Re: [feature] Add edscript as a shortcut for running ed with script

[Andrew L. Moore]

On 12/16/24 02:05, Artyom Bologov wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> > For anyone interested in scripting with ed, please consider:
> > <https://github.com/slewsys/ed>.
> Indeed, a fork is one of the options. But I'm more interested in getting
> features into "mainstream" ed implementation, because that'll be most
> beneficial for everyone everywhere.

As the author of both GNU ed and the "fork", I agree. Fortunately, there 
is not a single choice. When writing portable code, the least common 
denominator makes sense, which generally means POSIX. But we all enjoy 
and leverage GNU extensions when opportunity permits. Unfortunately, and 
for no rational reason, GNU ed never evolved beyond POSIX, as did the 
rest of the GNU ecosystem. Fortunately, the "fork" exists. It is what 
GNU ed should be.

> > Antonio has hinted that he intends to adopt some of its capabilities,
> > which include the options -f and -e, external filters, the ability to
> > edit the output of named pipes, multiple-file support, registers, etc.
> -f and -e would indeed be perfect and much more preferable than my
>   initial "edscript" suggestion!

These are not difficult to implement, and as I've told Antonio 
repeatedly, he is free to use my code. So hopefully we can all look 
forward to adoption of these improvements soon.

> > An extension inspired by `ex'
> At this point, I'm not sure I want to venture into ex territory. ex is
> ex, ed is ed, and conflating the two is confusing. -f is fine—it's
> (supposedly) a simple and compatible change.
>
> > And the list goes on. What this implementation of ed does not adopt is
> > the branching constructs of sed `b', `t' and `T' since ed has enough
> > strengths without,
> Fair!
>
> > and higher-level scripting languages like `awk' are
> > easier to work with.
> I'm an ed fundamentalist using ed for everything, so I don't necessarily
> agree, but I see what you mean here and acknowledge the soundness of the
> point.
>
> Best of luck,