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I learned ed, and find it is still useful in many situations. For example, if I want to add a line of text to a file from the command line, I just use ed direct
by coliveira 8y ago
I learned ed, and find it is still useful in many situations. For example, if I want to add a line of text to a file from the command line, I just use ed directly. Another example is trying to change a single line in a file. Even in 2019, ed is still a useful piece of software.
- dorfsmay 8y agoWhy ed over ex?
- coliveira 8y agoed is standard. You can use it anywhere there is UNIX.
- zamadatix 8y agoex and vi are also in the POSIX standard. As far as popularity I've actually seen plenty of e.g. busybox based systems that leave ed out but keep vi.
- mcguire 8y agoEd is the standard text editor! Ex doesn't have much in the way of features that demand an upgrade.[1] Vi is too heavyweight; waiting for the screen refresh is tedious. [1] Although I recall using it. No idea why. (Mmmmm, 1200bps modem from a C-64.)
- dorfsmay 8y agoThe thing is, if you use vi/vim in your day to day work, you already know ex. Not only that, but most people who will enhance and debug your script will also already know ex (from using it within vi).
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]