Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!star.cs.vu.nl!gpvos
From: gpvos@cs.vu.nl (Vos G P)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: what does \e do in :s/./\e&/ in vi? (was: merging 2 files)
Message-ID: <6471@star.cs.vu.nl>
Date: 7 May 90 15:27:10 GMT
References: <1990May5.193350.3445@chinet.chi.il.us> <4381@iis.UUCP>
Sender: news@cs.vu.nl
Lines: 23

kells@iis.UUCP (Kevin Kells) writes:

>A little experimentation (didn't use source) proved that there are at
>least three such \? "commands" that can be used in this substitution
>context. Two I understand: \l (not \L) and \u, which convert upper case
>to lower case and vice versa, respectively.  But a third, \e, also
>seems to do something, though I can't figure out what.

According to the belowmentioned "vi reference":
\l and \u convert the next character (if it's a letter) to uppercase/lowercase.
\L and \U convert all following characters to uppercase/lowercase, until a
\e or \E is found.

>Is this documented somewhere [besides in the source :-) ] ? Could
>someone please tell me what \e does in this context?

I found it in the "vi reference" by Maarten Litmaath. This is published
(ir?)regularly in comp.editors, in two versions: one in Dutch and one in
English.

--
--- Gerben Vos - Aconet: {BBCBBS,LALUNA}!Gerben Vos - UUCP : gpvos@cs.vu.nl   
---- ...Who's afraid of the big bad .signature eatMUNCH CHOMP