# Memex: Today's Interesting Links (Emacs, ed + column counter) (2024-01-10)

**URL:** <https://pluralist.net/t/memex-todays-interesting-links-emacs-ed-column-counter-2024-01-10/30>\
**Category:** breadcrumbs\
**Tags:** ed, shell, emacs\
**Created:** [January 10, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://pluralist.net/t/memex-todays-interesting-links-emacs-ed-column-counter-2024-01-10/30 "2024-01-10T08:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![delyan](https://pluralist.net/user_avatar/pluralist.net/delyan/32/245_2.png) [@delyan](https://pluralist.net/u/delyan)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://pluralist.net/t/memex-todays-interesting-links-emacs-ed-column-counter-2024-01-10/30/1 "2024-01-10T08:00:00Z")

</div>

- Great to see that at some point [IU.edu had an Emacs KB](https://kb.iu.edu/d/acyg). Sadly this has been archived. It still contains relevant information though - such as how `M-x text-mode` would get out of trouble when the other mode you’re using gets too slow or broken (in my case `markdown-mode` 😠 ).
- This [**ed**](https://pluralist.net/t/ed-is-the-standard-text-editor-2024-01-02/9) [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNYpmLH6IjQ&list=PLZ0CUq-i3Io8ZzryAf2yOS9jVhTfBaElh) has an interesting bash command (`!clear.sh`), which prints column numbers at the very top of ed.
  - recommendation: use `e !indent %; cat %`
  - the shell script used in the video to show column count at the very top (+8 +16 +24 etc.):  
 ![image](https://pluralist.net/uploads/default/original/1X/413512938182dfcd60a5f37244b63af52ce2b475.jpeg)

```sh
#!/bin/sh
clear
echo ' +8 +16 +24 +32 +40 +48 +56 +64 +72 +80'

```

- Did I mention the book [**Ed Mastery: The Standard Unix Text Editor**](https://mwl.io/nonfiction/tools#ed) by Michael W Lucas? Great book!