.\" $OpenBSD: vi.1,v 1.40 2009/04/27 19:41:10 mk Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1994 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 .\" Keith Bostic. All rights reserved. .\" .\" The vi program is freely redistributable. .\" You are welcome to copy, modify and share it with others .\" under the conditions listed in the LICENSE file. .\" If any company (not individual!) finds vi sufficiently useful .\" that you would have purchased it, or if any company wishes to .\" redistribute it, contributions to the authors would be appreciated. .\" .\" @(#)vi.1 8.51 (Berkeley) 10/10/96 .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: April 27 2009 $ .Dt VI 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm ex , vi , view .Nd text editor .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm ex .Op Fl FRrSsv .Op Fl c Ar cmd .Op Fl t Ar tag .Op Fl w Ar size .Op Ar file ... .Nm vi\ \& .Op Fl eFRrS .Op Fl c Ar cmd .Op Fl t Ar tag .Op Fl w Ar size .Op Ar file ... .Nm view .Op Fl eFrS .Op Fl c Ar cmd .Op Fl t Ar tag .Op Fl w Ar size .Op Ar file ... .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm ex is a line-oriented text editor; .Nm vi is a screen-oriented text editor. .Nm ex and .Nm vi are different interfaces to the same program, and it is possible to switch back and forth during an edit session. .Nm view is the equivalent of using the .Fl R .Pq read-only option of .Nm vi . .Pp This manual page is the one provided with the .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi versions of the .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi text editors. .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi are intended as bug-for-bug compatible replacements for the original Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution .Pq 4BSD .Nm ex and .Nm vi programs. For the rest of this manual page, .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi is used only when it's necessary to distinguish it from the historic implementations of .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi . .Pp This manual page is intended for users already familiar with .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi . Anyone else should almost certainly read a good tutorial on the editor before this manual page. See the .Sx SEE ALSO section below for a list of additional materials. If you're in an unfamiliar environment, and you absolutely have to get work done immediately, read the section after the options description, entitled .Sx FAST STARTUP . It's probably enough to get you going. .Pp The following options are available: .Bl -tag -width "-w size " .It Fl c Ar cmd Execute .Ar cmd on the first file loaded. Particularly useful for initial positioning in the file, although .Ar cmd is not limited to positioning commands. This is the POSIX 1003.2 interface for the historic .Dq +cmd syntax. .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi supports both the old and new syntax. .It Fl e Start editing in ex mode, as if the command name were .Nm ex . .It Fl F Don't copy the entire file when first starting to edit. (The default is to make a copy in case someone else modifies the file during your edit session.) .\" .It Fl l .\" Start editing with the lisp and showmatch options set. .It Fl R Start editing in read-only mode, as if the command name was .Nm view , or the .Cm readonly option was set. .It Fl r Recover the specified files, or, if no files are specified, list the files that could be recovered. If no recoverable files by the specified name exist, the file is edited as if the .Fl r option had not been specified. .It Fl S Run with the .Cm secure edit option set, disallowing all access to external programs. .It Fl s Enter batch mode; applicable only to .Nm ex edit sessions. Batch mode is useful when running .Nm ex scripts. Prompts, informative messages and other user oriented messages are turned off, and no startup files or environment variables are read. This is the POSIX 1003.2 interface for the historic .Dq - argument. .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi supports both the old and new syntax. .It Fl t Ar tag Start editing at the specified .Ar tag (see .Xr ctags 1 ) . .It Fl v Start editing in vi mode, as if the command name was .Nm vi . .It Fl w Ar size Set the initial window size to the specified number of lines. .El .Pp Command input for .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi is read from the standard input. In the .Nm vi interface, it is an error if standard input is not a terminal. In the .Nm ex interface, if standard input is not a terminal, .Nm ex will read commands from it regardless; however, the session will be a batch mode session, exactly as if the .Fl s option had been specified. .Pp .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi exits 0 on success, or greater than 0 if an error occurs. .Sh FAST STARTUP This section will tell you the minimum amount that you need to do simple editing tasks using .Nm vi . If you've never used any screen editor before, you're likely to have problems even with this simple introduction. In that case you should find someone that already knows .Nm vi and have them walk you through this section. .Pp .Nm vi is a screen editor. This means that it takes up almost the entire screen, displaying part of the file on each screen line, except for the last line of the screen. The last line of the screen is used for you to give commands to .Nm vi , and for .Nm vi to give information to you. .Pp The other fact that you need to understand is that .Nm vi is a modeful editor, i.e. you are either entering text or you are executing commands, and you have to be in the right mode to do one or the other. You will be in command mode when you first start editing a file. There are commands that switch you into input mode. There is only one key that takes you out of input mode, and that is the .Aq escape key. .Pp Key names are written using less-than and greater-than signs, e.g.\& .Aq escape means the .Dq escape key, usually labeled .Dq Esc on your terminal's keyboard. If you're ever confused as to which mode you're in, keep entering the .Aq escape key until .Nm vi beeps at you. Generally, .Nm vi will beep at you if you try and do something that's not allowed. It will also display error messages. .Pp To start editing a file, enter the following command: .Pp .Dl $ vi file .Pp The command you should enter as soon as you start editing is: .Pp .Dl :set verbose showmode .Pp This will make the editor give you verbose error messages and display the current mode at the bottom of the screen. .Pp The commands to move around the file are: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm h Move the cursor left one character. .It Cm j Move the cursor down one line. .It Cm k Move the cursor up one line. .It Cm l Move the cursor right one character. .It Aq Cm cursor-arrows The cursor arrow keys should work, too. .It Cm / Ns text Search for the string .Dq text in the file, and move the cursor to its first character. .El .Pp The commands to enter new text are: .Bl -tag -width "" .It Cm a Append new text, after the cursor. .It Cm i Insert new text, before the cursor. .It Cm O Open a new line above the line the cursor is on, and start entering text. .It Cm o Open a new line below the line the cursor is on, and start entering text. .It Aq Cm escape Once you've entered input mode using one of the .Cm a , .Cm i , .Cm O or .Cm o commands, use .Aq Cm escape to quit entering text and return to command mode. .El .Pp The commands to copy text are: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm p Append the copied line after the line the cursor is on. .It Cm yy Copy the line the cursor is on. .El .Pp The commands to delete text are: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm dd Delete the line the cursor is on. .It Cm x Delete the character the cursor is on. .El .Pp The commands to write the file are: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm :w Write the file back to the file with the name that you originally used as an argument on the .Nm vi command line. .It Cm :w Ar file_name Write the file back to the file with the name .Ar file_name . .El .Pp The commands to quit editing and exit the editor are: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm :q Quit editing and leave .Nm vi (if you've modified the file, but not saved your changes, .Nm vi will refuse to quit). .It Cm :q! Quit, discarding any modifications that you may have made. .El .Pp One final caution: Unusual characters can take up more than one column on the screen, and long lines can take up more than a single screen line. The above commands work on .Dq physical characters and lines, i.e. they affect the entire line no matter how many screen lines it takes up and the entire character no matter how many screen columns it takes up. .Sh VI COMMANDS The following section describes the commands available in the command mode of the .Nm vi editor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage synopsis for the command character. .Pp .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact .It Xo .\" .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-A .Xc Search forward .\" .Ar count .\" times for the current word. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-B .Xc Page backwards .Ar count screens. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-D .Xc Scroll forward .Ar count lines. If .Ar count is not given, scroll forward half the number of lines in the current screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-E .Xc Scroll forward .Ar count lines, leaving the current line and column as is, if possible. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-F .Xc Page forward .Ar count screens. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-G Display the file information. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-H .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm h .Xc Move the cursor back .Ar count characters in the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-J .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-N .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm j .Xc Move the cursor down .Ar count lines without changing the current column. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-L .It Aq Cm control-R Repaint the screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-M .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm + .Xc Move the cursor down .Ar count lines to the first non-blank character of that line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-P .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm k .Xc Move the cursor up .Ar count lines, without changing the current column. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-T Return to the most recent tag context. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-U .Xc Scroll backwards .Ar count lines. If .Ar count is not given, scroll forward half the number of lines in the current screen. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-W Switch to the next lower screen in the window, or to the first screen if there are no lower screens in the window. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm control-Y .Xc Scroll backwards .Ar count lines, leaving the current line and column as is, if possible. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-Z Suspend the current editor session. .Pp .It Aq Cm escape Execute .Nm ex commands or cancel partial commands. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-] Push a tag reference onto the tag stack. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-^ Switch to the most recently edited file. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Aq Cm space .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm l .Xc Move the cursor forward .Ar count characters without changing the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm !\& .Ar motion shell-argument(s) .Aq Li carriage-return .Xc Replace text with results from a shell command. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm # .Sm off .Cm # | + | - .Sm on .Xc Increment or decrement the number under the cursor. If the trailing character is a .Sq # or .Sq + , the number is incremented. If the trailing character is a .Sq - , the number is decremented. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm $ .Xc Move the cursor to the end of a line. .Pp .It Cm % Move to the matching character. .Pp .It Cm & Repeat the previous substitution command on the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Cm ' Ns Aq Ar character .Xc .It Xo .Cm ` Ns Aq Ar character .Xc Return to a context marked by the character .Ar character . The first form returns to the beginning of the line marked by .Ar character . The second form returns to the first character of the context marked by .Ar character . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm (\& .Xc Back up .Ar count sentences. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm )\& .Xc Move forward .Ar count sentences. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm ,\& .Xc Reverse find character .Ar count times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm - .Xc Move to the first non-blank of the previous line, .Ar count times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm .\& .Xc Repeat the last .Nm vi command that modified text. .Pp .It Xo .Pf / Ns Ar RE .Aq Li carriage-return .Xc .It Xo .Pf / Ns Ar RE Ns / .Op Ar offset .Aq Li carriage-return .Xc .It Xo .Pf ?\& Ns Ar RE .Aq Li carriage-return .Xc .It Xo .Pf ?\& Ns Ar RE Ns ?\& .Op Ar offset .Aq Li carriage-return .Xc .It Cm N .It Cm n Search forward .Pq Sq / or backward .Pq Sq ?\& for a regular expression. .Cm n and .Cm N repeat the last search in the same or opposite directions, respectively. If .Ar offset is specified, the cursor is placed .Ar offset lines before or after the matched regular expression. .Pp .It Cm 0 Move to the first character in the current line. .Pp .It Cm :\& Execute an .Nm ex command. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm ;\& .Xc Repeat the last character find .Ar count times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Pf \ \&< Ar motion .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar count .Pf \ \&> Ar motion .Xc Shift lines left or right. .Pp .It Cm @ Ar buffer Execute a named .Ar buffer . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm A .Xc Enter input mode, appending the text after the end of the line. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \- 1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm B .Xc Move backwards .Ar count bigwords. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm C .Xc Change text from the current position to the end-of-line. If .Ar buffer is specified, .Dq yank the deleted text into .Ar buffer . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Cm D .Xc Delete text from the current position to the end-of-line. If .Ar buffer is specified, .Dq yank the deleted text into .Ar buffer . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm E .Xc Move forward .Ar count end-of-bigwords. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm F Aq Ar character .Xc Search .Ar count times backward through the current line for .Ar character . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm G .Xc Move to line .Ar count , or the last line of the file if .Ar count is not specified. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm H .Xc Move to the screen line .Ar count \- 1 lines below the top of the screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm I .Xc Enter input mode, inserting the text at the beginning of the line. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \- 1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm J .Xc Join lines. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm L .Xc Move to the screen line .Ar count \- 1 lines above the bottom of the screen. .Pp .It Cm M Move to the screen line in the middle of the screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm O .Xc Enter input mode, appending text in a new line above the current line. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \- 1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Cm P .Xc Insert text from a buffer. .Pp .It Cm Q Exit .Nm vi .Pq or visual mode and switch to .Nm ex mode. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm R .Xc Enter input mode, replacing the characters in the current line. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \- 1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm S .Xc Substitute .Ar count lines. If .Ar buffer is specified, .Dq yank the deleted text into .Ar buffer . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm T .Aq Ar character .Xc Search backwards, .Ar count times, through the current line for the character after the specified .Ar character . .Pp .It Cm U Restore the current line to its state before the cursor last moved to it. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm W .Xc Move forward .Ar count bigwords. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm X .Xc Delete .Ar count characters before the cursor. If .Ar buffer is specified, .Dq yank the deleted text into .Ar buffer . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm Y .Xc Copy (or .Dq yank ) .Ar count lines into the specified .Ar buffer , or the default buffer if none is specified. .Pp .It Cm ZZ Write the file and exit .Nm vi . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm [[ .Xc Back up .Ar count section boundaries. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm ]] .Xc Move forward .Ar count section boundaries. .Pp .It Cm ^ Move to the first non-blank character on the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm _ .Xc Move down .Ar count \- 1 lines, to the first non-blank character. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm a .Xc Enter input mode, appending the text after the cursor. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \-1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm b .Xc Move backwards .Ar count words. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm c .Ar motion .Xc Change a region of text. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm d .Ar motion .Xc Delete a region of text. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm e .Xc Move forward .Ar count end-of-words. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm f Aq Ar character .Xc Search forward, .Ar count times, through the rest of the current line for .Aq Ar character . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm i .Xc Enter input mode, inserting the text before the cursor. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \-1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Cm m .Aq Ar character .Xc Save the current context .Pq line and column as .Aq Ar character . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm o .Xc Enter input mode, appending text in a new line under the current line. If a .Ar count argument is given, the characters input are repeated .Ar count \- 1 number of times. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Cm p .Xc Append text from a buffer. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm r .Aq Ar character .Xc Replace .Ar count characters. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm s .Xc Substitute .Ar count characters in the current line starting with the current character. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm t .Aq Ar character .Xc Search forward, .Ar count times, through the current line for the character immediately before .Aq Ar character . .Pp .It Cm u Undo the last change made to the file. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm w .Xc Move forward .Ar count words. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm x .Xc Delete .Ar count characters. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Cm y .Ar motion .Xc Copy (or .Dq yank ) a text region specified by .Ar count and .Ar motion into a buffer. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count1 .Cm z .Op Ar count2 .Cm type .Xc Redraw, optionally repositioning and resizing the screen. If .Ar count2 is specified, limit the screen size to .Ar count2 lines. The following .Cm type characters may be used: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm + If .Ar count1 is specified, place the line .Ar count1 at the top of the screen. Otherwise, display the screen after the current screen. .It Aq Cm carriage-return Place the line .Ar count1 at the top of the screen. .It Cm .\& Place the line .Ar count1 in the center of the screen. .It Cm - Place the line .Ar count1 at the bottom of the screen. .It Cm ^ If .Ar count1 is given, display the screen before the screen before .Ar count1 .Pq i.e. 2 screens before . Otherwise, display the screen before the current screen. .El .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm {\& .Xc Move backward .Ar count paragraphs. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar column .Cm |\& .Xc Move to a specific .Ar column position on the current line. If .Ar column is omitted, move to the start of the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm }\& .Xc Move forward .Ar count paragraphs. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm ~ .Xc Reverse the case of the next .Ar count character(s). .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar count .Cm ~ .Ar motion .Xc Reverse the case of the characters in a text region specified by the .Ar count and .Ar motion . Only in effect if the .Cm tildeop option is set. .Pp .It Aq Cm interrupt Interrupt the current operation. The .Aq interrupt character is usually .Aq control-C . .El .Sh VI TEXT INPUT COMMANDS The following section describes the commands available in the text input mode of the .Nm vi editor. .Pp .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact .It Aq Cm nul Replay the previous input. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-D Erase to the previous .Ar shiftwidth column boundary. .Pp .It Cm ^ Ns Aq Cm control-D Erase all of the autoindent characters, and reset the autoindent level. .Pp .It Cm 0 Ns Aq Cm control-D Erase all of the autoindent characters. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-T Insert sufficient .Aq tab and .Aq space characters to move forward to the next .Ar shiftwidth column boundary. .Pp .It Aq Cm erase .It Aq Cm control-H Erase the last character. .Pp .It Aq Cm literal next Escape the next character from any special meaning. The .Aq literal\ \&next character is usually .Aq control-V . .Pp .It Aq Cm escape Resolve all text input into the file, and return to command mode. .Pp .It Aq Cm line erase Erase the current line. .Pp .It Aq Cm control-W .It Aq Cm word erase Erase the last word. The definition of word is dependent on the .Cm altwerase and .Cm ttywerase options. .Pp .Sm off .It Xo .Aq Cm control-X .Bq Cm 0-9A-Fa-f .Cm + .Xc .Sm on Insert a character with the specified hexadecimal value into the text. .Pp .It Aq Cm interrupt Interrupt text input mode, returning to command mode. The .Aq interrupt character is usually .Aq control-C . .El .Sh EX COMMANDS The following section describes the commands available in the .Nm ex editor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage synopsis for the command. .Pp .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact .It Aq Cm end-of-file Scroll the screen. .Pp .It Cm !\& Ar argument(s) .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm !\& .Ar argument(s) .Xc Execute a shell command, or filter lines through a shell command. .Pp .It Cm \&" A comment. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm nu Ns Op Cm mber .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm # .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Display the selected lines, each preceded with its line number. .Pp .It Cm @ Ar buffer .It Cm * Ar buffer Execute a buffer. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm < Ns Op Cm < ... .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Shift lines left. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm = .Op Ar flags .Xc Display the line number of .Ar line . If .Ar line is not specified, display the line number of the last line in the file. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm > Ns Op Cm > ... .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Shift lines right. .Pp .It Xo .Cm ab Ns Op Cm breviate .Ar lhs rhs .Xc .Nm vi only. Add .Ar lhs as an abbreviation for .Ar rhs to the abbreviation list. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm a Ns Op Cm ppend Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc The input text is appended after the specified line. .Pp .It Cm ar Ns Op Cm gs Display the argument list. .Pp .It Cm bg .Nm vi only. Background the current screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm c Ns Op Cm hange Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar count .Xc The input text replaces the specified range. .Pp .It Xo .Cm chd Ns Op Cm ir Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar directory .Xc .It Xo .Cm cd Ns Op Cm !\& .Op Ar directory .Xc Change the current working directory. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm co Ns Op Cm py .Ar line .Op Ar flags .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm t .Ar line .Op Ar flags .Xc Copy the specified lines after the destination .Ar line . .Pp .It Xo .Cm cs Ns Op Cm cope .Cm add | find | help | kill | reset .Xc Execute a Cscope command. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm d Ns Op Cm elete .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Delete the lines from the file. .Pp .It Xo .Cm di Ns Op Cm splay .Cm b Ns Oo Cm uffers Oc \&| .Cm c Ns Oo Cm onnections Oc \&| .Cm s Ns Oo Cm creens Oc \&| .Cm t Ns Op Cm ags .Xc Display buffers, Cscope connections, screens or tags. .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm Ee Ns .Op Cm dit Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar +cmd .Op Ar file .Xc .It Xo .Op Cm Ee Ns .Cm x Ns Op Cm !\& .Op Ar +cmd .Op Ar file .Xc Edit a different file. .Pp .It Xo .Cm exu Ns Op Cm sage .Op Ar command .Xc Display usage for an .Nm ex command. .Pp .It Xo .Cm f Ns Op Cm ile .Op Ar file .Xc Display and optionally change the file name. .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm Ff Ns .Cm g .Op Ar name .Xc .Nm vi mode only. Foreground the specified screen. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm g Ns Op Cm lobal .No / Ns Ar pattern Ns / .Op Ar commands .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm v .No / Ns Ar pattern Ns / .Op Ar commands .Xc Apply commands to lines matching .Pq Sq global or not matching .Pq Sq v a pattern. .Pp .It Cm he Ns Op Cm lp Display a help message. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm i Ns Op Cm nsert Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc The input text is inserted before the specified line. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm j Ns Op Cm oin Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Join lines of text together. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm l Ns Op Cm ist .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Display the lines unambiguously. .Pp .It Xo .Cm map Ns Op Cm !\& .Op Ar lhs rhs .Xc Define or display maps (for .Nm vi only). .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm ma Ns Op Cm rk .Aq Ar character .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm k Aq Ar character .Xc Mark the line with the mark .Aq Ar character . .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm m Ns Op Cm ove .Ar line .Xc Move the specified lines after the target line. .Pp .It Xo .Cm mk Ns Op Cm exrc Ns .Op Cm !\& .Ar file .Xc Write the abbreviations, editor options and maps to the specified .Ar file . .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm Nn Ns .Op Cm ext Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar file ... .Xc Edit the next file from the argument list. .\" .Pp .\" .It Xo .\" .Op Ar line .\" .Cm o Ns Op Cm pen .\" .No / Ns Ar pattern Ns / .\" .Op Ar flags .\" .Xc .\" Enter open mode. .Pp .It Cm pre Ns Op Cm serve Save the file in a form that can later be recovered using the .Nm ex .Fl r option. .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm \&Pp Ns .Cm rev Ns Op Cm ious Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc Edit the previous file from the argument list. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm p Ns Op Cm rint .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Display the specified lines. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm pu Ns Op Cm t .Op Ar buffer .Xc Append buffer contents to the current line. .Pp .It Xo .Cm q Ns Op Cm uit Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc End the editing session. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm r Ns Op Cm ead Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar file .Xc Read a file. .Pp .It Xo .Cm rec Ns Op Cm over .Ar file .Xc Recover .Ar file if it was previously saved. .Pp .It Xo .Cm res Ns Op Cm ize .Op Cm + Ns | Ns Cm - Ns .Ar size .Xc .Nm vi mode only. Grow or shrink the current screen. .Pp .It Xo .Cm rew Ns Op Cm ind Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc Rewind the argument list. .Pp .It Xo .Cm se Ns Op Cm t .Sm off .Op option Oo = Oo value Oc Oc \ \&... .Sm on .Pf \ \& Op nooption ... .Op option? ... .Op Ar all .Xc Display or set editor options. .Pp .It Cm sh Ns Op Cm ell Run a shell program. .Pp .It Xo .Cm so Ns Op Cm urce .Ar file .Xc Read and execute .Nm ex commands from a file. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm s Ns Op Cm ubstitute .Sm off .Op / Ar pattern No / Ar replace No / .Sm on .Pf \ \& Op Ar options .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm & .Op Ar options .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm ~ .Op Ar options .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Make substitutions. .Pp .It Xo .Cm su Ns Op Cm spend Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc .It Xo .Cm st Ns Op Cm op Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc .It Aq Cm suspend Suspend the edit session. The .Aq suspend character is usually .Aq control-Z . .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm Tt Ns .Cm a Ns Op Cm g Ns .Op Cm !\& .Ar tagstring .Xc Edit the file containing the specified tag. .Pp .It Xo .Cm tagn Ns Op Cm ext Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc Edit the file containing the next context for the current tag. .Pp .It Xo .Cm tagp Ns Op Cm op Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar file | number .Xc Pop to the specified tag in the tags stack. .Pp .It Xo .Cm tagpr Ns Op Cm ev Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc Edit the file containing the previous context for the current tag. .Pp .It Xo .Cm tagt Ns Op Cm op Ns .Op Cm !\& .Xc Pop to the least recent tag on the tags stack, clearing the stack. .Pp .It Xo .Cm una Ns Op Cm bbreviate .Ar lhs .Xc .Nm vi only. Delete an abbreviation. .Pp .It Cm u Ns Op Cm ndo Undo the last change made to the file. .Pp .It Xo .Cm unm Ns Op Cm ap Ns .Op Cm !\& .Ar lhs .Xc Unmap a mapped string. .Pp .It Cm ve Ns Op Cm rsion Display the version of the .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi editor. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm vi Ns Op Cm sual .Op Ar type .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc .Nm ex mode only. Enter .Nm vi . .Pp .It Xo .Op Cm Vi Ns .Cm i Ns Op Cm sual Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar +cmd .Op Ar file .Xc .Nm vi mode only. Edit a new file. .Pp .It Xo .Cm viu Ns Op Cm sage .Op Ar command .Xc Display usage for a .Nm vi command. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm w Ns Op Cm rite Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op >> .Op Ar file .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm w Ns Op Cm rite .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar file .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm wn Ns Op Cm !\& .Op >> .Op Ar file .Xc .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm wq Ns Op Cm !\& .Op >> .Op Ar file .Xc Write the file. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm x Ns Op Cm it Ns .Op Cm !\& .Op Ar file .Xc Exit the editor, writing the file if it has been modified. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar range .Cm ya Ns Op Cm nk .Op Ar buffer .Op Ar count .Xc Copy the specified lines to a buffer. .Pp .It Xo .Op Ar line .Cm z .Op Ar type .Op Ar count .Op Ar flags .Xc Adjust the window. .El .Sh SET OPTIONS There are a large number of options that may be set .Pq or unset to change the editor's behavior. This section describes the options, their abbreviations and their default values. .Pp In each entry below, the first part of the tag line is the full name of the option, followed by any equivalent abbreviations. The part in square brackets is the default value of the option. Most of the options are boolean, i.e. they are either on or off, and do not have an associated value. .Pp Options apply to both .Nm ex and .Nm vi modes, unless otherwise specified. .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Cm altwerase Bq off .Nm vi only. Select an alternate word erase algorithm. .It Cm autoindent , ai Bq off Automatically indent new lines. .It Cm autoprint , ap Bq on .Nm ex only. Display the current line automatically. .It Cm autowrite , aw Bq off Write modified files automatically when changing files. .It Cm backup Bq \&"\&" Back up files before they are overwritten. .It Cm beautify , bf Bq off Discard control characters. .It Cm cdpath Bq "environment variable CDPATH, or current directory" The directory paths used as path prefixes for the .Cm cd command. .It Cm cedit Bq no default Set the character to edit the colon command-line history. .It Cm columns , co Bq 80 Set the number of columns in the screen. .It Cm comment Bq off .Nm vi only. Skip leading comments in shell, C and C++ language files. .It Cm directory , dir Bq "environment variable TMPDIR, or /tmp" The directory where temporary files are created. .It Cm edcompatible , ed Bq off Remember the values of the .Sq c and .Sq g suffixes to the .Cm substitute commands, instead of initializing them as unset for each new command. .It Cm escapetime Bq 1 The 10th's of a second .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi waits for a subsequent key to complete an .Aq escape key mapping. .It Cm errorbells , eb Bq off .Nm ex only. Announce error messages with a bell. .It Cm exrc , ex Bq off Read the startup files in the local directory. .It Cm extended Bq off Use extended regular expressions .Pq EREs rather than basic regular expressions .Pq BREs . See .Xr re_format 7 for more information on regular expressions. .It Cm filec Bq no default Set the character to perform file path completion on the colon command line. .It Cm flash Bq on Flash the screen instead of beeping the keyboard on error. .It Cm hardtabs , ht Bq 0 Set the spacing between hardware tab settings. This option currently has no effect. .It Cm iclower Bq off Makes all regular expressions case-insensitive, as long as an upper-case letter does not appear in the search string. .It Cm ignorecase , ic Bq off Ignore case differences in regular expressions. .It Cm keytime Bq 6 The 10th's of a second .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi waits for a subsequent key to complete a key mapping. .It Cm leftright Bq off .Nm vi only. Do left-right scrolling. .It Cm lines , li Bq 24 .Nm vi only. Set the number of lines in the screen. .It Cm lisp Bq off .Nm vi only. Modify various search commands and options to work with Lisp. This option is not yet implemented. .It Cm list Bq off Display lines in an unambiguous fashion. .It Cm lock Bq on Attempt to get an exclusive lock on any file being edited, read or written. .It Cm magic Bq on Treat certain characters specially in regular expressions. .It Cm matchtime Bq 7 .Nm vi only. The 10th's of a second .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi pauses on the matching character when the .Cm showmatch option is set. .It Cm mesg Bq on Permit messages from other users. .It Cm msgcat Bq /usr/share/vi/catalog/ Selects a message catalog to be used to display error and informational messages in a specified language. .It Cm modelines , modeline Bq off Read the first and last few lines of each file for .Nm ex commands. This option will never be implemented. .It Cm noprint Bq \&"\&" Characters that are never handled as printable characters. .It Cm number, nu Bq off Precede each line displayed with its current line number. .It Cm octal Bq off Display unknown characters as octal numbers, instead of the default hexadecimal. .It Cm open Bq on .Nm ex only. If this option is not set, the .Cm open and .Cm visual commands are disallowed. .It Cm optimize , opt Bq on .Nm vi only. Optimize text throughput to dumb terminals. This option is not yet implemented .It Cm paragraphs , para Bq "IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp" .Nm vi only. Define additional paragraph boundaries for the .Cm {\& and .Cm }\& commands. .It Cm path Bq \&"\&" Define additional directories to search for files being edited. .It Cm print Bq \&"\&" Characters that are always handled as printable characters. .It Cm prompt Bq on .Nm ex only. Display a command prompt. .It Cm readonly , ro Bq off Mark the file and session as read-only. .It Cm recdir Bq /var/tmp/vi.recover The directory where recovery files are stored. .It Cm redraw , re Bq off .Nm vi only. Simulate an intelligent terminal on a dumb one. This option is not yet implemented. .It Cm remap Bq on Remap keys until resolved. .It Cm report Bq 5 Set the number of lines about which the editor reports changes or yanks. .It Cm ruler Bq off .Nm vi only. Display a row/column ruler on the colon command line. .It Cm scroll , scr Bq "($LINES \- 1) / 2" Set the number of lines scrolled. .It Cm searchincr Bq off Makes the .Cm / and .Cm ?\& commands incremental. .It Cm sections , sect Bq "NHSHH HUnhsh" .Nm vi only. Define additional section boundaries for the .Cm [[ and .Cm ]] commands. .It Cm secure Bq off Turns off all access to external programs. .It Cm shell , sh Bq "environment variable SHELL, or /bin/sh" Select the shell used by the editor. .It Cm shellmeta Bq ~{[*?$`'\&"\e Set the meta characters checked to determine if file name expansion is necessary. .It Cm shiftwidth , sw Bq 8 Set the autoindent and shift command indentation width. .It Cm showmatch , sm Bq off .Nm vi only. Note matching .Sq { and .Sq ( for .Sq } and .Sq )\& characters. .It Cm showmode , smd Bq off .Nm vi only. Display the current editor mode and a .Dq modified flag. .It Cm sidescroll Bq 16 .Nm vi only. Set the amount a left-right scroll will shift. .It Cm slowopen , slow Bq off Delay display updating during text input. This option is not yet implemented. .It Cm sourceany Bq off Read startup files not owned by the current user. This option will never be implemented. .It Cm tabstop , ts Bq 8 This option sets tab widths for the editor display. .It Cm taglength , tl Bq 0 Set the number of significant characters in tag names. .It Cm tags, tag Bq tags Set the list of tags files. .It Xo .Cm term , ttytype , tty .Bq "environment variable TERM" .Xc Set the terminal type. .It Cm terse Bq off This option has historically made editor messages less verbose. It has no effect in this implementation. .It Cm tildeop Bq off Modify the .Cm ~ command to take an associated motion. .It Cm timeout , to Bq on Time out on keys which may be mapped. .It Cm ttywerase Bq off .Nm vi only. Select an alternate erase algorithm. .It Cm verbose Bq off .Nm vi only. Display an error message for every error. .It Cm w300 Bq no default .Nm vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is less than 1200 baud. .It Cm w1200 Bq no default .Nm vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is equal to 1200 baud. .It Cm w9600 Bq no default .Nm vi only. Set the window size if the baud rate is greater than 1200 baud. .It Cm warn Bq on .Nm ex only. This option causes a warning message to be printed on the terminal if the file has been modified since it was last written, before a .Cm !\& command. .It Xo .Cm window , w , wi .Bq "environment variable LINES \- 1" .Xc Set the window size for the screen. .It Cm windowname Bq off Change the icon/window name to the current file name even if it can't be restored on editor exit. .It Cm wraplen , wl Bq 0 .Nm vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of columns from the left-hand margin. If both the .Cm wraplen and .Cm wrapmargin edit options are set, the .Cm wrapmargin value is used. .It Cm wrapmargin , wm Bq 0 .Nm vi only. Break lines automatically, the specified number of columns from the right-hand margin. If both the .Cm wraplen and .Cm wrapmargin edit options are set, the .Cm wrapmargin value is used. .It Cm wrapscan , ws Bq on Set searches to wrap around the end or beginning of the file. .It Cm writeany , wa Bq off Turn off file-overwriting checks. .El .Sh ENVIRONMENT .Bl -tag -width "COLUMNS" .It Ev COLUMNS The number of columns on the screen. This value overrides any system or terminal specific values. If the .Ev COLUMNS environment variable is not set when .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi runs, or the .Cm columns option is explicitly reset by the user, .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi enters the value into the environment. .It Ev EXINIT A list of .Nm ex startup commands; read if the variable .Ev NEXINIT is not set. .It Ev HOME The user's home directory, used as the initial directory path for the startup .Pa $HOME/.nexrc and .Pa $HOME/.exrc files. This value is also used as the default directory for the .Nm vi .Cm cd command. .It Ev LINES The number of rows on the screen. This value overrides any system or terminal specific values. If the .Ev LINES environment variable is not set when .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi runs, or the .Cm lines option is explicitly reset by the user, .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi enters the value into the environment. .It Ev NEXINIT A list of .Nm ex startup commands. .It Ev SHELL The user's shell of choice (see also the .Cm shell option). .It Ev TERM The user's terminal type. The default is the type .Dq unknown . If the .Ev TERM environment variable is not set when .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi runs, or the .Cm term option is explicitly reset by the user, .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi enters the value into the environment. .It Ev TMPDIR The location used to stored temporary files (see also the .Cm directory edit option). .El .Sh ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS .Bl -tag -width "SIGWINCH" -compact .It Dv SIGALRM .Nm vi Ns / Ns Nm ex uses this signal for periodic backups of file modifications and to display .Dq busy messages when operations are likely to take a long time. .Pp .It Dv SIGHUP .It Dv SIGTERM If the current buffer has changed since it was last written in its entirety, the editor attempts to save the modified file so it can be later recovered. See the .Nm vi Ns / Ns Nm ex reference manual section .Sx Recovery for more information. .Pp .It Dv SIGINT When an interrupt occurs, the current operation is halted and the editor returns to the command level. If interrupted during text input, the text already input is resolved into the file as if the text input had been normally terminated. .Pp .It Dv SIGWINCH The screen is resized. See the .Nm vi Ns / Ns Nm ex reference manual section .Sx Sizing the Screen for more information. .\" .Pp .\" .It Dv SIGCONT .\" .It Dv SIGTSTP .\" .Nm vi Ns / Ns Nm ex .\" ignores these signals. .El .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width "/var/tmp/vi.recover" -compact .It Pa /bin/sh The default user shell. .It Pa /etc/vi.exrc System-wide .Nm vi startup file. .It Pa /tmp Temporary file directory. .It Pa /var/tmp/vi.recover The default recovery file directory. .It Pa $HOME/.nexrc First choice for user's home directory startup file. .It Pa $HOME/.exrc Second choice for user's home directory startup file. .It Pa .nexrc First choice for local directory startup file. .It Pa .exrc Second choice for local directory startup file. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr ctags 1 , .Xr re_format 7 .Pp The .Qq Vi Quick Reference card, .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/12.vi/vi.summary . .Pp .Qq \&An Introduction to Display Editing with Vi , .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/12.vi/ . This document is the closest thing available to an introduction to the .Nm vi screen editor. .Pp .Qq \&Ex Reference Manual , .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/13.ex/ . This document is the final reference for the .Nm ex editor. .Pp .Qq Ex: A Tutorial , .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/11.edit/ . This document is the closest thing available to an introduction to the .Nm ex editor. .Pp .Qq Vi/Ex Reference Manual , .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/13.viref/ . This document is the final reference for the .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi text editors. .Pp Roff source for all of these documents is distributed with .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi in the .Pa vi/docs/USD.doc directory of the .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi source code. .Pp The files .Pa autowrite , .Pa input , .Pa quoting , and .Pa structures found in the .Pa vi/docs/internals directory of the .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi source code. .Sh STANDARDS .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi is close to .St -p1003.1-2008 . That document differs from historical .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi practice in several places; there are changes to be made on both sides. .Sh HISTORY The .Nm nex Ns / Ns Nm nvi replacements for the .Nm ex Ns / Ns Nm vi editor first appeared in .Bx 4.4 .