Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Interesting Features

nvi is the most minimal of the clones, without a large number of additional features that have not yet been covered. However, it does have several important features worthy of mention:

Internationalization support

Most of the informational and warning messages in nvi can be replaced with translations into a different language, using a facility known as a “message catalog.” nvi implements this facility itself, using a straightforward mechanism documented in the file catalog/README in the nvi distribution. Message catalogs are provided for Dutch, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Arbitrary buffer names

Historically, vi buffer names are limited to the 26 characters of the alphabet. nvi allows you to use any character as a buffer name.

Special interpretation of /tmp

For any ex command that needs a filename argument, if you use the special name /tmp, nvi will replace it with the name of a unique temporary file.