Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4570 mails)

[Jerry Feldman <gaf@xxxxxxx>]

On Friday 11 November 2005 3:38 pm, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
> I don't think of "ex" as a mode in vi, because each ex command has to be
> invoked separately with the ":" prefix (in command mode, of course).  The
> insert/command modes persist until you switch to the other one.  "ex", by
> the way, stands for "extended editor" because it was supposed to be an
> extension of ed.
Whether you don't think of it as a mode, it is a mode of vi.
And also, while you can use the ex command, and then switch to the vi mode. 
Vi has 3 modes:
1. Command mode - this is the default full screen mode
2. Insert mode where you are actually editing the text
3.  Line mode - this is the "ex" mode.
"The full command set of the more traditional, line oriented editor ex is 
available within vi; it is quite simple to switch between the two modes of 
editing". Bill Joy http://docs.freebsd.org/44doc/usd/12.vi/paper.html
If you want to switch from Command mode to Line mode, use the Q command. You 
will now be in ex, and you can type in ex commands without having to use a 
":". In Ex, you type vi, and you go back to command mode.


> Vi was an achievement in its time, but its design was dictated by the
> terminals available when it was written.  My argument against vi now is
> that terminal technology has advanced enormously and has made editing
> modes possible that weren't practicable when vi was written.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf@xxxxxxx>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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