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Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition
book

Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

by Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, Aaron Weber
June 2003
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
944 pages
43h 1m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

vi Command-Line Options

The three most common ways of starting a vi session are:

            vi 
            file
            vi +
            n file
            vi +/ 
            pattern 
            file

You can open file for editing, optionally at line n or at the first line matching pattern. If no file is specified, vi opens with an empty buffer. The command-line options that can be used with vi are as follows (vim-only options are labeled):

+[num]

Start editing at line number num, or the last line of the file if num is omitted.

+/ pattern

Start editing at the first line matching pattern. (Fails if nowrapscan is set in your .exrc startup file.)

-b

Edit the file in binary mode. {vim}

-c command

Run the given vi command upon startup. Only one -c option is permitted. ex commands can be invoked by prefixing them with a colon. An older form of this option, + command, is still supported.

--cmd command

Like -c, but execute the command before any resource files are read. {vim}

-d

Run in diff mode. Works like vimdiff. {vim}

-e

Run as ex (line editing rather than full-screen mode).

-h

Print help message, then exit.

-i file

Use the specified file instead of the default .viminfo to save or restore vim’s state. {vim}

-l

Enter LISP mode for running LISP programs (not supported in all versions).

-m

Start the editor with the write option turned off so the user cannot write to files. {vim}

-n

Do not use a swap file; record changes in memory only. {vim}

--noplugin

Do not load any plug-ins. {vim}

-o [ n]

Start vim with n open windows. The default is to open one window for each ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596004826