__NOTOC__
MS-DOS Editor, commonly just called ''edit'' or ''edit.com'', is a
TUI text editor that comes with
MS-DOS 5.0 and later,
as well as all "x86"
SKU
In inventory management, a stock keeping unit (abbreviated as SKU and pronounced or ) is the unit of measure in which the stocks of a material are managed. Or to put it another way; is a distinct type of item for sale, purchased, or tracked in ...
s of Windows, until
Windows 11. It supersedes
edlin, the standard editor in earlier versions of MS-DOS. In MS-DOS, it was a stub for
QBasic running in editor mode. Starting with
Windows 95, MS-DOS Editor became a standalone program because QBasic didn't ship with Windows.
The Editor may be used as a substitute for
Windows Notepad on
Windows 9x, although both are limited to small files only. MS-DOS versions are limited to approximately depending on how much
conventional memory is free. The Editor can edit files that are up to 65,279 lines and up to approximately 5
MB in size.
Versions
The Editor version 1.0 appeared in
MS-DOS 5.00,
PC DOS 5.0,
OS/2, and
Windows NT 4.0. These editors rely on
QBasic 1.0. This version can only open one file, to the limit of DOS memory. It can also open the quick help file in a split window.
The Editor version 1.1 appeared in MS-DOS 6.0. It uses QBasic 1.1 but no new features were added to the Editor.
PC DOS 6 does not include the
edit command. Instead, it has the
DOS E Editor. This was upgraded to support mouse and menus in version of 7.0.
The Editor version 2.0 appeared with Windows 95, as standalone app that no longer requires QBasic. This version has been included with all "x86" SKUs of Windows, until
Windows 11. Being a 16-bit DOS app, it does not directly run on
x64,
IA-64, or
ARM64 versions of Windows.
The
FreeDOS version was developed by Shaun Raven and is licensed under the
GPL.
Features
''MS-DOS Editor'' uses a
text user interface and its color scheme can be adjusted. It has a
multiple-document interface in which its version 2.0 (as included in DOS 7 or Windows 9x) can open up to 9 files at a time while earlier versions (included in DOS 5 and 6) are limited to only one file. The screen can be split vertically into two panes which can be used to view two files simultaneously or different parts of the same file. It can also open files in ''
binary mode'', where a fixed number of characters are displayed per line, with
newline
Newline (frequently called line ending, end of line (EOL), next line (NEL) or line break) is a control character or sequence of control characters in character encoding specifications such as ASCII, EBCDIC, Unicode, etc. This character, or a ...
s treated like any other character. This mode shows characters as
hexadecimal
In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, hexa ...
characters (0-9 and A-F). Editor converts
Unix newlines to
DOS newlines and has
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
support. Some of these features were added only in version 2.0.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
"edit"on ''Microsoft Docs''
{{Windows commands
DOS software
Windows components
DOS text editors
Console applications
1991 software