent to '\%' , not
"\<current pathname>". This can be confusing for users because back‐
slash is usually one of the characters that causes shell expansion to
be performed, and therefore shell quoting rules must be taken into con‐
sideration. Generally, quoting characters are only considered if they
escape a special character, and a quoting character must be provided
for each layer of parsing for which the character is special. As
another example, only a single backslash is necessary for the '\l'
sequence in substitute replacement patterns, because the character 'l'
is not special to any parsing layer above it.
<control>-V quoting in ex is slightly different from backslash quoting.
In the four commands where <control>-V quoting applies ( abbreviate,
unabbreviate, map, and unmap), any character may be escaped by a <con‐
trol>-V whether it would have a special meaning or not.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
Historical implementations of the editor did not require delimiters
within character classes to be escaped; for example, the command
:s/[/]// on the string "xxx/yyy" would delete the '/' from the string.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 disallows this historical practice for consistency
and because it places a large burden on implementations by requiring
that knowledge of regular expressions be built into the editor parser.
Historically, quoting <newline>s in ex commands was handled inconsis‐
tently. In most cases, the <newline> always terminated the command,
regardless of any preceding escape character, because backslash charac‐
ters did not escape <newline>s for most ex commands. However, some ex
commands (for example, s, map, and abbreviation) permitted <newline>s
to be escaped (although in the case of map and abbreviation, <con‐
trol>-V characters escaped them instead of backslashes). This was true
in not only the command line, but also .exrc and sourced files. For
example, the command:
map = foo<control-V><newline>bar
would succeed, although it was sometimes difficult to get the <con‐
trol>-V and the inserted <newline> passed to the ex parser. For consis‐
tency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
that it be possible to escape <newline>s in ex commands at all times,
using backslashes for most ex commands, and using <control>-V charac‐
ters for the map and abbreviation commands. For example, the command
print <newline> list is required to be parsed as the single command
print <newline> list. While this differs from historical practice,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 developers believed it unlikely that any script or
user depended on the historical behavior.
Historically, an error in a command specified using the -c option did
not cause the rest of the -c commands to be discarded.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 disallows this for consistency with mapped keys,
the @, global, source, and v commands, the EXINIT environment variable,
and the .exrc files.
Input Editing in ex
One of the common uses of the historical ex editor is over slow network
connections. Editors that run in canonical mode can require far less
traffic to and from, and far less processing on, the host machine, as
well as more easily supporting block-mode terminals. For these reasons,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that ex be implemented using canonical
mode input processing, as was done historically.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require the historical 4 BSD input edit‐
ing characters "word erase" or "literal next". For this reason, it is
unspecified how they are handled by ex, although they must have the
required effect. Implementations that resolve them after the line has
been ended using a <newline> or <control>-M character, and implementa‐
tions that rely on the underlying system terminal support for this pro‐
cessing, are both conforming. Implementations are strongly urged to use
the underlying system functionality, if at all possible, for compati‐
bility with other system text input interfaces.
Historically, when the eof character was used to decrement the autoin‐
dent level, the cursor moved to display the new end of the autoindent
characters, but did not move the cursor to a new line, nor did it erase
the <control>-D character from the line. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not
specify that the cursor remain on the same line or that the rest of the
line is erased; however, implementations are strongly encouraged to
provide the best possible user interface; that is, the cursor should
remain on the same line, and any <control>-D character on the line
should be erased.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require the historical 4 BSD input edit‐
ing character "reprint", traditionally <control>-R, which redisplayed
the current input from the user. For this reason, and because the func‐
tionality cannot be implemented after the line has been terminated by
the user, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 makes no requirements about this func‐
tionality. Implementations are strongly urged to make this historical
functionality available, if possible.
Historically, <control>-Q did not perform a literal next function in
ex, as it did in vi. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to his‐
torical practice to avoid breaking historical ex scripts and .exrc
files.
eof
Whether the eof character immediately modifies the autoindent charac‐
ters in the prompt is left unspecified so that implementations can con‐
form in the presence of systems that do not support this functionality.
Implementations are encouraged to modify the line and redisplay it
immediately, if possible.
The specification of the handling of the eof character differs from
historical practice only in that eof characters are not discarded if
they follow normal characters in the text input. Historically, they
were always discarded.
Command Descriptions in ex
Historically, several commands (for example, global, v, visual, s,
write, wq, yank, !, <, >, &, and ~) were executable in empty files
(that is, the default address(es) were 0), or permitted explicit
addresses of 0 (for example, 0 was a valid address, or 0,0 was a valid
range). Addresses of 0, or command execution in an empty file, make
sense only for commands that add new text to the edit buffer or write
commands (because users may wish to write empty files).
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires this behavior for such commands and dis‐
allows it otherwise, for consistency and simplicity of specification.
A count to an ex command has been historically corrected to be no
greater than the last line in a file; for example, in a five-line file,
the command 1,6print would fail, but the command 1print300 would suc‐
ceed. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical prac‐
tice.
Historically, the use of flags in ex commands could be obscure. Gen‐
eral historical practice was as described by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, but
there were some special cases. For instance, the list, number, and
print commands ignored trailing address offsets; for example, 3p +++#
would display line 3, and 3 would be the current line after the execu‐
tion of the command. The open and visual commands ignored both the
trailing offsets and the trailing flags. Also, flags specified to the
open and visual commands interacted badly with the list edit option,
and setting and then unsetting it during the open/visual session would
cause vi to stop displaying lines in the specified format. For consis‐
tency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not
permit any of these exceptions to the general rule.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 uses the word copy in several places when dis‐
cussing buffers. This is not intended to imply implementation.
Historically, ex users could not specify numeric buffers because of the
ambiguity this would cause; for example, in the command 3 delete 2, it
is unclear whether 2 is a buffer name or a count. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires conformance to historical practice by default, but does not
preclude extensions.
Historically, the contents of the unnamed buffer were frequently dis‐
carded after commands that did not explicitly affect it; for example,
when using the edit command to switch files. For consistency and sim‐
plicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this
behavior.
The ex utility did not historically have access to the numeric buffers,
and, furthermore, deleting lines in ex did not modify their contents.
For example, if, after doing a delete in vi, the user switched to ex,
did another delete, and then switched back to vi, the contents of the
numeric buffers would not have changed. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
conformance to historical practice. Numeric buffers are described in
the ex utility in order to confine the description of buffers to a sin‐
gle location in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
The metacharacters that trigger shell expansion in file arguments match
historical practice, as does the method for doing shell expansion.
Implementations wishing to provide users with the flexibility to alter
the set of metacharacters are encouraged to provide a shellmeta string
edit option.
Historically, ex commands executed from vi refreshed the screen when it
did not strictly need to do so; for example, :!date > /dev/null does
not require a screen refresh because the output of the UNIX date com‐
mand requires only a single line of the screen. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that the screen be refreshed if it has been overwritten, but
makes no requirements as to how an implementation should make that
determination. Implementations may prompt and refresh the screen
regardless.
Abbreviate
Historical practice was that characters that were entered as part of an
abbreviation replacement were subject to map expansions, the showmatch
edit option, further abbreviation expansions, and so on; that is, they
were logically pushed onto the terminal input queue, and were not a
simple replacement. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to his‐
torical practice. Historical practice was that whenever a non-word
character (that had not been escaped by a <control>-V) was entered
after a word character, vi would check for abbreviations. The check was
based on the type of the character entered before the word character of
the word/non-word pair that triggered the check. The word character of
the word/non-word pair that triggered the check and all characters
entered before the trigger pair that were of that type were included in
the check, with the exception of <blank>s, which always delimited the
abbreviation.
This means that, for the abbreviation to work, the lhs must end with a
word character, there can be no transitions from word to non-word char‐
acters (or vice versa) other than between the last and next-to-last
characters in the lhs, and there can be no <blank>s in the lhs. In
addition, because of the historical quoting rules, it was impossible to
enter a literal <control>-V in the lhs. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
conformance to historical practice. Historical implementations did not
inform users when abbreviations that could never be used were entered;
implementations are strongly encouraged to do so.
For example, the following abbreviations will work:
:ab (p REPLACE
:ab p REPLACE
:ab ((p REPLACE
The following abbreviations will not work:
:ab ( REPLACE
:ab (pp REPLACE
Historical practice is that words on the vi colon command line were
subject to abbreviation expansion, including the arguments to the
abbrev (and more interestingly) the unabbrev command. Because there are
implementations that do not do abbreviation expansion for the first
argument to those commands, this is permitted, but not required, by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. However, the following sequence:
:ab foo bar
:ab foo baz
resulted in the addition of an abbreviation of "baz" for the string
"bar" in historical ex/ vi, and the sequence:
:ab foo1 bar
:ab foo2 bar
:unabbreviate foo2
deleted the abbreviation "foo1" , not "foo2" . These behaviors are not
permitted by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because they clearly violate the
expectations of the user.
It was historical practice that <control>-V, not backslash, characters
be interpreted as escaping subsequent characters in the abbreviate com‐
mand. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice;
however, it should be noted that an abbreviation containing a <blank>
will never work.
Append
Historically, any text following a vertical-line command separator
after an append, change, or insert command became part of the insert
text. For example, in the command:
:g/pattern/append|stuff1
a line containing the text "stuff1" would be appended to each line
matching pattern. It was also historically valid to enter:
:append|stuff1
stuff2
.
and the text on the ex command line would be appended along with the
text inserted after it. There was an historical bug, however, that the
user had to enter two terminating lines (the '.' lines) to terminate
text input mode in this case. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires confor‐
mance to historical practice, but disallows the historical need for
multiple terminating lines.
Change
See the RATIONALE for the append command. Historical practice for cur‐
sor positioning after the change command when no text is input, is as
described in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. However, one System V implementation
is known to have been modified such that the cursor is positioned on
the first address specified, and not on the line before the first
address. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 disallows this modification for consis‐
tency.
Historically, the change command did not support buffer arguments,
although some implementations allow the specification of an optional
buffer. This behavior is neither required nor disallowed by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
Change Directory
A common extension in ex implementations is to use the elements of a
cdpath edit option as prefix directories for path arguments to chdir
that are relative pathnames and that do not have '.' or ".." as their
first component. Elements in the cdpath edit option are colon-sepa‐
rated. The initial value of the cdpath edit option is the value of the
shell CDPATH environment variable. This feature was not included in
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it does not exist in any of the implemen‐
tations considered historical practice.
Copy
Historical implementations of ex permitted copies to lines inside of
the specified range; for example, :2,5copy3 was a valid command.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
Delete
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires support for the historical parsing of a
delete command followed by flags, without any intervening <blank>s. For
example:
1dp Deletes the first line and prints the line that was second.
1delep As for 1dp.
1d Deletes the first line, saving it in buffer p.
1d p1l (Pee-one-ell.) Deletes the first line, saving it in buffer p,
and listing the line that was second.
Edit
Historically, any ex command could be entered as a + command argument
to the edit command, although some (for example, insert and append)
were known to confuse historical implementations. For consistency and
simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that any
command be supported as an argument to the edit command.
Historically, the command argument was executed with the current line
set to the last line of the file, regardless of whether the edit com‐
mand was executed from visual mode or not. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires conformance to historical practice.
Historically, the + command specified to the edit and next commands was
delimited by the first <blank>, and there was no way to quote them. For
consistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that the usual ex backslash
quoting be provided.
Historically, specifying the + command argument to the edit command
required a filename to be specified as well; for example, :edit +100
would always fail. For consistency and simplicity of specification,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this usage to fail for that rea‐
son.
Historically, only the cursor position of the last file edited was
remembered by the editor. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that this be
supported; however, implementations are permitted to remember and
restore the cursor position for any file previously edited.
File
Historical versions of the ex editor file command displayed a current
line and number of lines in the edit buffer of 0 when the file was
empty, while the vi <control>-G command displayed a current line and
number of lines in the edit buffer of 1 in the same situation.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this discrepancy, instead requir‐
ing that a message be displayed indicating that the file is empty.
Global
The two-pass operation of the global and v commands is not intended to
imply implementation, only the required result of the operation.
The current line and column are set as specified for the individual ex
commands. This requirement is cumulative; that is, the current line and
column must track across all the commands executed by the global or v
commands.
Insert
See the RATIONALE for the append command.
Historically, insert could not be used with an address of zero; that
is, not when the edit buffer was empty. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
that this command behave consistently with the append command.
Join
The action of the join command in relation to the special characters is
only defined for the POSIX locale because the correct amount of white
space after a period varies; in Japanese none is required, in French
only a single space, and so on.
List
The historical output of the list command was potentially ambiguous.
The standard developers believed correcting this to be more important
than adhering to historical practice, and IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
unambiguous output.
Map
Historically, command mode maps only applied to command names; for
example, if the character 'x' was mapped to 'y' , the command fx
searched for the 'x' character, not the 'y' character.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires this behavior. Historically, entering
<control>-V as the first character of a vi command was an error. Sev‐
eral implementations have extended the semantics of vi such that <con‐
trol>-V means that the subsequent command character is not mapped. This
is permitted, but not required, by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. Regardless,
using <control>-V to escape the second or later character in a sequence
of characters that might match a map command, or any character in text
input mode, is historical practice, and stops the entered keys from
matching a map. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical
practice.
Historical implementations permitted digits to be used as a map command
lhs, but then ignored the map. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that the
mapped digits not be ignored.
The historical implementation of the map command did not permit map
commands that were more than a single character in length if the first
character was printable. This behavior is permitted, but not required,
by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
Historically, mapped characters were remapped unless the remap edit
option was not set, or the prefix of the mapped characters matched the
mapping characters; for example, in the map:
:map ab abcd
the characters "ab" were used as is and were not remapped, but the
characters "cd" were mapped if appropriate. This can cause infinite
loops in the vi mapping mechanisms. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires con‐
formance to historical practice, and that such loops be interruptible.
Text input maps had the same problems with expanding the lhs for the ex
map! and unmap! command as did the ex abbreviate and unabbreviate com‐
mands. See the RATIONALE for the ex abbreviate command.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires similar modification of some historical
practice for the map and unmap commands, as described for the abbrevi‐
ate and unabbreviate commands.
Historically, maps that were subsets of other maps behaved differently
depending on the order in which they were defined. For example:
:map! ab short
:map! abc long
would always translate the characters "ab" to "short" , regardless of
how fast the characters "abc" were entered. If the entry order was
reversed:
:map! abc long
:map! ab short
the characters "ab" would cause the editor to pause, waiting for the
completing 'c' character, and the characters might never be mapped to
"short" . For consistency and simplicity of specification,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that the shortest match be used at all
times.
The length of time the editor spends waiting for the characters to com‐
plete the lhs is unspecified because the timing capabilities of systems
are often inexact and variable, and it may depend on other factors such
as the speed of the connection. The time should be long enough for the
user to be able to complete the sequence, but not long enough for the
user to have to wait. Some implementations of vi have added a keytime
option, which permits users to set the number of 0,1 seconds the editor
waits for the completing characters. Because mapped terminal function
and cursor keys tend to start with an <ESC> character, and <ESC> is the
key ending vi text input mode, maps starting with <ESC> characters are
generally exempted from this timeout period, or, at least timed out
differently.
Mark
Historically, users were able to set the "previous context" marks
explicitly. In addition, the ex commands " and '` and the vi commands
", ``, `', and '` all referred to the same mark. In addition, the pre‐
vious context marks were not set if the command, with which the address
setting the mark was associated, failed. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
conformance to historical practice. Historically, if marked lines were
deleted, the mark was also deleted, but would reappear if the change
was undone. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical
practice.
The description of the special events that set the ` and ' marks
matches historical practice. For example, historically the command
/a/,/b/ did not set the ` and ' marks, but the command /a/,/b/delete
did.
Next
Historically, any ex command could be entered as a + command argument
to the next command, although some (for example, insert and append)
were known to confuse historical implementations. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that any command be permitted and that it behave as specified.
The next command can accept more than one file, so usage such as:
next `ls [abc] `
is valid; it need not be valid for the edit or read commands, for exam‐
ple, because they expect only one filename.
Historically, the next command behaved differently from the :rewind
command in that it ignored the force flag if the autowrite flag was
set. For consistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behav‐
ior.
Historically, the next command positioned the cursor as if the file had
never been edited before, regardless. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not
permit this behavior, for consistency with the edit command.
Implementations wanting to provide a counterpart to the next command
that edited the previous file have used the command prev[ious], which
takes no file argument. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require this com‐
mand.
Open
Historically, the open command would fail if the open edit option was
not set. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not mention the open edit option and
does not require this behavior. Some historical implementations do not
permit entering open mode from open or visual mode, only from ex mode.
For consistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior.
Historically, entering open mode from the command line (that is, vi
+open) resulted in anomalous behaviors; for example, the ex file and
set commands, and the vi command <control>-G did not work. For consis‐
tency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior.
Historically, the open command only permitted '/' characters to be used
as the search pattern delimiter. For consistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that the search delimiters used by the s, global, and v com‐
mands be accepted as well.
Preserve
The preserve command does not historically cause the file to be consid‐
ered unmodified for the purposes of future commands that may exit the
editor. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical prac‐
tice.
Historical documentation stated that mail was not sent to the user when
preserve was executed; however, historical implementations did send
mail in this case. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to the
historical implementations.
Print
The writing of NUL by the print command is not specified as a special
case because the standard developers did not want to require ex to sup‐
port NUL characters. Historically, characters were displayed using the
ARPA standard mappings, which are as follows:
1. Printable characters are left alone.
2. Control characters less than \177 are represented as '^' followed
by the character offset from the '@' character in the ASCII map;
for example, \007 is represented as '^G' .
3. \177 is represented as '^' followed by '?' .
The display of characters having their eighth bit set was less stan‐
dard. Existing implementations use hex (0x00), octal (\000), and a
meta-bit display. (The latter displayed bytes that had their eighth bit
set as the two characters "M-" followed by the seven-bit display as
described above.) The latter probably has the best claim to historical
practice because it was used for the -v option of 4 BSD and 4 BSD-
derived versions of the cat utility since 1980.
No specific display format is required by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
Explicit dependence on the ASCII character set has been avoided where
possible, hence the use of the phrase an "implementation-defined multi-
character sequence" for the display of non-printable characters in
preference to the historical usage of, for instance, "^I" for the
<tab>. Implementations are encouraged to conform to historical practice
in the absence of any strong reason to diverge.
Historically, all ex commands beginning with the letter 'p' could be
entered using capitalized versions of the commands; for example,
P[rint], Pre[serve], and Pu[t] were all valid command names.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits, but does not require, this historical
practice because capital forms of the commands are used by some imple‐
mentations for other purposes.
Put
Historically, an ex put command, executed from open or visual mode, was
the same as the open or visual mode P command, if the buffer was named
and was cut in character mode, and the same as the p command if the
buffer was named and cut in line mode. If the unnamed buffer was the
source of the text, the entire line from which the text was taken was
usually put, and the buffer was handled as if in line mode, but it was
possible to get extremely anomalous behavior. In addition, using the Q
command to switch into ex mode, and then doing a put often resulted in
errors as well, such as appending text that was unrelated to the (sup‐
posed) contents of the buffer. For consistency and simplicity of speci‐
fication, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit these behaviors. All ex
put commands are required to operate in line mode, and the contents of
the buffers are not altered by changing the mode of the editor.
Read
Historically, an ex read command executed from open or visual mode,
executed in an empty file, left an empty line as the first line of the
file. For consistency and simplicity of specification,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior. Historically, a
read in open or visual mode from a program left the cursor at the last
line read in, not the first. For consistency, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does
not permit this behavior.
Historical implementations of ex were unable to undo read commands that
read from the output of a program. For consistency,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior.
Historically, the ex and vi message after a successful read or write
command specified "characters", not "bytes". IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that the number of bytes be displayed, not the number of char‐
acters, because it may be difficult in multi-byte implementations to
determine the number of characters read. Implementations are encouraged
to clarify the message displayed to the user.
Historically, reads were not permitted on files other than type regu‐
lar, except that FIFO files could be read (probably only because they
did not exist when ex and vi were originally written). Because the his‐
torical ex evaluated read! and read ! equivalently, there can be no
optional way to force the read. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits, but does
not require, this behavior.
Recover
Some historical implementations of the editor permitted users to
recover the edit buffer contents from a previous edit session, and then
exit without saving those contents (or explicitly discarding them). The
intent of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 in requiring that the edit buffer be
treated as already modified is to prevent this user error.
Rewind
Historical implementations supported the rewind command when the user
was editing the first file in the list; that is, the file that the
rewind command would edit. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to
historical practice.
Substitute
Historically, ex accepted an r option to the s command. The effect of
the r option was to use the last regular expression used in any command
as the pattern, the same as the ~ command. The r option is not required
by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. Historically, the c and g options were tog‐
gled; for example, the command :s/abc/def/ was the same as
s/abc/def/ccccgggg. For simplicity of specification,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior.
The tilde command is often used to replace the last search RE. For
example, in the sequence:
s/red/blue/
/green
~
the ~ command is equivalent to:
s/green/blue/
Historically, ex accepted all of the following forms:
s/abc/def/
s/abc/def
s/abc/
s/abc
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to this historical practice.
The s command presumes that the '^' character only occupies a single
column in the display. Much of the ex and vi specification presumes
that the <space> only occupies a single column in the display. There
are no known character sets for which this is not true.
Historically, the final column position for the substitute commands was
based on previous column movements; a search for a pattern followed by
a substitution would leave the column position unchanged, while a 0
command followed by a substitution would change the column position to
the first non- <blank>. For consistency and simplicity of specifica‐
tion, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that the final column position
always be set to the first non- <blank>.
Set
Historical implementations redisplayed all of the options for each
occurrence of the all keyword. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits, but does
not require, this behavior.
Tag
No requirement is made as to where ex and vi shall look for the file
referenced by the tag entry. Historical practice has been to look for
the path found in the tags file, based on the current directory. A
useful extension found in some implementations is to look based on the
directory containing the tags file that held the entry, as well. No
requirement is made as to which reference for the tag in the tags file
is used. This is deliberate, in order to permit extensions such as mul‐
tiple entries in a tags file for a tag.
Because users often specify many different tags files, some of which
need not be relevant or exist at any particular time,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that error messages about problem tags
files be displayed only if the requested tag is not found, and then,
only once for each time that the tag edit option is changed.
The requirement that the current edit buffer be unmodified is only nec‐
essary if the file indicated by the tag entry is not the same as the
current file (as defined by the current pathname). Historically, the
file would be reloaded if the filename had changed, as well as if the
filename was different from the current pathname. For consistency and
simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this
behavior, requiring that the name be the only factor in the decision.
Historically, vi only searched for tags in the current file from the
current cursor to the end of the file, and therefore, if the wrapscan
option was not set, tags occurring before the current cursor were not
found. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 considers this a bug, and implementations
are required to search for the first occurrence in the file, regard‐
less.
Undo
The undo description deliberately uses the word "modified". The undo
command is not intended to undo commands that replace the contents of
the edit buffer, such as edit, next, tag, or recover.
Cursor positioning after the undo command was inconsistent in the his‐
torical vi, sometimes attempting to restore the original cursor posi‐
tion ( global, undo, and v commands), and sometimes, in the presence of
maps, placing the cursor on the last line added or changed instead of
the first. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires a simplified behavior for con‐
sistency and simplicity of specification.
Version
The version command cannot be exactly specified since there is no
widely-accepted definition of what the version information should con‐
tain. Implementations are encouraged to do something reasonably intel‐
ligent.
Write
Historically, the ex and vi message after a successful read or write
command specified "characters", not "bytes". IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
requires that the number of bytes be displayed, not the number of char‐
acters because it may be difficult in multi-byte implementations to
determine the number of characters written. Implementations are encour‐
aged to clarify the message displayed to the user.
Implementation-defined tests are permitted so that implementations can
make additional checks; for example, for locks or file modification
times.
Historically, attempting to append to a nonexistent file caused an
error. It has been left unspecified in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 to permit
implementations to let the write succeed, so that the append semantics
are similar to those of the historical csh.
Historical vi permitted empty edit buffers to be written. However,
since the way vi got around dealing with "empty" files was to always
have a line in the edit buffer, no matter what, it wrote them as files
of a single, empty line. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this
behavior.
Historically, ex restored standard output and standard error to their
values as of when ex was invoked, before writes to programs were per‐
formed. This could disturb the terminal configuration as well as be a
security issue for some terminals. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not per‐
mit this, requiring that the program output be captured and displayed
as if by the ex print command.
Adjust Window
Historically, the line count was set to the value of the scroll option
if the type character was end-of-file. This feature was broken on most
historical implementations long ago, however, and is not documented
anywhere. For this reason, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 is resolutely silent.
Historically, the z command was <blank>-sensitive and z + and z - did
different things than z+ and z- because the type could not be distin‐
guished from a flag. (The commands z . and z = were historically
invalid.) IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to this historical
practice.
Historically, the z command was further <blank>-sensitive in that the
count could not be <blank>-delimited; for example, the commands z= 5
and z- 5 were also invalid. Because the count is not ambiguous with
respect to either the type character or the flags, this is not permit‐
ted by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
Escape
Historically, ex filter commands only read the standard output of the
commands, letting standard error appear on the terminal as usual. The
vi utility, however, read both standard output and standard error.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires the latter behavior for both ex and vi,
for consistency.
Shift Left and Shift Right
Historically, it was possible to add shift characters to increase the
effect of the command; for example, <<< outdented (or >>> indented) the
lines 3 levels of indentation instead of the default 1.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
<control>-D
Historically, the <control>-D command erased the prompt, providing the
user with an unbroken presentation of lines from the edit buffer. This
is not required by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; implementations are encouraged
to provide it if possible. Historically, the <control>-D command took,
and then ignored, a count. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this
behavior.
Write Line Number
Historically, the ex = command, when executed in ex mode in an empty
edit buffer, reported 0, and from open or visual mode, reported 1. For
consistency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does
not permit this behavior.
Execute
Historically, ex did not correctly handle the inclusion of text input
commands (that is, append, insert, and change) in executed buffers.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this exclusion for consistency.
Historically, the logical contents of the buffer being executed did not
change if the buffer itself were modified by the commands being exe‐
cuted; that is, buffer execution did not support self-modifying code.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
Historically, the @ command took a range of lines, and the @ buffer was
executed once per line, with the current line ( '.' ) set to each spec‐
ified line. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical
practice.
Some historical implementations did not notice if errors occurred dur‐
ing buffer execution. This, coupled with the ability to specify a range
of lines for the ex @ command, makes it trivial to cause them to drop
core. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that implementations stop buffer
execution if any error occurs, if the specified line doesn't exist, or
if the contents of the edit buffer itself are replaced (for example,
the buffer executes the ex :edit command).
Regular Expressions in ex
Historical practice is that the characters in the replacement part of
the last s command-that is, those matched by entering a '~' in the reg‐
ular expression-were not further expanded by the regular expression
engine. So, if the characters contained the string "a.," they would
match 'a' followed by ".," and not 'a' followed by any character.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
Edit Options in ex
The following paragraphs describe the historical behavior of some edit
options that were not, for whatever reason, included in
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. Implementations are strongly encouraged to only
use these names if the functionality described here is fully supported.
extended
The extended edit option has been used in some implementations
of vi to provide extended regular expressions instead of basic
regular expressions This option was omitted from
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it is not widespread historical
practice.
flash The flash edit option historically caused the screen to flash
instead of beeping on error. This option was omitted from
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it is not found in some historical
implementations.
hardtabs
The hardtabs edit option historically defined the number of col‐
umns between hardware tab settings. This option was omitted from
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it was believed to no longer be
generally useful.
modeline
The modeline (sometimes named modelines) edit option histori‐
cally caused ex or vi to read the five first and last lines of
the file for editor commands. This option is a security problem,
and vendors are strongly encouraged to delete it from historical
implementations.
open The open edit option historically disallowed the ex open and
visual commands. This edit option was omitted because these com‐
mands are required by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
optimize
The optimize edit option historically expedited text throughput
by setting the terminal to not do automatic <carriage-return>s
when printing more than one logical line of output. This option
was omitted from IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it was intended
for terminals without addressable cursors, which are rarely, if
ever, still used.
ruler The ruler edit option has been used in some implementations of
vi to present a current row/column ruler for the user. This
option was omitted from IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it is not
widespread historical practice.
sourceany
The sourceany edit option historically caused ex or vi to source
start-up files that were owned by users other than the user run‐
ning the editor. This option is a security problem, and vendors
are strongly encouraged to remove it from their implementations.
timeout
The timeout edit option historically enabled the (now standard)
feature of only waiting for a short period before returning keys
that could be part of a macro. This feature was omitted from
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because its behavior is now standard, it is
not widely useful, and it was rarely documented.
verbose
The verbose edit option has been used in some implementations of
vi to cause vi to output error messages for common errors; for
example, attempting to move the cursor past the beginning or end
of the line instead of only alerting the screen. (The historical
vi only alerted the terminal and presented no message for such
errors. The historical editor option terse did not select when
to present error messages, it only made existing error messages
more or less verbose.) This option was omitted from
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it is not widespread historical
practice; however, implementors are encouraged to use it if they
wish to provide error messages for naive users.
wraplen
The wraplen edit option has been used in some implementations of
vi to specify an automatic margin measured from the left margin
instead of from the right margin. This is useful when multiple
screen sizes are being used to edit a single file. This option
was omitted from IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because it is not wide‐
spread historical practice; however, implementors are encouraged
to use it if they add this functionality.
autoindent, ai
Historically, the command 0a did not do any autoindentation, regardless
of the current indentation of line 1. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
that any indentation present in line 1 be used.
autoprint, ap
Historically, the autoprint edit option was not completely consistent
or based solely on modifications to the edit buffer. Exceptions were
the read command (when reading from a file, but not from a filter), the
append, change, insert, global, and v commands, all of which were not
affected by autoprint, and the tag command, which was affected by auto‐
print. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical prac‐
tice.
Historically, the autoprint option only applied to the last of multiple
commands entered using vertical-bar delimiters; for example, delete
<newline> was affected by autoprint, but delete|version <newline> was
not. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
autowrite, aw
Appending the '!' character to the ex next command to avoid performing
an automatic write was not supported in historical implementations.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that the behavior match the other ex com‐
mands for consistency.
ignorecase, ic
Historical implementations of case-insensitive matching (the ignorecase
edit option) lead to counterintuitive situations when uppercase charac‐
ters were used in range expressions. Historically, the process was as
follows:
1. Take a line of text from the edit buffer.
2. Convert uppercase to lowercase in text line.
3. Convert uppercase to lowercase in regular expressions, except in
character class specifications.
4. Match regular expressions against text.
This would mean that, with ignorecase in effect, the text:
The cat sat on the mat
would be matched by
/^the/
but not by:
/^[A-Z]he/
For consistency with other commands implementing regular expressions,
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior.
paragraphs, para
The ISO POSIX-2:1993 standard made the default paragraphs and sections
edit options implementation-defined, arguing they were historically
oriented to the UNIX system troff text formatter, and a "portable user"
could use the {, }, [[, ]], (, and ) commands in open or visual mode
and have the cursor stop in unexpected places. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
specifies their values in the POSIX locale because the unusual grouping
(they only work when grouped into two characters at a time) means that
they cannot be used for general-purpose movement, regardless.
readonly
Implementations are encouraged to provide the best possible information
to the user as to the read-only status of the file, with the exception
that they should not consider the current special privileges of the
process. This provides users with a safety net because they must force
the overwrite of read-only files, even when running with additional
privileges.
The readonly edit option specification largely conforms to historical
practice. The only difference is that historical implementations did
not notice that the user had set the readonly edit option in cases
where the file was already marked read-only for some reason, and would
therefore reinitialize the readonly edit option the next time the con‐
tents of the edit buffer were replaced. This behavior is disallowed by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
report
The requirement that lines copied to a buffer interact differently than
deleted lines is historical practice. For example, if the report edit
option is set to 3, deleting 3 lines will cause a report to be written,
but 4 lines must be copied before a report is written.
The requirement that the ex global, v, open, undo, and visual commands
present reports based on the total number of lines added or deleted
during the command execution, and that commands executed by the global
and v commands not present reports, is historical practice.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 extends historical practice by requiring that buf‐
fer execution be treated similarly. The reasons for this are two-fold.
Historically, only the report by the last command executed from the
buffer would be seen by the user, as each new report would overwrite
the last. In addition, the standard developers believed that buffer
execution had more in common with global and v commands than it did
with other ex commands, and should behave similarly, for consistency
and simplicity of specification.
showmatch, sm
The length of time the cursor spends on the matching character is
unspecified because the timing capabilities of systems are often inex‐
act and variable. The time should be long enough for the user to
notice, but not long enough for the user to become annoyed. Some imple‐
mentations of vi have added a matchtime option that permits users to
set the number of 0,1 second intervals the cursor pauses on the match‐
ing character.
showmode
The showmode option has been used in some historical implementations of
ex and vi to display the current editing mode when in open or visual
mode. The editing modes have generally included "command" and "input",
and sometimes other modes such as "replace" and "change". The string
was usually displayed on the bottom line of the screen at the far
right-hand corner. In addition, a preceding '*' character often
denoted whether the contents of the edit buffer had been modified. The
latter display has sometimes been part of the showmode option, and
sometimes based on another option. This option was not available in the
4 BSD historical implementation of vi, but was viewed as generally use‐
ful, particularly to novice users, and is required by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.
The smd shorthand for the showmode option was not present in all his‐
torical implementations of the editor. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires
it, for consistency.
Not all historical implementations of the editor displayed a mode
string for command mode, differentiating command mode from text input
mode by the absence of a mode string. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits this
behavior for consistency with historical practice, but implementations
are encouraged to provide a display string for both modes.
slowopen
Historically the slowopen option was automatically set if the terminal
baud rate was less than 1200 baud, or if the baud rate was 1200 baud
and the redraw option was not set. The slowopen option had two effects.
First, when inserting characters in the middle of a line, characters
after the cursor would not be pushed ahead, but would appear to be
overwritten. Second, when creating a new line of text, lines after the
current line would not be scrolled down, but would appear to be over‐
written. In both cases, ending text input mode would cause the screen
to be refreshed to match the actual contents of the edit buffer.
Finally, terminals that were sufficiently intelligent caused the editor
to ignore the slowopen option. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits most his‐
torical behavior, extending historical practice to require slowopen
behaviors if the edit option is set by the user.
tags
The default path for tags files is left unspecified as implementations
may have their own tags implementations that do not correspond to the
historical ones. The default tags option value should probably at least
include the file ./tags.
term
Historical implementations of ex and vi ignored changes to the term
edit option after the initial terminal information was loaded. This is
permitted by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; however, implementations are encour‐
aged to permit the user to modify their terminal type at any time.
terse
Historically, the terse edit option optionally provided a shorter, less
descriptive error message, for some error messages. This is permitted,
but not required, by IEEE Std 1003.1-2001. Historically, most common
visual mode errors (for example, trying to move the cursor past the end
of a line) did not result in an error message, but simply alerted the
terminal. Implementations wishing to provide messages for novice users
are urged to do so based on the edit option verbose, and not terse.
window
In historical implementations, the default for the window edit option
was based on the baud rate as follows:
1. If the baud rate was less than 1200, the edit option w300 set the
window value; for example, the line:
set w300=12
would set the window option to 12 if the baud rate was less than 1200.
2. If the baud rate was equal to 1200, the edit option w1200 set the
window value.
3. If the baud rate was greater than 1200, the edit option w9600 set
the window value.
The w300, w1200, and w9600 options do not appear in
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 because of their dependence on specific baud
rates.
In historical implementations, the size of the window displayed by var‐
ious commands was related to, but not necessarily the same as, the win‐
dow edit option. For example, the size of the window was set by the ex
command visual 10, but it did not change the value of the window edit
option. However, changing the value of the window edit option did
change the number of lines that were displayed when the screen was
repainted. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not permit this behavior in the
interests of consistency and simplicity of specification, and requires
that all commands that change the number of lines that are displayed do
it by setting the value of the window edit option.
wrapmargin, wm
Historically, the wrapmargin option did not affect maps inserting char‐
acters that also had associated counts; for example :map K 5aABC DEF.
Unfortunately, there are widely used maps that depend on this behavior.
For consistency and simplicity of specification, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
does not permit this behavior.
Historically, wrapmargin was calculated using the column display width
of all characters on the screen. For example, an implementation using
"^I" to represent <tab>s when the list edit option was set, where '^'
and 'I' each took up a single column on the screen, would calculate the
wrapmargin based on a value of 2 for each <tab>. The number edit option
similarly changed the effective length of the line as well.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires conformance to historical practice.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
Command Search and Execution , ctags , ed , sed , sh , stty , vi , the
System Interfaces volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, access()COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2003 EX(P)
