ed(1) is line-oriented text editor, originally created in the times when people used teletypes to operate computers.

Nowadays, it is mostly useless, yet I am somewhat capable of using it. Here are the use-cases for using it I had:

• When the previous text in the shell is needed for me to edit the file and I'm lazy to make an extra effort to have both the text and a visual (visual as in not line-oriented) editor. For example: {

$ ls
i-need-this-filename  this-one-too
$ ed ~/important.txt
a
some important text that i cannot write without remembering the filenames
.

Easy as that. }

• In vim or neovim, when I have an opened terminal pane and I want to quickly edit a file in the same window (using vim terms) without removing the terminal from there.

Both use-cases are questionable, yet I used ed(1) in these cases. What're you gonna do?

So, the fact that ed(1) does not overlay the shell is a useful trait. Another useful trait is that it opens files on the last line. It lets you make quick notes along the way, with no need for extra software!

$ doing something very important
this is an important output
$ ed ~/notes.txt
a
Here's a very cool idea I had and that I do not want to forget and I'm scared to switch the window to a note-taking program or a browser.
.

Actually, ed(1) is quite good for adding new text to documents! But actually editing them? Thanks, no.

= What's that (1)? ed(1)'s documentation is available in man. Run man ed to read if, if you have ed(1) installed.

In man, there are 8 standard sections of manuals, numbered from 1 to 8, with 1 corresponding to general commands, which ed(1) seems to be. The man viewer even says ED(1) on top of the document.

I guess that's where that comes from.

Why do I write it like that? Because that's what the person managing [[https://twitter.com/ed1conf]] does and I like it and find it fun and funny. I wonder if they were the first to do so.

= See also

• [[Edbrowse]], an ed(1)-inspired editor+browser+mail client.