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[WarPiper]

does anyone here know of a text editor that I can use in the shell? I can not boot to x and would like to edit a file. of if at worst, a step by step way of recompiling the kernal?

[Merc]

vi! :-D Takes some getting used to though, emacs might be easier if you don't know vi that well...

[WarPiper]

what does vii do? doe it recompile the kernal or is it a text editor? soor, I am a linux moron stil in training.

[Ilwrath]

yep... vi and emacs are your text editors....

personally, I prefer vi. They're both awkward until you get used to them, though.

You'll probably want to go over a quick reference, like this one though...

The main thing to remember is that vi uses 2 modes... insert and command. To go to insert (able to type things) hit 'i', to get out, and back to command, hit 'ESC' or 'CTRL ['.

Good luck, and may the force be with you.

[ronybeck]

Vi can be a little bit of a challange to any one who is new to linux. You could also try pico. It is much more intuitive and acts more like notepad type apps. It is not as powerful as vi or emacs but the average joe won't need the extra functions that vi and emacs provide any how.

[Rigger]

Pico get my vote.

[Siggy]

If you want something rather easy to use, try joe.

Siggy

[BouncingAyatollah]

vi is an old style text editor so when you run it, it is in "command mode", i.e. any keys you hit will do something! Good thing is, if you just need to use it infrequently, all you need to know is:

i insert text and ESC to end insert
x delete character
:wq write file and quit
:q quit

u undo!

As said, it is worth learning at least the minimal because no matter what state your system gets into, you know vi will be there!

[Jope]

ronybeck wrote:
Vi can be a little bit of a challange to any one who is new to linux. You could also try pico. It is much more intuitive and acts more like notepad type apps. It is not as powerful as vi or emacs but the average joe won't need the extra functions that vi and emacs provide any how.

Ok, if the original asker decides that he doesn't want to do himself a favour and learn vi, then at least use

pico -w

Very important. Braindead pico has word wrap enabled by default and -w turns it off. Too many config files have been ruined, and strands of hair have been pulled out by beginners using pico, and not noticing that some lines got wrapped while they edited them.

BTW, learning vi is not a religion thing for me - it's just plain common sense. Vi is available about 99,99% of the time. Especially if you use a commercial unix, that's usually the only visual editor you get out of the box. You need to install your favourite editor on each machine if you don't want to learn vi.

[Targhan]

pico -w

It rules. However, there are basically two Unix editor camps. Emacs, and then, there is everyone else. :-P

I belong to the "everyone else" grouping. Although, a simple printed "cheat sheet" is about the most helpful thing in the world for either VI or EMACS.

[Floid]

Targhan wrote:

pico -w

It rules. However, there are basically two Unix editor camps. Emacs, and then, there is everyone else. :-P

I belong to the "everyone else" grouping. Although, a simple printed "cheat sheet" is about the most helpful thing in the world for either VI or EMACS.

'vi' seems to be the 'everything else.' Which is annoying if you're an ex-MS-DOS moron, and expect everything to be at least as straightforward as VDE was.

If you want to use 'pico,' you may as well use 'nano.' Systems intended to support people who like 'pico' may have one or the other installed. (So remember both names.)

http://www.nano-editor.org/

A working knowledge of 'vi' - and 'ed,' its precursor - will probably save your posterior at least once, since nearly every *NIX maintains at least the latter in /sbin or some other place you'll have access to when you're stuck in single-user mode with none of your other partitions mountable.

When it comes to everyday use, I'd say there are four camps - those in the ever-ongoing vi vs. emacs "war" (both fit different niches); those getting by with nano, pico, or other 'niche' console-based editors that fit different people's opinions of 'usability'; and those who prefer to work from the GUI, and use editors that can only be used from within X (of which there are quite a few, many of which seem decent enough, especially in comparison to the mess that is console-land).

If you do decide to pick between emacs (a 20-40MB text-editing operating system) and vi (available in many flavors, most extremely-to-relatively light in comparison), keep in mind that both the 'real' GNU emacs and 'vim,' the most popular vi variant, can work in both X and console modes. This doesn't mean either are point-and-click simple within X, of course, just that they have their own window-dressings available.

If you come across something called 'Xemacs,' that's a project that forked from the original GNU emacs years ago, and doesn't have much to do with X11 support anymore. (In other words, the original 'GNU' flavor has long since caught up in that regard.) Emacs fans swear by either, in practical terms there isn't much difference, but I have it on authority of one XEmacs fan that you're best off sticking with the straight GNU flavor until you develop any reasons to hate it.

[alx]

Emacs always seemed to be a bit better for me than vi - type in "info emacs" at the command line for a hypertext manual with a tutorial.

Although I haven't used any text-based editors for a while, and I've heard that joe is meant to have a less steep learning curve.

[bhoggett]

vi (or vim - vi improved) and emacs are the two "standard" editors you will find on almost any Linux and Unix system.

Since you're running Mandrake 9.1, you may want to try joe or nano.

[minator]

I think it is no coincidence that vi are the middle two letters in "evil" :-D

As user friendlyness goes, it isn't.

It's there simply becasue it has been around a long time and lots of people know it. If you get into trouble on an old system it'll be there to save you ass. It's everywhere, type vim in a shell in BeOS and it'll appear...

Anyone who actually likes it, quite frankly needs their head examined.

And no I don't like emacs either, I prefer something from this century.

[Jope]

Anyone who actually likes [vi], quite frankly needs their head examined.

Now now, don't be starting an editor war!

Vi does everything I need from a text editor.. (and I feel rather sane)