How to set cursor in editor to pattern given on command line?

[Frantisek Hanzlik]

Hello all,

I have rather general problem than Fedora specific:
is there some simple (the simpler the better) console editor,
in which is possible to specify string (or, better, pattern) on
its command line so that editor after start will locate in edited
file this pattern and will set cursor on it?

Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.

I want offer to (unexperienced) users edit (in shell script) some
configuration files, and this should be done with some simple editor
(no Emacs or vi). I think e.g. joe or mcedit is simple enough for
these users, but joe nor mcedit cann't? probably? solve this demand
(joe's command line option for jump to given line number (+nnn) isn't
too much useable for this).

Thanks in advance,
Frantisek Hanzlik

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[steve-391]

On 11/02/2009 12:58 AM, Frantisek Hanzlik wrote:

> Hello all,
> [...snip...]
> Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.
>
> I want offer to (unexperienced) users edit (in shell script) some
> configuration files, and this should be done with some simple editor
> (no Emacs or vi). I think e.g. joe or mcedit is simple enough for
> these users, but joe nor mcedit cann't? probably? solve this demand
> (joe's command line option for jump to given line number (+nnn) isn't
> too much useable for this).

This is a fairly common requirement when distributing applications which may
need config file changes, to inexperienced uses. My approach is generally to
provide a command rather have the users open an editor, eg:

$ sed -i -e "s/foo = LOOK_FOR/foo = REPLACEMENT/" foo.conf

of course you could precede that with something like ...

"""
...edit the file in the editor of your choice and change foo = ...
OR
execute the commands below ...
"""

hth,
regards,
- steve
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[Frantisek Hanzlik]

steve wrote:

> On 11/02/2009 12:58 AM, Frantisek Hanzlik wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> [...snip...]
>> Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.
>>
>> I want offer to (unexperienced) users edit (in shell script) some
>> configuration files, and this should be done with some simple editor
>> (no Emacs or vi). I think e.g. joe or mcedit is simple enough for
>> these users, but joe nor mcedit cann't? probably? solve this demand
>> (joe's command line option for jump to given line number (+nnn) isn't
>> too much useable for this).
>
> This is a fairly common requirement when distributing applications which
> may need config file changes, to inexperienced uses. My approach is
> generally to provide a command rather have the users open an editor, eg:
>
> $ sed -i -e "s/foo = LOOK_FOR/foo = REPLACEMENT/" foo.conf
>
> of course you could precede that with something like ...
>
> """
> ...edit the file in the editor of your choice and change foo = ...
> OR
> execute the commands below ...
> """
>
> hth,
> regards,
> - steve

--
Hi Steve,

I agree that variant with sed is in many respects more foolproof than
direct editing, but in my case this isn't practical, as users need to
see (and occasionally change) surrounding text too. Thus, classical
editor is needed...

Regards, Franta

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[Cameron Simpson]

On 02Nov2009 11:27, Frantisek Hanzlik <franta@...> wrote:
| steve wrote:
| >On 11/02/2009 12:58 AM, Frantisek Hanzlik wrote:
| >>Hello all,
| >>[...snip...]
| >>Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.
| >>
| >>I want offer to (unexperienced) users edit (in shell script) some
| >>configuration files, and this should be done with some simple editor
| >>(no Emacs or vi). I think e.g. joe or mcedit is simple enough for
| >>these users, but joe nor mcedit cann't? probably? solve this demand
| >>(joe's command line option for jump to given line number (+nnn) isn't
| >>too much useable for this).
| >
| >This is a fairly common requirement when distributing applications which
| >may need config file changes, to inexperienced uses. My approach is
| >generally to provide a command rather have the users open an editor, eg:
| >
| >$ sed -i -e "s/foo = LOOK_FOR/foo = REPLACEMENT/" foo.conf
| >
| >of course you could precede that with something like ...
|
| I agree that variant with sed is in many respects more foolproof than
| direct editing, but in my case this isn't practical, as users need to
| see (and occasionally change) surrounding text too. Thus, classical
| editor is needed...

Ok, you'll have to to this on a per-editor basis, alas.

If joe has a +nnn option, try:

  # or egrep, depend what flavour regexp you're offering
  n=`grep -n "$pattern" <"$file" | sed 's/:.*//'`
  joe "+$n" "$file"

You'll need to work out variations for other editors, alas.
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[James Wilkinson-4]

Frantisek Hanzlik wrote:
> I have rather general problem than Fedora specific:
> is there some simple (the simpler the better) console editor,
> in which is possible to specify string (or, better, pattern) on
> its command line so that editor after start will locate in edited
> file this pattern and will set cursor on it?
>
> Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.

How does
nano +100 /etc/services
look to you? (^X means ctrl-X)

man nano for more details. If you don’t have it installed, it’s in the
“nano” package (what a surprise).

Hope this helps,

James.

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aprilcottage.co.uk |     -- “Soul Music”, Terry Pratchett.

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[James Wilkinson-4]

I wrote:
> How does
> nano +100 /etc/services
> look to you? (^X means ctrl-X)
pressed “Send”, and realised you wanted to open at a regexp, not a fixed
line.

That sounds like a job for shell scripting.

If the file isn’t massive, try something like:
nano +$(grep -n "message submission" /etc/services|head -n1| cut -d: -f1) /etc/services

That’s
grep -n pattern $FILENAME
to find the pattern, prefixed with the line number. Pipe it through
head -n1
to get the first line with it on, and then through
cut -d: -f1
to get everything before the colon (which will be the line number you
want). Put all of that in `` or in $( ) , which will mean the shell will
interpret the contents of `` or $( ) and put the result (in this case
the line number) there instead.

That should work for any editor which understands the +line-no notation,
which I think is most of them.

Hope this helps,

James.

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[Frantisek Hanzlik]

Cameron Simpson wrote:

> On 02Nov2009 11:27, Frantisek Hanzlik<franta@...>  wrote:
> | steve wrote:
> |>On 11/02/2009 12:58 AM, Frantisek Hanzlik wrote:
> |>>Hello all,
> |>>[...snip...]
> |>>Just something as "+/{pattern}" option in vim editor does.
> |>>
> |>>I want offer to (unexperienced) users edit (in shell script) some
> |>>configuration files, and this should be done with some simple editor
> |>>(no Emacs or vi). I think e.g. joe or mcedit is simple enough for
> |>>these users, but joe nor mcedit cann't? probably? solve this demand
> |>>(joe's command line option for jump to given line number (+nnn) isn't
> |>>too much useable for this).
> |>
> |>This is a fairly common requirement when distributing applications which
> |>may need config file changes, to inexperienced uses. My approach is
> |>generally to provide a command rather have the users open an editor, eg:
> |>
> |>$ sed -i -e "s/foo = LOOK_FOR/foo = REPLACEMENT/" foo.conf
> |>
> |>of course you could precede that with something like ...
> |
> | I agree that variant with sed is in many respects more foolproof than
> | direct editing, but in my case this isn't practical, as users need to
> | see (and occasionally change) surrounding text too. Thus, classical
> | editor is needed...
>
> Ok, you'll have to to this on a per-editor basis, alas.
>
> If joe has a +nnn option, try:
>
>    # or egrep, depend what flavour regexp you're offering
>    n=`grep -n "$pattern"<"$file" | sed 's/:.*//'`
>    joe "+$n" "$file"
>
> You'll need to work out variations for other editors, alas.

--
Hello Mr. Cameron and James,

thank You for these suggestion. I didn't want just jump to line with
searched text, because lines in edited files are long - sometimes up to
300-400 chars (sorry, I'm not author of them :). Then, I want jump right
on the edited text. At present it appears as simple editors cannot do
this. I have working solution in vim:

$ vim -i NONE -S <(echo -e "/SrchdPattern...\\zs/\nnormal n") EditedFile

("...\\zs/\nnormal n" construct is there because I want edit text 3 chars
after searching pattern).
It seems as my users will must know several vim commands. Or they will
had lesser comfort with some simpler editor.

Regards, Franta Hanzlik

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