Re: Cut buffer does not persist between files

[Paul Jackson]

Since I grew up in the earlier days of ed, before there
was a "yank" buffer, I developed habits using temp
files that accomplish the same thing

Here's a session where I solve this problem in the
way that I've been doing it for over 40 years:

======== Begin ========
$ ed test1
25
,n
1       test1 text
2       a second line
.w /tmp/pj1
14
e test2
11
r /tmp/pj1
14
,n
1       test2 text
2       a second line
========= End = ========

My temp buffers have names matching "/tmp/pj*",
since my login id, this entire time, has been "pj",
and I began Unix on a PDP 11/45 shared with others,
so it was best to name my temp files in a way unlikely
to collide with those of others on the system.

Even though "ed" continues to be my primary editor,
throughout the years, I did not even know that "yank"
existed until just now.

There are often 100 or 200 hundred "/tmp/pj*" files
in my /tmp directory, dating back many months,
with names just sufficiently unique that I can
remember what they mean while I am actually
and immediately using them.  Likely the particular
name "/tmp/pj1" is my favorite, and gets re-used
several times a day, as it just did now, above.

Perhaps some readers of this thread might find
the above a useful habit to develop.

-- 
                Paul Jackson
                address@hidden