Linux Commands Examples

A great documentation place for Linux commands

vi

Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor


see also : vimtutor

Synopsis

vim [options] [file ..]
vim
[options] -
vim
[options] -t tag
vim
[options] -q [errorfile]

ex
view
gvim gview evim eview
rvim rview rgvim rgview


add an example, a script, a trick and tips

: email address (won't be displayed)
: name

Step 2

Thanks for this example ! - It will be moderated and published shortly.

Feel free to post other examples
Oops ! There is a tiny cockup. A damn 404 cockup. Please contact the loosy team who maintains and develops this wonderful site by clicking in the mighty feedback button on the side of the page. Say what happened. Thanks!

examples

0
source
            
vi vi.gdb
0
source
            
vi "$@"
0
source
            
vi $1
0
source
            
alias vi2='xml2vi -r'
0
source

vi / vim abrumpt buffer movements within window

in normal mode, you can jump between the displayed parts of a wrapped line by using gk and gj (g<up> or g<down>). This vim wikipage explains how to change the behaviour permanently.

0
source

Vim to replace Vi

In your .bashrc:

alias vi=vim
0
source

Any IRC clients with VI key binds?

  1. I use vim_mode.pl with irssi (in GNU screen) and am extremely satisfied with the combination.

    For anyone who doesn't know Irssi, it's terminal-based and there is no GUI available or planned. While this may put some people off, it makes for a great combination with GNU screen, and allows you to keep your connection while being logged out: Always a good thing to have for IRC and its erratic response times.

    The current version of vim_mode is already pretty sophisticated, has registers, custom mappings and lots of other stuff, and it's still being developed.

    To use vim_mode's ex mode, you'll need the uberprompt.pl script from irssi-scripts/prompt_info (same developers).

    The most up-to-date documentation is in the .pl file itself. If you have further questions or suggestions, the developers (and a few of us lowly users) hang out on #irssi_vim/Freenode and are generally very friendly and responsive.

  2. An alternative solution would be to use the unixy bare-bones ii IRC client by the suckless community with Vim itself.

    ii creates a directory structure in the file system and places FIFOs for channels and server messages that can be written to and read from.

    On the ii page, you can find a link to a working setup that uses multitail for split windows, Vim for entry, and shell scripts and screen for glue.

    Multitail can be configured to get (non-dynamic) highlighting for the IRC logs, and if you'd buffer the logs, you can use Vim's 'complete' option to get dynamic word completion from them.

0
source

Whats the difference between vi editor in Red Hat linux and Ubuntu?

Ubuntu comes with vim-tiny, which IMHO sucks.

you need to install vim

do

sudo apt-get install vim

0
source

Logged in to vi, made changes, forgot to sudo first - now what

In this case, I wrote file with :w /tmp/tmpfile. Then I go out and move /tmp/tmpfile to my old file with sudo rights.

That's it !

0
source

Linux: How can I edit all the files returned by find in vi?

This should do the trick:

vim $(find . -name "*.txt")

Use VIM, it's better for your health. :-)

Piping into xargs vi gives a Warning: Input is not from a terminal, plus a terminal with completely bogus behaviour afterwards. User grawity explained why in a comment below, and with a bit more explanation in this question.

0
source

UNIX - How to copy and paste between different bash windows with files opend with VI?

You may want to install the "general purpose mouse" (gpm) package, which allows the use of mouse copy-and-paste without a GUI.

0
source

Where can I get a "cheat sheet" of vi commands?

PDF and ready to print!

I personally have this printed double sided and laminated.

0
source

Syntax highlighting in vi

This is vi

enter image description here

This is vim

vim means improved version of vi

enter image description here

0
source

Create file with 751 permissions at creation

A simple solution would be to make a bash alias for vi which will first create the file and then change it's permissions before opening it. Use something easy to remember, like vix (x for executable bit):

e.g. (untested):

function vix {
        touch $1
        chmod 751 $1
        vi $1
}

Note that aliasing vi itself is a bad idea as many other programs call on it directly, which may cause issues with your system.

description

Vim is a text editor that is upwards compatible to Vi. It can be used to edit all kinds of plain text. It is especially useful for editing programs.

There are a lot of enhancements above Vi: multi level undo, multi windows and buffers, syntax highlighting, command line editing, filename completion, on-line help, visual selection, etc.. See ":help vi_diff.txt" for a summary of the differences between Vim and Vi.

While running Vim a lot of help can be obtained from the on-line help system, with the ":help" command. See the ON-LINE HELP section below.

Most often Vim is started to edit a single file with the command

vim file

More generally Vim is started with:

vim [options] [filelist]

If the filelist is missing, the editor will start with an empty buffer. Otherwise exactly one out of the following four may be used to choose one or more files to be edited.

file ..

A list of filenames. The first one will be the current file and read into the buffer. The cursor will be positioned on the first line of the buffer. You can get to the other files with the ":next" command. To edit a file that starts with a dash, precede the filelist with "--".

-

The file to edit is read from stdin. Commands are read from stderr, which should be a tty.

-t {tag}

The file to edit and the initial cursor position depends on a "tag", a sort of goto label. {tag} is looked up in the tags file, the associated file becomes the current file and the associated command is executed. Mostly this is used for C programs, in which case {tag} could be a function name. The effect is that the file containing that function becomes the current file and the cursor is positioned on the start of the function. See ":help tag-commands".

-q [errorfile]

Start in quickFix mode. The file [errorfile] is read and the first error is displayed. If [errorfile] is omitted, the filename is obtained from the ’errorfile’ option (defaults to "AztecC.Err" for the Amiga, "errors.err" on other systems). Further errors can be jumped to with the ":cn" command. See ":help quickfix".

Vim behaves differently, depending on the name of the command (the executable may still be the same file).

vim

The "normal" way, everything is default.

ex

Start in Ex mode. Go to Normal mode with the ":vi" command. Can also be done with the "-e" argument.

view

Start in read-only mode. You will be protected from writing the files. Can also be done with the "-R" argument.

gvim gview

The GUI version. Starts a new window. Can also be done with the "-g" argument.

evim eview

The GUI version in easy mode. Starts a new window. Can also be done with the "-y" argument.

rvim rview rgvim rgview

Like the above, but with restrictions. It will not be possible to start shell commands, or suspend Vim. Can also be done with the "-Z" argument.

options

The options may be given in any order, before or after filenames. Options without an argument can be combined after a single dash.

+[num]

For the first file the cursor will be positioned on line "num". If "num" is missing, the cursor will be positioned on the last line.

+/{pat}

For the first file the cursor will be positioned on the first occurrence of {pat}. See ":help search-pattern" for the available search patterns.

+{command}

-c {command}

{command} will be executed after the first file has been read. {command} is interpreted as an Ex command. If the {command} contains spaces it must be enclosed in double quotes (this depends on the shell that is used). Example: Vim "+set si" main.c
Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" commands.

-S {file}

{file} will be sourced after the first file has been read. This is equivalent to -c "source {file}". {file} cannot start with ’-’. If {file} is omitted "Session.vim" is used (only works when -S is the last argument).

--cmd {command}

Like using "-c", but the command is executed just before processing any vimrc file. You can use up to 10 of these commands, independently from "-c" commands.

-A

If Vim has been compiled with ARABIC support for editing right-to-left oriented files and Arabic keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Arabic mode, i.e. ’arabic’ is set. Otherwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.

-b

Binary mode. A few options will be set that makes it possible to edit a binary or executable file.

-C

Compatible. Set the ’compatible’ option. This will make Vim behave mostly like Vi, even though a .vimrc file exists.

-d

Start in diff mode. There should be two, three or four file name arguments. Vim will open all the files and show differences between them. Works like vimdiff(1).

-d {device}

Open {device} for use as a terminal. Only on the Amiga. Example: "-d con:20/30/600/150".

-D

Debugging. Go to debugging mode when executing the first command from a script.

-e

Start Vim in Ex mode, just like the executable was called "ex".

-E

Start Vim in improved Ex mode, just like the executable was called "exim".

-f

Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not fork and detach from the shell it was started in. On the Amiga, Vim is not restarted to open a new window. This option should be used when Vim is executed by a program that will wait for the edit session to finish (e.g. mail). On the Amiga the ":sh" and ":!" commands will not work.

--nofork

Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not fork and detach from the shell it was started in.

-F

If Vim has been compiled with FKMAP support for editing right-to-left oriented files and Farsi keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Farsi mode, i.e. ’fkmap’ and ’rightleft’ are set. Otherwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.

-g

If Vim has been compiled with GUI support, this option enables the GUI. If no GUI support was compiled in, an error message is given and Vim aborts.

-h

Give a bit of help about the command line arguments and options. After this Vim exits.

-H

If Vim has been compiled with RIGHTLEFT support for editing right-to-left oriented files and Hebrew keyboard mapping, this option starts Vim in Hebrew mode, i.e. ’hkmap’ and ’rightleft’ are set. Otherwise an error message is given and Vim aborts.

-i {viminfo}

When using the viminfo file is enabled, this option sets the filename to use, instead of the default "~/.viminfo". This can also be used to skip the use of the .viminfo file, by giving the name "NONE".

-L

Same as -r.

-l

Lisp mode. Sets the ’lisp’ and ’showmatch’ options on.

-m

Modifying files is disabled. Resets the ’write’ option. You can still modify the buffer, but writing a file is not possible.

-M

Modifications not allowed. The ’modifiable’ and ’write’ options will be unset, so that changes are not allowed and files can not be written. Note that these options can be set to enable making modifications.

-N

No-compatible mode. Reset the ’compatible’ option. This will make Vim behave a bit better, but less Vi compatible, even though a .vimrc file does not exist.

-n

No swap file will be used. Recovery after a crash will be impossible. Handy if you want to edit a file on a very slow medium (e.g. floppy). Can also be done with ":set uc=0". Can be undone with ":set uc=200".

-nb

Become an editor server for NetBeans. See the docs for details.

-o[N]

Open N windows stacked. When N is omitted, open one window for each file.

-O[N]

Open N windows side by side. When N is omitted, open one window for each file.

-p[N]

Open N tab pages. When N is omitted, open one tab page for each file.

-R

Read-only mode. The ’readonly’ option will be set. You can still edit the buffer, but will be prevented from accidently overwriting a file. If you do want to overwrite a file, add an exclamation mark to the Ex command, as in ":w!". The -R option also implies the -n option (see below). The ’readonly’ option can be reset with ":set noro". See ":help ’readonly’".

-r

List swap files, with information about using them for recovery.

-r {file}

Recovery mode. The swap file is used to recover a crashed editing session. The swap file is a file with the same filename as the text file with ".swp" appended. See ":help recovery".

-s

Silent mode. Only when started as "Ex" or when the "-e" option was given before the "-s" option.

-s {scriptin}

The script file {scriptin} is read. The characters in the file are interpreted as if you had typed them. The same can be done with the command ":source! {scriptin}". If the end of the file is reached before the editor exits, further characters are read from the keyboard.

-T {terminal}

Tells Vim the name of the terminal you are using. Only required when the automatic way doesn’t work. Should be a terminal known to Vim (builtin) or defined in the termcap or terminfo file.

-u {vimrc}

Use the commands in the file {vimrc} for initializations. All the other initializations are skipped. Use this to edit a special kind of files. It can also be used to skip all initializations by giving the name "NONE". See ":help initialization" within vim for more details.

-U {gvimrc}

Use the commands in the file {gvimrc} for GUI initializations. All the other GUI initializations are skipped. It can also be used to skip all GUI initializations by giving the name "NONE". See ":help gui-init" within vim for more details.

-V[N]

Verbose. Give messages about which files are sourced and for reading and writing a viminfo file. The optional number N is the value for ’verbose’. Default is 10.

-v

Start Vim in Vi mode, just like the executable was called "vi". This only has effect when the executable is called "ex".

-w {scriptout}

All the characters that you type are recorded in the file {scriptout}, until you exit Vim. This is useful if you want to create a script file to be used with "vim -s" or ":source!". If the {scriptout} file exists, characters are appended.

-W {scriptout}

Like -w, but an existing file is overwritten.

-x

Use encryption when writing files. Will prompt for a crypt key.

-X

Don’t connect to the X server. Shortens startup time in a terminal, but the window title and clipboard will not be used.

-y

Start Vim in easy mode, just like the executable was called "evim" or "eview". Makes Vim behave like a click-and-type editor.

-Z

Restricted mode. Works like the executable starts with "r".

--

Denotes the end of the options. Arguments after this will be handled as a file name. This can be used to edit a filename that starts with a ’-’.

--echo-wid

GTK GUI only: Echo the Window ID on stdout.

--help

Give a help message and exit, just like "-h".

--literal

Take file name arguments literally, do not expand wildcards. This has no effect on Unix where the shell expands wildcards.

--noplugin

Skip loading plugins. Implied by -u NONE.

--remote

Connect to a Vim server and make it edit the files given in the rest of the arguments. If no server is found a warning is given and the files are edited in the current Vim.

--remote-expr {expr}

Connect to a Vim server, evaluate {expr} in it and print the result on stdout.

--remote-send {keys}

Connect to a Vim server and send {keys} to it.

--remote-silent

As --remote, but without the warning when no server is found.

--remote-wait

As --remote, but Vim does not exit until the files have been edited.

--remote-wait-silent

As --remote-wait, but without the warning when no server is found.

--serverlist

List the names of all Vim servers that can be found.

--servername {name}

Use {name} as the server name. Used for the current Vim, unless used with a --remote argument, then it’s the name of the server to connect to.

--socketid {id}

GTK GUI only: Use the GtkPlug mechanism to run gvim in another window.

--version

Print version information and exit.

files

/usr/share/vim/vim73/doc/*.txt

The Vim documentation files. Use ":help doc-file-list" to get the complete list.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/doc/tags

The tags file used for finding information in the documentation files.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/syntax/syntax.vim

System wide syntax initializations.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/syntax/*.vim

Syntax files for various languages.

/usr/share/vim/vimrc

System wide Vim initializations.

~/.vimrc

Your personal Vim initializations.

/usr/share/vim/gvimrc

System wide gvim initializations.

~/.gvimrc

Your personal gvim initializations.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/optwin.vim

Script used for the ":options" command, a nice way to view and set options.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/menu.vim

System wide menu initializations for gvim.

/usr/share/vim/vim73/bugreport.vim

Script to generate a bug report. See ":help bugs".

/usr/share/vim/vim73/filetype.vim

Script to detect the type of a file by its name. See ":help ’filetype’".

/usr/share/vim/vim73/scripts.vim

Script to detect the type of a file by its contents. See ":help ’filetype’".

/usr/share/vim/vim73/print/*.ps

Files used for PostScript printing.

For recent info read the VIM home page:
<URL:http://www.vim.org/>

on-line help

Type ":help" in Vim to get started. Type ":help subject" to get help on a specific subject. For example: ":help ZZ" to get help for the "ZZ" command. Use <Tab> and CTRL-D to complete subjects (":help cmdline-completion"). Tags are present to jump from one place to another (sort of hypertext links, see ":help"). All documentation files can be viewed in this way, for example ":help syntax.txt".


bugs

Probably. See ":help todo" for a list of known problems.

Note that a number of things that may be regarded as bugs by some, are in fact caused by a too-faithful reproduction of Vi’s behaviour. And if you think other things are bugs "because Vi does it differently", you should take a closer look at the vi_diff.txt file (or type :help vi_diff.txt when in Vim). Also have a look at the ’compatible’ and ’cpoptions’ options.


see also

vimtutor


author

Most of Vim was made by Bram Moolenaar, with a lot of help from others. See ":help credits" in Vim.
Vim
is based on Stevie, worked on by: Tim Thompson, Tony Andrews and G.R. (Fred) Walter. Although hardly any of the original code remains.

How can this site be more helpful to YOU ?


give  feedback