In the world of
Free Software,
ex is short for EXtended. It was an advanced version of the
ed text editor. Eventually, ex was given a Visual Interface, and thus was created the editor
vi. Most versions of vi still have an "ex
mode", and this mode can be accessed on most
UNIX-like systems using the command "ex". It is used on terminals where you can only view, review, or edit one line at a time. This is called "line editing".
In social relatioships, an
ex is someone with whom a person was once associated with. When used as a prefix,
ex-, it is used for a variety of different relationships; for example, a member of a musical group might refer to hir
ex-guitarist. Without the prefix,
ex is assumed to refer to an ex-partner or ex-lover.
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