ex

ex [options] [files...]

ex is a line-oriented text editor. It provides command-line editing without a visual interface, using the same command language that powers vi's colon (:) commands. Commands are entered at a prompt rather than in a full-screen display.ex is particularly valuable for batch editing and scripted file modifications, allowing search/replace and other transformations without interactive use. When combined with -s for silent mode, it can process editing commands from stdin or scripts.The ex and vi editors are the same program started in different modes. Running ex -v starts visual mode (vi), and running vi -e starts line mode (ex).

FILES

Files to edit.

Execute command after loading the first file.

Silent (batch) mode. Suppress all interactive feedback. Useful for scripting.

Read-only mode. Prevents writing to the file.

Recover editing session from a swap file after a crash.

Do not use a swap file (vim implementation).

Edit the file containing the specified tag.

Verbose mode. Show commands read from stdin.

Start in visual mode (equivalent to running vi).

No visual feedback in ex mode, making complex edits error-prone. Most modern systems provide ex via vim (as vim -e). The POSIX specification defines a subset of features; vim's ex mode includes many extensions.

ex was developed by Bill Joy at UC Berkeley in the late 1970s as an extended version of ed. It later gained the visual interface that became vi, with ex remaining as the underlying command mode. ex first appeared in 1BSD (1978).

vi(1), vim(1), ed(1), sed(1)