lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) (01/11/87)
Is there a way to append a range of text to a file from vi/ex (as opposed
to 'w' which writes or over-writes)?
Are there simple Unix commands to append files with syntax and action similar
to 'cp' and 'mv'. I developed the following alii and I'm wondering if they
are necessary:
alias append cat !:1 >>!:2`test -d !:2 && echo /!:1`
alias tack append !:1 !:2 && rm !:1
(I would accept suggestions on a better name for the latter!)
Many thanks.
--
John Wright ////////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H-1J4
Ean/Bitnet: lane@cs.dal.cdn Arpa: lane%cs.dal.cdb%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Uucp:{seismo,watmath,utai,garfield}!dalcs!lane Csnet:lane%cs.dal.cdn@ubc.csnet ucscb.bitbug@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (01/12/87)
>From: "John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane" <lane@dalcs.uucp> >Date: 11 Jan 87 15:15:09 GMT >Keywords: append command unix ex vi >To: info-unix@brl-sem.arpa > > >Is there a way to append a range of text to a file from vi/ex (as opposed >to 'w' which writes or over-writes)? Yes. In escape mode, type !<range>cat >> file<CR> Where <range> is ! for present line, G for to end of file, } to end of paragraph, etc. > >Are there simple Unix commands to append files with syntax and action similar >to 'cp' and 'mv'. I developed the following alii and I'm wondering if they >are necessary: > alias append cat !:1 >>!:2`test -d !:2 && echo /!:1` > alias tack append !:1 !:2 && rm !:1 > > (I would accept suggestions on a better name for the latter!) With the append (>>) operator in sh and csh, I don't see why you would want or need a command to append one file to another. The syntax it appears you want is "append file1 file2". Such a program would be quite easy to write. You already have.
jc@piaget.UUCP (John Cornelius) (01/12/87)
In article <2333@dalcs.UUCP> lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes:
:
:Is there a way to append a range of text to a file from vi/ex (as opposed
:to 'w' which writes or over-writes)?
:
:Are there simple Unix commands to append files with syntax and action similar
:to 'cp' and 'mv'. I developed the following alii and I'm wondering if they
:are necessary:
: alias append cat !:1 >>!:2`test -d !:2 && echo /!:1`
: alias tack append !:1 !:2 && rm !:1
:
: (I would accept suggestions on a better name for the latter!)
:
:Many thanks.
The VI document suggests that "Sometimes it is necessary to
append iformation onto the end of a file that already exists.
For example, if you wanted to append several lines to the file
'save', you could use the command:
:12,25w >>save
"The editor will display the name of the file 'save', the number
of lines, and the number of characters added to the file."
--
John Cornelius
(...!sdcsvax!piaget!jc)romwa@utcs.uucp (01/13/87)
The simplest way I know of to write a range of text out to the end of another file is: 1) Bring up last line mode (the colon). 2) Type "n,nw !cat >> filename" where "n,n" is the line range of text to be written. I believe this is a not-to-obvious feature of vi. Mark T. Dornfeld Royal Ontario Museum Toronto, Ontario utcs!rom!mark
boykin@custom.UUCP (01/14/87)
>Is there a way to append a range of text to a file from vi/ex (as opposed >to 'w' which writes or over-writes)? Both UNIX and PC/VI accept the command: :[1,$]w>> filename which will append the specified line range, with the entire buffer being the default, to the named file. Commands which use the shell escape, such as: :[!,$]w !cat >> file will work, but are very inefficient; why invoke another process when VI can do it for you?!? Joe Boykin Custom Software Systems {decvax, mit-eddie, tektronix}!frog!custom!boykin
forrest@blia.BLI.COM (Jon Forrest) (01/14/87)
Try 1,5w >> file (Of course replace the range with your own.) Jon Forrest mtxinu!ucbvax!blia!forrest
broome@daffy.UUCP (01/15/87)
You don't need to use aliases or even shell commands -- to append text to
an existing file in vi, simply say "'a,'b w >> file" ...
This assumes that you've marked the range with "a" & "b", but you can also
use the other usual ways of naming lines (numbers, ".", "$", etc.)
You can also leave out the range altogether and append the entire current
file onto the other file, like so: "w >> file".
Hope that helps...
==============================================================================
Jonathan C. Broome Abel Image Research, Hollywood, Ca.
{cogsci.berkeley.edu, randvax, styx} \
!abel!{broome,root,uucp,etc ...}
{celerit, culler, omnilax, vortex} /
==============================================================================det@herman.UUCP (Derek Terveer) (01/15/87)
In vi (and i'm sure that ex works the same way) to append do a: :23,45w>>file to append lines 23 through 45 to file: file