Reference: vi
Author: Daniel Gilly & the Staff of O'Reilly & Associates
Date: 1998-08-06T21:56:33Z

#

| Chapter 2 UNIX Commands |

## vi

    vi [options] [files]

A screen-oriented text editor based on ex. See Sections 8 and 9 for more information on vi and ex. Options -c, -C, -L, -r, -R, and -t are the same as in ex.

### Options

-c`command`

  Enter vi and execute the given vi `command`.

-l

  Run in LISP mode for editing LISP programs.

-L

  List filenames that were saved due to an editor or system crash.

-r`file`

  Recover and edit `file` after an editor or system crash.

-R

  Read-only mode. Files can't be changed.

-t `tag`

  Edit the file containing `tag`, and position the editor at its definition (see ctags for more information).

-w`n`

  Set default window size to `n`; useful when editing via a slow dial-up line.

-x

  Supply a key to encrypt or decrypt `file` using crypt.

-C

  Same as -x but assume `file` began in encrypted form.

+

  Start vi on last line of file.

+`n`

  Start vi on line `n` of file.

+/`pat`

  Start vi on line containing pattern `pat`. This option fails if nowrapscan is set in your .exrc.

Reference: vedit |  | Reference: view