This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : ed cheatsheet
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 06-10-2012
URL : https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/ed_cheatsheet.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---
> ed is a line editor for the Unix operating system. It was one of the first
end-user programs hosted on the system and has been standard in Unix-based
systems ever since. ed was originally written in PDP-11/20 assembler by Ken
Thompson in 1971.
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[Download the PDF cheatsheet][2]
## Navigating
* Line number: go to that line and print it.
* pn - _Print current line and line number._
* 3kxe - _mark line 3 as "xe"._
* 'xep - _print the line marked as xe._
## Editing
* a - _start editing after the current line._
* i - _start editing before the current line._
* c - _replace the current line._
* end the editing with only a period on a line (.).
* 1d - _delete line 1._
* 1,2j - _join line one and two._
## Printing
* 1,$p - _print entire buffer._
* ,p - _also prints the entire buffer._
* 2,3p - _print lines 2 and 3._
* .,4p - _print from the current line (.) to line 4._
* -1,+1p - _print 1 line above and 1 line below the current line._
## Buffer operations
* 2t4 - _Copy line 2 to after line 4._
* 2t$ - _Copy line 2 to the end of the file._
* 3m6 - _Move line 3 to after line 6._
* 2,4m$ - _Move lines 2 to 4 to the end of the file._
## Searching / replace
* /like - _Move to the next line after the current one matching regular expression /like._
* ?Like - _Search backwards._
* 1s/re/jo - _Substitute only the first occurence of re with jo on line 1._
* 1s/re/jo/g - _Substitute all occurences of re with jo on line 1._
* 1,$s/re/jo/g - _Substitute all occurences of re with jo in the whole buffer._
## Regular expresions
* g/re/p - _print all the lines matching regular expression /re/._
* v/re/p - _print all the lines NOT matching regular expression /re/._
* g/re/m$ - _move all the lines matching regular expression /re/ to the end of the file._
## Reading and writing
* w file.txt - _Save the current buffer as filename file.txt._
* w - _Save the current buffer if the file is already saved._
* w1,4 - _Save lines 1 to 4 to the current buffer._
* W - _append to a file (not replace)._
* r /etc/hosts - _Insert the contents of /etc/hosts after the current line._
* r !ps -e - _Insert the output of the command "ps -e" after the current line._
* e file.txt - _Open the file file.txt and replace the current buffer._
[1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
[2]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/downloads/ed_cheatsheet.pdf
---
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