Forrest logo
back to the ed tool

ed:tldr:b5f37

ed: Start an interactive editor session with an empty document.
$ ed
try on your machine

The ed command refers to the "ed" text editor, which is a line-oriented text editor available for Unix-like operating systems.

In its simplest form, ed provides a command-line interface for creating, modifying, and manipulating text files. It allows users to edit files using specific commands rather than a graphical interface. When the ed command is invoked, the user is presented with a prompt where they can enter various commands to perform actions on the text file.

For example, if you type ed file.txt in the terminal, it will open the file "file.txt" in the ed editor. From there, you can issue commands such as:

  • a: Append text after the current line.
  • i: Insert text before the current line.
  • d: Delete the current line or a range of lines.
  • w: Write/save changes to the file.
  • q: Quit the ed editor.

The ed command offers a more minimalistic and efficient approach to text editing compared to graphical editors. It requires learning the specific commands and syntax, which can take some time to become proficient.

This explanation was created by an AI. In most cases those are correct. But please always be careful and never run a command you are not sure if it is safe.
back to the ed tool