Edlin
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The EDLIN line editor was the only text editor provided with MS-DOS before version 5.0 of that system, when it was superseded by the full screen EDIT editor (but remained available). EDLIN is still available in Microsoft Windows operating systems up to and including at least Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. Unlike most other external DOS commands, it has not been transformed into a native, Win32 program. Its persistence can probably be explained by the fact that it can be invoked to automatically perform small modifications on text files, according to a script.
MS-DOS actually did contain another, visual editor: GWBASIC, Microsoft BASIC's interpreter and development environment. Unsurprisingly, the EDIT editor of later MS-DOS versions actually invoked QBASIC, which over time replaced GWBASIC and had a more modern user interface.
EDLIN is probably modelled after the line editors QED or ed but it is seen by some to be less powerful than either of the two.
The Edlin line editor was created by Tim Paterson in two weeks in 1980, and was expected to have a six-month shelf life. [1] (http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Byte/History.html) Some industry pundits have suggested that this is the only Microsoft-written MS-DOS program that is bug-free. Ironically, Edlin was actually originally written for Seattle Computer Products's QDOS, which only later got bought by Microsoft in order to become MS-DOS.
Gregory Pietsch has written a GPL'd clone of the edlin line editor. The clone is available for download as part of the FreeDOS project, and runs on operating systems such as Linux or Unix as well as MS-DOS. The clone's outputted messages can also be customized for a variety of European languages and can be compiled with a variety of C compilers.
External links
- http://www.computerhope.com/edlin.htm - MS-DOS edlin command help
- http://www.freedos.org - The FreeDOS project
- http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/dos/edlin/ - The FreeDOS edlin download sitenl:EDLIN