ed(1) conference

For whomever needs to hear this: you are not alone. I am not vibecoding any of the software I write. I write it all by hand. I have leveled up to using ed(1) on a glass TTY rather than a hardcopy-output device. I am modernizing my stacks and using languages with excellent compilers like C89. I think about how to do more with less. I am trying to combine the best human-written libraries and modules and assemble them with minimal boilerplate. I enjoy reading manuals and references. I believe in robust, secure, human-written software. @mntmn

@tux0r To be fair, there are some minor differences in implementations. Things like • the x command doing encryption in some versions (has been added-then-removed in some), • GNU ed no longer allowing the omission of trailing slashes in s commands like s/regex • GNU ed offering y to yank lines and x to put lines • GNU ed provides # for script comments, but that's rejected in the other versions I have available If you stick to POSIX, the only odd-one-out is the s/regex which GNU breaks (according to POSIX, "If the closing delimiter of an RE or of a replacement string (for example, '/' ) in a g, G, s, v, or V command would be the last character before a , that delimiter can be omitted" [emphasis mine]) @aartaka edit: markdown ate less-than-sign

@aartaka I've heard the newline-in-g is the reason GNU made the change, but it works as expected in BSD ed without breakage: g/interesting/s/splithere/before\ after works fine, and if I want other commands, I can add them by explicitly including the delimiter: g/interesting/s/splithere/before\ after/\ -s/.*/[&] So GNU broke something specified by POSIX that I used regularly, in the name of fixing something that was never broken, and it makes me a spot grumpy @tux0r

@_xhr_ I use this all the time since discovering it and try to share it regularly. If you're looking for other obscure corners in less(1) you can use "-S" (in a running session of less) to toggle between wrapping and not-wrapping long lines. Most toggleable options can do this, so if you pipe ANSI output to less and see a bunch of "ESC" sequences, try typing "-R" to toggle ANSI-sequence processing/display. Or "-i"/"-I" to toggle case-sensitivity in searches.

@aartaka I quoted the POSIX bit that states it should be optional, so in compliant versions like BSD ed : s/pattern it works fine, and I use it all the time. But in GNU ed it complains: s/pattern ? h Missing pattern delimiter A personal pet peeve when that broke (around 1.14 IIRC :flan_angry: ) @tux0r

@mwlucas @_xhr_ Portable receipt printers (such as those by Zebra and Epson) work quite well for such needs. RS232, Wifi, and Bluetooth options available.

@_tj @mwlucas @_xhr_ I guess it depends on the model. Some do have the print platen deeper down in the machinery and require multiple line-feeds to make text visible; others have served me quite well as line-printers.

@RussSharek@mastodon.art the logo for ed(1) is "ed(1)" rendered in whatever typeface your nearest line-printer uses.

@djg@mastodon.world not cryptozoology?

@jiub@not.an.evilcyberhacker.net *coughs*

Unironically, word processing kind of peaked with writing *roff or LaTeX in ed(1). @joXn@wandering.shop @benfry@information.garden @cstross@wandering.shop @mjtsai@mastodon.social