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Learning the vi Editor, Sixth Edition

By Linda Lamb, Arnold Robbins
November 1998
Pages: 348
ISBN 10: 1-56592-426-6 | ISBN 13: 9781565924260
starstarstarstarstar (Average of 9 Customer Reviews)

This book is OUT OF PRINT. Please consider the latest edition.

Description

This complete guide to editing with vi, the editor available on nearly every Unix system, covers four popular vi clones and includes command summaries for easy reference. It starts with the basics, followed by more advanced editing tools, such as ex commands, global search and replacement, and a new feature, multiscreen editing.
Full Description

For many users, working in the Unix environment means using vi, a full-screen text editor available on most Unix systems. Even those who know vi often make use of only a small number of its features. Learning the vi Editor is a complete guide to text editing with vi. Topics new to the sixth edition include multiscreen editing and coverage of four viclones: vim, elvis, nvi, and vile and their enhancements to vi, such as multi-window editing, GUI interfaces, extended regular expressions, and enhancements for programmers. A new appendix describes vi's place in the Unix and Internet cultures. Quickly learn the basics of editing, cursor movement, and global search and replacement. Then take advantage of the more subtle power of vi. Extend your editing skills by learning to use ex, a powerful line editor, from within vi. For easy reference, the sixth edition also includes a command summary at the end of each appropriate chapter. Topics covered include:
  • Basic editing
  • Moving around in a hurry
  • Beyond the basics
  • Greater power with ex
  • Global search and replacement
  • Customizing vi and ex
  • Command shortcuts
  • Introduction to the vi clones' extensions
  • The nvi, elvis, vim, and vile editors
  • Quick reference to vi and ex commands
  • vi and the Internet



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A Gem of a book for the Gold standard of editors,  April 13 2004
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

This book is the perfect spouse to my favorite editor and the best editor of all time.

The best part of this book is the author's wonderful explanation of Regular Expressions which is also topped of with the amazing examples. This part alone is worth the purchase. I learnt how to use regular expressions effectively from this book alone...BUY IT, TREASURE IT AND YOU WILL READ IT JUST FOR RELAXATION AND IT WILL BECOME DOG EARED AND TATTERED BUT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET IT OR THE WONDERFUL EDITOR IT EXPLAINS...


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  August 25 2003
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Ricardo   [Respond | View]

I'm satisfied with my recent purchase of Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition. There are two things O'Reilly could do to improve this book:



Having said that, I think Learning the vi Editor is a great place for someone unfamiliar with vi to begin learning.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  October 12 2002
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by gopi   [Respond | View]

i never see such a book on vi editor.its saved my skin

iam new to unix and needs to work on unix since one month.iam struggling to get familiar with Vi editor.

i just bought yesterday and reading today for first 4 chapters,i strongly felt i would have read this book early.it's really very very good book and better understanding

i will buy present this book to my project team mates



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Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  October 12 2002
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by gopi   [Respond | View]

i never see such a book on vi editor.its saved my skin

iam new to unix and needs to work on unix sice one month.iam struggling to get familiar with Vi editor.

i just bought yesterday and reading today for first 4 chapters,i strongly felt i would have read this book early.it's really very very good book and better understanding

i will buy present this book to my project team mates




Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  December 24 2001
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by NEY   [Respond | View]



In the world of UNIX,this book can help users to edit the text files effectively.And at the end of the day, you will realize that " what you see

is what you get!"

NEY.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  March 02 2001
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Harold McNurlan II   [Respond | View]

What can I say other than this book has pulled me out of all sorts of tough, nasty, little ruts.

Chapters one to four are the meat and potatoes of the book. Those four chapters are a quick read at 52 pages long. Take it with you to the laundrymat. It definitely beats watching the spin-cycle. With it, you'll be able to effectively get your job done.

For flair, to flaunt your stuff in front of your co-workers, and to just kick-butt on onerous amounts of code and data changes, you need to read chapters 5: "Introducing the ex Editor"; 6: "Global Replacement"; and 7: "Advanced Editing".

Lots of great examples. If you don't have a copy of this book--you're wrong.

Enjoy REAL editing power! vi rules! Viva vi!


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  February 05 2001
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Fabio Rotondo   [Respond | View]

Before reading this book, I was already a fanatic vi (Vim) user.

So I bought this book just to know all the tips and tricks... well it opened me

a new world. There were things I used to do with sed or awk that I am now able to do with Vi. Every little trick is explained and shown in action with examples.

There is only a sad thing: I'd like to see more space dedicated to Vim and its special features.

Anyway, a must have for all vi users.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  September 24 2000
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Joe Black   [Respond | View]

This is an excellent tutorial for vi. If you want to win friends and influence people, learn vi. I hope the 7th edition has even more coverage of advanced features in vim. Vi IMproved at http://vim.org/




Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  June 15 2000
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Michael P. Soulier   [Respond | View]

Perfection as a tutorial, and also a great reference. The only downside was the lack of a summary page like the Emacs book.

I'm a Vim user myself, so the support for Vi clones was an excellent idea, as most rarely use vanilla Vi anymore. Not if they want to defend themselves to Emacs people anyway. ;-)

A truly great piece of work.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  October 14 1999
Submitted by Sean Cody   [Respond | View]



Great book... and one I don't regret purchasing two weeks after I bought it! I was hoping there to be a discussion on the "conversion" process between say pico or dos-edit to vi as that's the biggest problem right now. I really love the vi editor now but I don't have the "feel" for it as I do for "standard" editors (ctrl-insert copy, shift-insert paste as well as block selection). As a suggestion please look into a chapter on the "conversion factor" topic.. Other than that kudos on a great book.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  August 17 1999
Submitted by Chris X Edwards   [Respond | View]



This book was, overall, pretty good at allowing
someone to "Learn the vi Editor". If you know
a lot about vi already, then it's pretty tedious
reading through the easy stuff. I read it cover
to cover just to find little gems that I didn't
know about. And they were there. Particularly
with some clever usage of the ex editor (vi's
underlying ancestor). I liked the concept of
the examples, but sometimes they were kind of
cryptic - like "what if you want troff codes on
every line". Ok, great. I don't use troff.
But I'm glad I read through it. I feel I
understand my beloved editor much better as a
result.


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  June 17 1999
Submitted by Peter Cheung   [Respond | View]



This vi book just runs out too fast in our local Borders bookstore....I Couldn't find it in Barns&Noble either... Maybe they are out of stock... I browsed it in the store and was difinietly ready to buy it....well, if I had enough money that day...

I love O'reilly books... Think you reader folks might want to try their Learning the Bash shell book also


Learning the vi Editor, 6th Edition Review,  November 25 1998
Submitted by Kelly Jones, Seattle   [Respond | View]



Learning vi is excellent. I particularly appreciated the chapters on the different vi clones (vim, nvi, etc..) Good job O'Reilly (again!).


Media reviews "Learning the vi editor is a book small enough that you can flick through it quickly as a desktop reference, yet it is large enough that even experienced UNIX programmers can find one or two obscure features covered. There is something Zen-like in this balance of not putting in too much or too little." --Regan Russell, Dr Dobbs Electronic Review of Computer Books March 2001

"After skimming the first two chapters and ripping out the 'Quick Reference Guide' I was off! I can now edit text files without crying, have even found vi to be quite powerful despite its age. Reading the book, I learned that many of vi's commands are great time savers. In short, this book helped me save my hair. I would recommend this book to anyone who is forced to (or for some reason chooses to) use the vi editor. The Quick Reference alone is probably worth half the price of the book!" --SLUG reviews, May 2000

"I can heartily recommend Learning the vi Editor by Linda Lamb" --David S. Jackson, Computeredge, Feb 4, 2000

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