.so tmac.ilib
.TH EDSCRIPT 1 "The University of Arizona \- 3/27/83"
.SH NAME
edscript \- generate script for ed(1)
.SH SYNOPSIS
\f3edscript\fP
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fIEdscript\fP takes specifications for global edits from standard input
and outputs an edit script for \fIed(1)\fR to standard output.
\fIEdscript\fR is primarily useful for making complicated literal
substitutions that involve characters that have syntactic meaning
to \fIed(1)\fR and hence are difficult to enter in \fIed(1)\fR.
.PP
Each specification begins with a delimiter, followed by a target string,
followed by the delimiter, followed by the replacement string, followed
by the delimiter.
For example
.DS
|...|**|
|****||
.DE
specifies the replacement of all occurrences of three consecutive periods by two
asterisks, followed by the deletion of all occurrences of four
consecutive asterisks.
Any character may be used for the delimiter, but the same character
must be used in all three positions in any specification, and the
delimiter character cannot be used in the target or replacement
strings.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
Any line that does not have proper delimiter structure is noted
and does not contribute to the edit script.
.SH SEE ALSO
ed(1)
.SH AUTHOR
Ralph E. Griswold