From: Bruce S. <bw...@re...> - 2008-09-10 17:59:00
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>> BTW, "vi" is well worth learning for many reasons. :-) > Thanks. As for vi - don't tempt me! I already spend too much time > learning about Devil-Linux... I have used vi a bit of course, but for > occasional editing of conf files it seems way too unintuitive. The > author of the 'Vi Lovers Home Page' says: 'I use Vim because I simply > don't know of a better editor, but, admittedly, I haven't seriously > tried anything else.' Er, well... :-) Notice I said it's worth learning for "many reasons"? It's worth learning for reasons other than being able to use the best editor available, and the fact that vi is available on just about every Unix based system out there (where nano/pico is NOT). But the main reason is to improve your general Unix/Linux command line usage. A long time ago, when I _forced_ myself to learn vi (by using a text based email program and forcing myself to only use VI for composing email), I was amazed after the fact how many other programs use the basic vi keys. For example, 'less' and 'more' use the vi keys for scrolling through and searching text files. There are SO many programs that use the vi keyset! Bash and many other shells have a "vi mode" for browsing/editing command history, which is much faster and more powerful than using the arrow keys to edit command history. Hell, many of the gmail web based interface shortcut keys are based on vi!!! (ever wonder why 'j' and 'k' take you to the next/previous message? :) And when I say learn vi, I mean learn to use it properly! Keep your fingers on the home keys of the keyboard. Do NOT use the special keys, i.e. do NOT use the arrow-keys/PgUP/PgDN/etc. for moving around! Instead, move your cursor properly with the h/j/k/l keys instead of the arrows. Not only is it much faster and more efficient to leave your fingers on the home keys while typing, but those are the keys that are used by so many other programs, like less/more, gmail, google-reader, etc. Learning vi will save time in the long run for anyone who spends time at the *nix shell prompt. - BS |