Vi Description
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Vi takes up the entire screen to display the edited file, except for the bottom line of the screen. The bottom line of the screen is used to enter exp commands, and for vi error and informational messages. If no other information is being displayed, the default display can show the current cursor row and cursor column, an indication of whether the file has been modified, and the current mode of the editor. See the ruler and showmode options for more information.

Empty lines do not have any special representation on the screen, but lines on the screen that would logically come after the end of the file are displayed as a single tilde ~ character. To differentiate between empty lines and lines consisting of only whitespace characters, use the list option. Historically, implementations of vi have also displayed some lines as single asterisk @ characters. These were lines that were not correctly displayed, i.e. lines on the screen that did not correspond to lines in the file, or lines that did not fit on the current screen. Nvi never displays lines in this fashion.

Vi is a modeful editor, i.e. it has two modes, command mode and text input mode. When vi first starts, it is in command mode. There are several commands that change vi into text input mode. The <escape>character is used to resolve the text input into the file, and exit back into command mode. In vi command mode, the cursor is always positioned on the last column of characters which take up more than one column on the screen. In vi text insert mode, the cursor is positioned on the first column of characters which take up more than one column on the screen.

When positioning the cursor to a new line and column, the type of movement is defined by the distance to the new cursor position. If the new position is close, the screen is scrolled to the new location. If the new position is far away, the screen is repainted so that the new position is on the screen. If the screen is scrolled, it is moved a minimal amount, and the cursor line will usually appear at the top or bottom of the screen. If the screen is repainted, the cursor line will appear in the center of the screen, unless the cursor is sufficiently close to the beginning or end of the file that this isn't possible. If the leftright option is set, the screen may be scrolled or repainted in a horizontal direction as well as in a vertical one.

A major difference between the historical vi presentation and nvi is in the scrolling and screen oriented position commands, <control-B>, <control-D>, <control-E>, <control-F>, <control-U>, <control-Y>, H, L and M. In historical implementations of vi, these commands acted on physical (as opposed to logical, or screen) lines. For lines that were sufficiently long in relation to the size of the screen, this meant that single line scroll commands might repaint the entire screen, scrolling or screen positioning commands might not change the screen or move the cursor at all, and some lines simply could not be displayed, even though vi would edit the file that contained them. In nvi, these commands act on logical, i.e. screen lines. You are unlikely to notice any difference unless you are editing files with lines significantly longer than a screen width.

Vi keeps track of the currently most attractive cursor position. Each command description (for commands that alter the current cursor position), specifies if the cursor is set to a specific location in the line, or if it is moved to the most attractive cursor position. The latter means that the cursor is moved to the cursor position that is horizontally as close as possible to the current cursor position. If the current line is shorter than the cursor position vi would select, the cursor is positioned on the last character in the line. (If the line is empty, the cursor is positioned on the first column of the line.) If a command moves the cursor to the most attractive position, it does not alter the current cursor position, and a subsequent movement will again attempt to move the cursor to that position. Therefore, although a movement to a line shorter than the currently most attractive position will cause the cursor to move to the end of that line, a subsequent movement to a longer line will cause the cursor to move back to the most attractive position.

In addition, the $ command makes the end of each line the most attractive cursor position rather than a specific column.

Each vi command described below notes where the cursor ends up after it is executed. This position is described in terms of characters on the line, i.e. the previous character, or, the last character in the line. This is to avoid needing to continually refer to on what part of the character the cursor rests.

The following words have special meaning for vi commands.

     previous context

     The position of the cursor before the command which caused the last absolute movement was executed. Each vi command described in the next section that is considered an absolute movement is so noted. In addition, specifying any address to an ex command is considered an absolute movement. motion

     A second vi command can be used as an optional trailing argument to the vi <, >, !, c, d, y, and (depending on the tildeop option) ~ commands. This command indicates the end of the region of text that's affected by the command. The motion command may be either the command character repeated (in which case it means the current line) or a cursor movement command. In the latter case, the region affected by the command is from the starting or stopping cursor position which comes first in the file, to immediately before the starting or stopping cursor position which comes later in the file. Commands that operate on lines instead of using beginning and ending cursor positions operate on all of the lines that are wholly or partially in the region. In addition, some other commands become line oriented depending on where in the text they are used. The command descriptions below note these special cases.

     The following commands may all be used as motion components for vi commands:

     <control-A>   <control-H>   <control-J>   <control-M>
     <control-N>   <control-P>   <space>   $
     %   '<character>   (   )
     +   ,   -   /
     0   ;   ?   B
     E   F   G   H
     L   M   N   T
     W   [[   ]]   ^
     _   `<character>   b   e
     f   h   j   k
     l   n   t   w
     {   |   }

     The optional count prefix available for some of the vi commands that take motion commands, or the count prefix available for the vi commands that are used as motion components, may be included and is always considered part of the motion argument. For example, the commands c2w and 2cw are equivalent, and the region affected by the c command is two words of text. In addition, if the optional count prefix is specified for both the vi command and its motion component, the effect is multiplicative and is considered part of the motion argument. For example, the commands 4cw and 2c2w are equivalent, and the region affected by the c command is four words of text. count

     A positive number used as an optional argument to most commands, either to give a size or a position (for display or movement commands), or as a repeat count (for commands that modify text). The count argument is always optional and defaults to 1 unless otherwise noted in the command description.

     When a vi command synopsis shows both a [buffer]and [count], they may be presented in any order. word

     Generally, in languages where it is applicable, vi recognizes two kinds of words. First, a sequence of letters, digits and underscores, delimited at both ends by: characters other than letters, digits, or underscores, the beginning or end of a line, and the beginning or end of the file. Second, a sequence of characters other than letters, digits, underscores, or whitespace characters, delimited at both ends by: a letter, digit, underscore, or whitespace character, the beginning or end of a line, and the beginning or end of the file. For example, the characters !@#abc$%^ contain three words: !@#, abc and $%^.

     Groups of empty lines (or lines containing only whitespace characters) are treated as a single word. bigword

     A set of non-whitespace characters preceded and followed by whitespace characters or the beginning or end of the file or line. For example, the characters !@#abc$%^ contain one bigword: !@#abc$%^.

     Groups of empty lines (or lines containing only whitespace characters) are treated as a single bigword. paragraph

     An area of text that begins with either the beginning of a file, an empty line, or a section boundary, and continues until either an empty line, section boundary, or the end of the file.

     Groups of empty lines (or lines containing only whitespace characters) are treated as a single paragraph.

     Additional paragraph boundaries can be defined using the paragraphs option. section

     An area of text that starts with the beginning of the file or a line whose first character is an open brace ``{'' and continues until the next section or the end of the file.

     Additional section boundaries can be defined using the sections option. sentence

     An area of text that begins with either the beginning of the file or the first nonblank character following the previous sentence, paragraph, or section boundary and continues until the end of the file or a period . exclamation point ! or question mark ? character, followed by either an end-of-line or two whitespace characters. Any number of closing parentheses ), brackets ], double-quote " or single quote ' characters can appear between the period, exclamation point, or question mark and the whitespace characters or end-of-line.

     Groups of empty lines (or lines containing only whitespace characters) are treated as a single sentence.

Vi Commands
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The following section describes the commands available in the command mode of the vi editor. In each entry below, the tag line is a usage synopsis for the command character. In addition, the final line and column the cursor rests upon, and any options which affect the command are noted.

 -- Command: [count] <control-A>

     Search forward counttimes for the current word. The current word begins at the first non-whitespace character on or after the current cursor position, and extends up to the next non-word character or the end of the line. The search is literal, i.e. no characters in the word have any special meaning in terms of Regular Expressions. It is an error if no matching pattern is found between the starting position and the end of the file.

     The <control-A> command is an absolute movement. The <control-A> command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line where the word is found.

     Column:
          Set to the first character of the word.

     Options:
          Affected by the ignorecase and wrapscan options.

 -- Command: [count] <control-B>

     Page backward countscreens. Two lines of overlap are maintained, if possible, by displaying the window starting at line (top_line - count * window_size) + 2, where window_sizeis the value of the window option. (In the case of split screens, this size is corrected to the current screen size.) It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the last line of text displayed on the screen.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the window option.

 -- Command: [count] <control-D>

     Scroll forward countlines. If countis not specified, scroll forward the number of lines specified by the last <control-D> or <control-U> command. If this is the first <control-D> or <control-U> command, scroll forward half the number of lines in the screen. (In the case of split screens, the default scrolling distance is corrected to half the current screen size.) It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the current line plus the number of lines scrolled.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-E>

     Scroll forward countlines, leaving the cursor on the current line and column, if possible. It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     Line:
          Unchanged unless the current line scrolls off the screen, in which case it is set to the first line on the screen.

     Column:
          Unchanged unless the current line scrolls off the screen, in which case it is set to the most attractive cursor position.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-F>

     Page forward countscreens. Two lines of overlap are maintained, if possible, by displaying the window starting at line top_line + count * window_size - 2, where window_sizeis the value of the window option. (In the case of split screens, this size is corrected to the current screen size.) It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the first line on the screen.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the current line.

     Options:
          Affected by the window option.

 -- Command: <control-G>

     Display the file information. The information includes the current pathname, the current line, the number of total lines in the file, the current line as a percentage of the total lines in the file, if the file has been modified, was able to be locked, if the file's name has been changed, and if the edit session is read-only.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-H>
 -- Command: [count] h
     Move the cursor back countcharacters in the current line. It is an error if the cursor is on the first character in the line.

     The <control-H> and h commands may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the current - countcharacter, or, the first character in the line if countis greater than or equal to the number of characters in the line before the cursor.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-J>

 -- Command: [count] <control-N>
 -- Command: [count] j
     Move the cursor down countlines without changing the current column. It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     The <control-J>, <control-N> and j commands may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the current line plus count.

     Column:
          The most attractive cursor position.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: <control-L>

 -- Command: <control-R>
     Repaint the screen.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-M>

 -- Command: [count] +
     Move the cursor down countlines to the first nonblank character of that line. It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     The <control-M> and + commands may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the current line plus count.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-P>

 -- Command: [count] k
     Move the cursor up countlines, without changing the current column. It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     The <control-P> and k commands may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the current line minus count.

     Column:
          The most attractive cursor position.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: <control-T>

     Return to the most recent tag context. The <control-T> command is an absolute movement.

     Line:
          Set to the context of the previous tag command.

     Column:
          Set to the context of the previous tag command.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-U>

     Scroll backward countlines. If countis not specified, scroll backward the number of lines specified by the last <control-D> or <control-U> command. If this is the first <control-D> or <control-U> command, scroll backward half the number of lines in the screen. (In the case of split screens, the default scrolling distance is corrected to half the current screen size.) It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the current line minus the amount scrolled.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: <control-W>

     Switch to the next lower screen in the window, or, to the first screen if there are no lower screens in the window.

     Line:
          Set to the previous cursor position in the window.

     Column:
          Set to the previous cursor position in the window.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] <control-Y>

     Scroll backward countlines, leaving the current line and column as is, if possible. It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     Line:
          Unchanged unless the current line scrolls off the screen, in which case it is set to the last line of text displayed on the screen.

     Column:
          Unchanged unless the current line scrolls off the screen, in which case it is the most attractive cursor position.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: <control-Z>

     Suspend the current editor session. If the file has been modified since it was last completely written, and the autowrite option is set, the file is written before the editor session is suspended. If this write fails, the editor session is not suspended.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          Affected by the autowrite option.

 -- Command: <escape>

     Execute ex commands or cancel partial commands. If an ex command is being entered (e.g. /, ?, : or !), the command is executed. If a partial command has been entered, e.g. [0-9]*, or [0-9]*[!<>cdy], the command is cancelled. Otherwise, it is an error.

     Line:
          When an ex command is being executed, the current line is set as described for that command. Otherwise, unchanged.

     Column:
          When an ex command is being executed, the current column is set as described for that command. Otherwise, unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: <control-]>

     Push a tag reference onto the tag stack. The tags files (see the tags option for more information) are searched for a tag matching the current word. The current word begins at the first non-whitespace character on or after the current cursor position, and extends up to the next non-word character or the end of the line. If a matching tag is found, the current file is discarded and the file containing the tag reference is edited.

     If the current file has been modified since it was last completely written, the command will fail. The <control-]> command is an absolute movement.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the matching tag string.

     Column:
          Set to the start of the matching tag string.

     Options:
          Affected by the tags and taglength options.

 -- Command: <control-^>

     Switch to the most recently edited file.

     If the file has been modified since it was last completely written, and the autowrite option is set, the file is written out. If this write fails, the command will fail. Otherwise, if the current file has been modified since it was last completely written, the command will fail.

     Line:
          Set to the line the cursor was on when the file was last edited.

     Column:
          Set to the column the cursor was on when the file was last edited.

     Options:
          Affected by the autowrite option.

 -- Command: [count] <space>

 -- Command: [count] l
     Move the cursor forward countcharacters without changing the current line. It is an error if the cursor is on the last character in the line.

     The <space> and l commands may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented. In addition, these commands may be used as the motion components of other commands when the cursor is on the last character in the line, without error.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the current character plus the next countcharacters, or to the last character on the line if countis greater than the number of characters in the line after the current character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] ! motion shell-argument(s)<carriage-return>

     Replace text with results from a shell command. Pass the lines specified by the countand motionarguments as standard input to the program named by the shell option, and replace those lines with the output (both standard error and standard output) of that command.

     After the motion is entered, vi prompts for arguments to the shell command.

     Within those arguments, % and # characters are expanded to the current and alternate pathnames, respectively. The ! character is expanded with the command text of the previous ! or :! commands. (Therefore, the command !<motion>! repeats the previous ! command.) The special meanings of %, # and ! can be overridden by escaping them with a backslash. If no ! or :! command has yet been executed, it is an error to use an unescaped ! character as a shell argument. The ! command does not do shell expansion on the strings provided as arguments. If any of the above expansions change the arguments the user entered, the command is redisplayed at the bottom of the screen.

     Vi then executes the program named by the shell option, with a -c flag followed by the arguments (which are bundled into a single argument).

     The ! command is permitted in an empty file.

     If the file has been modified since it was last completely written, the ! command will warn you.

     Line:
          The first line of the replaced text.

     Column:
          The first column of the replaced text.

     Options:
          Affected by the shell option.

 -- Command: [count] # #|+|-

     Increment or decrement the number referenced by the cursor. If the trailing character is a +or #, the number is incremented by count. If the trailing character is a -, the number is decremented by count.

     A leading 0X or 0x causes the number to be interpreted as a hexadecimal number. Otherwise, a leading 0 causes the number to be interpreted as an octal number, unless a non-octal digit is found as part of the number. Otherwise, the number is interpreted as a decimal number, and may have a leading +or -sign. The current number begins at the first non-blank character at or after the current cursor position, and extends up to the end of the line or the first character that isn't a possible character for the numeric type. The format of the number (e.g. leading 0's, signs) is retained unless the new value cannot be represented in the previous format.

     Octal and hexadecimal numbers, and the result of the operation, must fit into an unsigned long. Similarly, decimal numbers and their result must fit into a signed long. It is an error to use this command when the cursor is not positioned at a number.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first character in the cursor number.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] $

     Move the cursor to the end of a line. If countis specified, the cursor moves down count - 1lines.

     It is not an error to use the $ command when the cursor is on the last character in the line or when the line is empty.

     The $ command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the cursor is at, or before the first nonblank character in the line, in which case it is line oriented. It is not an error to use the $ command as a motion component when the cursor is on the last character in the line, although it is an error when the line is empty.

     Line:
          Set to the current line plus countminus 1.

     Column:
          Set to the last character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: %

     Move to the matching character. The cursor moves to the bracket character which matches the bracket found at the current cursor position or which is the closest one to the right of the cursor on the line. The bracket characters are defined by the matchchars option. An error will be reported if none of the matchchars characters is found, or if no matching character is found. If the open and close brackes are identical (e.g.: if they are ' or ", then repeating a % command will perform a backwards search from the original opening bracket. Historically, any countspecified to the % command was ignored.

     The % command is an absolute movement. The % command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting point of the region is at or before the first nonblank character on its line, and the ending point is at or after the last nonblank character on its line, in which case it is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the matching character.

     Column:
          Set to the matching character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: &

     Repeat the previous substitution command on the current line.

     Historically, any countspecified to the & command was ignored.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged if the cursor was on the last character in the line, otherwise, set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the edcompatible, extended, ignorecase and magic options.

 -- Command: '<character>

 -- Command: `<character>
     Return to a context marked by the character <character>. If <character>is the ' or ` character, return to the previous context. If <character>is any other character, return to the context marked by that character (see the m command for more information). If the command is the \' command, only the line value is restored, and the cursor is placed on the first nonblank character of that line. If the command is the ` command, both the line and column values are restored.

     It is an error if the context no longer exists because of line deletion. (Contexts follow lines that are moved, or which are deleted and then restored.)

     The \' and ` commands are both absolute movements. They may be used as a motion component for other vi commands. For the \' command, any text copied into a buffer is line oriented. For the ` command, any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless it both starts and stops at the first character in the line, in which case it is line oriented. In addition, when using the ` command as a motion component, commands which move backward and started at the first character in the line, or move forward and ended at the first character in the line, are corrected to the last character of the line preceding the starting and ending lines, respectively.

     Line:
          Set to the line from the context.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line, for the \' command, and set to the context's column for the ` command.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] (

     Back up countsentences.

     The ( command is an absolute movement. The ( command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting and stopping points of the region are the first character in the line, in which case it is line oriented. If it is line oriented, the starting point of the region is adjusted to be the end of the line immediately before the starting cursor position.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the beginning of the sentence.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the sentence.

     Options:
          Affected by the lisp option.

 -- Command: [count] )

     Move forward countsentences.

     The ) command is an absolute movement. The ) command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting point of the region is the first character in the line, in which case it is line oriented. In the latter case, if the stopping point of the region is also the first character in the line, it is adjusted to be the end of the line immediately before it.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the beginning of the sentence.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the sentence.

     Options:
          Affected by the lisp option.

 -- Command: [count] ,

     Reverse find character counttimes. Reverse the last F, f, T or t command, searching the other way in the line, counttimes. It is an error if a F, f, T or t command has not been performed yet.

     The , command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the searched-for character for the F and f commands, before the character for the t command and after the character for the T command.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] -

     Move to the first nonblank of the previous line, counttimes.

     It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     The - command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the current line minus count.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] .

     Repeat the last vi command that modified text. The repeated command may be a command and motion component combination. If countis specified, it replaces both the count specified for the repeated command, and, if applicable, for the repeated motion component. If countis not specified, the counts originally specified to the command being repeated are used again.

     As a special case, if the \. command is executed immediately after the u command, the change log is rolled forward or backward, depending on the action of the u command.

     Line:
          Set as described for the repeated command.

     Column:
          Set as described for the repeated command.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: /RE<carriage-return>

 -- Command: /RE/ [offset]<carriage-return>
 -- Command: ?RE<carriage-return>
 -- Command: ?RE? [offset]<carriage-return>
 -- Command: N
 -- Command: n
     Search forward or backward for a regular expression. The commands beginning with a slash / character are forward searches, the commands beginning with a question mark ? are backward searches. Vi prompts with the leading character on the last line of the screen for a string. It then searches forward or backward in the file for the next occurrence of the string, which is interpreted as a Basic Regular Expression.

     The / and ? commands are absolute movements. They may be used as the motion components of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the search started and ended on the first column of a line, in which case it is line oriented. In addition, forward searches ending at the first character of a line, and backward searches beginning at the first character in the line, are corrected to begin or end at the last character of the previous line. (Note, forward and backward searches can occur for both / and ? commands, if the wrapscan option is set.)

     If an offset from the matched line is specified (i.e. a trailing / or ? character is followed by a signed offset), the buffer will always be line oriented (e.g. /string/+0 will always guarantee a line orientation).

     The N command repeats the previous search, but in the reverse direction. The n command repeats the previous search. If either the N or n commands are used as motion components for the ! command, you will not be prompted for the text of the bang command, instead the previous bang command will be executed.

     Missing RE's (e.g. //<carriage-return>, /<carriage-return>, ??<carriage-return>, or ?<carriage-return> search for the last search RE, in the indicated direction.

     Searches may be interrupted using the <interrupt>character.

     Multiple search patterns may be grouped together by delimiting them with semicolons and zero or more whitespace characters, e.g. /foo/ ; ?bar?searches forward for fooand then, from that location, backwards for bar. When search patterns are grouped together in this manner, the search patterns are evaluated left to right with the final cursor position determined by the last search pattern.

     It is also permissible to append a z command to the search strings, e.g. /foo/ z.searches forward for the next occurrence of foo, and then positions that line in the middle of screen.

     Line:
          Set to the line in which the match occurred.

     Column:
          Set to the first character of the matched string.

     Options:
          Affected by the edcompatible, extended, ignorecase, magic, and wrapscan options.

 -- Command: 0

     Move to the first character in the current line. It is not an error to use the 0 command when the cursor is on the first character in the line,

     The 0 command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case it is an error if the cursor is on the first character in the line, and any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: :

     Execute an ex command. Vi prompts for an ex command on the last line of the screen, using a colon : character. The command is terminated by a <carriage-return>, <newline>or <escape>character; all of these characters may be escaped by using a <literal-next>character. The command is then executed.

     If the ex command writes to the screen, vi will prompt the user for a <carriage-return>before continuing when the ex command finishes. Large amounts of output from the ex command will be paged for the user, and the user prompted for a <carriage-return>or <space>key to continue. In some cases, a quit (normally a q character) or <interrupt>may be entered to interrupt the ex command.

     When the ex command finishes, and the user is prompted to resume visual mode, it is also possible to enter another : character followed by another ex command.

     Line:
          The current line is set as described for the ex command.

     Column:
          The current column is set as described for the ex command.

     Options:
          Affected as described for the ex command.

 -- Command: [count] ;

     Repeat the last character find counttimes. The last character find is one of the F, f, T or t commands. It is an error if a F, f, T or t command has not been performed yet.

     The ; command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the searched-for character for the F and f commands, before the character for the t command and after the character for the T command.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] < motion

 -- Command: [count] > motion
     Shift lines left or right. Shift the number of lines in the region specified by the countand motionleft (for the < command) or right (for the > command) by the number of columns specified by the shiftwidth option. Only whitespace characters are deleted when shifting left. Once the first character in the line no longer contains a whitespace character, the command will succeed, but the line will not be modified.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the shiftwidth option.

 -- Command: @ buffer

     Execute a named buffer. Execute the named buffer as vi commands. The buffer may include ex commands, too, but they must be expressed as a : command. If the buffer is line oriented, <newline>characters are logically appended to each line of the buffer. If the buffer is character oriented, <newline>characters are logically appended to all but the last line in the buffer.

     If the buffer name is @, or *, then the last buffer executed shall be used. It is an error to specify @@ or @* if there were no previous buffer executions. The text of a buffer may contain a @ command, and it is possible to create infinite loops in this manner. (The <interrupt>character may be used to interrupt the loop.)

     Line:
          The current line is set as described for the command(s).

     Column:
          The current column is set as described for the command(s).

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] A

     Enter input mode, appending the text after the end of the line. If countis specified, the text is repeatedly input count - 1more times after input mode is exited.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [count] B

     Move backward countbigwords. Move the cursor backward to the beginning of a bigword by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is at the beginning of a bigword or the character at the current position cannot be part of a bigword, move to the first character of the preceding bigword. Otherwise, move to the first character of the bigword at the current position. If no preceding bigword exists on the current line, move to the first character of the last bigword on the first preceding line that contains a bigword.

     The B command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          Set to the first character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] C

     Change text from the current position to the end-of-line. If countis specified, the input text replaces from the current position to the end-of-line, plus count - 1subsequent lines.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [buffer] D

     Delete text from the current position to the end-of-line.

     It is not an error to execute the D command on an empty line.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the character before the current character, or, column 1 if the cursor was on column 1.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] E

     Move forward countend-of-bigwords. Move the cursor forward to the end of a bigword by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is the end of a bigword or the character at that position cannot be part of a bigword, move to the last character of the following bigword. Otherwise, move to the last character of the bigword at the current position. If no succeeding bigword exists on the current line, move to the last character of the first bigword on the next following line that contains a bigword.

     The E command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          Set to the last character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] F <character>

     Search counttimes backward through the current line for <character>.

     The F command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the searched-for character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] G

     Move to line count, or the last line of the file if countnot specified.

     The G command is an absolute movement. The G command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to count, if specified, otherwise, the last line.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] H

     Move to the screen line count - 1lines below the top of the screen.

     The H command is an absolute movement. The H command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line count - 1lines below the top of the screen.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the screen line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] I

     Enter input mode, inserting the text at the beginning of the line. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] J

     Join lines. If countis specified, countlines are joined; a minimum of two lines are always joined, regardless of the value of count.

     If the current line ends with a whitespace character, all whitespace is stripped from the next line. Otherwise, if the next line starts with a open parenthesis ( do nothing. Otherwise, if the current line ends with a question mark ?, period . or exclamation point !, insert two spaces. Otherwise, insert a single space.

     It is not an error to join lines past the end of the file, i.e. lines that do not exist.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the character after the last character of the next-to-last joined line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] L

     Move to the screen line count - 1lines above the bottom of the screen.

     The L command is an absolute movement. The L command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line count - 1lines above the bottom of the screen.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the screen line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: M

     Move to the screen line in the middle of the screen.

     The M command is an absolute movement. The M command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     Historically, any countspecified to the M command was ignored.

     Line:
          Set to the line in the middle of the screen.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the screen line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] O

     Enter input mode, appending text in a new line above the current line. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     Historically, any countspecified to the O command was ignored.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [buffer] P

     Insert text from a buffer. Text from the buffer (the unnamed buffer by default) is inserted before the current column or, if the buffer is line oriented, before the current line.

     Line:
          Set to the lowest numbered line insert, if the buffer is line oriented, otherwise unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the appended text, if the buffer is line oriented, otherwise, the last character of the appended text.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: Q

     Exit vi (or visual) mode and switch to ex mode.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          No longer relevant.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] R

     Enter input mode, replacing the characters in the current line. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     If the end of the current line is reached, no more characters are replaced and any further characters input are appended to the line.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] S

     Substitute countlines.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [count] T <character>

     Search backward, counttimes, through the current line for the character after the specified <character>.

     The T command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the character after the searched-for character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: U

     Restore the current line to its state before the cursor last moved to it.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          The first character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] W

     Move forward countbigwords. Move the cursor forward to the beginning of a bigword by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is within a bigword or the character at that position cannot be part of a bigword, move to the first character of the next bigword. If no subsequent bigword exists on the current line, move to the first character of the first bigword on the first following line that contains a bigword.

     The W command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          The line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          The first character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] X

     Delete countcharacters before the cursor. If the number of characters to be deleted is greater than or equal to the number of characters to the beginning of the line, all of the characters before the current cursor position, to the beginning of the line, are deleted.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the current character minus count, or the first character if count is greater than the number of characters in the line before the cursor.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] Y

     Copy (or yank) countlines into the specified buffer.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: ZZ

     Write the file and exit vi. The file is only written if it has been modified since the last complete write of the file to any file.

     The ZZ command will exit the editor after writing the file, if there are no further files to edit. Entering two quit commands (i.e. wq, quit, xit or ZZ) in a row will override this check and the editor will exit, ignoring any files that have not yet been edited.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] [[

     Back up countsection boundaries.

     The [[ command is an absolute movement. The [[ command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting position is column 0, in which case it is line oriented.

     It is an error if the movement is past the beginning of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the previous line that is countsection boundaries back, or the first line of the file if no more section boundaries exist preceding the current line.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the sections option.

 -- Command: [count] ]]

     Move forward countsection boundaries.

     The ]] command is an absolute movement. The ]] command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting position is column 0, in which case it is line oriented.

     It is an error if the movement is past the end of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the line that is countsection boundaries forward, or to the last line of the file if no more section boundaries exist following the current line.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the sections option.

 -- Command: ^

     Move to first nonblank character on the current line.

     The ^ command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the current line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] _

     Move down count - 1lines, to the first nonblank character. The _ command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is line oriented.

     It is not an error to execute the _ command when the cursor is on the first character in the line.

     Line:
          The current line plus count - 1.

     Column:
          The first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] a

     Enter input mode, appending the text after the cursor. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [count] b

     Move backward countwords. Move the cursor backward to the beginning of a word by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is at the beginning of a word, move to the first character of the preceding word. Otherwise, the current position moves to the first character of the word at the current position. If no preceding word exists on the current line, move to the first character of the last word on the first preceding line that contains a word.

     The b command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          Set to the first character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] c motion

     Change the region of text specified by the countand motion. If only part of a single line is affected, then the last character being changed is marked with a $. Otherwise, the region of text is deleted, and input mode is entered.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] d motion

     Delete the region of text specified by the countand motion.

     Line:
          Set to the line where the region starts.

     Column:
          Set to the first character in the line after the last character in the region. If no such character exists, set to the last character before the region.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] e

     Move forward countend-of-words. Move the cursor forward to the end of a word by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is the end of a word, move to the last character of the following word. Otherwise, move to the last character of the word at the current position. If no succeeding word exists on the current line, move to the last character of the first word on the next following line that contains a word.

     The e command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          Set to the last character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] f <character>

     Search forward, counttimes, through the rest of the current line for <character>.

     The f command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the searched-for character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] i

     Enter input mode, inserting the text before the cursor. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: m <character>

     Save the current context (line and column) as <character>. The exact position is referred to by `<character>. The line is referred to by '<character>.

     Historically, <character>was restricted to lower-case letters. Nvi permits the use of any character.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] o

     Enter input mode, appending text in a new line under the current line. If countis specified, the text input is repeatedly input count - 1more times.

     Historically, any countspecified to the o command was ignored.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [buffer] p

     Append text from a buffer. Text from the buffer (the unnamed buffer by default) is appended after the current column or, if the buffer is line oriented, after the current line.

     Line:
          Set to the first line appended, if the buffer is line oriented, otherwise unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character of the appended text if the buffer is line oriented, otherwise, the last character of the appended text.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] r <character>

     Replace characters. The next countcharacters in the line are replaced with <character>. Replacing characters with <newline>characters results in creating new, empty lines into the file.

     If <character>is <escape>, the command is cancelled.

     Line:
          Unchanged unless the replacement character is a <newline>, in which case it is set to the current line plus count - 1.

     Column:
          Set to the last character replaced, unless the replacement character is a <newline>, in which case the cursor is in column 1 of the last line inserted.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] s

     Substitute countcharacters in the current line starting with the current character.

     Line:
          Set to the last line upon which characters were entered.

     Column:
          Set to the last character entered.

     Options:
          Affected by the altwerase, autoindent, beautify, showmatch, ttywerase and wrapmargin options.

 -- Command: [count] t <character>

     Search forward, counttimes, through the current line for the character immediately before <character>.

     The t command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the character before the searched-for character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: u

     Undo the last change made to the file. If repeated, the u command alternates between these two states, and is its own inverse. When used after an insert that inserted text on more than one line, the lines are saved in the numeric buffers.

     The . command, when used immediately after the u command, causes the change log to be rolled forward or backward, depending on the action of the u command.

     Line:
          Set to the position of the first line changed, if the reversal affects only one line or represents an addition or change; otherwise, the line preceding the deleted text.

     Column:
          Set to the cursor position before the change was made.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] w

     Move forward countwords. Move the cursor forward to the beginning of a word by repeating the following algorithm: if the current position is at the beginning of a word, move to the first character of the next word. If no subsequent word exists on the current line, move to the first character of the first word on the first following line that contains a word.

     The w command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the word selected.

     Column:
          Set to the first character of the word selected.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] x

     Delete countcharacters. The deletion is at the current character position. If the number of characters to be deleted is greater than or equal to the number of characters to the end of the line, all of the characters from the current cursor position to the end of the line are deleted.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Unchanged unless the last character in the line is deleted and the cursor is not already on the first character in the line, in which case it is set to the previous character.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [buffer] [count] y motion

     Copy (or yank) the text region specified by the countand motion, into a buffer.

     Line:
          Unchanged, unless the region covers more than a single line, in which case it is set to the line where the region starts.

     Column:
          Unchanged, unless the region covers more than a single line, in which case it is set to the character were the region starts.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count1] z [count2] type

     Redraw the screen with a window count2lines long, with line count1placed as specified by the typecharacter. If count1is not specified, it defaults to the current line. If count2is not specified, it defaults to the current window size.

     The following typecharacters may be used:

     +
          If count1is specified, place the line count1at the top of the screen. Otherwise, display the screen after the current screen, similarly to the <control-F> command.

     <carriage-return>
          Place the line count1at the top of the screen.

     .
          Place the line count1in the center of the screen.

     -
          Place the line count1at the bottom of the screen.

     ^
          If count1is specified, place the line that is at the top of the screen when count1is at the bottom of the screen, at the bottom of the screen, i.e. display the screen before the screen before count1. Otherwise, display the screen before the current screen, similarly to the <control-B> command.

     Line:
          Set to count1unless count1is not specified and the typecharacter was either ^ or +, in which case it is set to the line before the first line on the previous screen or the line after the last line on the previous screen, respectively.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] {

     Move backward countparagraphs.

     The { command is an absolute movement. The { command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting character is the first character on its line, in which case it is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the beginning of the previous paragraph.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the paragraph option.

 -- Command: [count] |

     Move to a specific column position on the current line.

     The | command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented. It is an error to use the | command as a motion component and for the cursor not to move.

     Line:
          Unchanged.

     Column:
          Set to the character occupying the column position identified by count, if the position exists in the line. If the column length of the current line is less than count, the cursor is moved to the last character in the line.

     Options:
          None.

 -- Command: [count] }

     Move forward countparagraphs.

     The } command is an absolute movement. The } command may be used as the motion component of other vi commands, in which case any text copied into a buffer is character oriented, unless the starting character is at or before any nonblank characters in its line, in which case it is line oriented.

     Line:
          Set to the line containing the beginning of the next paragraph.

     Column:
          Set to the first nonblank character in the line.

     Options:
          Affected by the paragraph option.

 -- Command: [count] ~

     Reverse the case of the next countcharacter(s). This is the historic semantic for the ~ command and it is only in effect if the tildeop option is not set.

     Lowercase alphabetic characters are changed to uppercase, and uppercase characters are changed to lowercase. No other characters are affected.

     Historically, the ~ command did not take an associated count, nor did it move past the end of the current line. As it had no associated motion it was difficult to change the case of large blocks of text. In nvi, if the cursor is on the last character of a line, and there are more lines in the file, the cursor moves to the next line.

     It is not an error to specify a count larger than the number of characters between the cursor and the end of the file.

     Line:
          Set to the line of the character after countcharacters, or, end of file.

     Column:
          Set to the character after countcharacters, or, end-of-file.

     Options:
          Affected by the tildeop option.

 -- Command: [count] ~ motion

     Reverse the case of the characters in a text region specified by the countand motion. Only in effect if the tildeop option is set.

     Lowercase characters are changed to uppercase, and uppercase characters are changed to lowercase. No other characters are affected.

     Line:
          Set to the line of the character after the last character in the region.

     Column:
          Set to the character after the last character in the region.

     Options:
          Affected by the tildeop option.

 -- Command: <interrupt>

     Interrupt the current operation. Many of the potentially long-running vi commands may be interrupted using the terminal interrupt character. These operations include searches, file reading and writing, filter operations and map character expansion. Interrupts are also enabled when running commands outside of vi.

     If the <interrupt>character is used to interrupt while entering an ex command, the command is aborted, the cursor returns to its previous position, and vi remains in command mode.

     Generally, if the <interrupt>character is used to interrupt any operation, any changes made before the interrupt are left in place.

     Line:
          Dependent on the operation being interrupted.

     Column:
          Dependent on the operation being interrupted.

     Options:
          None.

Vi Text Input Commands
**********************

The following section describes the commands available in the text input mode of the vi editor.

Historically, vi implementations only permitted the characters inserted on the current line to be erased. In addition, only the <control-D>erase character and the 0<control-D> and ^<control-D> erase strings could erase autoindent characters. (Autoindent characters include both the characters inserted automatically at the beginning of an input line as well as characters inserted using the <control-T>command.) This implementation permits erasure to continue past the beginning of the current line, and back to where text input mode was entered. In addition, autoindent characters may be erased using the standard erase characters. For the line and word erase characters, reaching the autoindent characters forms a soft boundary, denoting the end of the current word or line erase. Repeating the word or line erase key will erase the autoindent characters.

Historically, vi always used <control-H>and <control-W>as character and word erase characters, respectively, regardless of the current terminal settings. This implementation accepts, in addition to these two characters, the current terminal characters for those operations.
 -- Input: <nul>

     If the first character of the input is a <nul>, the previous input is replayed, as if just entered.

 -- Input: <control-D>

     If the previous character on the line was an autoindent character, erase characters to move the cursor back to the column immediately after the previous (1-based) column which is a multiple of the shiftwidth edit option. This may result in any number of <tab>and <space>characters preceding the cursor being changed.

     Otherwise, if the autoindent option is set and the user is entering the first character in the line, <control-D>is ignored. Otherwise, a literal <control-D>character is entered.

 -- Input: ^<control-D>

     If the previous character on the line was an autoindent character, erase all of the autoindent characters on the line. In addition, the autoindent level is reset to 0.

 -- Input: 0<control-D>

     If the previous character on the line was an autoindent character, erase all of the autoindent characters on the line. The autoindent level is not altered.

 -- Input: <control-T>

     Insert sufficient <tab>and <space>characters to move the cursor forward to the column immediately after the next (1-based) column which is a multiple of the shiftwidth edit option. This may result in any number of <tab>and <space>characters preceding the cursor being changed.

     Historically, vi did not permit the <control-T>command to be used unless the cursor was at the first column of a new line or it was preceded only by autoindent characters. Nvi permits it to be used at any time during insert mode.

 -- Input: <erase>

 -- Input: <control-H>
     Erase the last character.

 -- Input: <literal-next>

     Quote the next character. The next character will not be mapped (see the map command for more information) or interpreted specially. A carat ^ character will be displayed immediately as a placeholder, but will be replaced by the next character.

 -- Input: <escape>

     If on the colon command line, and the filec edit option is set, behave as described for that option. Otherwise, if on the colon command line, execute the command. Otherwise, if not on the colon command line, resolve all text input into the file, and return to command mode.

 -- Input: <line erase>

     Erase the current line.

 -- Input: <control-W>

 -- Input: <word erase>
     Erase the last word. The definition of word is dependent on the altwerase and ttywerase options.

 -- Input: <control-X>[0-9A-Fa-f]+

     Insert a character with the specified hexadecimal value into the text. The value is delimited by any non-hexadecimal character or the input of the maximum number of characters that can be translated into a single character value.

 -- Input: <interrupt>

     Interrupt text input mode, returning to command mode. If the <interrupt>character is used to interrupt inserting text into the file, it is as if the <escape>character was used; all text input up to the interruption is resolved into the file.