Korn Shell Programming by Example

Starting an Edit Session

The vi editor is invoked by the vi command:

$ vi filename
				

The editor functions in one of three modes: command mode, insert mode, and last-line mode (sometimes called single-line mode, or ex mode). When the edit session starts, vi enters command mode. Several commands can change the mode to insert mode (I, i , a , A, o, O, and so on), and one command can change the mode to last-line (:).

If the file to be edited does not exist, vi reports that it is a new file and enters the command mode of operation. The following example show the startup of a vi session involving a new file:

$ vi junk

~
~
~
~
(...)
"junk" [New File]

If the file exists, vi displays a screen full of data from the file—or the whole file if it is less ...