11 Nov
2005
11 Nov
'05
21:36
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 FeldmanBoston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9