1VI(1) General Commands Manual VI(1)
2
6 ex, vi, view - text editors
7
9 ex [-eRrSsv] [-c cmd] [-t tag] [-w size] [file ...]
10 vi [-elRrSv] [-c cmd] [-t tag] [-w size] [file ...]
11 view [-eRrSv] [-c cmd] [-t tag] [-w size] [file ...]
12
14 The vi program is freely redistributable. You are welcome to copy,
15 modify and share it with others under the conditions listed in the
16 LICENSE file. If any company (not individual!) finds vi sufficiently
17 useful that you would have purchased it, or if any company wishes to
18 redistribute it, contributions to the authors would be appreciated.
19
21 Vi is a screen oriented text editor. Ex is a line‐oriented text edi‐
22 tor. Ex and vi are different interfaces to the same program, and it is
23 possible to switch back and forth during an edit session. View is the
24 equivalent of using the -R (read‐only) option of vi.
25 This manual page is the one provided with the nex/nvi versions of the
27 ex/vi text editors. Nex/nvi are intended as bug‐for‐bug compatible
28 replacements for the original Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution
29 (4BSD) ex and vi programs. For the rest of this manual page, nex/nvi
30 is used only when it's necessary to distinguish it from the historic
31 implementations of ex/vi.
32 This manual page is intended for users already familiar with ex/vi.
34 Anyone else should almost certainly read a good tutorial on the editor
35 before this manual page. If you're in an unfamiliar environment, and
36 you absolutely have to get work done immediately, read the section
37 after the options description, entitled “Fast Startup”. It's probably
38 enough to get you going.
39 The following options are available:
41 -c Execute cmd immediately after starting the edit session. Par‐
43 ticularly useful for initial positioning in the file, however
44 cmd is not limited to positioning commands. This is the POSIX
45 1003.2 interface for the historic “+cmd” syntax. Nex/nvi sup‐
46 ports both the old and new syntax.
47 -e Start editing in ex mode, as if the command name were ex.
49 -l Start editing with the lisp and showmatch options set.
51 -R Start editing in read‐only mode, as if the command name was
53 view, or the readonly option was set.
54 -r Recover the specified files, or, if no files are specified, list
56 the files that could be recovered. If no recoverable files by
57 the specified name exist, the file is edited as if the -r option
58 had not been specified.
59 -S Run with the secure edit option set, disallowing all access to
61 external programs.
62 -s Enter batch mode; applicable only to ex edit sessions. Batch
64 mode is useful when running ex scripts. Prompts, informative
65 messages and other user oriented message are turned off, and no
66 startup files or environmental variables are read. This is the
67 POSIX 1003.2 interface for the historic “-” argument. Nex/nvi
68 supports both the old and new syntax.
69 -t Start editing at the specified tag. (See ctags(1)).
71 -w Set the initial window size to the specified number of lines.
73 -v Start editing in vi mode, as if the command name was vi or view.
75 Note that the -F option (which prevented ex/vi from making a full
77 backup of the target file) has been removed and is no longer available.
78 Command input for ex/vi is read from the standard input. In the vi
80 interface, it is an error if standard input is not a terminal. In the
81 ex interface, if standard input is not a terminal, ex will read com‐
82 mands from it regardless, however, the session will be a batch mode
83 session, exactly as if the -s option had been specified.
84 Ex/vi exits 0 on success, and greater than 0 if an error occurs.
86
88 This section will tell you the minimum amount that you need to do sim‐
89 ple editing tasks using vi. If you've never used any screen editor
90 before, you're likely to have problems even with this simple introduc‐
91 tion. In that case you should find someone that already knows vi and
92 have them walk you through this section.
93 Vi is a screen editor. This means that it takes up almost the entire
95 screen, displaying part of the file on each screen line, except for the
96 last line of the screen. The last line of the screen is used for you
97 to give commands to vi, and for vi to give information to you.
98 The other fact that you need to understand is that vi is a modeful edi‐
100 tor, i.e. you are either entering text or you are executing commands,
101 and you have to be in the right mode to do one or the other. You will
102 be in command mode when you first start editing a file. There are com‐
103 mands that switch you into input mode. There is only one key that
104 takes you out of input mode, and that is the <escape> key. (Key names
105 are written using less‐than and greater‐than signs, e.g. <escape>
106 means the “escape” key, usually labeled “esc” on your terminal's key‐
107 board.) If you're ever confused as to which mode you're in, keep
108 entering the <escape> key until vi beeps at you. (Generally, vi will
109 beep at you if you try and do something that's not allowed. It will
110 also display error messages.)
111 To start editing a file, enter the command “vi file_name<carriage‐
113 return>”. The command you should enter as soon as you start editing is
114 “:set verbose showmode<carriage‐return>”. This will make the editor
115 give you verbose error messages and display the current mode at the
116 bottom of the screen.
117 The commands to move around the file are:
119 h Move the cursor left one character.
121 j Move the cursor down one line.
123 k Move the cursor up one line.
125 l Move the cursor right one character.
127 <cursor‐arrows>
129 The cursor arrow keys should work, too.
130 /text<carriage‐return>
132 Search for the string “text” in the file, and move the cursor to
133 its first character.
134 The commands to enter new text are:
136 a Append new text, after the cursor.
138 i Insert new text, before the cursor.
140 o Open a new line below the line the cursor is on, and start
142 entering text.
143 O Open a new line above the line the cursor is on, and start
145 entering text.
146 <escape>
148 Once you've entered input mode using the one of the a, i, O or o
149 commands, use <escape> to quit entering text and return to com‐
150 mand mode.
151 The commands to copy text are:
153 yy Copy the line the cursor is on.
155 p Append the copied line after the line the cursor is on.
157 The commands to delete text are:
159 dd Delete the line the cursor is on.
161 x Delete the character the cursor is on.
163 The commands to write the file are:
165 :w<carriage‐return>
167 Write the file back to the file with the name that you origi‐
168 nally used as an argument on the vi command line.
169 :w file_name<carriage‐return>
171 Write the file back to the file with the name “file_name”.
172 The commands to quit editing and exit the editor are:
174 :q<carriage‐return>
176 Quit editing and leave vi (if you've modified the file, but not
177 saved your changes, vi will refuse to quit).
178 :q!<carriage‐return>
180 Quit, discarding any modifications that you may have made.
181 One final caution. Unusual characters can take up more than one column
183 on the screen, and long lines can take up more than a single screen
184 line. The above commands work on “physical” characters and lines, i.e.
185 they affect the entire line no matter how many screen lines it takes up
186 and the entire character no matter how many screen columns it takes up.
187
189 The following section describes the commands available in the command
190 mode of the vi editor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage
191 synopsis for the command character.
192 [count] <control‐A>
194 Search forward count times for the current word.
195 [count] <control‐B>
197 Page backwards count screens.
198 [count] <control‐D>
200 Scroll forward count lines.
201 [count] <control‐E>
203 Scroll forward count lines, leaving the current line and column
204 as is, if possible.
205 [count] <control‐F>
207 Page forward count screens.
208 <control‐G>
210 Display the file information.
211 <control‐H>
213 [count] h
215 Move the cursor back count characters in the current line.
216 [count] <control‐J>
218 [count] <control‐N>
220 [count] j
222 Move the cursor down count lines without changing the current
223 column.
224 <control‐L>
226 <control‐R>
228 Repaint the screen.
229 [count] <control‐M>
231 [count] +
233 Move the cursor down count lines to the first nonblank character
234 of that line.
235 [count] <control‐P>
237 [count] k
239 Move the cursor up count lines, without changing the current
240 column.
241 <control‐T>
243 Return to the most recent tag context.
244 <control‐U>
246 Scroll backwards count lines.
247 <control‐W>
249 Switch to the next lower screen in the window, or, to the first
250 screen if there are no lower screens in the window.
251 <control‐Y>
253 Scroll backwards count lines, leaving the current line and col‐
254 umn as is, if possible.
255 <control‐Z>
257 Suspend the current editor session.
258 <escape>
260 Execute ex commands or cancel partial commands.
261 <control‐]>
263 Push a tag reference onto the tag stack.
264 <control‐^>
266 Switch to the most recently edited file.
267 [count] <space>
269 [count] l
271 Move the cursor forward count characters without changing the
272 current line.
273 [count] ! motion shell‐argument(s)
275 Replace text with results from a shell command.
276 [count] # #|+|-
278 Increment or decrement the cursor number.
279 [count] $
281 Move the cursor to the end of a line.
282 % Move to the matching character.
284 & Repeat the previous substitution command on the current line.
286 '<character>
288 `<character>
290 Return to a context marked by the character <character>.
291 [count] (
293 Back up count sentences.
294 [count] )
296 Move forward count sentences.
297 [count] ,
299 Reverse find character count times.
300 [count] -
302 Move to first nonblank of the previous line, count times.
303 [count] .
305 Repeat the last vi command that modified text.
306 /RE<carriage‐return>
308 /RE/ [offset]<carriage‐return>
310 ?RE<carriage‐return>
312 ?RE? [offset]<carriage‐return>
314 N
316 n Search forward or backward for a regular expression.
318 0 Move to the first character in the current line.
320 : Execute an ex command.
322 [count] ;
324 Repeat the last character find count times.
325 [count] < motion
327 [count] > motion
329 Shift lines left or right.
330 @ buffer
332 Execute a named buffer.
333 [count] A
335 Enter input mode, appending the text after the end of the line.
336 [count] B
338 Move backwards count bigwords.
339 [buffer] [count] C
341 Change text from the current position to the end‐of‐line.
342 [buffer] D
344 Delete text from the current position to the end‐of‐line.
345 [count] E
347 Move forward count end‐of‐bigwords.
348 [count] F <character>
350 Search count times backward through the current line for <char‐
351 acter>.
352 [count] G
354 Move to line count, or the last line of the file if count not
355 specified.
356 [count] H
358 Move to the screen line count - 1 lines below the top of the
359 screen.
360 [count] I
362 Enter input mode, inserting the text at the beginning of the
363 line.
364 [count] J
366 Join lines.
367 [count] L
369 Move to the screen line count - 1 lines above the bottom of the
370 screen.
371 M Move to the screen line in the middle of the screen.
373 [count] O
375 Enter input mode, appending text in a new line above the current
376 line.
377 [buffer] P
379 Insert text from a buffer.
380 Q Exit vi (or visual) mode and switch to ex mode.
382 [count] R
384 Enter input mode, replacing the characters in the current line.
385 [buffer] [count] S
387 Substitute count lines.
388 [count] T <character>
390 Search backwards, count times, through the current line for the
391 character after the specified <character>.
392 U Restore the current line to its state before the cursor last
394 moved to it.
395 [count] W
397 Move forward count bigwords.
398 [buffer] [count] X
400 Delete count characters before the cursor.
401 [buffer] [count] Y
403 Copy (or “yank”) count lines into the specified buffer.
404 ZZ Write the file and exit vi.
406 [count] [[
408 Back up count section boundaries.
409 [count] ]]
411 Move forward count section boundaries.
412 ^ Move to first nonblank character on the current line.
414 [count] _
416 Move down count - 1 lines, to the first nonblank character.
417 [count] a
419 Enter input mode, appending the text after the cursor.
420 [count] b
422 Move backwards count words.
423 [buffer] [count] c motion
425 Change a region of text.
426 [buffer] [count] d motion
428 Delete a region of text.
429 [count] e
431 Move forward count end‐of‐words.
432 [count] f<character>
434 Search forward, count times, through the rest of the current
435 line for <character>.
436 [count] i
438 Enter input mode, inserting the text before the cursor.
439 m <character>
441 Save the current context (line and column) as <character>.
442 [count] o
444 Enter input mode, appending text in a new line under the current
445 line.
446 [buffer] p
448 Append text from a buffer.
449 [count] r <character>
451 Replace count characters.
452 [buffer] [count] s
454 Substitute count characters in the current line starting with
455 the current character.
456 [count] t <character>
458 Search forward, count times, through the current line for the
459 character immediately before <character>.
460 u Undo the last change made to the file.
462 [count] w
464 Move forward count words.
465 [buffer] [count] x
467 Delete count characters.
468 [buffer] [count] y motion
470 Copy (or “yank”) a text region specified by the count and motion
471 into a buffer.
472 [count1] z [count2] -|.|+|^|<carriage‐return>
474 Redraw, optionally repositioning and resizing the screen.
475 [count] {
477 Move backward count paragraphs.
478 [count] |
480 Move to a specific column position on the current line.
481 [count] }
483 Move forward count paragraphs.
484 [count] ~
486 Reverse the case of the next count character(s), if the tildeop
487 option is unset.
488 [count] ~ motion
490 Reverse the case of the characters in a text region specified by
491 the count and motion, if the tildeop option is set.
492 <interrupt>
494 Interrupt the current operation.
495
497 The following section describes the commands available in the text
498 input mode of the vi editor.
499 <nul> Replay the previous input.
501 <control‐D>
503 Erase to the previous shiftwidth column boundary.
504 ^<control‐D>
506 Erase all of the autoindent characters, and reset the autoindent
507 level.
508 0<control‐D>
510 Erase all of the autoindent characters.
511 <control‐T>
513 Insert sufficient <tab> and <space> characters to move forward
514 to the next shiftwidth column boundary.
515 <erase>
517 <control‐H>
519 Erase the last character.
520 <literal next>
522 Quote the next character.
523 <escape>
525 Resolve all text input into the file, and return to command
526 mode.
527 <line erase>
529 Erase the current line.
530 <control‐W>
532 <word erase>
534 Erase the last word. The definition of word is dependent on the
535 altwerase and ttywerase options.
536 <control‐X>[0-9A-Fa-f]+
538 Insert a character with the specified hexadecimal value into the
539 text.
540 <interrupt>
542 Interrupt text input mode, returning to command mode.
543
545 The following section describes the commands available in the ex edi‐
546 tor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage synopsis for the
547 command.
548 <end‐of‐file>
550 Scroll the screen.
551 ! argument(s)
553 [range]! argument(s)
555 Execute a shell command, or filter lines through a shell com‐
556 mand.
557 " A comment.
559 [range] nu[mber] [count] [flags]
561 [range] # [count] [flags]
563 Display the selected lines, each preceded with its line number.
564 @ buffer
566 * buffer
568 Execute a buffer.
569 [line] a[ppend][!]
571 The input text is appended after the specified line.
572 [range] c[hange][!] [count]
574 The input text replaces the specified range.
575 cs[cope] add | find | help | kill | reset
577 Execute a Cscope command.
578 [range] d[elete] [buffer] [count] [flags]
580 Delete the lines from the file.
581 di[splay] b[uffers] | c[onnections] | s[creens] | t[ags]
583 Display buffers, Cscope connections, screens or tags.
584 [Ee][dit][!] [+cmd] [file]
586 [Ee]x[!] [+cmd] [file]
588 Edit a different file.
589 exu[sage] [command]
591 Display usage for an ex command.
592 f[ile] [file]
594 Display and optionally change the file name.
595 [Ff]g [name]
597 Vi mode only. Foreground the specified screen.
598 [range] g[lobal] /pattern/ [commands]
600 [range] v /pattern/ [commands]
602 Apply commands to lines matching (or not matching) a pattern.
603 he[lp] Display a help message.
605 [line] i[nsert][!]
607 The input text is inserted before the specified line.
608 [range] j[oin][!] [count] [flags]
610 Join lines of text together.
611 [range] l[ist] [count] [flags]
613 Display the lines unambiguously.
614 map[!] [lhs rhs]
616 Define or display maps (for vi only).
617 [line] ma[rk] <character>
619 [line] k <character>
621 Mark the line with the mark <character>.
622 [range] m[ove] line
624 Move the specified lines after the target line.
625 mk[exrc][!] file
627 Write the abbreviations, editor options and maps to the speci‐
628 fied file.
629 [Nn][ext][!] [file ...]
631 Edit the next file from the argument list.
632 [line] o[pen] /pattern/ [flags]
634 Enter open mode.
635 pre[serve]
637 Save the file in a form that can later be recovered using the ex
638 -r option.
639 [Pp]rev[ious][!]
641 Edit the previous file from the argument list.
642 [range] p[rint] [count] [flags]
644 Display the specified lines.
645 [line] pu[t] [buffer]
647 Append buffer contents to the current line.
648 q[uit][!]
650 End the editing session.
651 [line] r[ead][!] [file]
653 Read a file.
654 rec[over] file
656 Recover file if it was previously saved.
657 res[ize] [+|-]size
659 Vi mode only. Grow or shrink the current screen.
660 rew[ind][!]
662 Rewind the argument list.
663 se[t] [option[=[value]] ...] [nooption ...] [option? ...] [all]
665 Display or set editor options.
666 sh[ell]
668 Run a shell program.
669 so[urce] file
671 Read and execute ex commands from a file.
672 [range] s[ubstitute] [/pattern/replace/] [options] [count] [flags]
674 [range] & [options] [count] [flags]
676 [range] ~ [options] [count] [flags]
678 Make substitutions.
679 su[spend][!]
681 st[op][!]
683 <suspend>
685 Suspend the edit session.
686 [Tt]a[g][!] tagstring
688 Edit the file containing the specified tag.
689 tagn[ext][!]
691 Edit the file containing the next context for the current tag.
692 tagp[op][!] [file | number]
694 Pop to the specified tag in the tags stack.
695 tagp[rev][!]
697 Edit the file containing the previous context for the current
698 tag.
699 unm[ap][!] lhs
701 Unmap a mapped string.
702 ve[rsion]
704 Display the version of the ex/vi editor.
705 [line] vi[sual] [type] [count] [flags]
707 Ex mode only. Enter vi.
708 [Vi]i[sual][!] [+cmd] [file]
710 Vi mode only. Edit a new file.
711 viu[sage] [command]
713 Display usage for a vi command.
714 [range] w[rite][!] [>>] [file]
716 [range] w[rite] [!] [file]
718 [range] wn[!] [>>] [file]
720 [range] wq[!] [>>] [file]
722 Write the file.
723 [range] x[it][!] [file]
725 Write the file if it has been modified.
726 [range] ya[nk] [buffer] [count]
728 Copy the specified lines to a buffer.
729 [line] z [type] [count] [flags]
731 Adjust the window.
732
734 There are a large number of options that may be set (or unset) to
735 change the editor's behavior. This section describes the options,
736 their abbreviations and their default values.
737 In each entry below, the first part of the tag line is the full name of
739 the option, followed by any equivalent abbreviations. The part in
740 square brackets is the default value of the option. Most of the
741 options are boolean, i.e. they are either on or off, and do not have an
742 associated value.
743 Options apply to both ex and vi modes, unless otherwise specified. Mul‐
745 tiple options can be given in one set or unset, separated by spaces or
746 tabs. Spaces and tabs can be included in string options (eg. tags or
747 filec) by preceding each with a backslash. There's no way to get back‐
748 slash itself into an option.
749 altwerase [off]
751 Vi only. Select an alternate word erase algorithm.
752 autoindent, ai [off]
754 Automatically indent new lines.
755 autoprint, ap [off]
757 Ex only. Display the current line automatically.
758 autowrite, aw [off]
760 Write modified files automatically when changing files.
761 backup [""]
763 Backup files before they are overwritten.
764 beautify, bf [off]
766 Discard control characters.
767 cdpath [environment variable CDPATH, or current directory]
769 The directory paths used as path prefixes for the cd command.
770 cedit [no default]
772 Set the character to edit the colon command‐line history.
773 columns, co [80]
775 Set the number of columns in the screen.
776 comment [off]
778 Vi only. Skip leading comments in shell, C and C++ language
779 files.
780 directory, dir [environment variable TMPDIR, or /tmp]
782 The directory where temporary files are created.
783 edcompatible, ed [off]
785 Remember the values of the “c” and “g” suffices to the substi‐
786 tute commands, instead of initializing them as unset for each
787 new command.
788 errorbells, eb [off]
790 Ex only. Announce error messages with a bell.
791 exrc, ex [off]
793 Read the startup files in the local directory.
794 extended [off]
796 Regular expressions are extended (i.e. egrep(1)-style) expres‐
797 sions.
798 filec [no default]
800 Set the character to perform file path completion on the colon
801 command line.
802 flash [on]
804 Flash the screen instead of beeping the keyboard on error.
805 hardtabs, ht [8]
807 Set the spacing between hardware tab settings.
808 iclower [off]
810 Makes all Regular Expressions case‐insensitive, as long as an
811 upper‐case letter does not appear in the search string.
812 ignorecase, ic [off]
814 Ignore case differences in regular expressions.
815 keytime [6]
817 The 10th's of a second ex/vi waits for a subsequent key to com‐
818 plete a key mapping.
819 leftright [off]
821 Vi only. Do left‐right scrolling.
822 lines, li [24]
824 Vi only. Set the number of lines in the screen.
825 lisp [off]
827 Vi only. Modify various search commands and options to work
828 with Lisp. This option is not yet implemented.
829 list [off]
831 Display lines in an unambiguous fashion.
832 lock [on]
834 Attempt to get an exclusive lock on any file being edited, read
835 or written.
836 magic [on]
838 Treat certain characters specially in regular expressions.
839 matchtime [7]
841 Vi only. The 10th's of a second ex/vi pauses on the matching
842 character when the showmatch option is set.
843 mesg [on]
845 Permit messages from other users.
846 modelines, modeline [off]
848 Read the first and last few lines of each file for ex commands.
849 This option will never be implemented.
850 noprint [""]
852 Characters that are never handled as printable characters.
853 number, nu [off]
855 Precede each line displayed with its current line number.
856 octal [off]
858 Display unknown characters as octal numbers, instead of the
859 default hexadecimal.
860 open [on]
862 Ex only. If this option is not set, the open and visual com‐
863 mands are disallowed.
864 optimize, opt [on]
866 Vi only. Optimize text throughput to dumb terminals. This
867 option is not yet implemented.
868 paragraphs, para [IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp]
870 Vi only. Define additional paragraph boundaries for the { and }
871 commands.
872 path []
874 Define additional directories to search for files being edited.
875 print [""]
877 Characters that are always handled as printable characters.
878 prompt [on]
880 Ex only. Display a command prompt.
881 readonly, ro [off]
883 Mark the file and session as read‐only.
884 recdir [/var/tmp/vi.recover]
886 The directory where recovery files are stored.
887 redraw, re [off]
889 Vi only. Simulate an intelligent terminal on a dumb one. This
890 option is not yet implemented.
891 remap [on]
893 Remap keys until resolved.
894 report [5]
896 Set the number of lines about which the editor reports changes
897 or yanks.
898 ruler [off]
900 Vi only. Display a row/column ruler on the colon command line.
901 scroll, scr [window / 2]
903 Set the number of lines scrolled.
904 searchincr [off]
906 Makes the / and ? commands incremental.
907 sections, sect [NHSHH HUnhsh]
909 Vi only. Define additional section boundaries for the [[ and ]]
910 commands.
911 secure [off]
913 Turns off all access to external programs.
914 shell, sh [environment variable SHELL, or /bin/sh]
916 Select the shell used by the editor.
917 shellmeta [~{[*?$`'"\]
919 Set the meta characters checked to determine if file name expan‐
920 sion is necessary.
921 shiftwidth, sw [8]
923 Set the autoindent and shift command indentation width.
924 showmatch, sm [off]
926 Vi only. Note matching “{” and “(” for “}” and “)” characters.
927 showmode, smd [off]
929 Vi only. Display the current editor mode and a “modified” flag.
930 sidescroll [16]
932 Vi only. Set the amount a left‐right scroll will shift.
933 slowopen, slow [off]
935 Delay display updating during text input. This option is not
936 yet implemented.
937 sourceany [off]
939 Read startup files not owned by the current user. This option
940 will never be implemented.
941 tabstop, ts [8]
943 This option sets tab widths for the editor display.
944 taglength, tl [0]
946 Set the number of significant characters in tag names.
947 tags, tag [tags /var/db/libc.tags /sys/kern/tags]
949 Set the list of tags files.
950 term, ttytype, tty [environment variable TERM]
952 Set the terminal type.
953 terse [off]
955 This option has historically made editor messages less verbose.
956 It has no effect in this implementation.
957 tildeop [off]
959 Modify the ~ command to take an associated motion.
960 timeout, to [on]
962 Time out on keys which may be mapped.
963 ttywerase [off]
965 Vi only. Select an alternate erase algorithm.
966 verbose [off]
968 Vi only. Display an error message for every error.
969 w300 [no default]
971 Vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is less than 1200
972 baud.
973 w1200 [no default]
975 Vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is equal to 1200
976 baud.
977 w9600 [no default]
979 Vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is greater than
980 1200 baud.
981 warn [on]
983 Ex only. This option causes a warning message to the terminal
984 if the file has been modified, since it was last written, before
985 a ! command.
986 window, w, wi [environment variable LINES]
988 Set the window size for the screen.
989 windowname [off]
991 Change the icon/window name to the current file name even if it
992 can't be restored on editor exit.
993 wraplen, wl [0]
995 Vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of
996 columns from the left‐hand margin. If both the wraplen and
997 wrapmargin edit options are set, the wrapmargin value is used.
998 wrapmargin, wm [0]
1000 Vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of
1001 columns from the right‐hand margin. If both the wraplen and
1002 wrapmargin edit options are set, the wrapmargin value is used.
1003 wrapscan, ws [on]
1005 Set searches to wrap around the end or beginning of the file.
1006 writeany, wa [off]
1008 Turn off file‐overwriting checks.
1009
1011 COLUMNS
1012 The number of columns on the screen. This value overrides any
1013 system or terminal specific values. If the COLUMNS environmen‐
1014 tal variable is not set when ex/vi runs, or the columns option
1015 is explicitly reset by the user, ex/vi enters the value into the
1016 environment.
1017 EXINIT A list of ex startup commands, read if the variable NEXINIT is
1019 not set.
1020 HOME The user's home directory, used as the initial directory path
1022 for the startup “$HOME/.nexrc” and “$HOME/.exrc” files. This
1023 value is also used as the default directory for the vi cd com‐
1024 mand.
1025 LINES The number of rows on the screen. This value overrides any sys‐
1027 tem or terminal specific values. If the LINES environmental
1028 variable is not set when ex/vi runs, or the lines option is
1029 explicitly reset by the user, ex/vi enters the value into the
1030 environment.
1031 NEXINIT
1033 A list of ex startup commands.
1034 SHELL The user's shell of choice (see also the shell option).
1036 TERM The user's terminal type. The default is the type “unknown”.
1038 If the TERM environmental variable is not set when ex/vi runs,
1039 or the term option is explicitly reset by the user, ex/vi enters
1040 the value into the environment.
1041 TMPDIR The location used to stored temporary files (see also the direc‐
1043 tory edit option).
1044
1046 SIGALRM
1047 Vi/ex uses this signal for periodic backups of file modifica‐
1048 tions and to display “busy” messages when operations are likely
1049 to take a long time.
1050 SIGHUP
1052 SIGTERM
1054 If the current buffer has changed since it was last written in
1055 its entirety, the editor attempts to save the modified file so
1056 it can be later recovered. See the vi/ex Reference manual sec‐
1057 tion entitled “Recovery” for more information.
1058 SIGINT When an interrupt occurs, the current operation is halted, and
1060 the editor returns to the command level. If interrupted during
1061 text input, the text already input is resolved into the file as
1062 if the text input had been normally terminated.
1063 SIGWINCH
1065 The screen is resized. See the vi/ex Reference manual section
1066 entitled “Sizing the Screen” for more information.
1067 SIGCONT
1069 SIGQUIT
1071 SIGTSTP
1073 Vi/ex ignores these signals.
1074
1076 /bin/sh
1077 The default user shell.
1078 /etc/vi.exrc
1080 System‐wide vi startup file.
1081 /tmp Temporary file directory.
1083 /var/tmp/vi.recover
1085 The default recovery file directory.
1086 $HOME/.nexrc
1088 1st choice for user's home directory startup file.
1089 $HOME/.exrc
1091 2nd choice for user's home directory startup file.
1092 .nexrc 1st choice for local directory startup file.
1094 .exrc 2nd choice for local directory startup file.
1096
1098 ctags(1), more(1), curses(3), dbopen(3)
1099 The “Vi Quick Reference” card.
1101 “An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi”, found in the “UNIX User's
1103 Manual Supplementary Documents” section of both the 4.3BSD and 4.4BSD
1104 manual sets. This document is the closest thing available to an intro‐
1105 duction to the vi screen editor.
1106 “Ex Reference Manual (Version 3.7)”, found in the “UNIX User's Manual
1108 Supplementary Documents” section of both the 4.3BSD and 4.4BSD manual
1109 sets. This document is the final reference for the ex editor, as dis‐
1110 tributed in most historic 4BSD and System V systems.
1111 “Edit: A tutorial”, found in the “UNIX User's Manual Supplementary Doc‐
1113 uments” section of the 4.3BSD manual set. This document is an intro‐
1114 duction to a simple version of the ex screen editor.
1115 “Ex/Vi Reference Manual”, found in the “UNIX User's Manual Supplemen‐
1117 tary Documents” section of the 4.4BSD manual set. This document is the
1118 final reference for the nex/nvi text editors, as distributed in 4.4BSD
1119 and 4.4BSD‐Lite.
1120 Roff source for all of these documents is distributed with nex/nvi in
1122 the nvi/USD.doc directory of the nex/nvi source code.
1123 The files “autowrite”, “input”, “quoting” and “structures” found in the
1125 nvi/docs/internals directory of the nex/nvi source code.
1126
1128 The nex/nvi replacements for the ex/vi editor first appeared in 4.4BSD.
1129
1131 Nex/nvi is close to IEEE Std1003.2 (“POSIX”). That document differs
1132 from historical ex/vi practice in several places; there are changes to
1133 be made on both sides.
11343rd Berkeley Distribution 1Q1 VI(1)