[ThePythonicCow]

Are we talking about the same ed?

Yup. You're talking to one of the last people on earth for whom that ancient line editor is their preferred tool. There are some things you can do with it that no other editor can do as well, even after 30 years.

[dayglored]

> You're talking to one of the last people on earth for whom that ancient line editor is their preferred tool. There are some things you can do with it that no other editor can do as well, even after 30 years.

Well, my hat is off to ya. What you say is true (some things no other editor can do).

In 1986 I needed a native text editor on a small system (64KB RAM, 80186 CPU) whose only programming language was a BASIC. So I wrote a line editor using that BASIC, and used ed as my model for the command set (pared-down, of course). My comment about the sharp pointy stick and the pile of poo actually originated with that experience. ;-)

These days I generally use a screen editor, except that I still regularly use sed of course. So I'm never very far from the old ed command set...