 |
|
| |
VI(1) |
FreeBSD General Commands Manual |
VI(1) |
ex , vi ,
view —
text editors
ex |
[ -FRrSsv ]
[-c
cmd ]
[-t
tag ]
[-w
size ]
[file ... ] |
vi |
[ -eFRrS ]
[-c
cmd ]
[-t
tag ]
[-w
size ]
[file ... ] |
view |
[ -eFrS ]
[-c
cmd ]
[-t
tag ]
[-w
size ]
[file ... ] |
vi is a screen-oriented text editor.
ex is a line-oriented text editor.
ex and
vi are different interfaces to the same
program, and it is possible to switch back and forth during an edit session.
view is the equivalent of using the
-R (read-only) option of
vi .
This manual page is the one provided with the
nex / nvi
versions of the
ex / vi
text editors.
nex / nvi
are intended as bug-for-bug compatible replacements for the original Fourth
Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD) ex
and vi programs. For the rest of this
manual page,
nex / nvi
is used only when it's necessary to distinguish it from the historic
implementations of
ex / vi .
This manual page is intended for users already familiar with
ex / vi .
Anyone else should almost certainly read a good tutorial on the editor before
this manual page. If you're in an unfamiliar environment, and you absolutely
have to get work done immediately, read the section after the options
description, entitled FAST
STARTUP. It's probably enough to get you going.
The following options are available:
-c
cmd
- Execute cmd on the first file loaded.
Particularly useful for initial positioning in the file, although
cmd is not limited to positioning
commands. This is the POSIX 1003.2 interface for the historic
“+cmd” syntax.
nex /nvi
supports both the old and new syntax.
-e
- Start editing in ex mode, as if the command name were
ex .
-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.)
-R
- Start editing in read-only mode, as if the command name was
view , or the
readonly option was set.
-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
-r
option had not been specified.
-S
- Run with the
secure edit option set,
disallowing all access to external programs.
-s
- Enter batch mode; applicable only to
ex
edit sessions. Batch mode is useful when running
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 “-” argument.
nex /nvi
supports both the old and new syntax.
-t
tag
- Start editing at the specified tag (see
ctags(1)).
-v
- Start editing in vi mode, as if the command name was
vi .
-w
size
- Set the initial window size to the specified number of lines.
Command input for
ex / vi is
read from the standard input. In the vi
interface, it is an error if standard input is not a terminal. In the
ex interface, if standard input is not a
terminal, ex will read commands from it
regardless; however, the session will be a batch mode session, exactly as if
the -s option had been specified.
This section will tell you the minimum amount that you need to do simple editing
tasks using 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
vi and have them walk you through this
section.
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 vi , and
for vi to give information to you.
The other fact that you need to understand is that
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
⟨escape⟩ key.
In this manual, key names are denoted with ⟨ and ⟩, e.g.,
⟨escape⟩ means the “escape” key, usually labeled
“Esc” on your terminal's keyboard. If you're ever confused as to
which mode you're in, keep entering the ⟨escape⟩ key until
vi beeps at you. Generally,
vi will beep at you if you try and do
something that's not allowed. It will also display error messages.
To start editing a file, enter the following command:
$ vi file
The command you should enter as soon as you start editing is:
:set verbose showmode
This will make the editor give you verbose error messages and display the
current mode at the bottom of the screen.
The commands to move around the file are:
h
- Move the cursor left one character.
j
- Move the cursor down one line.
k
- Move the cursor up one line.
l
- Move the cursor right one character.
- ⟨
cursor-arrows ⟩
- The cursor arrow keys should work, too.
/ text
- Search for the string
“text” in the file, and
move the cursor to its first character.
The commands to enter new text are:
a
- Append new text, after the cursor.
i
- Insert new text, before the cursor.
o
- Open a new line below the line the cursor is on, and start entering
text.
O
- Open a new line above the line the cursor is on, and start entering
text.
- ⟨
escape ⟩
- Once you've entered input mode using one of the
a ,
i , o
or O commands, use
⟨escape ⟩ to quit entering
text and return to command mode.
The commands to copy text are:
yy
- Copy the line the cursor is on.
p
- Append the copied line after the line the cursor is on.
The commands to delete text are:
dd
- Delete the line the cursor is on.
x
- Delete the character the cursor is on.
The commands to write the file are:
:w
- Write the file back to the file with the name that you originally used as
an argument on the
vi command
line.
:w
file_name
- Write the file back to the file with the name
file_name.
The commands to quit editing and exit the editor are:
:q
- Quit editing and leave
vi (if you've
modified the file, but not saved your changes,
vi will refuse to quit).
:q!
- Quit, discarding any modifications that you may have made.
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 “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.
ex / vi
supports regular expressions (REs), as documented in
re_format(7),
for line addresses, as the first part of the
ex
substitute ,
global and
v commands, and in search patterns. Basic
regular expressions (BREs) are enabled by default; extended regular
expressions (EREs) are used if the extended
option is enabled. The use of regular expressions can be largely disabled
using the magic option.
The following strings have special meanings in the
ex / vi
version of regular expressions:
- An empty regular expression is equivalent to the last regular expression
used.
- ‘\<’ matches the beginning of the word.
- ‘\>’ matches the end of the word.
- ‘~’ matches the replacement part of the last
substitute command.
A buffer is an area where commands can save changed or deleted text for later
use. vi buffers are named with a single
character preceded by a double quote, for example
" ⟨ c⟩;
ex buffers are the same, but without the
double quote.
nex / nvi
permits the use of any character without another meaning in the position where
a buffer name is expected.
All buffers are either in line mode or
character mode. Inserting a buffer in line mode
into the text creates new lines for each of the lines it contains, while a
buffer in character mode creates new lines for any lines
other than the first and last lines it contains.
The first and last lines are inserted at the current cursor position, becoming
part of the current line. If there is more than one line in the buffer, the
current line itself will be split. All ex
commands which store text into buffers do so in line mode. The behaviour of
vi commands depend on their associated
motion command:
- ⟨
control-A ⟩,
h ,
l ,
, ,
0 ,
B ,
E ,
F ,
T ,
W ,
^ ,
b ,
e , f
and t make the destination buffer
character-oriented.
j ,
⟨control-M ⟩,
k ,
' ,
- ,
G ,
H ,
L ,
M , _
and | make the destination buffer
line-oriented.
$ ,
% ,
` ,
( ,
) ,
/ ,
? ,
[[ ,
]] ,
{ and
} make the destination buffer
character-oriented, unless the starting and end positions are the first
and last characters on a line. In that case, the buffer is
line-oriented.
The ex command
display buffers displays the current mode
for each buffer.
Buffers named ‘a’ through ‘z’ may be referred to
using their uppercase equivalent, in which case new content will be appended
to the buffer, instead of replacing it.
Buffers named ‘1’ through ‘9’ are special. A region
of text modified using the c (change) or
d (delete) commands is placed into the
numeric buffer ‘1’ if no other buffer is specified and if it
meets one of the following conditions:
- It includes characters from more than one line.
- It is specified using a line-oriented motion.
- It is specified using one of the following motion commands:
⟨
control-A ⟩,
` ⟨character⟩,
n ,
N ,
% ,
/ ,
{ ,
} ,
( ,
) , and
? .
Before this copy is done, the previous contents of buffer ‘1’ are
moved into buffer ‘2’, ‘2’ into buffer
‘3’, and so on. The contents of buffer ‘9’ are
discarded. Note that this rotation occurs
regardless of the user specifying another buffer.
In vi , text may be explicitly stored into
the numeric buffers. In this case, the buffer rotation occurs before the
replacement of the buffer's contents. The numeric buffers are only available
in vi mode.
The following section describes the commands available in the command mode of
the vi editor. The following words have a
special meaning in the commands description:
- bigword
- A set of non-whitespace characters.
- buffer
- Temporary area where commands may place text. If not specified, the
default buffer is used. See also
BUFFERS, above.
- count
- A positive number used to specify the desired number of iterations of a
command. It defaults to 1 if not specified.
- motion
- A cursor movement command which indicates the other end of the affected
region of text, the first being the current cursor position. Repeating the
command character makes it affect the whole current line.
- word
- A sequence of letters, digits or underscores.
buffer and
count, if both present, may be specified in
any order. motion and
count, if both present, are effectively
multiplied together and considered part of the motion.
- ⟨
control-A ⟩
- Search forward for the word starting at the cursor position.
- [
count ]
⟨control-B ⟩
- Page backwards count screens. Two lines
of overlap are maintained, if possible.
- [
count ]
⟨control-D ⟩
- Scroll forward count lines. If
count is not given, scroll forward the
number of lines specified by the last
⟨
control-D ⟩ or
⟨control-U ⟩ command. If
this is the first
⟨control-D ⟩ command,
scroll half the number of lines in the current screen.
- [
count ]
⟨control-E ⟩
- Scroll forward count lines, leaving the
current line and column as is, if possible.
- [
count ]
⟨control-F ⟩
- Page forward count screens. Two lines of
overlap are maintained, if possible.
- ⟨
control-G ⟩
- Display the following file information: the file name (as given to
vi ); whether the file has been modified
since it was last written; if the file is read-only; the current line
number; the total number of lines in the file; and the current line number
as a percentage of the total lines in the file.
- [
count ]
⟨control-H ⟩
-
- [
count ]
h
- Move the cursor back count characters in
the current line.
- [
count ]
⟨control-J ⟩
-
- [
count ]
⟨control-N ⟩
-
- [
count ]
j
- Move the cursor down count lines without
changing the current column.
- ⟨
control-L ⟩
-
- ⟨
control-R ⟩
- Repaint the screen.
- [
count ]
⟨control-M ⟩
-
- [
count ]
+
- Move the cursor down count lines to the
first non-blank character of that line.
- [
count ]
⟨control-P ⟩
-
- [
count ]
k
- Move the cursor up count lines, without
changing the current column.
- ⟨
control-T ⟩
- Return to the most recent tag context.
- [
count ]
⟨control-U ⟩
- Scroll backwards count lines. If
count is not given, scroll backwards the
number of lines specified by the last
⟨
control-D ⟩ or
⟨control-U ⟩ command. If
this is the first
⟨control-U ⟩ command,
scroll half the number of lines in the current screen.
- ⟨
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.
- [
count ]
⟨control-Y ⟩
- Scroll backwards count lines, leaving the
current line and column as is, if possible.
- ⟨
control-Z ⟩
- Suspend the current editor session.
- ⟨
escape ⟩
- Execute the
ex command being entered,
or cancel it if it is only partial.
- ⟨
control-] ⟩
- Push a tag reference onto the tag stack.
- ⟨
control-^ ⟩
- Switch to the most recently edited file.
- [
count ]
⟨space ⟩
-
- [
count ]
l
- Move the cursor forward count characters
without changing the current line.
- [
count ]
! motion
shell-argument(s)
⟨carriage-return ⟩
- Replace the lines spanned by count and
motion with the output (standard output
and standard error) of the program named by the
shell option, called with a
-c flag followed by the
shell-argument(s) (bundled into a single
argument). Within shell-argument(s), the
‘%’, ‘#’ and ‘!’ characters are
expanded to the current file name, the previous current file name, and the
command text of the previous ! or
:! commands, respectively. The special
meaning of ‘%’, ‘#’ and ‘!’ can
be overridden by escaping them with a backslash.
- [
count ]
#
# |+ |-
- Increment (trailing ‘#’ or ‘+’) or decrement
(trailing ‘-’) the number under the cursor by
count, starting at the cursor position or
at the first non-blank character following it. Numbers with a leading
‘0x’ or ‘0X’ are interpreted as hexadecimal
numbers. Numbers with a leading ‘0’ are interpreted as octal
numbers unless they contain a non-octal digit. Other numbers may be
prefixed with a ‘+’ or ‘-’ sign.
- [
count ]
$
- Move the cursor to the end of a line. If
count is specified, additionally move the
cursor down count − 1 lines.
%
- Move to the
matchchars character
matching the one found at the cursor position or the closest to the right
of it.
&
- Repeat the previous substitution command on the current line.
' ⟨character⟩
-
` ⟨character⟩
- Return to the cursor position marked by the character
character, or, if
character is ‘'’ or
‘`’, to the position of the cursor before the last of the
following commands:
⟨
control-A ⟩,
⟨control-T ⟩,
⟨control-] ⟩,
% ,
' ,
` ,
( ,
) ,
/ ,
? ,
G ,
H ,
L ,
[[ ,
]] ,
{ ,
} . The first form returns to the first
non-blank character of the line marked by
character. The second form returns to the
line and column marked by character.
- [
count ]
(
-
- [
count ]
)
- Move count sentences backward or forward,
respectively. A sentence is an area of text that begins with the first
nonblank character following the previous sentence, paragraph, or section
boundary and continues until the next period, exclamation point, or
question mark character, followed by any number of closing parentheses,
brackets, double or single quote characters, followed by either an
end-of-line or two whitespace characters. Groups of empty lines (or lines
containing only whitespace characters) are treated as a single sentence.
- [
count ]
,
- Reverse find character (i.e., the last
F ,
f , T
or t
command) count
times.
- [
count ]
-
- Move to the first non-blank character of the previous line,
count times.
- [
count ]
.
- Repeat the last
vi command that
modified text. count replaces both the
count argument of the repeated command
and that of the associated motion. If the
. command repeats the
u command, the change log is rolled
forward or backward, depending on the action of the
u command.
- /RE
⟨
carriage-return ⟩
-
- /RE/
[
offset ]
[z ]
⟨carriage-return ⟩
-
- ?RE
⟨
carriage-return ⟩
-
- ?RE?
[
offset ]
[z ]
⟨carriage-return ⟩
-
N
-
n
- Search forward (‘/’) or backward (‘?’) for a
regular expression.
n and
N repeat the last search in the same or
opposite directions, respectively. If RE
is empty, the last search regular expression is used. If
offset is specified, the cursor is placed
offset lines before or after the matched
regular expression. If either n or
N commands are used as motion
components for the ! command, there
will be no prompt for the text of the command and the previous
! will be executed. Multiple search
patterns may be grouped together by delimiting them with semicolons and
zero or more whitespace characters. These patterns are evaluated from left
to right with the final cursor position determined by the last search
pattern. A z command may be appended to
the closed search expressions to reposition the result line.
0
- Move to the first character in the current line.
:
- Execute an
ex command.
- [
count ]
;
- Repeat the last character find (i.e., the last .Cm F, f, T
or
t
command) count
times.
- [
count ]
<
motion
-
- [
count ]
>
motion
- Shift count lines left or right,
respectively, by an amount of
shiftwidth .
@
buffer
- Execute a named buffer as
vi commands. The buffer may include
ex commands too, but they must be
expressed as a : command. If
buffer is ‘@’ or
‘*’, then the last buffer executed shall be used.
- [
count ]
A
- Enter input mode, appending the text after the end of the line. If a
count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count − 1 times
after input mode is exited.
- [
count ]
B
- Move backwards count bigwords.
- [
buffer ]
C
- Change text from the current position to the end-of-line. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the deleted text into buffer.
- [
buffer ]
D
- Delete text from the current position to the end-of-line. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the deleted text into buffer.
- [
count ]
E
- Move forward count end-of-bigwords.
- [
count ]
F
⟨character⟩
- Search count times backward through the
current line for
⟨character⟩.
- [
count ]
G
- Move to line count, or the last line of
the file if count is not specified.
- [
count ]
H
- Move to the screen line count − 1
lines below the top of the screen.
- [
count ]
I
- Enter input mode, inserting the text at the beginning of the line. If a
count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count − 1 more
times.
- [
count ]
J
- Join count lines with the current line.
The spacing between two joined lines is set to two whitespace characters
if the former ends with a question mark, a period or an exclamation point.
It is set to one whitespace character otherwise.
- [
count ]
L
- Move to the screen line count − 1
lines above the bottom of the screen.
M
- Move to the screen line in the middle of the screen.
- [
count ]
O
- Enter input mode, appending text in a new line above the current line. If
a count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count − 1 more
times.
- [
buffer ]
P
- Insert text from buffer before the
current column if buffer is
character-oriented or before the current line if it is line-oriented.
Q
- Exit
vi (or visual) mode and switch to
ex mode.
- [
count ]
R
- Enter input mode, replacing the characters in the current line. If a
count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count − 1 more
times upon exit from insert mode.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
S
- Substitute count lines. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the deleted text into buffer.
- [
count ]
T
⟨character⟩
- Search backwards, count times, through
the current line for the character after the specified
⟨character⟩.
U
- Restore the current line to its state before the cursor last moved to it.
- [
count ]
W
- Move forward count bigwords.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
X
- Delete count characters before the
cursor, on the current line. If buffer is
specified, “yank” the deleted text into
buffer.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
Y
- Copy (or “yank”) count
lines into buffer.
ZZ
- Write the file and exit
vi if there are
no more files to edit. Entering two “quit” commands in a row
ignores any remaining file to edit.
- [
count ]
[[
- Back up count section boundaries.
- [
count ]
]]
- Move forward count section boundaries.
^
- Move to the first non-blank character on the current line.
- [
count ]
_
- Move down count − 1 lines, to the
first non-blank character.
- [
count ]
a
- Enter input mode, appending the text after the cursor. If a
count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count number of times.
- [
count ]
b
- Move backwards count words.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
c
motion
- Change the region of text described by
count and
motion. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the changed text into buffer.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
d
motion
- Delete the region of text described by
count and
motion. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the deleted text into buffer.
- [
count ]
e
- Move forward count end-of-words.
- [
count ]
f
⟨character⟩
- Search forward, count times, through the
rest of the current line for
⟨character⟩.
- [
count ]
i
- Enter input mode, inserting the text before the cursor. If a
count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count number of times.
m
⟨character⟩
- Save the current context (line and column) as
⟨character⟩.
- [
count ]
o
- Enter input mode, appending text in a new line under the current line. If
a count argument is given, the characters
input are repeated count − 1 more
times.
- [
buffer ]
p
- Append text from buffer. Text is appended
after the current column if buffer is
character oriented, or after the current line otherwise.
- [
count ]
r
⟨character⟩
- Replace count characters with
character.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
s
- Substitute count characters in the
current line starting with the current character. If
buffer is specified, “yank”
the substituted text into buffer.
- [
count ]
t
⟨character⟩
- Search forward, count times, through the
current line for the character immediately before
⟨character⟩.
u
- Undo the last change made to the file. If repeated, the
u command alternates between these two
states. The . command, when used
immediately after u , causes the change
log to be rolled forward or backward, depending on the action of the
u command.
- [
count ]
w
- Move forward count words.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
x
- Delete count characters at the current
cursor position, but no more than there are till the end of the line.
- [
buffer ]
[count ]
y
motion
- Copy (or “yank”) a text region specified by
count and
motion into a buffer.
- [
count1 ]
z
[count2 ]
type
- Redraw, optionally repositioning and resizing the screen. If
count2 is specified, limit the screen
size to count2 lines. The following
type characters may be used:
+
- If count1 is specified, place the
line count1 at the top of the screen.
Otherwise, display the screen after the current screen.
- ⟨
carriage-return ⟩
- Place the line count1 at the top of
the screen.
.
- Place the line count1 in the center
of the screen.
-
- Place the line count1 at the bottom
of the screen.
^
- If count1 is given, display the
screen before the screen before
count1 (i.e., 2 screens before).
Otherwise, display the screen before the current screen.
- [
count ]
{
- Move backward count paragraphs.
- [
column ]
|
- Move to a specific column position on the
current line. If column is omitted, move
to the start of the current line.
- [
count ]
}
- Move forward count paragraphs.
- [
count ]
~
motion
- If the
tildeop option is not set,
reverse the case of the next count
character(s) and no motion can be
specified. Otherwise motion is mandatory
and ~ reverses the case of the
characters in a text region specified by the
count and
motion.
- ⟨
interrupt ⟩
- Interrupt the current operation. The ⟨interrupt⟩ character
is usually ⟨control-C⟩.
The following section describes the commands available in the text input mode of
the vi editor.
- ⟨
nul ⟩
- Replay the previous input.
- ⟨
control-D ⟩
- Erase to the previous shiftwidth column
boundary.
^ ⟨control-D ⟩
- Erase all of the autoindent characters, and reset the autoindent level.
0 ⟨control-D ⟩
- Erase all of the autoindent characters.
- ⟨
control-T ⟩
- Insert sufficient ⟨tab⟩ and ⟨space⟩ characters
to move forward to the next shiftwidth
column boundary.
- ⟨
erase ⟩
-
- ⟨
control-H ⟩
- Erase the last character.
- ⟨
literal next ⟩
- Escape the next character from any special meaning. The
⟨literal next⟩ character is usually
⟨control-V⟩.
- ⟨
escape ⟩
- Resolve all text input into the file, and return to command mode.
- ⟨
line erase ⟩
- Erase the current line.
- ⟨
control-W ⟩
-
- ⟨
word erase ⟩
- Erase the last word. The definition of word is dependent on the
altwerase and
ttywerase options.
- ⟨
control-X ⟩[0-9A-Fa-f ]+
- Insert a character with the specified hexadecimal value into the text.
- ⟨
interrupt ⟩
- Interrupt text input mode, returning to command mode. The
⟨interrupt⟩ character is usually
⟨control-C⟩.
The following section describes the commands available in the
ex editor. In each entry below, the tag
line is a usage synopsis for the command.
- ⟨
end-of-file ⟩
- Scroll the screen.
!
argument(s)
-
- [
range ]
!
argument(s)
- Execute a shell command, or filter lines through a shell command.
"
- A comment.
- [
range ]
nu [mber ]
[count ]
[flags ]
-
- [
range ]
#
[count ]
[flags ]
- Display the selected lines, each preceded with its line number.
@
buffer
-
*
buffer
- Execute a buffer.
- [
range ]
< [<
... ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Shift lines left.
- [
line ]
=
[flags ]
- Display the line number of line. If
line is not specified, display the line
number of the last line in the file.
- [
range ]
> [>
... ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Shift lines right.
ab [breviate ]
lhs rhs
vi only. Add
lhs as an abbreviation for
rhs to the abbreviation list.
- [
line ]
a [ppend ][! ]
- The input text is appended after the specified line.
ar [gs ]
- Display the argument list.
bg
vi only. Background the current screen.
- [
range ]
c [hange ][! ]
[count ]
- The input text replaces the specified range.
chd [ir ][! ]
[directory ]
-
cd [! ]
[directory ]
- Change the current working directory.
- [
range ]
co [py ]
line
[flags ]
-
- [
range ]
t line
[flags ]
- Copy the specified lines after the destination
line.
cs [cope ]
add |
find
|
help
|
kill
|
reset
- Execute a Cscope command.
- [
range ]
d [elete ]
[buffer ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Delete the lines from the file.
di [splay ]
b [uffers ]
|
c [onnections ]
|
s [creens ]
|
t [ags ]
- Display buffers, Cscope connections, screens or tags.
- [
Ee ][dit ][! ]
[+cmd ]
[file ]
-
- [
Ee ]x [! ]
[+cmd ]
[file ]
- Edit a different file.
exu [sage ]
[command ]
- Display usage for an
ex command.
f [ile ]
[file ]
- Display and optionally change the file name.
- [
Ff ]g
[name ]
vi mode only. Foreground the specified
screen.
- [
range ]
g [lobal ]
/pattern/
[commands ]
-
- [
range ]
v
/pattern/
[commands ]
- Apply commands to lines matching (‘global’) or not matching
(‘v’) a pattern.
he [lp ]
- Display a help message.
- [
line ]
i [nsert ][! ]
- The input text is inserted before the specified line.
- [
range ]
j [oin ][! ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Join lines of text together.
- [
range ]
l [ist ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Display the lines unambiguously.
map [! ]
[lhs rhs ]
- Define or display maps (for
vi
only).
- [
line ]
ma [rk ]
⟨character⟩
-
- [
line ]
k
⟨character⟩
- Mark the line with the mark
⟨character⟩.
- [
range ]
m [ove ]
line
- Move the specified lines after the target line.
mk [exrc ][! ]
file
- Write the abbreviations, editor options and maps to the specified
file.
- [
Nn ][ext ][! ]
[file ... ]
- Edit the next file from the argument list.
pre [serve ]
- Save the file in a form that can later be recovered using the
ex
-r option.
- [
Pp ]rev [ious ][! ]
- Edit the previous file from the argument list.
- [
range ]
p [rint ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Display the specified lines.
- [
line ]
pu [t ]
[buffer ]
- Append buffer contents to the current line.
q [uit ][! ]
- End the editing session.
- [
line ]
r [ead ][! ]
[file ]
- Read a file.
rec [over ]
file
- Recover file if it was previously saved.
res [ize ]
[+ |- ]size
vi mode only. Grow or shrink the
current screen.
rew [ind ][! ]
- Rewind the argument list.
se [t ]
[]
[nooption ... ] [option?
... ] [all ]
- Display or set editor options.
sh [ell ]
- Run a shell program.
so [urce ]
file
- Read and execute
ex commands from a
file.
- [
range ]
s [ubstitute ]
[/pattern/replace/ ]
[options ]
[count ]
[flags ]
-
- [
range ]
&
[options ]
[count ]
[flags ]
-
- [
range ]
~
[options ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Make substitutions. The replace field may
contain any of the following sequences:
- ‘&’
- The text matched by pattern.
- ‘~’
- The replacement part of the previous
substitute command.
- ‘%’
- If this is the entire replace
pattern, the replacement part of the previous
substitute command.
- ‘\#’
- Where ‘#’ is an integer
from 1 to 9, the text matched by the
#'th subexpression in
pattern.
- ‘\L’
- Causes the characters up to the end of the line of the next occurrence
of ‘\E’ or ‘\e’ to be converted to
lowercase.
- ‘\l’
- Causes the next character to be converted to lowercase.
- ‘\U’
- Causes the characters up to the end of the line of the next occurrence
of ‘\E’ or ‘\e’ to be converted to
uppercase.
- ‘\u’
- Causes the next character to be converted to uppercase.
su [spend ][! ]
-
st [op ][! ]
-
- ⟨
suspend ⟩
- Suspend the edit session. The ⟨suspend⟩ character is usually
⟨control-Z⟩.
- [
Tt ]a [g ][! ]
tagstring
- Edit the file containing the specified tag.
tagn [ext ][! ]
- Edit the file containing the next context for the current tag.
tagp [op ][! ]
[file |
number ]
- Pop to the specified tag in the tags stack.
tagpr [ev ][! ]
- Edit the file containing the previous context for the current tag.
tagt [op ][! ]
- Pop to the least recent tag on the tags stack, clearing the stack.
una [bbreviate ]
lhs
vi only. Delete an abbreviation.
u [ndo ]
- Undo the last change made to the file.
unm [ap ][! ]
lhs
- Unmap a mapped string.
ve [rsion ]
- Display the version of the
ex /vi
editor.
- [
line ]
vi [sual ]
[type ]
[count ]
[flags ]
ex mode only. Enter
vi .
- [
Vi ]i [sual ][! ]
[+cmd ]
[file ]
vi mode only. Edit a new file.
viu [sage ]
[command ]
- Display usage for a
vi command.
- [
range ]
w [rite ][! ]
[>> ]
[file ]
-
- [
range ]
w [rite ]
[! ]
[file ]
-
- [
range ]
wn [! ]
[>> ]
[file ]
-
- [
range ]
wq [! ]
[>> ]
[file ]
- Write the file.
- [
range ]
x [it ][! ]
[file ]
- Exit the editor, writing the file if it has been modified.
- [
range ]
ya [nk ]
[buffer ]
[count ]
- Copy the specified lines to a buffer.
- [
line ]
z
[type ]
[count ]
[flags ]
- Adjust the window.
There are a large number of options that may be set (or unset) to change the
editor's behavior. This section describes the options, their abbreviations and
their default values.
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.
Options apply to both ex and
vi modes, unless otherwise specified.
altwerase
[off]
vi only. Select an alternate word erase
algorithm.
autoindent ,
ai [off]
- Automatically indent new lines.
autoprint ,
ap [on]
ex only. Display the current line
automatically.
autowrite ,
aw [off]
- Write modified files automatically when changing files or suspending the
editor session.
backup
[""]
- Back up files before they are overwritten.
beautify ,
bf [off]
- Discard control characters.
cdpath
[environment variable CDPATH ,
or current directory ]
- The directory paths used as path prefixes for the
cd command.
cedit
[no default]
- Set the character to edit the colon command-line history.
columns ,
co [80]
- Set the number of columns in the screen.
-
[off]
vi only. Skip leading comments in
shell, C and C++ language files.
directory ,
dir [environment variable
TMPDIR ,
or
/tmp]
- The directory where temporary files are created.
edcompatible ,
ed [off]
- Remember the values of the ‘c’ and ‘g’
suffixes to the
substitute commands,
instead of initializing them as unset for each new command.
errorbells ,
eb [off]
ex only. Announce error messages with a
bell.
escapetime
[1]
- The tenths of a second
ex /vi
waits for a subsequent key to complete an ⟨escape⟩ key
mapping.
exrc ,
ex [off]
- Read the startup files in the local directory.
extended
[off]
- Use extended regular expressions (EREs) rather than basic regular
expressions (BREs). See
re_format(7)
for more information on regular expressions.
filec
[⟨tab⟩]
- Set the character to perform file path completion on the colon command
line.
fileencoding ,
fe [auto detect]
- Set the encoding of the current file.
flash
[on]
- Flash the screen instead of beeping the keyboard on error.
hardtabs,
ht [0]
- Set the spacing between hardware tab settings. This option currently has
no effect.
iclower
[off]
- Makes all regular expressions case-insensitive, as long as an upper-case
letter does not appear in the search string.
ignorecase ,
ic [off]
- Ignore case differences in regular expressions.
inputencoding ,
ie [locale]
- Set the encoding of your input characters.
keytime
[6]
- The tenths of a second
ex /vi
waits for a subsequent key to complete a key mapping.
leftright
[off]
vi only. Do left-right scrolling.
lines ,
li [24]
vi only. Set the number of lines in the
screen.
lisp
[off]
vi only. Modify various search commands
and options to work with Lisp. This option is not yet implemented.
list
[off]
- Display lines in an unambiguous fashion.
lock
[on]
- Attempt to get an exclusive lock on any file being edited, read or
written.
magic
[on]
- When turned off, all regular expression characters except for
‘^’ and ‘$’ are treated as ordinary
characters. Preceding individual characters by ‘\’
re-enables them.
matchchars
[[]{}()]
- Character pairs looked for by the
%
command.
matchtime
[7]
vi only. The tenths of a second
ex /vi
pauses on the matching character when the
showmatch option is set.
mesg
[on]
- Permit messages from other users.
msgcat
[/usr/share/vi/catalog/]
- Selects a message catalog to be used to display error and informational
messages in a specified language.
modelines ,
modeline [off]
- Read the first and last few lines of each file for
ex commands. This option will never be
implemented.
noprint
[""]
- Characters that are never handled as printable characters.
number ,
nu [off]
- Precede each line displayed with its current line number.
octal
[off]
- Display unknown characters as octal numbers, instead of the default
hexadecimal.
open
[on]
ex only. If this option is not set, the
open and
visual commands are disallowed.
optimize ,
opt [on]
vi only. Optimize text throughput to
dumb terminals. This option is not yet implemented.
paragraphs ,
para [IPLPPPQPP LIpplpipbp]
vi only. Define additional paragraph
boundaries for the { and
} commands.
path
[""]
- Define additional directories to search for files being edited.
print
[""]
- Characters that are always handled as printable characters.
prompt
[on]
ex only. Display a command prompt.
readonly ,
ro [off]
- Mark the file and session as read-only.
recdir
[/var/tmp/vi.recover]
- The directory where recovery files are stored.
redraw ,
re [off]
vi only. Simulate an intelligent
terminal on a dumb one. This option is not yet implemented.
remap
[on]
- Remap keys until resolved.
report
[5]
- Set the number of lines about which the editor reports changes or
yanks.
ruler
[off]
vi only. Display a row/column ruler on
the colon command line.
scroll ,
scr [window size / 2]
- Set the number of lines scrolled.
searchincr
[off]
- Makes the
/ and
? commands incremental.
sections ,
sect [NHSHH HUnhsh]
vi only. Define additional section
boundaries for the [[ and
]] commands.
secure
[off]
- Turns off all access to external programs.
shell ,
sh [environment variable
SHELL ,
or
/bin/sh]
- Select the shell used by the editor.
shellmeta
[~{[*?$`'"\]
- Set the meta characters checked to determine if file name expansion is
necessary.
shiftwidth ,
sw [8]
- Set the autoindent and shift command indentation width.
showmatch ,
sm [off]
vi only. Note the left matching
characters when the right ones are inserted.
showmode ,
smd [off]
vi only. Display the current editor
mode and a “modified” flag.
sidescroll
[16]
vi only. Set the amount a left-right
scroll will shift.
slowopen ,
slow [off]
- Delay display updating during text input. This option is not yet
implemented.
sourceany
[off]
- Read startup files not owned by the current user. This option will never
be implemented.
tabstop ,
ts [8]
- This option sets tab widths for the editor display.
taglength ,
tl [0]
- Set the number of significant characters in tag names.
tags ,
tag [tags]
- Set the list of tags files.
term ,
ttytype ,
tty [environment variable
TERM ]
- Set the terminal type.
terse
[off]
- This option has historically made editor messages less verbose. It has no
effect in this implementation.
tildeop
[off]
- Modify the
~ command to take an
associated motion.
timeout ,
to [on]
- Time out on keys which may be mapped.
ttywerase
[off]
vi only. Select an alternate erase
algorithm.
verbose
[off]
vi only. Display an error message for
every error.
w300
[no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the
baud rate is less than 1200 baud.
w1200
[no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the
baud rate is equal to 1200 baud.
w9600
[no default]
vi only. Set the window size if the
baud rate is greater than 1200 baud.
warn
[on]
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 !
command.
window ,
w , wi
[environment variable LINES
− 1]
- Set the window size for the screen.
windowname
[off]
- Change the icon/window name to the current file name.
wraplen ,
wl [0]
vi only. Break lines automatically, the
specified number of columns from the left-hand margin. If both the
wraplen and
wrapmargin edit options are set, the
wrapmargin value is used.
wrapmargin ,
wm [0]
vi only. Break lines automatically, the
specified number of columns from the right-hand margin. If both the
wraplen and
wrapmargin edit options are set, the
wrapmargin value is used.
wrapscan ,
ws [on]
- Set searches to wrap around the end or beginning of the file.
writeany ,
wa [off]
- Turn off file-overwriting checks.
COLUMNS
- The number of columns on the screen. This value overrides any system or
terminal specific values. If the
COLUMNS environment variable is not set
when
ex /vi
runs, or the columns option is
explicitly reset by the user,
ex /vi
enters the value into the environment.
EXINIT
- A list of
ex startup commands, read
after /etc/vi.exrc unless the variable
NEXINIT is also set.
HOME
- The user's home directory, used as the initial directory path for the
startup $HOME/.nexrc and
$HOME/.exrc files. This value is also
used as the default directory for the
cd command.
LINES
- The number of rows on the screen. This value overrides any system or
terminal specific values. If the
LINES
environment variable is not set when
ex /vi
runs, or the lines option is explicitly
reset by the user,
ex /vi
enters the value into the environment.
NEXINIT
- A list of
ex startup commands, read
after /etc/vi.exrc.
SHELL
- The user's shell of choice (see also the
shell
option).
TERM
- The user's terminal type. The default is the type “unknown”.
If the
TERM environment variable is not
set when
ex /vi
runs, or the term option is explicitly
reset by the user,
ex /vi
enters the value into the environment.
TMPDIR
- The location used to store temporary files (see also the
directory edit
option).
SIGALRM
vi /ex
uses this signal for periodic backups of file modifications and to display
“busy” messages when operations are likely to take a long
time.
SIGHUP
-
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
vi /ex
reference manual section
Recovery for more
information.
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.
SIGWINCH
- The screen is resized. See the
vi /ex
reference manual section
Sizing the Screen
for more information.
- /bin/sh
- The default user shell.
- /etc/vi.exrc
- System-wide
vi startup file. It is read
for ex commands first in the startup
sequence. Must be owned by root or the user, and writable only by the
owner.
- /tmp
- Temporary file directory.
- /var/tmp/vi.recover
- The default recovery file directory.
- $HOME/.nexrc
- First choice for user's home directory startup file, read for
ex commands right after
/etc/vi.exrc unless either
NEXINIT or
EXINIT are set. Must be owned by root
or the user, and writable only by the owner.
- $HOME/.exrc
- Second choice for user's home directory startup file, read for
ex commands under the same conditions
as $HOME/.nexrc.
- .nexrc
- First choice for local directory startup file, read for
ex commands at the end of the startup
sequence if the exrc option was turned
on earlier. Must be owned by the user and writable only by the owner.
- .exrc
- Second choice for local directory startup file, read for
ex commands under the same conditions
as .nexrc.
The ex and
vi utilities exit 0 on success, and >0
if an error occurs.
ctags(1),
iconv(1),
re_format(7)
nex / nvi is
close to IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
(“POSIX.1”). That document differs from historical
ex / vi
practice in several places; there are changes to be made on both sides.
The ex editor first appeared in
1BSD. The
nex / nvi
replacements for the
ex / vi
editor first appeared in 4.4BSD.
Bill Joy wrote the original version of
ex in 1977.
Visit the GSP FreeBSD Man Page Interface. Output converted with ManDoc.
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