Overview

UNIX and thus Linux is infamous for its editors. They have, at various times, been considered difficult to use and understand and yet extremely flexible and powerful in their capabilities. Compared with current word processors and text editors, which use graphical interfaces and mice, they do seem cumbersome and out of date. However, it should not be forgotten that they provided cut and paste functions and complex search and replace facilities years before the current word processor favorites were conceived.

Despite reservations about their interfaces and command structures, a basic knowledge and understanding of these editors is essential because they have to be used during system administration and program development. Some traditionalists would say that coming to grips with vi`s unintuitive command interface is part of the indoctrination into the world of Linux I disagree and, whenever possible, perform any text editing off-line on a PC and then upload the files. However, if you are sitting in front of a dumb terminal, you do not have this option and the only way out is to use a Linux editor. Four editors are normally supplied with Linux: ed and ex are line based editors and vi is a full screen editor that incorporates the functions of ed and ex. There is a fourth editor called emacs that is extremely powerful but has a steep learning curve. As a result, this chapter concentrates on the first three editors.

The line editors ed...