MINED(1x)

mined /user/ast/book.3
    # Edit an existing file

mined
    # Call editor to create a new file

ls –l | mined
    # Use mined as a pager to inspect listing

Mined is a simple screen editor. At any instant, a window of 24 lines is visible on the screen. The current position in the file is shown by the cursor. Ordinary characters typed in are inserted at the cursor. Control characters and keys on the numeric keypad (at the right-hand side of the keyboard) are used to move the cursor and perform other functions.

Commands exist to move forward and backward a word, and delete words either in front of the cursor or behind it. A word in this context is a sequence of characters delimited on both ends by white space (space, tab, line feed, start of file, or end of file). The commands for deleting characters and words also work on line feeds, making it possible to join two consecutive lines by deleting the line feed between them.

The editor maintains one save buffer (not displayed). Commands are present to move text from the file to the buffer, from the buffer to the file, and to write the buffer onto a new file. If the edited text cannot be written out due to a full disk, it may still be possible to copy the whole text to the save buffer and then write it to a different file on a different disk with CTRL-Q. It may also be possible to escape from the editor with CTRL-S and remove some files.

Some of the commands prompt for arguments (file names, search patterns, etc.). All commands that might result in loss of the file being edited prompt to ask for confirmation.

A key (command or ordinary character) can be repeated n times by typing ESC n key where ESC is the escape key.

Forward and backward searching requires a regular expression as the search pattern. Regular expressions follow the same rules as in the editor, ed . These rules can be stated as: Any displayable character matches itself. . (period) matches any character except line feed. ^ (circumflex) matches the start of the line. $ (dollar sign) matches the end of the line. \c matches the character c (including period, circumflex, etc). [string] matches any of the characters in the string. [^string] matches any of the characters except those in the string. [x–y] matches any characters between x and y (e.g., [a–z]). Pattern* matches any number of occurrences of pattern. Some examples of regular expressions are:
The boy    matches the string The boy
^$    matches any empty line.
^.$    matches any line containing exactly 1 character
^A.*\.$    matches any line starting with an A, ending with a period.
^[A–Z]*$    matches any line containing only capital letters (or empty).
[A–Z0–9]    matches any line containing either a capital letter or a digit.
.*X$    matches any line ending in X
A.*B    matches any line containing an A and then a B

Control characters cannot be entered into a file simply by typing them because all of them are editor commands. To enter a control character, depress the ALT key, and then while holding it down, hit the ESC key. Release both ALT and ESC and type the control character. Control characters are displayed in reverse video.

The mined commands are as follows.

CURSOR MOTION
arrows    Move the cursor in the indicated direction
CTRL-A    Move cursor to start of current line
CTRL-Z    Move cursor to end of current line
CTRL-^    Move cursor to top of screen
CTRL-_    Move cursor to end of screen
CTRL-F    Move cursor forward to start of next word
CTRL-B    Move cursor backward to start of previous word
SCREEN MOTION
Home key    Move to first character of the file
End key    Move to last character of the file
PgUp key    Scroll window up 23 lines (closer to start of the file)
PgDn key    Scroll window down 23 lines (closer to end of the file)
CTRL-U    Scroll window up 1 line
CTRL-D    Scroll window down 1 line
MODIFYING TEXT
Del key    Delete the character under the cursor
Backspace    Delete the character to left of the cursor
CTRL-N    Delete the next word
CTRL-P    Delete the previous word
CTRL-T    Delete tail of line (all characters from cursor to end of line)
CTRL-O    Open up the line (insert line feed and back up)
CTRL-G    Get and insert a file at the cursor position
BUFFER OPERATIONS
CTRL-@    Set mark at current position for use with CTRL-C and CTRL-K
CTRL-C    Copy the text between the mark and the cursor into the buffer
CTRL-K    Delete text between mark and cursor; also copy it to the buffer
CTRL-Y    Yank contents of the buffer out and insert it at the cursor
CTRL-Q    Write the contents of the buffer onto a file
MISCELLANEOUS
numeric +    Search forward (prompts for regular expression)
numeric -    Search backward (prompts for regular expression)
numeric 5    Display the file status
CTRL-]    Go to specific line
CTRL-R    Global replace pattern with string (from cursor to end)
CTRL-L    Line replace pattern with string
CTRL-W    Write the edited file back to the disk
CTRL-X    Exit the editor
CTRL-S    Fork off a shell (use CTRL-D to get back to the editor)
CTRL-\    Abort whatever the editor was doing and wait for command
CTRL-E    Erase screen and redraw it
CTRL-V    Visit (edit) a new file

  Author

Mined was designed by Andy Tanenbaum and written by Michiel Huisjes.