  edlin is a line editor, and the only text editor provided with early versions of ms-dos. although superseded in ms-dos 5.0 and later by the full-screen edit command, and by notepad in microsoft windows, it continues to be included in the 32-bit versions of current microsoft operating systems. ==history== edlin was created by tim paterson in two weeks in 1980, for seattle computer products's 86-dos (qdos)a short history of ms-dos based on the cp/m line editor ed.ed utility microsoft acquired 86-dos and sold it as ms-dos, so edlin was included in v1.0âv5.0 of ms-dos, after which the only editor included was the new full-screen edit.exe in v6.0âv8.0. early windows versions ran on top of the later versions of ms-dos, so edlin was typically not available. however, edlin is included in the 32-bit versions of windows nt16-bit applications included with windows nt, microsoft.com and its derivativesâup to and including windows 8âbecause the ntvdm's dos support in those operating systems is based on ms-dos version 5.0. however, unlike most other external dos commands, it has not been transformed into a native win32 program. it also does not support long filenames, which were not added to ms-dos and ms-windows until long after edlin was written. ==usage== there are only a few commands. the short list can be found by entering a ? at the edlin prompt. when a file is open, typing l lists the contents (e.g., 1,6l lists lines 1 through 6). each line is displayed with a line number in front of it. *1,6l 1: edlin: the only text editor in early versions of dos. 2: 3: back in the day, i remember seeing web pages 4: branded with a logo at the bottom: 5: "this page created in edlin." 6: the things that some people put themselves through. ;-) * the currently selected line has a *. to replace the contents of any line, the line number is entered and any text entered replaces the original. while editing a line pressing ctrl-c cancels any changes. the * marker remains on that line. entering i (optionally preceded with a line number) inserts one or more lines before the * line or the line given. when finished entering lines, ctrl-c returns to the edlin command prompt. *6i 6:*(...or similar) 7:*^c &nbsp; *7d *l 1: edlin: the only text editor in early versions of dos. 2: 3: back in the day, i remember seeing web pages 4: bra
1980_software DOS_text_editors Line_editor Windows_commands Windows_components Windows_text_editors