EDT text editor

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EDT was a text editor that was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for use on its PDP-11 series of computers, and later for its VAX/VMS series as well.

The editor contained both line mode commands and a screen based editor. In screen mode, the default action for the user was to directly update text as he or she typed, with special commands available by pressing keypad commands. Arrow keys allowed for simple navigation, while keypad commands allowed for more complex navigation and searches. As with many user interfaces developed around this time, EDT used the "Gold Key" style of input first developed for the WPS-8 word processing system. "Gold Key" editing used the PF1 keypad key as a meta key allowing the introduction of a wide variety of commands using both the keypad keys and keys on the main keyboard.

Users could configure default actions or define key sequences for their editor by placing EDT commands in an initialization file which would be executed upon starting the editor.

DEC later developed a powerful language on its VMS systems for designing text editors called TPU, which included an emulator of the EDT screen mode keypad for the benefit of those who were used to using those keys a particular way during their editing sessions. This implementation of EDT is still distributed with OpenVMS.