[H-GEN] ae ???

[Andrae Muys]

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On Tue, 9 Apr 2002, Tony Bilbrough wrote:

> I have really been struggling to master vi. There just seem to be so
> many little twists to learn.

Now this comment I don't understand, there aren't really any twists to vi,
at it's simplest (assuming vim, so cursor keys are supported):

i = insert-text (<ESC> to stop)
x = delete character
:w<CR> = write-to-disk
:q<CR> = quit-saved
:q!<CR> = quit-unsaved

At any point you can hit <ESC>:q! and quit without saving.

>From there you can learn cut/copy-n-paste

Ndd = delete (ie. cut) N lines (note: replace N with a number ie. 3 or 33)
Nyy = yank (ie. copy) N lines
p = paste last deleted/yanked text after current position

and at that point you are able to do basic editing.  The advantage of
emacs/vim is that the editors are more powerful than any single person can
learn completely, so once you become comfortable with the basics you
experience continual improvement.

It is a reasonably common occurance for two vi users with > 5 years
experience to be working on a problem only to have one of them exclaim
"How did you do that so fast?", and learn yet another short-cut that will
improve his editing efficiency.  It is this capacity for continual
improvement that makes vi/emacs so popular.

Andrae

P.S. Oh, and if you're using vim keep in mind

u = Undo
Ctrl-R = Redo

Both very useful commands :)

--
Andrae Muys            
amuys at shortech.com.au  ...most likely other e-mail programs like Eudora
Senior Engineer        are note designed to enable virus replication.
IDMS International        Found in Virus FAQ at http://www.microsoft.com




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