In addition, other editors (e.g., emacs, jed, joe) MAY be available on SGI workstations in individual research labs; these editors must be installed on the local workstation, so they are not available via the departmental servers. For example, emacs v19.30 is locally installed and available on pchem01-06, splatter, and stereo1-3. If you want to use an editor that is not currently installed on your local workstation, contact your primary system administrator or the MolViz Facility staff.
To use one of these editors, type:
jot is the default file editor for SGI applications. This graphical editor is similar to a basic word processing program. Click on Options/Long Menus to expand the list of options available in each pull-down menu. Experience has shown that this editor is the least prone to crashes.
nedit is a graphical editor that is similar to jot (with Long Menus), with a few extra UNIX commands built into the editor.
xcoral is yet another graphical editor that is similar to jot (with Long Menus), with "modes" for C, C++, Fortran, PERL, Latex, Ada, etc.
vi is a screen editor that is popular on all UNIX workstations. See the following vi guides:
Sample commands
| <- v ^ -> | arrow keys move the cursor |
| h j k l | same as arrow keys |
| itextESC | insert text |
| cwnewESC | change word to new |
| easESC | pluralize word (end of word; append s; escape from input state) |
| x | delete a character |
| dw | delete a word |
| dd | delete a line |
| 3dd | delete 3 lines |
| u | undo previous change |
| ZZ | exit vi, saving changes |
| :q!CR | quit, discarding changes |
| /textCR | search for text |
| ^U ^D | scroll up or down |
| :cmdCR | any ex or ed command |
Counts before vi commands
Numbers may be typed as a prefix to some commands. They are interpreted in one of these ways:
| line/column number | z G | |
| scroll amount | ^D ^U |
| repeat effect | most of the rest |
Interrupting, canceling
File manipulation
| ZZ | if file modified, write and exit; otherwise, exit |
| :wCR | write back changes |
| :w!CR | forced write, if permission originally not valid |
| :qCR | quit |
| :q!CR | quit, discard changes |
| :e nameCR | edit file name |
| :e!CR | reedit, discard changes |
| :e + nameCR | edit, starting at end |
| :e +nCR | edit starting at line n |
| :e #CR | edit alternate file |
| :e! #CR | edit alternate file, discard changes |
| :w nameCR | write file name |
| :w! nameCR | overwrite file name |
| :shCR | run shell, then return |
| :!cmdCR | run cmd, then return |
| :nCR | edit next file in arglist |
| :n argsCR | specify new arglist |
| ^G | show current file and line |
| :tag tagCR | position cursor to tag (see ctags(1)), save position |
| :popCR | return to previous tag's position |
In general, any ex or ed command (such as substitute or global) may be typed, preceded by a colon and followed by a carriage return.
Positioning within file
| ^F | forward screen |
| ^B | backward screen |
| ^D | scroll down half screen |
| ^U | scroll up half screen |
| nG | go to the beginning of the specified line (end default), where n is a line number |
| /pat | next line matching pat |
| ?pat | previous line matching pat |
| n | repeat last / or ? command |
| N | reverse last / or ? command |
| /pat/+n | nth line after pat |
| ?pat?-n | nth line before pat |
| ]] | next section/function |
| [[ | previous section/function |
| ( | beginning of sentence |
| ) | end of sentence |
| { | beginning of paragraph |
| } | end of paragraph |
| % | find matching ( ) { or } |
| ^] | :tag command using word after the cursor as the tag |
| ^T | return to previous tag's position (:pop command) |
Adjusting the screen
| ^L | clear and redraw window |
| ^R | clear and redraw window if ^L is -> key |
| zCR | redraw screen with current line at top of window |
| z-CR | redraw screen with current line at bottom of window |
| z.CR | redraw screen with current line at center of window |
| /pat/z-CR | move pat line to bottom of window |
| zn.CR | use n-line window |
| ^E | scroll window down 1 line |
| ^Y | scroll window up 1 line |
Marking and returning
| `` | move cursor to previous context |
| '' | move cursor to first non-white space in line |
| mx | mark current position with the ASCII lower-case letter x |
| `x | move cursor to mark x |
| 'x | move cursor to first non-white space in line marked by x |
Line positioning
| H | top line on screen |
| L | last line on screen |
| M | middle line on screen |
| + | next line, at first non-white |
| - | previous line, at first non-white |
| CR | return, same as + |
| v or j | next line, same column |
| ^ or k | previous line, same column |
Character positioning
| ^ | first non white-space character |
| 0 | beginning of line |
| $ | end of line |
| l or -> | forward |
| h or <- | backward |
| ^H | same as <- (backspace) |
| space | same as -> (space bar) |
| fx | find next x |
| Fx | find previous x |
| tx | move to character prior to next x |
| Tx | move to character following previous x |
| ; | repeat last f F t or T |
| , | repeat inverse of last f F t or T |
| n| | move to column n |
| % | find matching ( { ) or } |
Words, sentences, paragraphs
| w | forward a word |
| b | back a word |
| e | end of word |
| ) | to next sentence |
| } | to next paragraph |
| ( | back a sentence |
| { | back a paragraph |
| W | forward a blank-delimited word |
| B | back a blank-delimited word |
| E | end of a blank-delimited word |
Corrections during insert
| ^H | erase last character (backspace) |
| ^W | erase last word |
| erase | your erase character, same as ^H (backspace) |
| kill | your kill character, erase this line of input |
| \ | quotes your erase and kill characters |
| ESC | ends insertion, back to command mode |
| DEL | interrupt, terminates insert mode |
| ^D | backtab one character; reset left margin of autoindent |
| ^^D | caret (^) followed by control-d (^D) backtab to beginning of line do not reset left margin of autoindent |
| 0^D | backtab to beginning of line reset left margin of autoindent |
| ^T | shiftwidth spaces. |
| ^V | quote non-printable character |
Insert and replace
| a | append after cursor |
| A | append at end of line |
| i | insert before cursor |
| I | insert before first non-blank |
| o | open line below |
| O | open above |
| rx | replace single char with x |
| RtextESC | replace characters |
Operators
Operators are followed by a cursor motion, and affect all text that would
have been moved over. For example, since w moves over a word, dw deletes
the word that would be moved over. Double the operator, e.g., dd to
affect whole lines.
| d | delete |
| c | change |
| y | yank lines to buffer |
| < | left shift |
| > | right shift |
| ! | filter through command |
Miscellaneous Operations
| C | change rest of line (c$) |
| D | delete rest of line (d$) |
| s | substitute chars (cl) |
| S | substitute lines (cc) |
| J | join lines |
| x | delete characters (dl) |
| X | delete characters before cursor (dh) |
| Y | yank lines (yy) |
Yank and Put
Put inserts the text most recently deleted or yanked; however, if a
buffer is named (using the ASCII lower-case letters a - z), the text t buffer is put instead.
| 3yy | yank 3 lines |
| 3yl | yank 3 characters |
| p | put back text after cursor |
| P | put back text before cursor |
| "xp | put from buffer x |
| "xy | yank to buffer x |
| "xd | delete into buffer x |
Undo, Redo, Retrieve
| u | undo last change |
| U | restore current line |
| . | repeat last change |
| "dp | retrieve d'th last delete |
vi and ex were developed by The University of California, Berkeley California, Computer Science Division, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.