VED(1L)

VED(1L) · Schily´s USER COMMANDS 💖

okay so welcome to the ved manual, bestie. It's screen-oriented, it's fast, and I'm about to walk you through every single detail without skipping the "boring" bits. No cap. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

ved — visual editor (screen-oriented) 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ved [ options ] [ filename ... ]
ved-e [ options ] [ filename ... ]
ved-w [ options ] [ filename ... ]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Ved (visual editor) is a small and very fast screen-oriented editor, and its user interface sits somewhere between vi and emacs. It's powerful and easy to learn, with literally no limitations on line length or on the type of characters that may appear in a file. It has almost no limitations on file size, and it supports editing of large files (files > 2 GB) if the OS has large file support. 🚀

First time editing a file? Just call ved and specify the name of the file you want to edit. Editing it a second time? ved will place you at the same cursor position that was used the last time when editing this file. If you do not specify a file name, ved assumes you want to edit the last file you edited in your current directory. The cursor position in this case again will be the same as with the last editing session for this file. Cute, right? 💖

Calling ved-e is the same as calling:

ved -e

Calling ved-w is the same as calling:

ved maxlinelen=78.

Ved is using the termcap data base to be independent from the terminal type. See Termcap section below. 🌈

💅 OPTIONS 💅

okay, flags time. Every one of these is a real option, bestie — no invented extras. 🫶

-v, -vhelp, -vedhelp — An editing session is started with the on-line help. This is done in read-only mode. ✨
-r, -readonly — In this mode, you may edit the content of the edit buffer but you are not allowed to write back the modified buffer by using the quit command of the editor. If you use this option more than once, the readonly value is incremented. If -readonly is used twice or more, you are not allowed to write the file back even in quit force mode. ⚠️
b=#, buffers=# — By default ved uses 10 in-core buffers to edit the file, each in-core buffer takes 8 kB (the actual values that are compiled into ved may be retrieved by calling ved -help). Files that are bigger than the total amount of in-core buffer space are edited by using the swap file of ved. If you specify a number that is higher than the default, you will need more space in memory but the speed will slightly increase. 🔥
-n, -nobak — Don't create filename.bak when writing back the file using the quit command of the editor. Note that if you use this option you will still break hard links. If you like to write into the original file, you should better use the 'W' command when you quit ved. 💀
-nolock — Don't try to use record locking to tell other editors that a file i.e. being edited or just being written to. This option may help if NFS record locking bugs would otherwise cause an edit session to hang in the fcntl() lock request. 🌀
-e, -edtmp — Don't write to the file .vedtmp.uid. (ved normally stores the names and cursor positions of files in .vedtmp.uid). 🙈
-raw8 — Do not expand characters with the MSB set. Note that ved will by default not expand characters with the MSB set that seem to be printable, e.g. when the terminal is in 8-bit mode. If this option is used, the expansion of 8-bit characters is turned off unconditionally. If the terminal is in 7-bit mode, this may result in incorrectly displayed characters. 😭
-d, -dos — Map new-line to carriage-return new-line and hide carriage-return characters that are directly followed by a new-line. If you type in a new line character this results in inserting a carriage-return new-line pair. But as ved is acting binary transparently, reading in files that do not follow DOS newline conventions will not cause the content of the file to be automatically converted to use DOS new-lines. If -nodos has not been specified, ved tries to auto-detect whether a file needs DOS (CR/LF to LF) mapping or not. 🌸
-nodos — Do not map new-line to carriage-return new-line and hide carriage-return characters that are directly followed by a new-line. If -nodos has been specified, auto-detection of DOS files is disabled and files will always be edited in POSIX line mode. 🎀
s=search string — Start editing session with search to searchstr. 🔍
-t, -tag — First filename is really a ctag. 🏷️
wrapmargin=# — Set default wrap margin to #. The wrap margin is counted from the end of a terminal line. 📏
maxlinelen=# — Set max line length for autowrap to #. The behaviour is similar to the wrapmargin= option but ved does not use the maximum linelength from the current screen width but the fixed length #. 📐
-R, -Recover — Recover session from specified filename. ved generates a file vedP.xxxx in the /var/tmp directory or in the directory named by the VED_TMPDIR environment in which all action of the user is stored during the session. This file must be used as the only argument to ved when running a recover session. 🚨

🎀 THE STATUS LINE 🎀

The first (top) line of the screen is reserved for ved status information. The status line is divided into five fields. The fields are (from left to right): 💫

Info/Input — The first field is used to display informational messages and to fetch additional input that is required for some commands. Each command that needs confirmation requests input from this field. The size of this field defaults to 1/4th of the length of a line. This field may use more space if needed. 🫶
Number — The second field contains the current multiplier for the next command. The current multiplier is reset to 1 after each command, it may be set to a different value by the user (See NUMBERS section below). This multiplier will be referred to as number in the following text. The size of this field is fixed to 1/8th of the length of a line. If the actual number does not fit into the given space, the text BIG is printed instead. 🔢
Takebuffer — The third field contains the name of the actual take buffer that is used for cut and paste operations. The name of this buffer defaults to default on startup. It may be changed by the user. The size of this field is fixed to 1/4th of the length of a line. ✂️
Filename — The fourth field usually displays the current filename. The size of this field defaults to 1/4th of the length of a line. It may use up more space if needed and no error text is displayed. It may be hidden for some time if a long error message is displayed. 📄
Error text — The fifth field is used to display all error messages and warnings. The size of this field defaults to 1/4th of the length of a line. If needed, it may use the space of the filename field too. 🚨

🧚 BASIC COMMAND FORMAT 🧚

Ved does not distinguish between command mode and insert mode. Unless prefixed by commands that need arguments, all non control characters are treated as input (which is inserted into the file buffer). 🫧

All basic ved commands are control characters or escape sequences. To enter a control character, use the control key like the shift key together with a character key; to enter an escape sequence, press the <ESC> key followed by another key. ⌨️

In the following description, ^ represents the control key and <ESC> the escape key (which is identical to pressing ^[). <ALT> has a similar usage as <ESC> but different meaning in ved and represents the combination ^]. The combination ^char is a single keystroke, while <ESC>char or <ALT>char are two keystrokes. If the command takes an argument, the argument is terminated with a carriage return <CR>. 💅

A command may be modified in five ways:

Escape commands — Typing the <ESC> key (or ^[) before the command will modify it to an alternate form, usually a related function. 🦋
Alt commands — Typing the ALT key ( ^] ) before the command, inserts a mark (with a few exceptions) in the text usually at the current cursor position and then executes the normal command. You can precede any command that moves the cursor with the ALT key and ved sets the mark before moving the cursor. 🌟
Alt Escape commands — Typing ALT ( ^] ) and ESC ( ^[ ) before the command, inserts a mark (with a few exceptions) in the text usually at the current cursor position and then executes the ESC command. You can precede any ESC command that moves the cursor with the ALT key and ved sets the mark before moving the cursor. Typing ESC followed by ALT yields the same effect. 💫
Extended commands — Typing a ^X before another command enters the extended mode. The extended mode just enters another level of commands. These extended commands have their own list of basic, ESC, ALT and ALT/ESC command tables. 🧩
Multiplied execution — Numbers that are entered by typing <ESC>#<CR> (# represents a positive number) will set the multiplier to that number and display it in the status line of ved. If a number greater than one is entered before a command, that command is usually repeated number times. Exceptions are some cursor movement commands where different functions will be executed number times instead of repeating the visible basic functionality of the command. 🔁

🦋 CURSOR MOVEMENT 🦋

Like every editor, ved has a typing point, called cursor, which is indicated by the (in most cases) flashing bar or box (depending on your terminal/window type) on your screen. The cursor indicates the point within the file buffer where the typed characters are going to. It is your current place in the file buffer. The commands that move the cursor within the file buffer are explained in this section. 👑

Cursor movement command overview:

   Key        CTRL             ESC CTRL        ALT               ALT ESC
   Label                                       set mark first    set mark first

   |←     A   start of line    start of para   start of line     start of para
   F2     B   go to beginning  go to bottom    go to beginning   go to bottom
   →|     E   end of line      end of para     end of line       end of para
   →      F   forward char     forward word    forward char      forward word
   ←      H   back char        back word       back char         back word
   ↓      N   down line        down para       down line         down para
   ↑      P   up line          up para         up line           up para

Ok bestie, quick note on the table above: para is literally just short for paragraph — they abbreviated it so everything fits in the standard line width. Cute, right? 💅

Alright, now the receipts — every cursor movement command in detail. Grab a snack, this is iconic. 🍓

^A — yeets the cursor to the beginning of the current line. If it's already at the beginning, nothing happens, it just sits there. If number is greater than one, ^A moves the cursor that many characters from the beginning of the current line. 🎀

<ESC>^A — sends the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph. Already there? It won't budge. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^A moves the cursor that many words from the beginning of the current paragraph. ✨

<ALT>^A — drops the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the beginning of the current line. If the cursor is already at the beginning it won't move, but ved still inserts the mark (yes, even then, it's committed 💀). If number is greater than one, <ALT>^A inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many characters from the beginning of the current line.

<ALT><ESC>^A — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph. Cursor already at the beginning? Won't move, but the mark goes in anyway. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^A inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many words from the beginning of the current paragraph. 🦋

^B — cursor goes to the beginning of the file. Already at the start of the file? It stays put. If number is greater than one, ^B moves the cursor that many lines from the beginning of the file.

<ESC>^B — takes the cursor to the end of the file. Already there? No movement, king stays seated. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^B moves the cursor that many lines from the end of the file. 🌈

<ALT>^B — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the beginning of the file. Already at the beginning of the file? It won't move, but ved still inserts the mark. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^B inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many lines from the beginning of the file.

<ALT><ESC>^B — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the end of the file. Already at the end? Won't move, but the mark still gets inserted. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^B inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many lines from the end of the file. 💜

^E — cursor to the end of the current line. Already at the end? Nope, it doesn't move. Ok this part is important so listen up: the last character on the line is the invisible ASCII newline character NL — so when the cursor is at the end of the line, it is not sitting on a visible character. 👻 If number is greater than one, ^E moves the cursor that many characters from the end of the current line.

<ESC>^E — moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph. Already at the end? It stays. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^E moves the cursor that many words from the end of the current paragraph. 🌸

<ALT>^E — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the end of the current line. Already at the end of the line? Won't move, but ved still inserts the mark. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^E inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many characters from the end of the current line.

<ALT><ESC>^E — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the end of the current paragraph. Already at the end of the paragraph? No movement, but the mark still goes in. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^E inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many words from the end of the current paragraph. 🧚

^F — moves the cursor one character position to the right. If number is greater than one, ^F moves the cursor that many characters to the right. Heads up: depending on where the cursor is — and whether number is greater than one or not — ^F could slide the cursor onto a later line. Like, if the cursor is at the end of the line, it moves to the first position of the next line. Sneaky but valid. ⭐

<ESC>^F — moves the cursor forward to the first letter of the next word. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^F moves the cursor forward that many words. Depending on the current cursor position and the value of number, <ESC>^F might move the cursor down one or more lines. 🦋

<ALT>^F — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor one character to the right. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^F inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many characters to the right.

<ALT><ESC>^F — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the first letter of the next word. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^F inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many words to the right. 🔥

^H — moves the cursor one character position to the left. If number is greater than one, ^H moves the cursor that many characters to the left. Depending on the cursor position, ^H — with or without number being greater than one — could slide the cursor up to the previous line. If you press ^H while the cursor is at the beginning of the line, it moves to the last position of the previous line. ✨

<ESC>^H — moves the cursor to the first letter of the word just before its current position. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^H moves the cursor that many words backwards. Depending on the current cursor position and the value of number, the cursor may move up one or more lines. 🎀

<ALT>^H — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor one character position to the left. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^H inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many characters to the left.

<ALT><ESC>^H — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the first letter of the previous word. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^H inserts the mark, then moves the cursor that many words to the left. 💜

^N — moves the cursor down one line while keeping its horizontal position. If the cursor is on the last character of the last line when you press ^N, the cursor will not move and you'll hear a beep. 😭 Sorry bestie, that's the vibe check failing. If number is greater than one, ^N moves the cursor down that many lines. If number is greater than the number of lines remaining in the file, the cursor just stops moving at the end of the file — no infinite scrolling here.

<ESC>^N — moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^N moves the cursor down that many paragraphs. 🌈

<ALT>^N — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor down one line. And note this: the cursor maintains its horizontal position on the line — so if it was on the fifth character of the line when you hit <ALT>^N, it moves to the fifth character of the line below. Consistent, icon behaviour. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^N inserts the mark, then moves the cursor down that many lines.

<ALT><ESC>^N — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^N first inserts the mark, then moves the cursor down that many paragraphs. 👑

^P — moves the cursor up one line while maintaining its horizontal position. If the cursor is on the first line of the file when you press ^P, the cursor doesn't move and you hear a beep. 💀 Same vibe check energy. If number is greater than one, ^P moves the cursor up that many lines. If number is greater than the number of lines between the cursor and the beginning of the file, the cursor stops moving at the beginning of the file.

<ESC>^P — moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^P moves the cursor that many paragraphs prior to the cursor's position. 🌸

<ALT>^P — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor up one line. Cursor keeps its horizontal position on the line, bestie — so if it was on the fifth character of the line when you pressed <ALT>^P, it lands on the fifth character of the line above. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^P inserts the mark, then moves the cursor up that many lines. 🫶

<ALT><ESC>^P — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before moving the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^P first inserts the mark, then moves the cursor up that many paragraphs prior to its current position. 💅

okay so literally the whole insert/delete situation is so clean once you get it, bestie 💖 every insertion happens at the place where the visible cursor is — that's the whole rule, that's the vibe, no cap.

And deletions? They don't just vanish into the void 😭 they get saved in two buffers:

the forward delete buffer — holds the text you nuked with forward delete commands
the backwards delete buffer — holds the text you nuked with backward delete commands

and the backwards one saves its characters in reverse order so you can reinsert them in the correct order later 🫶 (iconic behaviour honestly).

so like — as long as you don't move the cursor and start deleting new text in either direction, you can reinsert the contents of both the forward and the backwards delete buffer with the undo delete command ✨ that's how you move text around: delete it, move the cursor somewhere else in the file, reinsert it. chef's kiss.

💅 Insertion/Deletion command overview 💅

   Key          CTRL             ESC CTRL       ALT              ALT ESC
   Label                                        set mark first   set mark first

   F3     D     delete char      delete words   ~                ~
   TAB    I     tab              ~              tab              ~
   NL     J     insert new line  ~              jump to mark     switch mark
                                                                 and cursor
   F4     K     kill line        kill para      kill selection   ~
   CR     M     insert new line  change modes   sets mark        ~
   F5     O     open line        ~              open line        ~
          _     undo delete      ~              clear mark       ~
   DEL    DEL   erase char       erase word     ~                ~

🦋 Insertion/Deletion commands in detail 🦋

^D — erases the character at the cursor position.

If number is greater than one, ^D erases that number of characters to the right of the cursor.

<ESC>^D — erases the next word. A word is defined from the current cursor position to the next blank or carriage return.

If number is greater than one, <ESC>^D erases that number of words to the right of the cursor.

^I — inserts a TAB character.

If number is greater than one, ^I inserts that number of TAB characters.

<ALT>^I — inserts the mark at the current cursor position before inserting a TAB character.

If number is greater than one, <ALT>^I inserts the mark, then inserts that number of TAB characters.

^J — inserts a new line at the current cursor position and moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line.

If number is greater than one, ^J inserts that number of new lines.

^K — erases the current line. If the cursor is located at the beginning of the line, the entire line is erased, including the carriage return at the end of the line. If the cursor is located between the beginning and end of the line, everything right of the cursor is erased, including the carriage return at the end of the line. You can use ^K to erase blank lines.

If number is greater than one, ^K erases that number of lines from the current cursor position.

<ESC>^K — erases from the current cursor position to the end of the paragraph. The end of a paragraph is indicated by two successive carriage returns — one at the end of the last line and one on the blank line that follows the paragraph.

If number is greater than one, <ESC>^K erases that number of paragraphs.

<ALT>^K — erases text between the mark and the current cursor position. For instance, if the mark is in the middle of the file and the cursor is at the end, the last half of the file will be erased. 💀

^M — inserts a new line at the current cursor position and moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line.

If number is greater than one, ^M inserts that number of new lines.

^O — inserts a new line at the current cursor position, but does not move the cursor. Any text to the right of the cursor moves down to start a new line.

If number is greater than one, ^O inserts that number of new lines without moving the cursor.

<ALT>^O — inserts a new line without moving the cursor. It inserts the mark at the beginning of the next (new) line.

If number is greater than one, <ALT>^O inserts that number of new lines without moving the cursor. It inserts the mark after the last new line.

^DELETE — erases the character to the left of the cursor. This acts the same as using the DELETE key alone.

If number is greater than one, ^DELETE erases that number of characters to the left of the cursor.

<ESC>^DELETE — erases the word to the left of the cursor. This acts the same as using ^DELETE.

If number is greater than one, <ESC>^DELETE erases that number of words to the left of the cursor.

^_ — reinserts the last deletion. The content of the forward and backward delete buffer is cleared after reinserting the deleted text.

<ALT>^_ — erases the mark.

🎀 CUT/PASTE 🎀

okay these commands are all about the 'take' buffers and they are lowkey the best part 🍓 you can have up to 32 take buffers, each one named by you the first time you use it. The name shows up on the status (top) line of the terminal screen right after \: — cute. The default take buffer is "default".

✨ Cut/Paste command overview ✨

   Key        CTRL            ESC CTRL         ALT               ALT ESC
   Label                                       set mark first    set mark first

   F6     T   save line       save para        save selection    ~
              into paste buf  into paste buf   into paste buf    into paste buf
   F7     V   paste           paste and        replace select    replace select
                              clear paste buf  with paste buf    clear paste buf
          Y   save char       save word        ~                 ~
              into paste buf  into paste buf
   F8     \\  chng paste buf  clr paste buf    ~                 ~

🌈 Cut/Paste commands in detail 🌈

^T — removes a line from the file buffer and puts it in the current take buffer. The line is defined from the current cursor position to the next carriage return.

If number is greater than one, ^T removes that number of lines from the file buffer and puts them in the current take buffer.

<ESC>^T — removes a paragraph from the file buffer and puts it in the current take buffer. A paragraph is defined from the current cursor position to two successive carriage returns — one at the end of the last line and one on the blank line that follows the paragraph.

If number is greater than one, <ESC>^T removes that number of paragraphs from the file buffer and puts them in the current take buffer.

<ALT>^T — removes the selection (what lies between the mark and the cursor) and puts it in the current take buffer.

^V — pastes the contents of the current take buffer into the file at the current cursor position. The take buffer will still contain a copy of the text.

<ESC>^V — pastes and clears the contents of the current take buffer into the file at the current cursor position. The take buffer will be empty.

<ALT>^V — replaces the selection (what lies between the mark and the cursor) with whatever is in the current take buffer. The old content of the selection is not saved in any way 🙈 The take buffer will still contain a copy of the text.

<ALT><ESC>^V — replaces the selection (what lies between the mark and the cursor) with whatever is in the current take buffer and clears the take buffer. The old content of the selection is not saved in any way 🙈 The take buffer will be empty.

^Y — removes a character from the file buffer and puts it in the current take buffer. The character at the current cursor position is the one taken.

If number is greater than one, ^Y takes that number of characters and puts them in the current buffer.

<ESC>^Y — removes a word from the file buffer and puts it in the current take buffer. A word consists of any characters from the current cursor position up to the next blank or carriage return.

If number is greater than one, <ESC>^Y takes that number of words and puts them in the current buffer.

^\ — changes the current take buffer.

On the information line you will see the Take Buffer: prompt. Type a take buffer name and press the RETURN key.

If you type a new name, a new take buffer is created. If you type a name you have already used during the current editing session, you can reuse that take buffer. The take buffer name is always displayed on the information line.

<ESC>^\ — clears any text out of the current take buffer. On the information line you will see the Buffer cleared message.

🔍 SEARCH 🔍

okay so the search commands do exactly what they sound like — they go hunting for the text you type in the file buffer, and they may drop your cursor right on the matching text. slay.

Here's the tea on patterns though: if your pattern has pattern-matching meta characters in it, ved uses the pattern matcher (unless you've got no magic mode turned on — see the set command below 👀). If there are no meta characters at all, it just does a simple search. easy.

For the whole rundown on the pattern matcher, go read match(1). it's giving reference material.

Search command overview — literally the whole cheat sheet:

   Key        CTRL            ESC CTRL         ALT               ALT ESC
   Label                                       set mark first    set mark first

   F9     R   forward search  reverse search   forward search    reverse search
   F10    Z   re-search       reverse re-srch  re-srch           reverse re-srch

now the detailed version, buckle up bestie:

^R — searches forward in a file for the specified text string. On the information line you'll see the +Search: prompt. Type the string you wanna find. If the string exists between the cursor's current position and the end of the file, ved moves the cursor to that location. If ved can't find the specified string, the cursor does not move and you will hear a beep. 😭 If number is greater than one, ^R finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
<ESC>^R — searches backwards in a file for the specified text string. On the information line you'll see the -Search: prompt. Type the string you wanna find. If the string exists between the cursor's current position and the beginning of the file, ved moves the cursor to that location. If ved can't find the string, the cursor does not move and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, <ESC>^R finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
<ALT>^R — searches forward in a file for the specified text string. On the information line you'll see the +Search: prompt. Type the string you wanna find. When (and if) found, the mark is inserted at the beginning of the string and the cursor moves to the end of the string; the string is then considered selected. ✨ If ved can't find the string, the cursor does not move, no mark is inserted, and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, <ALT>^R finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
<ALT><ESC>^R — searches backwards in a file for the specified text string. On the information line you'll see the -Search: prompt. Type the string you wanna find. When found, the mark is inserted at the beginning of the search string and the cursor moves to the end of the string; the string is then considered selected. If ved can't find the string, the cursor does not move, no mark is inserted, and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, <ALT><ESC>^R finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
^Z — re-searches for the last text string you asked for with the ^R, <ESC>^R, <ALT>^R, or <ALT><ESC>^R command. If you already found one occurrence of the text string, ^Z will find the next occurrence. If ved can't find another occurrence, the cursor does not move and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, instance, ^Z finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
<ESC>^Z — reverses direction and re-searches for the last text string you asked for with the ^R, <ESC>^R, <ALT>^R, or <ALT><ESC>^R command. If you already found one occurrence of the text string, <ESC>^Z will find the next, or previous, occurrence, depending on which your direction. For instance, if the original command was ^R, <ESC>^Z will find the previous occurrence. If ved can't find another occurrence, the cursor does not move and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, instance, <ESC>^Z finds that numbered occurrence of the string.
<ALT>^Z — re-searches for the last text string you asked for with the ^R, <ESC>^R, <ALT>^R, or <ALT><ESC>^R command. If you already found one occurrence of the text string, <ALT>^Z will find the next occurrence, set the mark at the beginning of it, and move the cursor to the end of it. This occurrence of the string is then considered selected. 💅 If ved can't find another occurrence, the cursor does not move, no mark is inserted, and you will hear a beep. If number is greater than one, instance, <ALT>^Z finds that numbered occurrence of the search string, with the numbering beginning from the current cursor position. For instance, if number is 4, the next three occurrences are skipped and the mark is inserted at the beginning of the fourth occurrence of the string. This happens regardless of how many occurrences of the string have already been located, unless there are not that many occurrences of the string in the file. 🔥
<ALT><ESC>^Z — reverses direction and re-searches for the last text string you asked for with the ^R, <ESC>^R, <ALT>^R, or <ALT><ESC>^R command. If you already found one occurrence of the text string, <ALT><ESC>^Z will find the next, or previous, occurrence, depending on your direction. For instance, if the original command was ^R, <ALT><ESC>^Z will find the previous occurrence, set the mark at the beginning of it, and move the cursor to the end of it. This occurrence of the search string is then considered selected. If number is greater than one, instance, <ALT><ESC>^Z finds that numbered occurrence of the search string, with the numbering beginning from the current cursor position.

💾 EXITING/SAVING 💾

these commands are all about quitting ved and saving the current version of the edited text into a file. highkey important, bestie, don't skip this part. 🫶

^C — the QUIT command ends the editing session.

On the information line you'll see the QUITTING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt.

Type Y if you wanna save the changes made during this editing session by creating a backup file and creating a new file that holds the modified content. The backup process goes like this:

The current backup file (if there is one) (called filename.bak) is deleted, the current file is renamed to filename.bak, and a version of the file containing the latest changes becomes filename. If there is no filename.bak, filename becomes filename.bak.

Type W if you wanna save the changes made during this editing session by directly writing the new content into the old file.

Type F if you wanna forcibly save the changes made during this editing session. This command works similar to the Y command, but ved will ignore the state of the -readonly flag and the access rights of the file. The latter will allow you to write into files without write permissions if you are super user. For exceptions on this rule, see description of the -readonly flag. 👑

Type ! if you wanna forcibly save the changes made during this editing session by directly writing the new content into the old file.

Type N if you wanna end the session but don't wanna save the changes.

If you don't wanna end the session, type anything except Y, W, F, ! or N.

⚠️ If the file has been locked before by another edit session or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that has been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file. Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using a different file name. no cap.

<ESC>^C — the BACKUP command backs up the current file.

On the information line you'll see the BACKUP?(Y/W/N/F/!) prompt.

If you enter one of the expected answers (Y, W, ! or N) the same actions as with the QUIT command are performed — except that the controls stays inside ved after the backup command has completed. so you're not yeeted out, you're still here. 💖

^X^H — calls on-line help.

On the information line you'll see the HELP(Y?) prompt. To continue editing (and abort this command), type N. To see the help file, type Y.

🙈 Note that this command may not work in case that the terminal in use outputs a backspace when typing the DEL key. In such a case, it's appropriate to type: ESC : vhelp

^X^Z — suspends the current editing session.

On the information line you'll see the SUSPENDING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt.

Type Y if you want the file to be backuped and updated before suspending ved. See the QUIT command for a description of the backup process.

Type W if you want the the file to be updated in place before suspending ved.

Type F if you want file to be forcibly updated before suspending ved. This command works similar to the Y command, but ved will ignore the state of the -readonly flag and the access rights of the file. The latter will allow you to write into files without write permissions if you are super user. For exceptions on this rule, see description of the -readonly flag.

Type ! if you want file to be forcibly updated in place before suspending ved.

Type N if you want to suspend ved but don't want to save the changes before.

If you don't wanna suspend ved, type anything except Y, W, F, ! or N.

⚠️ If the file has been locked before by another edit session or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that has been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file. Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using different file name.

When you're ready to continue editing, use the fg or resume command of your shell. You'll return to the editing session. The cursor will be in the same place it was when you suspended the session, regardless of whether or not you saved your edits. 🌸 iconic behaviour tbh.

💖 FILE COMMANDS 💖

Ok bestie, these are the commands for bringing files in, swapping files out, and yeeting your work into new files. Literally so useful, pay attention 🫶

^G — lets you insert another file right at the current cursor position. Iconic.

On the information line you'll see the Get from: prompt. Type a file name and press the RETURN key.

You can insert files from the current working directory or from other directories (as long as you use a valid path name). Heads up: the path name is subject to filename globbing by your shell — so like, wild cards totally work as long as they expand to exactly one filename. No cap ✨

<ESC>^G — exits the current file and enters another file. Main character file-switching energy.

On the information line you'll see the Change to: prompt. Type the name of the file you wish to edit and press the RETURN key.

If the old file was modified, you'll see the CHANGING TO: filename. PUT EDITS?(Y/W/N/F/!) prompt — that's your moment to decide if you wanna save and backup the edits in the current file.

Type Y if you want the file to be backuped and updated before changing the file. See the QUIT command for a description of the backup process.

Type W if you want the the file to be updated in place before changing the file.

Type F if you want file to be forcibly updated before changing the file. This command works similar to the Y command, but ved will ignore the state of the -readonly flag and the access rights of the file. The latter will allow you to write into files without write permissions if you are super user. For exceptions on this rule, see description of the -readonly flag.

Type ! if you want file to be forcibly updated in place before changing the file.

Type N if you want to change the file but don't want to save the changes before.

If you don't want to change the edited file at all, type anything except Y, W, F, ! or N.

⚠️ If the file has been locked before by another edit session, or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that's been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file. Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using a different file name. Fr fr, the lock is not playing around 💀

^W — writes a copy of the file you're editing to the file you specify.

On the information line you'll see the Write to: prompt. Type a file name and press the RETURN key. If the file exists, its contents are overwritten. If the file doesn't exist, it's created. Slay 🎀

<ESC>^W — writes the contents of the current take buffer to the file you specify.

On the information line you'll see the \ to file: prompt. Type a file name and press the RETURN key. If the file exists, its contents are overwritten. If the file doesn't exist, it's created. And the take buffer contents will remain intact — nothing gets deleted, we love that for us 💅

<ALT>^W — writes a copy of the selection (what lies between the mark and the cursor) to the file you specify.

On the information line you'll see the Sel to: prompt. Type a file name and press the RETURN key. If the file exists, its contents are overwritten. If the file doesn't exist, it's created.

🔢 NUMBERS 🔢

Multipliers, bestie. This is how you tell ved to do the thing n times instead of once 💜

<ESC>#<CR> — to enter a multiplier that only works for the next command, type ESC, enter a number and then press the RETURN key. If you entered a number by mistake, simply enter <ESC>1<CR> to reset the number to its default value. Easy fix, no stress 🌸
^U — multiplies number by the multiplier. The default multiplier is 4. Each time you press ^U number changes to the next multiple of 4 (16, 16, 64, and so on).
<ESC>^U — changes the multiplier.

The default multiplier is 4. If you want to multiply number by a different value, use <ESC>^U. On the information line you'll see the Mult = prompt. Type a number and press the RETURN key. Custom multiplier, custom vibes ✨

🌈 MISCELLANEOUS 🌈

The lil grab-bag of extras. Lowkey some of the best stuff is in here 👑

<ALT>^G — lets you edit your editing macro file called .vedmac (which is located in your $HOME directory). It's the same as if you used ^X^X to execute a new ved and answered N to the put question.

When you're through editing .vedmac, press ^C to continue editing the file you were in when you issued the <ALT>^G command — you'll be asked whether or not you want to put the edits from .vedmac before you return to the original file. Cute lil round trip 🦋

<ALT>^J — moves the cursor to the mark.

The current cursor position determines whether this is a forward or backward movement. For instance, if the mark is in the middle of the file and the cursor is at the beginning, its a forward movement; if the cursor is at the end, its a backward movement.

<ALT><ESC>^J — switches the cursor and the mark. Swap era 💫
^L — redisplays the current screenful of text. This is useful after a message has been sent to your terminal which may have overwritten some of the text. Basically a refresh button for your eyeballs 🙈
<ESC>^L — adjusts the text displayed on the terminal screen so that the line the cursor is on becomes the optimum line on the screen. This usually is the center line of the display but it may be changed using the <ESC>:set optline # <CR> command. This may involve displaying different text, depending on where the cursor is when you use this command.
<ALT>^L — Adjusts the current Line of the Cursor to be the first Line on Screen.
<ESC>^M — changes modes.

On the information line you'll see the Mode?(ORV8) prompt. Type

D to enable or disable DOS mode.

V for visible mode.

O for overstrike mode.

8 to enable or disable raw8 mode.

R to reset back to default mode.

<CR> to list the current mode settings.

If you type anything else, you'll abort the command. No take-backs, it just exits 🧚

<ALT>^M — sets a mark at the current cursor position. Pin it, bookmark it, mark it 💅
<ESC>n — displays the next Page of file.
<ESC>p — displays the previous Page of file.
<ALT><ESC>n — Sets a Mark, then displays the next Page of file.
<ALT><ESC>p — Sets a Mark, then displays the previous Page of file.
^Q — unfreezes the screen which was frozen by pressing ^S. The rescue command 🫶
^S — freezes cursor and text movement on the screen. Use ^Q to unfreeze it. Don't panic if it looks stuck, it's literally just frozen ❄️
^X^X — lets you execute a shell command without terminating the editing session. The multitasking icon we deserve 🌟

Control temporarily returns to the Command Interpreter while the command is executed, then you can continue editing. For instance, if you want to read another file into the one you're editing but can not remember the file name, you can execute an ls command to find its name.

When you type ^X^X, you'll see the Execute: prompt on the information line. Type the command line and press the RETURN key. If the file was modified before you called ^X^X, you'll see the EXECUTING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt.

Type Y if you want the file to be backuped and updated before executing the command. See the QUIT command for a description of the backup process.

Type W if you want the the file to be updated in place before executing the command.

Type F if you want file to be forcibly updated before executing the command. This command works similar to the Y command, but ved will ignore the state of the -readonly flag and the access rights of the file. The latter will allow you to write into files without write permissions if you are super user. For exceptions on this rule, see description of the -readonly flag.

Type ! if you want file to be forcibly updated in place before executing the command.

Type N if you want to execute the command but don't want to save the changes before.

⚠️ If the file has been locked before by another edit session, or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that's been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file. Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using a different file name. Same rules as before, bestie, the lock does not care about your feelings 😭

In all cases, after returning from the command, the cursor will be on the same place as it was before typing ^X^X. Cursor stays put, we love a stable queen 👑

Note that if the shell command you want to execute requires the current file as an argument, you might need to update it. For instance, if you the file you're editing contains formatting commands that you want to test, you will need to update the file so that the version of the file you format and view is the most up-to-date one. Fr fr, test the fresh version, not the stale one.

To abort the command while you can see the Execute: prompt, do not type a command; simply press the RETURN key. If you had started to type a command, use the DELETE key to erase it; the field following the prompt must be blank. To abort the command while you can see the EXECUTING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt, type anything except Y, W, F, ! N.

<ESC>^X — executes the contents of the current take buffer. Chef's kiss, the buffer becomes a command 🔥

You can type a shell command line in your file and then save it in a take buffer (using the ^T, <ESC>^T, ^Y or <ESC>^Y commands).

When you type <ESC>^X, you'll see the EXECUTING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt on the information line.

Type Y if you want the file to be backuped and updated before executing the command. See the QUIT command for a description of the backup process.

Type W if you want the the file to be updated in place before executing the command.

Type ! if you want file to be forcibly updated in place before executing the command.

Type N if you want to execute the command but don't want to save the changes before.

If you don't want to run the command at all? Just type literally anything that isn't Y, W, F, ! or N. Anything. Go wild. 🎀

Two big warnings, bestie, and they're not vibes — they're real:

If the file has been locked before by another edit session, or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that's been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file.
The fix? Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using a different file name. 💅

<ALT>^X — executes the selection, meaning everything between the mark and the cursor. Go off, selection. 👑

The way this works is you can literally type a shell command line in your file, then select it. Iconic.

When you type <ALT>^X, you'll see the EXECUTING. PUT EDITS? (Y/W/N/F/!) prompt chillin' on the information line.

Type Y if you want the file to be backuped and updated before executing the command. See the QUIT command for a description of the backup process. 💖
Type W if you want the file to be updated in place before executing the command.
Type F if you want the file to be forcibly updated before executing the command. This works similar to the Y command, but ved will ignore the state of the -readonly flag and the access rights of the file. The latter will allow you to write into files without write permissions if you are super user. For exceptions on this rule, see the description of the -readonly flag. 🫶
Type ! if you want the file to be forcibly updated in place before executing the command.
Type N if you want to execute the command but don't want to save the changes before.
If you don't want to execute the command, type anything except Y, W, F, ! or N.

And, again, the lock situation: if the file has been locked before by another edit session, or if the file has been modified more recently than the copy that has been used for the current session, you will not be allowed to save the file. Use the force commands (F or !) or write back using a different file name. 😭

^@ — indicates the current line number. This number tells you how many lines exist between the beginning of the file and the current cursor position.

On the information line you'll see +Line: 333 where 333 is the current line number. ✨

<ESC>^@ — indicates how many lines exist between the current cursor position and the end of the file.

On the information line you'll see -Line: 22 where 22 is the number of lines remaining in the file.

<ALT>^@ — indicates what line the mark is on, in relation to the beginning of the file.

On the information line you'll see +Line: 45 where 45 is the positive line number on which the mark is located.

If there's no mark, you'll see No mark! displayed on the far right of the information line. 🙈

<ALT><ESC>^@ — indicates what line the mark is on, in relation to the end of the file.

On the information line you'll see -Line: 109 where 109 is the negative line number on which the mark is located.

And if there's no mark? You guessed it: No mark! on the far right of the information line.

^[ — is the same as using the <ESC> key.
^] — is <ALT>. Use this sequence of keystrokes to start an ALT command.
^X — is the lead in character for an extended command.
<ESC>^] — is the same as using <ALT><ESC>.
^^ — quotes the next character so that it's taken literally and then converted to a control character. For instance, if you want to include a command in a macro definition, you must quote the keystroke sequence. Otherwise, the command will be executed rather than become part of your macro. 🧚
<ESC>^^ — quotes the next character so that it becomes a 8 bit character.
<ALT>^^ — quotes the next character so that it becomes a 8 bit control character.
<ALT><ESC>^^ — quotes the next character so that you type it in in a hexadecimal notation.
<ALT><ALT> — goto tag that is a word located at cursor position. See the FILES section for more information on the tag file. 🦋
<ESC><ALT><ALT> — pop the tag stack by one entry. Every time you go to a tag, the old location is pushed on top of the tag stack.
<ESC>% — search for matching parenthesis. If this command is entered, the cursor is put to the parenthesis that matches the parenthesis where the cursor is currently located. Matching, but make it fashion. 🌸
<ESC>* — Execute temporary macro. One temporary macro may be set up using the command <ESC>:macro command.
<ESC>: — introduce a colon command. See section COLON COMMANDS for more information.

👑 COLON COMMANDS 👑

So here's the thing — colon commands are introduced via <ESC>: and then you just type the command on the (top) status line of ved. Main character energy, honestly.

The colon commands are:

backup — Backup current file. This command is the same as when <ESC>^C is entered. It may be needed if for some reason it it not possible to enter the interrupt character of the terminal driver.
bind — Print the current command binding for ved. Later versions of ved may allow modification of the binding with this command.
help — print online help for available colon commands. Bestie behaviour fr fr. 💖
macro macro body — set up a temporary macro that may be executed via <ESC>*
map
map from-string to-string — The first form lists all currently active mappings, the second form sets up a new mapping. 🎀
next — switch to next file in file list. This command may only be used if ved has been called with more than one file argument.
prev — switch to previous file in file list. This command may only be used if ved has been called with more than one file argument.
quit — Quit ved. This command is the same as when ^C is entered. It may be needed if for some reason it it not possible to enter the interrupt character of the terminal driver.
set
set set-variable set-args — The first form lists the current settings of ved, the second form sets a specific property of ved. The variables that may be modified via the set command are:
- autoindent — If set, ved activates the auto indent mode. Subsequent lines will be automatically indented with the same indent as the previous line. Switch off with <ESC>:set noautoindent
- linelen new-linelen — Set linelength that is used as base for screen updates. This linelength usually is retrieved from the terminal driver but may be modified manually.
- magic — Switch to magic mode for pattern matching (this is the default when ved has been started). If in magic mode, matching is done using regular expression pattern matching. This mode may be switched off with <ESC>:set nomagic. If magic mode is turned off, matching is done without using regular expression matching even if the pattern contains magic characters for pattern matching. 🔥
- markwrap — Mark wrapped lines with a \ character at the end of a visible terminal line (this is the default when ved has been started). This mode may be switched off with <ESC>:set nomarkwrap.
- optline opt-line — Set the optimal line. This is the line (counted from the top of the terminal) where the cursor is adjusted to when ved does scrolling. It is set by default to the half of the number of lines of the terminal.
- pmargin page-margin — Set the distance you need to have between the cursor and the upper or lower border of the terminal. If you cross this border, ved will start to scroll and adjust the cursor to the optimal line. It is set by default to 0 and allows one to place the cursor to any visible line on the screen.
- psize page-size — Set pagesize that is used as base for screen updates. This pagesize usually is retrieved from the terminal driver but may be modified manually.
- tabstop tab-width — Set the size of a visible tab character. This width is set to 8 by default.
- taglength tag-len-value — Set the number of characters that are used to compare a tag name with a tag label in the tags file. If it is set to 0 (the default), ved compares the complete tag length.
- tags tag-file-list — Set the list if files that is searched when looking for a tag data base. The tag file list is separated by blanks and by default set to

tags .. /usr/lib/tags

This means that ved will first look for a file tags in the current directory, then search up for (directory by directory until the root directors is reached) a file tags and last it will look for a file /usr/lib/tags.

wrapmargin wrap-margin — If wrapmargin is set, ved will activate the auto-warp mode. In auto-wrap mode, ved will automatically insert a newline before a word if the cursor is less than wrap-margin from the right terminal border. 🌈

substitute /old/new/ — Substitute pattern old by new. The pattern new may contain an & for the old string.
tag tag-name — goto tag named tag-name. See the FILES section for more information on the tag file.
vhelp — Edit the online help file. This is the same as calling ved -vhelp. 💜

✨ MACROS ✨

Okay so bestie, you can make macros in ved — they're literally a combo of different ved basic commands and input text 💅. To create a macro, you edit the file .vedmac in your home directory. You can do this either by explicitly typing ved ~/.vedmac or by using the built-in ved command <ALT>^G ✨.

The file ~/.vedmac contains a number of lines, and each one holds a macro definition like this:

L:/*^[74^M-*/: Comment Line

Each macro definition has three fields:

name — the name of the macro. In our case, the name is simply L, and the macro may be executed by typing <ESC>L.
function — the implementation of the macro. In our case the function contains /*^[74^M-*/ and will draw a C-comment line that contains 74 - chars as body.
comment — a comment for better understanding of the macro file. The comment is ignored.

The fields are separated by a colon.

Macros may be combined to form new macros. They also may recursively call each other, and you may set number to a value greater than one to execute a macro more than once. There is currently no way to execute a macro in a conditional way. Periodt 🫶.

💅 MAPPINGS 💅

You may create mappings in ved that contain arbitrary character sequences. To create a mapping, you need to edit the file .vedmap in your home directory.

The file ~/.vedmap contains a number of lines with the following structure:

map_from:map_to:comment

and holds a map definition like this:

\E[193z:^C:Quit Editor  (L2)

Each map definition has three fields:

map-from — the from string (left-hand side) of the map. In our case, the name is the sequence \E[193z, which is the output of the L2 function key on a Sun keyboard. Every time when you type the character sequence \E[193z or hit a function key that emits this character sequence, it will be replaced by the replacement string before the input is read by ved.
map-to — the replacement (right-hand side or “to” string) of the map. In our case the map expands to ^C and will quit ved.
comment — a comment for better understanding of the map file. The comment is ignored.

If both map_from and map_to are empty, the related line is ignored by the mapper, so a line may contain:

::comment

A nul character in either map_from or map_to is currently not supported, but an empty map_to is interpreted as a nul character.

If a line has an empty map_to and the comment field starts with a * like this:

map_from::*comment

an existing mapping is removed. This permits ignoring unwanted mappings that have been set up from the TERMCAP entry. A typical use case for this feature is to avoid the mapping:

^H:^?:Key Backspace -> Delete Char

that is caused by the TERMCAP capability kb for terminals that create a backspace with the delete key.

Since the file $HOME/.vedmap is read in a sequential way, a later line with the same map_from may establish a different mapping.

The fields are separated by a colon. The text in the macro file is fed through tdecode() to allow the same escape sequences as you may have in the termcap file.

🔌 Input Mappings 🔌

Ved maps input from the terminal into mapped text before it is interpreted by the editor. If a match is found on the input from the terminal, the related input text is directly replaced by its replacement string. A mapping may be prevented by typing the map quote character, which is the nul character (^@), directly before the matching text is entered. If this text is usually interpreted by ved, you first need to type the ved quoting character ^^. To be sure that you are able to literally enter some text, type ^^^@ (control up-arrow followed by Nul and the text).

At startup, ved first tries to initialize the terminal setup using the variables HOME, TERM, TERMCAP and TERMPATH.

If TERM is not set, the mapper establishes standard mappings for the cursor keys assuming an ANSI-compatible terminal.

When TERM is set, the mapper establishes mappings for the following termcap capabilities:

ku — Key cursor up, mapped to ^P. The cursor is placed on the previous line.
kd — Key cursor down, mapped to ^N. The cursor is placed on the next line.
kr — Key cursor forward (right), mapped to ^F. Move cursor one character to the right.
kl — Key cursor left, mapped to ^H. Move cursor one character to the left.
kh — Key cursor -> Home, mapped to ^A. The cursor is moved to the beginning of the current line.
@7 — Key cursor -> End, mapped to ^E. The cursor is moved to the end of the current line.
kD — Key Delete Character, mapped to \177 (DEL). Erase one character to the left of the cursor.
kb — Key Backspace, mapped to \177 (DEL). Erase one character to the left of the cursor.

Note that the Backspace Key is the larger key that is just above the Carriage Return Key. In former times, this key was called Delete and sent the \177 (DEL) character. Since companies followed the design of the IBM PC keyboard layout, the related key usually sends \010. If you like to literally enter a backspace, type ^^^@^H (control up-arrow followed by Nul followed by ^H).

k1 — Key F1, mapped to Quit Editor (^C).
k2 — Key F2, mapped to Top of File (^B).
k3 — Key F3, mapped to Delete char (^D).
k4 — Key F4, mapped to Delete line (^K).
k5 — Key F5, mapped to Open line (^O).
k6 — Key F6, mapped to Cut line (^T).
k7 — Key F7, mapped to Paste (^V).
k8 — Key F8, mapped to Change buffer ((^ )).
k9 — Key F9, mapped to Search down (^R).
k; — Key F10, mapped to Re search (^Z).
F1 — Key F11, mapped to Get from (^G).
F2 — Key F12, mapped to Write to (^W).
kA — Key Insert, mapped to Insert line (^A^O).
kE — Key Clear EOL, mapped to Delete to eol (^K).
kL — Key delete line, mapped to Delete line (^A^K).
kN — Key Page down, mapped to Page down (^[n).
kP — Key Page up, mapped to Page up (^[p).
kS — Key Clear EOS, mapped to Delete to end of screen (^[999999\015^K).

After the mappings from the termcap entry for the current terminal type have been established, ved tries to read the file $HOME/.vedmap to retrieve additional mappings.

🖥️ Termcap 🖥️

The termcap data base is used to make ved independent from the terminal capabilities. Cursor key output is retrieved from the data base and mapped to the cursor movement commands of ved.

Ved uses a real termcap database, not terminfo. It is advised to have a suitable termcap database available, either in the file /etc/termcap or in the private file $HOME/.termcap with an entry for the terminal type that is currently in use. If an entry for the current terminal could not be found, ved uses a builtin terminal description for a minimal ansi compatible terminal.

The following variables are used by termcap:

HOME — to find the private files like $HOME/.termcap.
TERM — a name representing the type of the current terminal.
TERMCAP — this environment variable holds either a precompiled termcap entry or the pathname to be used to find a termcap database file. If it holds a precompiled entry that does not match the TERM environment, the termcap database is parsed as if the TERMCAP environment is not set. See section Parameter Substitution above for more information.
TERMPATH — if TERMCAP is empty or not set, then the TERMPATH environment is scanned for pathnames of files that contain a termcap database. It holds a list of filenames separated by colons or spaces (i.e., ":" or " "). See section Parameter Substitution above for more information.

The following escape sequences are understood by the termcap implementation used by ved:

\\ — the literal character \.
\E — the ESC character (ASCII 033).
\e — the ESC character (ASCII 033).
\^ — the literal character ^.
\: — the literal character :.
\, — the literal character ,.
\b — the BACKSPACE character (ASCII 010).
\f — the FORMFEED character (ASCII 014).
\l — the LINEFEED character (ASCII 012).
\n — the NEWLINE character (ASCII 012).
\r — the CR character (ASCII 015).
\s — the SPACE character (ASCII 040).
\t — the TAB character (ASCII 007).
\v — the VERTICAL TAB character (ASCII 013).
^c — maps to control(c) for any appropriate c.
^? — the DEL character (ASCII 0177).
\nnn — maps to a character with the octal representation nnn with 1..3 octal digits.
\0 — maps to ASCII 0200.
^@ — maps to ASCII 00.

⚠️ Mapping \0 to ASCII 0200 is required by the termcap documentation. A real nul character created from (^@) is currently neither supported by the upper layers of termcap, nor by the upper layers of the mapper.

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

Okay so these are the environment variables that tell ved what’s up, bestie. 💅

SHELL — the shell to use for shell command escapes, file name globbing and similar.
HOME — used to find the private files ~/.vedmac, ~/.vedmap and ~/.termcap.
TERM — the type of terminal for which the output should be formatted.
TERMCAP — this one holds either a precompiled termcap entry or the pathname used to find a termcap database file. If it holds a precompiled entry that doesn’t match the TERM environment, the termcap database is parsed as if the TERMCAP environment is not set.
TERMPATH — if TERMCAP is empty, then the TERMPATH environment is scanned for pathnames of files that contain a termcap database. It holds a list of filenames separated by colons or spaces (i.e., ":" or " "). If the TERMPATH symbol is not set, the files $HOME/.termcap and /etc/termcap are scanned in that order.
BEEP — used to suppress beeping when set to off. This helps to use ved on a notebook in a meeting. 🫶
PATH — used to find the on-line help file of ved.
SLASH — if set to 'off', no slashes are accepted in filenames.
VED_FTMPDIR — fast tmp directory. The directory where the ved swap file vedF.processid is stored. If VED_FTMPDIR is not specified, the swap file will usually be stored in /tmp/.
VED_TMPDIR — general tmp directory. The directory where all ved tmp files except the swap file are stored. If VED_FTMPDIR is not defined but VED_TMPDIR is defined, all ved tmp files will be placed into this directory. If VED_TMPDIR is not specified, the other ved tmp files will usually be stored in /var/tmp/.
VED_STATISTICS — if set and ved has been compiled with statistics support, ved will print statistic information at the end of a session.

🎀 FILES 🎀

These are the little files ved keeps around, and yes, every path matters. ✨

/etc/termcap — the system’s terminal capabilities database.
~/.termcap — the private terminal capabilities database.
~/.vedmac — contains private macro definitions.
~/.vedmap — contains private mappings.
~/.vedtmp.uid — contains the names of the files that have been edit from the current directory as well as the cursor position of the last visit. ved also keeps track of the last edited file.
tags — this file contains a list of tags that tell ved where a definition for a tag may be found. Tags may contain e.g. function names, macro names and typedefs. By default, ved looks for a tags file in the current directory and if a tags file is not found in the current directory, the directories above the current directory are searched until the root directory is reached. If a tags file can be found in a directory closer to the root directory, ved will modify the file path from within the tags file to reflect the directory distance to this tags file. This property is unique to ved. ved accepts tags files in the same notation as vi.
/tmp/vedF.processid — the ved swap file.
/var/tmp/vedB.processid — the ved backward delete buffer.
/var/tmp/vedD.processid — the ved forward delete buffer.
/var/tmp/vedT.processid — the current take buffer.
/var/tmp/vedTpastename.processid — one file for every named take buffer.
/var/tmp/vedP.processid — the ved crash recovery protocol buffer.
/var/tmp/vedX.processid — the ved shell command execute buffer.
.../man/help/ved.help — the on-line help file is assumed to be in the same directory tree as the ved binary.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

change(1), match(1) — that’s the whole see-also vibe.

💀 NOTES 💀

Okay so unlike vi, ved is not based on a line editor. This avoids annoying bugs but may cause to irritate people who are used to work with vi. 😭

Since ved uses a private implementation of the termcap terminal independent screen package, ved uses /etc/termcap even on systems that usually emulate termcap with terminfo. This allows us to use the portable terminal description on all operating systems. From my current point of view, ved will never switch towards terminfo. Although terminfo provides more functionality than termcap, it tends to be non-portable between different platforms. While termcap allows one to have a private terminal database in the NFS mounted home directory, the same attempt tends to give problems with terminfo if a vendor did make private additions. Because termcap explicitly names all capabilities, there are less problems with private additions; terminfo only uses an array index to identify a specific capability so this method only works if there is a global unique implementation.

If your platform does not provide an /etc/termcap file, or if your termcap database does not contain an entry for the terminal type you are using, the following command may be used to convert a terminfo entry into a termcap entry and to append it to your private termcap database:

incofmp -C >> $HOME/.termcap

Make sure that the TERM environment is assigned to the correct terminal type. ⭐

If the eighth bit of a character is “on”, the tilde character ~ appears before characters, i.e., ~C.

🐛 BUGS 🐛

None currently known. 💀

Mail bugs and suggestions to schilytools@mlists.in-berlin.de or open a ticket at https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools/issues.

The mailing list archive may be found at:

https://mlists.in-berlin.de/mailman/listinfo/schilytools-mlists.in-berlin.de

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Joerg Schilling and the schilytools project authors.

🌈 SOURCE DOWNLOAD 🌈

The source code for ved is included in the schilytools project and may be retrieved from the schilytools project at Codeberg at:

https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools/

The download directory is:

https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools/releases

That’s the whole page, bestie — VED(1L), 2022/09/14, by Joerg Schilling. Slay and bye! 💖✨

📦 where this page comes from

opensuse-leap 16.0: ved 1.8-160000.2.2 · CDDL-1.0
opensuse-leap 16.0: ved 1.8-160000.2.2 · CDDL-1.0
opensuse-leap 16.0: ved 1.8-160000.2.2 · CDDL-1.0
opensuse-leap 16.0: ved 1.8-160000.2.2 · CDDL-1.0
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms