> Because unlike most other editors, ed is lightweight, simple and easy > to use in a shell script.
That reason I find a bit more persuasive. Now and then I too use ed(1) in shell scripts. However ... Either such a script will be used by others, on systems I don't manage, or they won't. If it's for others, I could only rely on the most primitive ed(1) options that should be universally available on any such system. If just for my own use, then I could easily enough run my private version of ed with the enhanced options that I couldn't sell up stream, which actually is what I do, for a "multifile" option that I was unable to sell upstream, years ago. -- Paul Jackson p...@usa.net