Since mdoc is an ASCII-clean text format, it may be edited in any text editor. In this section, I introduce a variety of editors available on most UNIX systems. Since this topic is exhaustively covered in most any introductory UNIX book, I only introduce portable editors.
The ed utility is a line editor standardised by POSIX.1-2008. The concept of a line editor may be familiar to those who have used a typewriter or teleprinter, where only the current line of input may be edited (or viewed, in some cases) at a time.
Its inclusion is largely for historical reasons, as using ed can be a frustrating experience for those accustomed to visual editors. I don't recommend using this utility for mdoc, although its function as a line editor makes it perfect for the task.
The vi and ex editors were powerful additions to the UNIX system: they allowed visual editing of files (versus line editing as with ed). This editor has inspired a raft of clones, but being standardised, some form of the utility is available on all UNIX systems. Furthermore, the vim clone of vi comes bundled with mdoc syntax highlighting.
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Last edited by $Author: kristaps $ on $Date: 2011/11/04 01:06:28 $. Copyright © 2011, Kristaps Dzonsons. CC BY-SA.