vi - phpMan

VI(P) VI(P)

NAME
vi - screen-oriented (visual) display editor

SYNOPSIS
vi [-rR][-c command][-t tagstring][-w size][file ...]

DESCRIPTION
This utility shall be provided on systems that both support the User Portability
Utilities option and define the POSIX2_CHAR_TERM symbol. On other systems it is
optional.

The vi (visual) utility is a screen-oriented text editor. Only the open and visual
modes of the editor are described in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001; see the line editor ex
for additional editing capabilities used in vi. The user can switch back and forth
between vi and ex and execute ex commands from within vi.

This reference page uses the term edit buffer to describe the current working text.
No specific implementation is implied by this term. All editing changes are per-
formed on the edit buffer, and no changes to it shall affect any file until an edi-
tor command writes the file.

When using vi, the terminal screen acts as a window into the editing buffer.
Changes made to the editing buffer shall be reflected in the screen display; the
position of the cursor on the screen shall indicate the position within the editing
buffer.

Certain terminals do not have all the capabilities necessary to support the com-
plete vi definition. When these commands cannot be supported on such terminals,
this condition shall not produce an error message such as "not an editor command"
or report a syntax error. The implementation may either accept the commands and
produce results on the screen that are the result of an unsuccessful attempt to
meet the requirements of this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 or report an error
describing the terminal-related deficiency.

OPTIONS
The vi utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.

The following options shall be supported:

-c command
See the ex command description of the -c option.

-r See the ex command description of the -r option.

-R See the ex command description of the -R option.

-t tagstring
See the ex command description of the -t option.

-w size
See the ex command description of the -w option.

OPERANDS
See the OPERANDS section of the ex command for a description of the operands sup-
ported by the vi command.

STDIN
If standard input is not a terminal device, the results are undefined. The stan-
dard input consists of a series of commands and input text, as described in the
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.

If a read from the standard input returns an error, or if the editor detects an
end-of-file condition from the standard input, it shall be equivalent to a SIGHUP
asynchronous event.

INPUT FILES
See the INPUT FILES section of the ex command for a description of the input files
supported by the vi command.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section of the ex command for the environment vari-
ables that affect the execution of the vi command.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
See the ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS section of the ex for the asynchronous events that
affect the execution of the vi command.

STDOUT
If standard output is not a terminal device, undefined results occur.

Standard output may be used for writing prompts to the user, for informational mes-
sages, and for writing lines from the file.

STDERR
If standard output is not a terminal device, undefined results occur.

The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES
See the OUTPUT FILES section of the ex command for a description of the output
files supported by the vi command.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
If the terminal does not have the capabilities necessary to support an unspecified
portion of the vi definition, implementations shall start initially in ex mode or
open mode. Otherwise, after initialization, vi shall be in command mode; text
input mode can be entered by one of several commands used to insert or change text.
In text input mode, <ESC> can be used to return to command mode; other uses of
<ESC> are described later in this section; see Terminate Command or Input Mode .

Initialization in ex and vi
See Initialization in ex and vi for a description of ex and vi initialization for
the vi utility.

Command Descriptions in vi
The following symbols are used in this reference page to represent arguments to
commands.

buffer See the description of buffer in the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section of the ex
utility; see Command Descriptions in ex .

In open and visual mode, when a command synopsis shows both [ buffer] and [ count]
preceding the command name, they can be specified in either order.

count A positive integer used as an optional argument to most commands, either to
give a repeat count or as a size. This argument is optional and shall
default to 1 unless otherwise specified.

The Synopsis lines for the vi commands <control>-G, <control>-L, <control>-R, <con-
trol>-], %, &, ^, D, m, M, Q, u, U, and ZZ do not have count as an optional argu-
ment. Regardless, it shall not be an error to specify a count to these commands,
and any specified count shall be ignored.

motion An optional trailing argument used by the !, <, >, c, d, and y commands,
which is used to indicate the region of text that shall be affected by the
command. The motion can be either one of the command characters repeated or
one of several other vi commands (listed in the following table). Each of
the applicable commands specifies the region of text matched by repeating
the command; each command that can be used as a motion command specifies the
region of text it affects.

Commands that take motion arguments operate on either lines or characters, depend-
ing on the circumstances. When operating on lines, all lines that fall partially or
wholly within the text region specified for the command shall be affected. When
operating on characters, only the exact characters in the specified text region
shall be affected. Each motion command specifies this individually.

When commands that may be motion commands are not used as motion commands, they
shall set the current position to the current line and column as specified.

The following commands shall be valid cursor motion commands:

<apostrophe> ( - j H
<carriage-return> ) $ k L
<comma> [[ % l M
<control>-H ]] _ n N
<control>-N { ; t T
<control>-P } ? w W
<grave accent> ^ b B
<newline> + e E
<space> | f F
<zero> / h G

Any count that is specified to a command that has an associated motion command
shall be applied to the motion command. If a count is applied to both the command
and its associated motion command, the effect shall be multiplicative.

The following symbols are used in this section to specify locations in the edit
buffer:

current character

The character that is currently indicated by the cursor.

end of a line

The point located between the last non- <newline> (if any) and the terminat-
ing <newline> of a line. For an empty line, this location coincides with the
beginning of the line.

end of the edit buffer

The location corresponding to the end of the last line in the edit buffer.

The following symbols are used in this section to specify command actions:

bigword
In the POSIX locale, vi shall recognize four kinds of bigwords:

1. A maximal sequence of non- <blank>s preceded and followed by <blank>s or
the beginning or end of a line or the edit buffer

2. One or more sequential blank lines

3. The first character in the edit buffer

4. The last non- <newline> in the edit buffer

word In the POSIX locale, vi shall recognize five kinds of words:

1. A maximal 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

* The beginning or end of the edit buffer

2. A maximal sequence of characters other than letters, digits, under-
scores, or <blank>s, delimited at both ends by:

* A letter, digit, underscore

* <blank>s

* The beginning or end of a line

* The beginning or end of the edit buffer

3. One or more sequential blank lines

4. The first character in the edit buffer

5. The last non- <newline> in the edit buffer

section boundary

A section boundary is one of the following:

1. A line whose first character is a <form-feed>

2. A line whose first character is an open curly brace ( '{' )

3. A line whose first character is a period and whose second and third
characters match a two-character pair in the sections edit option (see
ed)

4. A line whose first character is a period and whose only other character
matches the first character of a two-character pair in the sections edit
option, where the second character of the two-character pair is a
<space>

5. The first line of the edit buffer

6. The last line of the edit buffer if the last line of the edit buffer is
empty or if it is a ]] or } command; otherwise, the last non- <newline>
of the last line of the edit buffer

paragraph boundary

A paragraph boundary is one of the following:

1. A section boundary

2. A line whose first character is a period and whose second and third
characters match a two-character pair in the paragraphs edit option (see
ed)

3. A line whose first character is a period and whose only other character
matches the first character of a two-character pair in the paragraphs
edit option, where the second character of the two-character pair is a
<space>

4. One or more sequential blank lines

remembered search direction

See the description of remembered search direction in ed.

sentence boundary

A sentence boundary is one of the following:

1. A paragraph boundary

2. The first non- <blank> that occurs after a paragraph boundary

3. The first non- <blank> that occurs after a period ( '.' ), exclamation
mark ( '!' ), or question mark ( '?' ), followed by two <space>s or the
end of a line; any number of closing parenthesis ( ')' ), closing brack-
ets ( ']' ), double quote ( ' ),' or single quote ( '" ) characters can
appear between the punctuation mark and the two <space>s or end-of-line

In the remainder of the description of the vi utility, the term "buffer line"
refers to a line in the edit buffer and the term "display line" refers to the line
or lines on the display screen used to display one buffer line. The term "current
line" refers to a specific "buffer line".

If there are display lines on the screen for which there are no corresponding
buffer lines because they correspond to lines that would be after the end of the
file, they shall be displayed as a single tilde ( '~' ) character, plus the termi-
nating <newline>.

The last line of the screen shall be used to report errors or display informational
messages. It shall also be used to display the input for "line-oriented commands" (
/, ?, :, and !). When a line-oriented command is executed, the editor shall enter
text input mode on the last line on the screen, using the respective command char-
acters as prompt characters. (In the case of the ! command, the associated motion
shall be entered by the user before the editor enters text input mode.) The line
entered by the user shall be terminated by a <newline>, a non- <control>-V-escaped
<carriage-return>, or unescaped <ESC>. It is unspecified if more characters than
require a display width minus one column number of screen columns can be entered.

If any command is executed that overwrites a portion of the screen other than the
last line of the screen (for example, the ex suspend or ! commands), other than the
ex shell command, the user shall be prompted for a character before the screen is
refreshed and the edit session continued.

<tab>s shall take up the number of columns on the screen set by the tabstop edit
option (see ed), unless there are less than that number of columns before the dis-
play margin that will cause the displayed line to be folded; in this case, they
shall only take up the number of columns up to that boundary.

The cursor shall be placed on the current line and relative to the current column
as specified by each command described in the following sections.

In open mode, if the current line is not already displayed, then it shall be dis-
played.

In visual mode, if the current line is not displayed, then the lines that are dis-
played shall be expanded, scrolled, or redrawn to cause an unspecified portion of
the current line to be displayed. If the screen is redrawn, no more than the num-
ber of display lines specified by the value of the window edit option shall be dis-
played (unless the current line cannot be completely displayed in the number of
display lines specified by the window edit option) and the current line shall be
positioned as close to the center of the displayed lines as possible (within the
constraints imposed by the distance of the line from the beginning or end of the
edit buffer). If the current line is before the first line in the display and the
screen is scrolled, an unspecified portion of the current line shall be placed on
the first line of the display. If the current line is after the last line in the
display and the screen is scrolled, an unspecified portion of the current line
shall be placed on the last line of the display.

In visual mode, if a line from the edit buffer (other than the current line) does
not entirely fit into the lines at the bottom of the display that are available for
its presentation, the editor may choose not to display any portion of the line. The
lines of the display that do not contain text from the edit buffer for this reason
shall each consist of a single '@' character.

In visual mode, the editor may choose for unspecified reasons to not update lines
in the display to correspond to the underlying edit buffer text. The lines of the
display that do not correctly correspond to text from the edit buffer for this rea-
son shall consist of a single '@' character (plus the terminating <newline>), and
the <control>-R command shall cause the editor to update the screen to correctly
represent the edit buffer.

Open and visual mode commands that set the current column set it to a column posi-
tion in the display, and not a character position in the line. In this case, how-
ever, the column position in the display shall be calculated for an infinite width
display; for example, the column related to a character that is part of a line that
has been folded onto additional screen lines will be offset from the display line
column where the buffer line begins, not from the beginning of a particular display
line.

The display cursor column in the display is based on the value of the current col-
umn, as follows, with each rule applied in turn:

1. If the current column is after the last display line column used by the dis-
played line, the display cursor column shall be set to the last display line
column occupied by the last non- <newline> in the current line; otherwise, the
display cursor column shall be set to the current column.

2. If the character of which some portion is displayed in the display line column
specified by the display cursor column requires more than a single display line
column:

a. If in text input mode, the display cursor column shall be adjusted to the
first display line column in which any portion of that character is dis-
played.

b. Otherwise, the display cursor column shall be adjusted to the last display
line column in which any portion of that character is displayed.

The current column shall not be changed by these adjustments to the display cursor
column.

If an error occurs during the parsing or execution of a vi command:

* The terminal shall be alerted. Execution of the vi command shall stop, and the
cursor (for example, the current line and column) shall not be further modified.

* Unless otherwise specified by the following command sections, it is unspecified
whether an informational message shall be displayed.

* Any partially entered vi command shall be discarded.

* If the vi command resulted from a map expansion, all characters from that map
expansion shall be discarded, except as otherwise specified by the map command
(see ed).

* If the vi command resulted from the execution of a buffer, no further commands
caused by the execution of the buffer shall be executed.

Page Backwards
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-B

If in open mode, the <control>-B command shall behave identically to the z command.
Otherwise, if the current line is the first line of the edit buffer, it shall be an
error.

If the window edit option is less than 3, display a screen where the last line of
the display shall be some portion of:

(current first line) -1

otherwise, display a screen where the first line of the display shall be some por-
tion of:

(current first line) - count x ((window edit option) -2)

If this calculation would result in a line that is before the first line of the
edit buffer, the first line of the display shall display some portion of the first
line of the edit buffer.

Current line: If no lines from the previous display remain on the screen, set to
the last line of the display; otherwise, set to ( line - the number of new lines
displayed on this screen).

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Scroll Forward
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-D

If the current line is the last line of the edit buffer, it shall be an error.

If no count is specified, count shall default to the count associated with the pre-
vious <control>-D or <control>-U command. If there was no previous <control>-D or
<control>-U command, count shall default to the value of the scroll edit option.

If in open mode, write lines starting with the line after the current line, until
count lines or the last line of the file have been written.

Current line: If the current line + count is past the last line of the edit buffer,
set to the last line of the edit buffer; otherwise, set to the current line +
count.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Scroll Forward by Line
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-E

Display the line count lines after the last line currently displayed.

If the last line of the edit buffer is displayed, it shall be an error. If there
is no line count lines after the last line currently displayed, the last line of
the display shall display some portion of the last line of the edit buffer.

Current line: Unchanged if the previous current character is displayed; otherwise,
set to the first line displayed.

Current column: Unchanged.

Page Forward
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-F

If in open mode, the <control>-F command shall behave identically to the z command.
Otherwise, if the current line is the last line of the edit buffer, it shall be an
error.

If the window edit option is less than 3, display a screen where the first line of
the display shall be some portion of:

(current last line) +1

otherwise, display a screen where the first line of the display shall be some por-
tion of:

(current first line) + count x ((window edit option) -2)

If this calculation would result in a line that is after the last line of the edit
buffer, the last line of the display shall display some portion of the last line of
the edit buffer.

Current line: If no lines from the previous display remain on the screen, set to
the first line of the display; otherwise, set to ( line + the number of new lines
displayed on this screen).

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Display Information
Synopsis:

<control>-G

This command shall be equivalent to the ex file command.

Move Cursor Backwards
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-H

[count] h

the current erase character (see stty)

If there are no characters before the current character on the current line, it
shall be an error. If there are less than count previous characters on the current
line, count shall be adjusted to the number of previous characters on the line.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the character before the starting cursor up to
and including the countth character before the starting cursor.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to ( column - the number of columns occupied by count charac-
ters ending with the previous current column).

Move Down
Synopsis:

[count] <newline>

[count] <control>-J

[count] <control>-M

[count] <control>-N

[count] j

[count] <carriage-return>

[count] +

If there are less than count lines after the current line in the edit buffer, it
shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall include the starting line and the next count - 1 lines.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to current line+ count.

Current column: Set to non- <blank> for the <carriage-return>, <control>-M, and +
commands; otherwise, unchanged.

Clear and Redisplay
Synopsis:

<control>-L

If in open mode, clear the screen and redisplay the current line. Otherwise, clear
and redisplay the screen.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

Move Up
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-P

[count] k

[count] -

If there are less than count lines before the current line in the edit buffer, it
shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall include the starting line and the previous count lines.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to current line - count.

Current column: Set to non- <blank> for the - command; otherwise, unchanged.

Redraw Screen
Synopsis:

<control>-R

If any lines have been deleted from the display screen and flagged as deleted on
the terminal using the @ convention (see the beginning of the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
section), they shall be redisplayed to match the contents of the edit buffer.

It is unspecified whether lines flagged with @ because they do not fit on the ter-
minal display shall be affected.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

Scroll Backward
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-U

If the current line is the first line of the edit buffer, it shall be an error.

Current line: If count is greater than the current line, set to 1; otherwise, set
to the current line - count.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Scroll Backward by Line
Synopsis:

[count] <control>-Y

Display the line count lines before the first line currently displayed.

If the current line is the first line of the edit buffer, it shall be an error. If
this calculation would result in a line that is before the first line of the edit
buffer, the first line of the display shall display some portion of the first line
of the edit buffer.

Current line: Unchanged if the previous current character is displayed; otherwise,
set to the first line displayed.

Current column: Unchanged.

Edit the Alternate File
Synopsis:

<control>-^

This command shall be equivalent to the ex edit command, with the alternate path-
name as its argument.

Terminate Command or Input Mode
Synopsis:

<ESC>

If a partial vi command (as defined by at least one, non- count character) has been
entered, discard the count and the command character(s).

Otherwise, if no command characters have been entered, and the <ESC> was the result
of a map expansion, the terminal shall be alerted and the <ESC> character shall be
discarded, but it shall not be an error.

Otherwise, it shall be an error.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

Search for tagstring
Synopsis:

<control>-]

If the current character is not a word or <blank>, it shall be an error.

This command shall be equivalent to the ex tag command, with the argument to that
command defined as follows.

If the current character is a <blank>:

1. Skip all <blank>s after the cursor up to the end of the line.

2. If the end of the line is reached, it shall be an error.

Then, the argument to the ex tag command shall be the current character and all
subsequent characters, up to the first non-word character or the end of the line.

Move Cursor Forward
Synopsis:

[count] <space>

[count] l (ell)

If there are less than count non- <newline>s after the cursor on the current line,
count shall be adjusted to the number of non- <newline>s after the cursor on the
line.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the current or countth character after the cursor is the last non- <newline>
in the line, the text region shall be comprised of the current character up to
and including the last non- <newline> in the line. Otherwise, the text region
shall be from the current character up to, but not including, the countth char-
acter after the cursor.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

If there are no non- <newline>s after the current character on the current line, it
shall be an error.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column that displays any portion of the countth
character after the current character.

Replace Text with Results from Shell Command
Synopsis:

[count] ! motion shell-commands <newline>

If the motion command is the ! command repeated:

1. If the edit buffer is empty and no count was supplied, the command shall be the
equivalent of the ex :read ! command, with the text input, and no text shall be
copied to any buffer.

2. Otherwise:

a. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

b. The text region shall be from the current line up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Otherwise, the text region shall be the lines in which any character of the text
region specified by the motion command appear.

Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

This command shall be equivalent to the ex ! command for the specified lines.

Move Cursor to End-of-Line
Synopsis:

[count] $

It shall be an error if there are less than ( count -1) lines after the current
line in the edit buffer.

If used as a motion command:

1. If count is 1:

a. It shall be an error if the line is empty.

b. Otherwise, the text region shall consist of all characters from the start-
ing cursor to the last non- <newline> in the line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

2. Otherwise, if the starting cursor position is at or before the first non-
<blank> in the line, the text region shall consist of the current and the next
count -1 lines, and any text saved to a buffer shall be in line mode.

3. Otherwise, the text region shall consist of all characters from the starting
cursor to the last non- <newline> in the line that is count -1 lines forward
from the current line, and any text copied to a buffer shall be in character
mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the current line + count-1.

Current column: The current column is set to the last display line column of the
last non- <newline> in the line, or column position 1 if the line is empty.

The current column shall be adjusted to be on the last display line column of the
last non- <newline> of the current line as subsequent commands change the current
line, until a command changes the current column.

Move to Matching Character
Synopsis:

If the character at the current position is not a parenthesis, bracket, or curly
brace, search forward in the line to the first one of those characters. If no such
character is found, it shall be an error.

The matching character shall be the parenthesis, bracket, or curly brace matching
the parenthesis, bracket, or curly brace, respectively, that was at the current
position or that was found on the current line.

Matching shall be determined as follows, for an open parenthesis:

1. Set a counter to 1.

2. Search forwards until a parenthesis is found or the end of the edit buffer is
reached.

3. If the end of the edit buffer is reached, it shall be an error.

4. If an open parenthesis is found, increment the counter by 1.

5. If a close parenthesis is found, decrement the counter by 1.

6. If the counter is zero, the current character is the matching character.

Matching for a close parenthesis shall be equivalent, except that the search shall
be backwards, from the starting character to the beginning of the buffer, a close
parenthesis shall increment the counter by 1, and an open parenthesis shall decre-
ment the counter by 1.

Matching for brackets and curly braces shall be equivalent, except that searching
shall be done for open and close brackets or open and close curly braces. It is
implementation-defined whether other characters are searched for and matched as
well.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the matching cursor was after the starting cursor in the edit buffer, and
the starting cursor position was at or before the first non- <blank> non- <new-
line> in the starting line, and the matching cursor position was at or after
the last non- <blank> non- <newline> in the matching line, the text region
shall consist of the current line to the matching line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

2. If the matching cursor was before the starting cursor in the edit buffer, and
the starting cursor position was at or after the last non- <blank> non- <new-
line> in the starting line, and the matching cursor position was at or before
the first non- <blank> non- <newline> in the matching line, the text region
shall consist of the current line to the matching line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

3. Otherwise, the text region shall consist of the starting character to the
matching character, inclusive, and any text copied to a buffer shall be in
character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line where the matching character is located.

Current column: Set to the last column where any portion of the matching character
is displayed.

Repeat Substitution
Synopsis:

Repeat the previous substitution command. This command shall be equivalent to the
ex & command with the current line as its addresses, and without options, count, or
flags.

Return to Previous Context at Beginning of Line
Synopsis:

' character

It shall be an error if there is no line in the edit buffer marked by character.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the starting cursor is after the marked cursor, then the locations of the
starting cursor and the marked cursor in the edit buffer shall be logically
swapped.

2. The text region shall consist of the starting line up to and including the
marked line, and any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line referenced by the mark.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Return to Previous Context
Synopsis:

' character

It shall be an error if the marked line is no longer in the edit buffer. If the
marked line no longer contains a character in the saved numbered character posi-
tion, it shall be as if the marked position is the first non- <blank>.

If used as a motion command:

1. It shall be an error if the marked cursor references the same character in the
edit buffer as the starting cursor.

2. If the starting cursor is after the marked cursor, then the locations of the
starting cursor and the marked cursor in the edit buffer shall be logically
swapped.

3. If the starting line is empty or the starting cursor is at or before the first
non- <blank> non- <newline> of the starting line, and the marked cursor line is
empty or the marked cursor references the first character of the marked cursor
line, the text region shall consist of all lines containing characters from the
starting cursor to the line before the marked cursor line, inclusive, and any
text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

4. Otherwise, if the marked cursor line is empty or the marked cursor references a
character at or before the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the marked cur-
sor line, the region of text shall be from the starting cursor to the last non-
<newline> of the line before the marked cursor line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

5. Otherwise, the region of text shall be from the starting cursor (inclusive), to
the marked cursor (exclusive), and any text copied to a buffer shall be in
character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line referenced by the mark.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the character refer-
enced by the mark is displayed.

Return to Previous Section
Synopsis:

[count] [[

Move the cursor backward through the edit buffer to the first character of the pre-
vious section boundary, count times.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the starting cursor was at the first character of the starting line or the
starting line was empty, and the first character of the boundary was the first
character of the boundary line, the text region shall consist of the current
line up to and including the line where the countth next boundary starts, and
any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

2. If the boundary was the last line of the edit buffer or the last non- <newline>
of the last line of the edit buffer, the text region shall consist of the last
character in the edit buffer up to and including the starting character, and
any text saved to a buffer shall be in character mode.

3. Otherwise, the text region shall consist of the starting character up to but
not including the first character in the countth next boundary, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line where the countth next boundary in the edit buffer
starts.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the first character
of the countth next boundary is displayed, or column position 1 if the line is
empty.

Move to Next Section
Synopsis:

[count] ]]

Move the cursor forward through the edit buffer to the first character of the next
section boundary, count times.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the starting cursor was at the first character of the starting line or the
starting line was empty, and the first character of the boundary was the first
character of the boundary line, the text region shall consist of the current
line up to and including the line where the countth previous boundary starts,
and any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

2. If the boundary was the first line of the edit buffer, the text region shall
consist of the first character in the edit buffer up to but not including the
starting character, and any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

3. Otherwise, the text region shall consist of the first character in the countth
previous section boundary up to but not including the starting character, and
any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line where the countth previous boundary in the edit
buffer starts.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the first character
of the countth previous boundary is displayed, or column position 1 if the line is
empty.

Move to First Non-<blank> Position on Current Line
Synopsis:

If used as a motion command:

1. If the line has no non- <blank> non- <newline>s, or if the cursor is at the
first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the line, it shall be an error.

2. If the cursor is before the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the line, the
text region shall be comprised of the current character, up to, but not includ-
ing, the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the line.

3. If the cursor is after the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the line, the
text region shall be from the character before the starting cursor up to and
including the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the line.

4. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Current and Line Above
Synopsis:

[count] _

If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit buffer, it
shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. If count is less than 2, the text region shall be the current line.

2. Otherwise, the text region shall include the starting line and the next count
-1 lines.

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to current line + count -1.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Move Back to Beginning of Sentence
Synopsis:

[count] (

Move backward to the beginning of a sentence. This command shall be equivalent to
the [[ command, with the exception that sentence boundaries shall be used instead
of section boundaries.

Move Forward to Beginning of Sentence
Synopsis:

[count] )

Move forward to the beginning of a sentence. This command shall be equivalent to
the ]] command, with the exception that sentence boundaries shall be used instead
of section boundaries.

Move Back to Preceding Paragraph
Synopsis:

[count] {

Move back to the beginning of the preceding paragraph. This command shall be equiv-
alent to the [[ command, with the exception that paragraph boundaries shall be used
instead of section boundaries.

Move Forward to Next Paragraph
Synopsis:

[count] }

Move forward to the beginning of the next paragraph. This command shall be equiva-
lent to the ]] command, with the exception that paragraph boundaries shall be used
instead of section boundaries.

Move to Specific Column Position
Synopsis:

[count] |

For the purposes of this command, lines that are too long for the current display
and that have been folded shall be treated as having a single, 1-based, number of
columns.

If there are less than count columns in which characters from the current line are
displayed on the screen, count shall be adjusted to be the last column in which any
portion of the line is displayed on the screen.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the line is empty, or the cursor character is the same as the character on
the countth column of the line, it shall be an error.

2. If the cursor is before the countth column of the line, the text region shall
be comprised of the current character, up to but not including the character on
the countth column of the line.

3. If the cursor is after the countth column of the line, the text region shall be
from the character before the starting cursor up to and including the character
on the countth column of the line.

4. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the character that
is displayed in the count column of the line is displayed.

Reverse Find Character
Synopsis:

[count] ,

If the last F, f, T, or t command was F, f, T, or t, this command shall be equiva-
lent to an f, F, t, or T command, respectively, with the specified count and the
same search character.

If there was no previous F, f, T, or t command, it shall be an error.

Repeat
Synopsis:

[count] .

Repeat the last !, <, >, A, C, D, I, J, O, P, R, S, X, Y, a, c, d, i, o, p, r, s,
x, y, or ~ command. It shall be an error if none of these commands have been exe-
cuted. Commands (other than commands that enter text input mode) executed as a
result of map expansions, shall not change the value of the last repeatable com-
mand.

Repeated commands with associated motion commands shall repeat the motion command
as well; however, any specified count shall replace the count(s) that were origi-
nally specified to the repeated command or its associated motion command.

If the motion component of the repeated command is f, F, t, or T, the repeated com-
mand shall not set the remembered search character for the ; and , commands.

If the repeated command is p or P, and the buffer associated with that command was
a numeric buffer named with a number less than 9, the buffer associated with the
repeated command shall be set to be the buffer named by the name of the previous
buffer logically incremented by 1.

If the repeated character is a text input command, the input text associated with
that command is repeated literally:

* Input characters are neither macro or abbreviation-expanded.

* Input characters are not interpreted in any special way with the exception that
<newline>, <carriage-return>, and <control>-T behave as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi .

Current line: Set as described for the repeated command.

Current column: Set as described for the repeated command.

Find Regular Expression
Synopsis:

If the input line contains no non- <newline>s, it shall be equivalent to a line
containing only the last regular expression encountered. The enhanced regular
expressions supported by vi are described in Regular Expressions in ex .

Otherwise, the line shall be interpreted as one or more regular expressions,
optionally followed by an address offset or a vi z command.

If the regular expression is not the last regular expression on the line, or if a
line offset or z command is specified, the regular expression shall be terminated
by an unescaped '/' character, which shall not be used as part of the regular
expression. If the regular expression is not the first regular expression on the
line, it shall be preceded by zero or more <blank>s, a semicolon, zero or more
<blank>s, and a leading '/' character, which shall not be interpreted as part of
the regular expression. It shall be an error to precede any regular expression with
any characters other than these.

Each search shall begin from the character after the first character of the last
match (or, if it is the first search, after the cursor). If the wrapscan edit
option is set, the search shall continue to the character before the starting cur-
sor character; otherwise, to the end of the edit buffer. It shall be an error if
any search fails to find a match, and an informational message to this effect shall
be displayed.

An optional address offset (see Addressing in ex ) can be specified after the last
regular expression by including a trailing '/' character after the regular expres-
sion and specifying the address offset. This offset will be from the line contain-
ing the match for the last regular expression specified. It shall be an error if
the line offset would indicate a line address less than 1 or greater than the last
line in the edit buffer. An address offset of zero shall be supported. It shall be
an error to follow the address offset with any other characters than <blank>s.

If not used as a motion command, an optional z command (see Redraw Window ) can be
specified after the last regular expression by including a trailing '/' character
after the regular expression, zero or more <blank>s, a 'z' , zero or more <blank>s,
an optional new window edit option value, zero or more <blank>s, and a location
character. The effect shall be as if the z command was executed after the / com-
mand. It shall be an error to follow the z command with any other characters than
<blank>s.

The remembered search direction shall be set to forward.

If used as a motion command:

1. It shall be an error if the last match references the same character in the
edit buffer as the starting cursor.

2. If any address offset is specified, the last match shall be adjusted by the
specified offset as described previously.

3. If the starting cursor is after the last match, then the locations of the
starting cursor and the last match in the edit buffer shall be logically
swapped.

4. If any address offset is specified, the text region shall consist of all lines
containing characters from the starting cursor to the last match line, inclu-
sive, and any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

5. Otherwise, if the starting line is empty or the starting cursor is at or before
the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the starting line, and the last match
line is empty or the last match starts at the first character of the last match
line, the text region shall consist of all lines containing characters from the
starting cursor to the line before the last match line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

6. Otherwise, if the last match line is empty or the last match begins at a char-
acter at or before the first non- <blank> non- <newline> of the last match
line, the region of text shall be from the current cursor to the last non-
<newline> of the line before the last match line, inclusive, and any text
copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

7. Otherwise, the region of text shall be from the current cursor (inclusive), to
the first character of the last match (exclusive), and any text copied to a
buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: If a match is found, set to the last matched line plus the address
offset, if any; otherwise, unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column on which any portion of the first character
in the last matched string is displayed, if a match is found; otherwise, unchanged.

Move to First Character in Line
Synopsis:

0 (zero)

Move to the first character on the current line. The character '0' shall not be
interpreted as a command if it is immediately preceded by a digit.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the cursor character is the first character in the line, it shall be an
error.

2. The text region shall be from the character before the cursor character up to
and including the first character in the line.

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: The last column in which any portion of the first character in the
line is displayed, or if the line is empty, unchanged.

Execute an ex Command
Synopsis:

Execute one or more ex commands.

If any portion of the screen other than the last line of the screen was overwritten
by any ex command (except shell), vi shall display a message indicating that it is
waiting for an input from the user, and shall then read a character. This action
may also be taken for other, unspecified reasons.

If the next character entered is a ':' , another ex command shall be accepted and
executed. Any other character shall cause the screen to be refreshed and vi shall
return to command mode.

Current line: As specified for the ex command.

Current column: As specified for the ex command.

Repeat Find
Synopsis:

[count] ;

This command shall be equivalent to the last F, f, T, or t command, with the speci-
fied count, and with the same search character used for the last F, f, T, or t com-
mand. If there was no previous F, f, T, or t command, it shall be an error.

Shift Left
Synopsis:

[count] < motion

If the motion command is the < command repeated:

1. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

2. The text region shall be from the current line, up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Shift any line in the text region specified by the count and motion command one
shiftwidth (see the ex shiftwidth option) toward the start of the line, as
described by the ex < command. The unshifted lines shall be copied to the unnamed
buffer in line mode.

Current line: If the motion was from the current cursor position toward the end of
the edit buffer, unchanged. Otherwise, set to the first line in the edit buffer
that is part of the text region specified by the motion command.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Shift Right
Synopsis:

[count] > motion

If the motion command is the > command repeated:

1. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

2. The text region shall be from the current line, up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Shift any line with characters in the text region specified by the count and motion
command one shiftwidth (see the ex shiftwidth option) away from the start of the
line, as described by the ex > command. The unshifted lines shall be copied into
the unnamed buffer in line mode.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Scan Backwards for Regular Expression
Synopsis:

Scan backwards; the ? command shall be equivalent to the / command (see Find Regu-
lar Expression ) with the following exceptions:

1. The input prompt shall be a '?' .

2. Each search shall begin from the character before the first character of the
last match (or, if it is the first search, the character before the cursor
character).

3. The search direction shall be from the cursor toward the beginning of the edit
buffer, and the wrapscan edit option shall affect whether the search wraps to
the end of the edit buffer and continues.

4. The remembered search direction shall be set to backward.

Execute
Synopsis:

@buffer

If the buffer is specified as @, the last buffer executed shall be used. If no pre-
vious buffer has been executed, it shall be an error.

Behave as if the contents of the named buffer were entered as standard input. After
each line of a line-mode buffer, and all but the last line of a character mode
buffer, behave as if a <newline> were entered as standard input.

If an error occurs during this process, an error message shall be written, and no
more characters resulting from the execution of this command shall be processed.

If a count is specified, behave as if that count were entered as user input before
the characters from the @ buffer were entered.

Current line: As specified for the individual commands.

Current column: As specified for the individual commands.

Reverse Case
Synopsis:

[count] ~

Reverse the case of the current character and the next count -1 characters, such
that lowercase characters that have uppercase counterparts shall be changed to
uppercase characters, and uppercase characters that have lowercase counterparts
shall be changed to lowercase characters, as prescribed by the current locale. No
other characters shall be affected by this command.

If there are less than count -1 characters after the cursor in the edit buffer,
count shall be adjusted to the number of characters after the cursor in the edit
buffer minus 1.

For the purposes of this command, the next character after the last non- <newline>
on the line shall be the next character in the edit buffer.

Current line: Set to the line including the ( count-1)th character after the cur-
sor.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the ( count-1)th
character after the cursor is displayed.

Append
Synopsis:

[count] a

Enter text input mode after the current cursor position. No characters already in
the edit buffer shall be affected by this command. A count shall cause the input
text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the input.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Append at End-of-Line
Synopsis:

[count] A

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command:

$ [ count ] a

(see Append ).

Move Backward to Preceding Word
Synopsis:

[count] b

With the exception that words are used as the delimiter instead of bigwords, this
command shall be equivalent to the B command.

Move Backward to Preceding Bigword
Synopsis:

[count] B

If the edit buffer is empty or the cursor is on the first character of the edit
buffer, it shall be an error. If less than count bigwords begin between the cursor
and the start of the edit buffer, count shall be adjusted to the number of bigword
beginnings between the cursor and the start of the edit buffer.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the first character of the countth previous big-
word beginning up to but not including the cursor character.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line containing the current column.

Current column: Set to the last column upon which any part of the first character
of the countth previous bigword is displayed.

Change
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] c motion

If the motion command is the c command repeated:

1. The buffer text shall be in line mode.

2. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

3. The text region shall be from the current line up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Otherwise, the buffer text mode and text region shall be as specified by the motion
command.

The replaced text shall be copied into buffer, if specified, and into the unnamed
buffer. If the text to be replaced contains characters from more than a single
line, or the buffer text is in line mode, the replaced text shall be copied into
the numeric buffers as well.

If the buffer text is in line mode:

1. Any lines that contain characters in the region shall be deleted, and the edi-
tor shall enter text input mode at the beginning of a new line which shall
replace the first line deleted.

2. If the autoindent edit option is set, autoindent characters equal to the
autoindent characters on the first line deleted shall be inserted as if entered
by the user.

Otherwise, if characters from more than one line are in the region of text:

1. The text shall be deleted.

2. Any text remaining in the last line in the text region shall be appended to the
first line in the region, and the last line in the region shall be deleted.

3. The editor shall enter text input mode after the last character not deleted
from the first line in the text region, if any; otherwise, on the first column
of the first line in the region.

Otherwise:

1. If the glyph for '$' is smaller than the region, the end of the region shall be
marked with a '$' .

2. The editor shall enter text input mode, overwriting the region of text.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Change to End-of-Line
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] C

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command:

[buffer][count] c$

See the c command.

Delete
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] d motion

If the motion command is the d command repeated:

1. The buffer text shall be in line mode.

2. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

3. The text region shall be from the current line up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Otherwise, the buffer text mode and text region shall be as specified by the motion
command.

If in open mode, and the current line is deleted, and the line remains on the dis-
play, an '@' character shall be displayed as the first glyph of that line.

Delete the region of text into buffer, if specified, and into the unnamed buffer.
If the text to be deleted contains characters from more than a single line, or the
buffer text is in line mode, the deleted text shall be copied into the numeric
buffers, as well.

Current line: Set to the first text region line that appears in the edit buffer,
unless that line has been deleted, in which case it shall be set to the last line
in the edit buffer, or line 1 if the edit buffer is empty.

Current column:

1. If the line is empty, set to column position 1.

2. Otherwise, if the buffer text is in line mode or the motion was from the cursor
toward the end of the edit buffer:

a. If a character from the current line is displayed in the current column,
set to the last column that displays any portion of that character.

b. Otherwise, set to the last column in which any portion of any character in
the line is displayed.

3. Otherwise, if a character is displayed in the column that began the text
region, set to the last column that displays any portion of that character.

4. Otherwise, set to the last column in which any portion of any character in the
line is displayed.

Delete to End-of-Line
Synopsis:

[buffer] D

Delete the text from the current position to the end of the current line; equiva-
lent to the vi command:

[buffer] d$

Move to End-of-Word
Synopsis:

[count] e

With the exception that words are used instead of bigwords as the delimiter, this
command shall be equivalent to the E command.

Move to End-of-Bigword
Synopsis:

[count] E

If the edit buffer is empty it shall be an error. If less than count bigwords end
between the cursor and the end of the edit buffer, count shall be adjusted to the
number of bigword endings between the cursor and the end of the edit buffer.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the last character of the countth next bigword up
to and including the cursor character.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to the line containing the current column.

Current column: Set to the last column upon which any part of the last character of
the countth next bigword is displayed.

Find Character in Current Line (Forward)
Synopsis:

[count] f character

It shall be an error if count occurrences of the character do not occur after the
cursor in the line.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text range shall be from the cursor character up to and including the
countth occurrence of the specified character after the cursor.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the countth occur-
rence of the specified character after the cursor appears in the line.

Find Character in Current Line (Reverse)
Synopsis:

[count] F character

It shall be an error if count occurrences of the character do not occur before the
cursor in the line.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the countth occurrence of the specified character
before the cursor, up to, but not including the cursor character.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the countth occur-
rence of the specified character before the cursor appears in the line.

Move to Line
Synopsis:

[count] G

If count is not specified, it shall default to the last line of the edit buffer. If
count is greater than the last line of the edit buffer, it shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the cursor line up to and including the specified
line.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Set to count if count is specified; otherwise, the last line.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Move to Top of Screen
Synopsis:

[count] H

If the beginning of the line count greater than the first line of which any portion
appears on the display does not exist, it shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. If in open mode, the text region shall be the current line.

2. Otherwise, the text region shall be from the starting line up to and including
(the first line of the display + count -1).

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

If in open mode, this command shall set the current column to non- <blank> and do
nothing else.

Otherwise, it shall set the current line and current column as follows.

Current line: Set to (the first line of the display + count -1).

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Insert Before Cursor
Synopsis:

[count] i

Enter text input mode before the current cursor position. No characters already in
the edit buffer shall be affected by this command. A count shall cause the input
text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the input.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Insert at Beginning of Line
Synopsis:

[count] I

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command ^[ count] i.

Join
Synopsis:

[count] J

If the current line is the last line in the edit buffer, it shall be an error.

This command shall be equivalent to the ex join command with no addresses, and an
ex command count value of 1 if count was not specified or if a count of 1 was spec-
ified, and an ex command count value of count -1 for any other value of count,
except that the current line and column shall be set as follows.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: The last column in which any portion of the character following the
last character in the initial line is displayed, or the last non- <newline> in the
line if no characters were appended.

Move to Bottom of Screen
Synopsis:

[count] L

If the beginning of the line count less than the last line of which any portion
appears on the display does not exist, it shall be an error.

If used as a motion command:

1. If in open mode, the text region shall be the current line.

2. Otherwise, the text region shall include all lines from the starting cursor
line to (the last line of the display -( count -1)).

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

1. If in open mode, this command shall set the current column to non- <blank> and
do nothing else.

2. Otherwise, it shall set the current line and current column as follows.

Current line: Set to (the last line of the display -( count -1)).

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Mark Position
Synopsis:

m letter

This command shall be equivalent to the ex mark command with the specified charac-
ter as an argument.

Move to Middle of Screen
Synopsis:

The middle line of the display shall be calculated as follows:

(the top line of the display) + (((number of lines displayed) +1) /2) -1

If used as a motion command:

1. If in open mode, the text region shall be the current line.

2. Otherwise, the text region shall include all lines from the starting cursor
line up to and including the middle line of the display.

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in line mode.

If not used as a motion command:

If in open mode, this command shall set the current column to non- <blank> and do
nothing else.

Otherwise, it shall set the current line and current column as follows.

Current line: Set to the middle line of the display.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Repeat Regular Expression Find (Forward)
Synopsis:

If the remembered search direction was forward, the n command shall be equivalent
to the vi / command with no characters entered by the user. Otherwise, it shall be
equivalent to the vi ? command with no characters entered by the user.

If the n command is used as a motion command for the ! command, the editor shall
not enter text input mode on the last line on the screen, and shall behave as if
the user entered a single '!' character as the text input.

Repeat Regular Expression Find (Reverse)
Synopsis:

Scan for the next match of the last pattern given to / or ?, but in the reverse
direction; this is the reverse of n.

If the remembered search direction was forward, the N command shall be equivalent
to the vi ? command with no characters entered by the user. Otherwise, it shall be
equivalent to the vi / command with no characters entered by the user. If the N
command is used as a motion command for the ! command, the editor shall not enter
text input mode on the last line on the screen, and shall behave as if the user
entered a single ! character as the text input.

Insert Empty Line Below
Synopsis:

Enter text input mode in a new line appended after the current line. A count shall
cause the input text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the already
added text, each time starting on a new, appended line.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Insert Empty Line Above
Synopsis:

Enter text input mode in a new line inserted before the current line. A count
shall cause the input text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the
already added text, each time starting on a new, appended line.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Put from Buffer Following
Synopsis:

[buffer] p

If no buffer is specified, the unnamed buffer shall be used.

If the buffer text is in line mode, the text shall be appended below the current
line, and each line of the buffer shall become a new line in the edit buffer. A
count shall cause the buffer text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of
the already added text, each time starting on a new, appended line.

If the buffer text is in character mode, the text shall be appended into the cur-
rent line after the cursor, and each line of the buffer other than the first and
last shall become a new line in the edit buffer. A count shall cause the buffer
text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the already added text, each
time starting after the last added character.

Current line: If the buffer text is in line mode, set the line to line +1; other-
wise, unchanged.

Current column: If the buffer text is in line mode:

1. If there is a non- <blank> in the first line of the buffer, set to the last
column on which any portion of the first non- <blank> in the line is displayed.

2. If there is no non- <blank> in the first line of the buffer, set to the last
column on which any portion of the last non- <newline> in the first line of the
buffer is displayed.

If the buffer text is in character mode:

1. If the text in the buffer is from more than a single line, then set to the last
column on which any portion of the first character from the buffer is dis-
played.

2. Otherwise, if the buffer is the unnamed buffer, set to the last column on which
any portion of the last character from the buffer is displayed.

3. Otherwise, set to the first column on which any portion of the first character
from the buffer is displayed.

Put from Buffer Before
Synopsis:

[buffer] P

If no buffer is specified, the unnamed buffer shall be used.

If the buffer text is in line mode, the text shall be inserted above the current
line, and each line of the buffer shall become a new line in the edit buffer. A
count shall cause the buffer text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of
the already added text, each time starting on a new, appended line.

If the buffer text is in character mode, the text shall be inserted into the cur-
rent line before the cursor, and each line of the buffer other than the first and
last shall become a new line in the edit buffer. A count shall cause the buffer
text to be appended count -1 more times to the end of the already added text, each
time starting after the last added character.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: If the buffer text is in line mode:

1. If there is a non- <blank> in the first line of the buffer, set to the last
column on which any portion of that character is displayed.

2. If there is no non- <blank> in the first line of the buffer, set to the last
column on which any portion of the last non- <newline> in the first line of the
buffer is displayed.

If the buffer text is in character mode:

1. If the buffer is the unnamed buffer, set to the last column on which any por-
tion of the last character from the buffer is displayed.

2. Otherwise, set to the first column on which any portion of the first character
from the buffer is displayed.

Enter ex Mode
Synopsis:

Leave visual or open mode and enter ex command mode.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

Replace Character
Synopsis:

[count] r character

Replace the count characters at and after the cursor with the specified character.
If there are less than count non- <newline>s at and after the cursor on the line,
it shall be an error.

If character is <control>-V, any next character other than the <newline> shall be
stripped of any special meaning and used as a literal character.

If character is <ESC>, no replacement shall be made and the current line and cur-
rent column shall be unchanged.

If character is <carriage-return> or <newline>, count new lines shall be appended
to the current line. All but the last of these lines shall be empty. count charac-
ters at and after the cursor shall be discarded, and any remaining characters after
the cursor in the current line shall be moved to the last of the new lines. If the
autoindent edit option is set, they shall be preceded by the same number of autoin-
dent characters found on the line from which the command was executed.

Current line: Unchanged unless the replacement character is a <carriage-return> or
<newline>, in which case it shall be set to line + count.

Current column: Set to the last column position on which a portion of the last
replaced character is displayed, or if the replacement character caused new lines
to be created, set to non- <blank>.

Replace Characters
Synopsis:

Enter text input mode at the current cursor position possibly replacing text on the
current line. A count shall cause the input text to be appended count -1 more times
to the end of the input.

Current line/column: As specified for the text input commands (see Input Mode Com-
mands in vi ).

Substitute Character
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] s

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command:

[buffer][count] c<space>

Substitute Lines
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] S

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command:

[buffer][count] c_

Move Cursor to Before Character (Forward)
Synopsis:

[count] t character

It shall be an error if count occurrences of the character do not occur after the
cursor in the line.

If used as a motion command:

1. The text region shall be from the cursor up to but not including the countth
occurrence of the specified character after the cursor.

2. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the character before
the countth occurrence of the specified character after the cursor appears in the
line.

Move Cursor to After Character (Reverse)
Synopsis:

[count] T character

It shall be an error if count occurrences of the character do not occur before the
cursor in the line.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the character before the cursor is the specified character, it shall be an
error.

2. The text region shall be from the character before the cursor up to but not
including the countth occurrence of the specified character before the cursor.

3. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any portion of the character after
the countth occurrence of the specified character before the cursor appears in the
line.

Undo
Synopsis:

This command shall be equivalent to the ex undo command except that the current
line and current column shall be set as follows:

Current line: Set to the first line added or changed if any; otherwise, move to the
line preceding any deleted text if one exists; otherwise, move to line 1.

Current column: If undoing an ex command, set to the first non- <blank>.

Otherwise, if undoing a text input command:

1. If the command was a C, c, O, o, R, S, or s command, the current column shall
be set to the value it held when the text input command was entered.

2. Otherwise, set to the last column in which any portion of the first character
after the deleted text is displayed, or, if no non- <newline>s follow the text
deleted from this line, set to the last column in which any portion of the last
non- <newline> in the line is displayed, or 1 if the line is empty.

Otherwise, if a single line was modified (that is, not added or deleted) by the u
command:

1. If text was added or changed, set to the last column in which any portion of
the first character added or changed is displayed.

2. If text was deleted, set to the last column in which any portion of the first
character after the deleted text is displayed, or, if no non- <newline>s follow
the deleted text, set to the last column in which any portion of the last non-
<newline> in the line is displayed, or 1 if the line is empty.

Otherwise, set to non- <blank>.

Undo Current Line
Synopsis:

Restore the current line to its state immediately before the most recent time that
it became the current line.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to the first column in the line in which any portion of the
first character in the line is displayed.

Move to Beginning of Word
Synopsis:

[count] w

With the exception that words are used as the delimiter instead of bigwords, this
command shall be equivalent to the W command.

Move to Beginning of Bigword
Synopsis:

[count] W

If the edit buffer is empty, it shall be an error. If there are less than count
bigwords between the cursor and the end of the edit buffer, count shall be adjusted
to move the cursor to the last bigword in the edit buffer.

If used as a motion command:

1. If the associated command is c, count is 1, and the cursor is on a <blank>, the
region of text shall be the current character and no further action shall be
taken.

2. If there are less than count bigwords between the cursor and the end of the
edit buffer, then the command shall succeed, and the region of text shall
include the last character of the edit buffer.

3. If there are <blank>s or an end-of-line that precede the countth bigword, and
the associated command is c, the region of text shall be up to and including
the last character before the preceding <blank>s or end-of-line.

4. If there are <blank>s or an end-of-line that precede the bigword, and the asso-
ciated command is d or y, the region of text shall be up to and including the
last <blank> before the start of the bigword or end-of-line.

5. Any text copied to a buffer shall be in character mode.

If not used as a motion command:

1. If the cursor is on the last character of the edit buffer, it shall be an
error.

Current line: Set to the line containing the current column.

Current column: Set to the last column in which any part of the first character of
the countth next bigword is displayed.

Delete Character at Cursor
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] x

Delete the count characters at and after the current character into buffer, if
specified, and into the unnamed buffer.

If the line is empty, it shall be an error. If there are less than count non- <new-
line>s at and after the cursor on the current line, count shall be adjusted to the
number of non- <newline>s at and after the cursor.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: If the line is empty, set to column position 1. Otherwise, if there
were count or less non- <newline>s at and after the cursor on the current line, set
to the last column that displays any part of the last non- <newline> of the line.
Otherwise, unchanged.

Delete Character Before Cursor
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] X

Delete the count characters before the current character into buffer, if specified,
and into the unnamed buffer.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to (current column - the width of the deleted characters).

Yank
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] y motion

Copy (yank) the region of text into buffer, if specified, and into the unnamed
buffer.

If the motion command is the y command repeated:

1. The buffer shall be in line mode.

2. If there are less than count -1 lines after the current line in the edit
buffer, it shall be an error.

3. The text region shall be from the current line up to and including the next
count -1 lines.

Otherwise, the buffer text mode and text region shall be as specified by the motion
command.

Current column:

1. If the motion was from the current cursor position toward the end of the edit
buffer, unchanged.

2. Otherwise, if the current line is empty, set to column position 1.

3. Otherwise, set to the last column that displays any part of the first character
in the file that is part of the text region specified by the motion command.

Yank Current Line
Synopsis:

[buffer][count] Y

This command shall be equivalent to the vi command:

[buffer][count] y_

Redraw Window
If in open mode, the z command shall have the Synopsis:

Synopsis:

[count] z

If count is not specified, it shall default to the window edit option -1. The z
command shall be equivalent to the ex z command, with a type character of = and a
count of count -2, except that the current line and current column shall be set as
follows, and the window edit option shall not be affected. If the calculation for
the count argument would result in a negative number, the count argument to the ex
z command shall be zero. A blank line shall be written after the last line is writ-
ten.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

If not in open mode, the z command shall have the following Synopsis:

Synopsis:

[line] z [count] character

If line is not specified, it shall default to the current line. If line is speci-
fied, but is greater than the number of lines in the edit buffer, it shall default
to the number of lines in the edit buffer.

If count is specified, the value of the window edit option shall be set to count
(as described in the ex window command), and the screen shall be redrawn.

line shall be placed as specified by the following characters:

Place the beginning of the line on the first line of the display.

. Place the beginning of the line in the center of the display. The middle
line of the display shall be calculated as described for the M command.

- Place an unspecified portion of the line on the last line of the display.

+ If line was specified, equivalent to the <newline> case. If line was not
specified, display a screen where the first line of the display shall be
(current last line) +1. If there are no lines after the last line in the
display, it shall be an error.

^ If line was specified, display a screen where the last line of the display
shall contain an unspecified portion of the first line of a display that had
an unspecified portion of the specified line on the last line of the dis-
play. If this calculation results in a line before the beginning of the edit
buffer, display the first screen of the edit buffer.

Otherwise, display a screen where the last line of the display shall contain an
unspecified portion of (current first line -1). If this calculation results in a
line before the beginning of the edit buffer, it shall be an error.

Current line: If line and the '^' character were specified:

1. If the first screen was displayed as a result of the command attempting to dis-
play lines before the beginning of the edit buffer: if the first screen was
already displayed, unchanged; otherwise, set to (current first line -1).

2. Otherwise, set to the last line of the display.

If line and the '+' character were specified, set to the first line of the display.

Otherwise, if line was specified, set to line.

Otherwise, unchanged.

Current column: Set to non- <blank>.

Exit
Synopsis:

This command shall be equivalent to the ex xit command with no addresses, trailing
!, or filename (see the ex xit command).

Input Mode Commands in vi
In text input mode, the current line shall consist of zero or more of the following
categories, plus the terminating <newline>:

1. Characters preceding the text input entry point

Characters in this category shall not be modified during text input mode.

2. autoindent characters

autoindent characters shall be automatically inserted into each line that is cre-
ated in text input mode, either as a result of entering a <newline> or <carriage-
return> while in text input mode, or as an effect of the command itself; for exam-
ple, O or o (see the ex autoindent command), as if entered by the user.

It shall be possible to erase autoindent characters with the <control>-D command;
it is unspecified whether they can be erased by <control>-H, <control>-U, and <con-
trol>-W characters. Erasing any autoindent character turns the glyph into erase-
columns and deletes the character from the edit buffer, but does not change its
representation on the screen.

3. Text input characters

Text input characters are the characters entered by the user. Erasing any text
input character turns the glyph into erase-columns and deletes the character from
the edit buffer, but does not change its representation on the screen.

Each text input character entered by the user (that does not have a special mean-
ing) shall be treated as follows:

a. The text input character shall be appended to the last character in the
edit buffer from the first, second, or third categories.

b. If there are no erase-columns on the screen, the text input command was
the R command, and characters in the fifth category from the original
line follow the cursor, the next such character shall be deleted from
the edit buffer. If the slowopen edit option is not set, the correspond-
ing glyph on the screen shall become erase-columns.

c. If there are erase-columns on the screen, as many columns as they
occupy, or as are necessary, shall be overwritten to display the text
input character. (If only part of a multi-column glyph is overwritten,
the remainder shall be left on the screen, and continue to be treated as
erase-columns; it is unspecified whether the remainder of the glyph is
modified in any way.)

d. If additional display line columns are needed to display the text input
character:

1. If the slowopen edit option is set, the text input characters shall
be displayed on subsequent display line columns, overwriting any
characters displayed in those columns.

2. Otherwise, any characters currently displayed on or after the column
on the display line where the text input character is to be dis-
played shall be pushed ahead the number of display line columns nec-
essary to display the rest of the text input character.

4. Erase-columns

Erase-columns are not logically part of the edit buffer, appearing only on the
screen, and may be overwritten on the screen by subsequent text input characters.
When text input mode ends, all erase-columns shall no longer appear on the screen.

Erase-columns are initially the region of text specified by the c command (see
Change ); however, erasing autoindent or text input characters causes the glyphs of
the erased characters to be treated as erase-columns.

5. Characters following the text region for the c command, or the text input entry
point for all other commands

Characters in this category shall not be modified during text input mode, except as
specified in category 3.b. for the R text input command, or as <blank>s deleted
when a <newline> or <carriage-return> is entered.

It is unspecified whether it is an error to attempt to erase past the beginning of
a line that was created by the entry of a <newline> or <carriage-return> during
text input mode. If it is not an error, the editor shall behave as if the erasing
character was entered immediately after the last text input character entered on
the previous line, and all of the non- <newline>s on the current line shall be
treated as erase-columns.

When text input mode is entered, or after a text input mode character is entered
(except as specified for the special characters below), the cursor shall be posi-
tioned as follows:

1. On the first column that displays any part of the first erase-column, if one
exists

2. Otherwise, if the slowopen edit option is set, on the first display line column
after the last character in the first, second, or third categories, if one
exists

3. Otherwise, the first column that displays any part of the first character in
the fifth category, if one exists

4. Otherwise, the display line column after the last character in the first, sec-
ond, or third categories, if one exists

5. Otherwise, on column position 1

The characters that are updated on the screen during text input mode are unspeci-
fied, other than that the last text input character shall always be updated, and,
if the slowopen edit option is not set, the current cursor character shall always
be updated.

The following specifications are for command characters entered during text input
mode.

NUL
Synopsis:

NUL

If the first character of the text input is a NUL, the most recently input text
shall be input as if entered by the user, and then text input mode shall be exited.
The text shall be input literally; that is, characters are neither macro or abbre-
viation expanded, nor are any characters interpreted in any special manner. It is
unspecified whether implementations shall support more than 256 bytes of remembered
input text.

<control>-D
Synopsis:

<control>-D

The <control>-D character shall have no special meaning when in text input mode for
a line-oriented command (see Command Descriptions in vi ).

This command need not be supported on block-mode terminals.

If the cursor does not follow an autoindent character, or an autoindent character
and a '0' or '^' character:

1. If the cursor is in column position 1, the <control>-D character shall be dis-
carded and no further action taken.

2. Otherwise, the <control>-D character shall have no special meaning.

If the last input character was a '0' , the cursor shall be moved to column posi-
tion 1.

Otherwise, if the last input character was a '^' , the cursor shall be moved to
column position 1. In addition, the autoindent level for the next input line shall
be derived from the same line from which the autoindent level for the current input
line was derived.

Otherwise, the cursor shall be moved back to the column after the previous
shiftwidth (see the ex shiftwidth command) boundary.

All of the glyphs on columns between the starting cursor position and (inclusively)
the ending cursor position shall become erase-columns as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi .

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to 1 if the <control>-D was preceded by a '^' or '0' ; other-
wise, set to (column -1) -((column -2) % shiftwidth).

<control>-H
Synopsis:

<control>-H

If in text input mode for a line-oriented command, and there are no characters to
erase, text input mode shall be terminated, no further action shall be done for
this command, and the current line and column shall be unchanged.

If there are characters other than autoindent characters that have been input on
the current line before the cursor, the cursor shall move back one character.

Otherwise, if there are autoindent characters on the current line before the cur-
sor, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-H command is an error or if
the cursor moves back one autoindent character.

Otherwise, if the cursor is in column position 1 and there are previous lines that
have been input, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-H command is an
error or if it is equivalent to entering <control>-H after the last input character
on the previous input line.

Otherwise, it shall be an error.

All of the glyphs on columns between the starting cursor position and (inclusively)
the ending cursor position shall become erase-columns as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi .

The current erase character (see stty) shall cause an equivalent action to the
<control>-H command, unless the previously inserted character was a backslash, in
which case it shall be as if the literal current erase character had been inserted
instead of the backslash.

Current line: Unchanged, unless previously input lines are erased, in which case it
shall be set to line -1.

Current column: Set to the first column that displays any portion of the character
backed up over.

<newline>
Synopsis:

<carriage-return>

<control>-J

<control>-M

If input was part of a line-oriented command, text input mode shall be terminated
and the command shall continue execution with the input provided.

Otherwise, terminate the current line. If there are no characters other than
autoindent characters on the line, all characters on the line shall be discarded.
Otherwise, it is unspecified whether the autoindent characters in the line are mod-
ified by entering these characters.

Continue text input mode on a new line appended after the current line. If the
slowopen edit option is set, the lines on the screen below the current line shall
not be pushed down, but the first of them shall be cleared and shall appear to be
overwritten. Otherwise, the lines of the screen below the current line shall be
pushed down.

If the autoindent edit option is set, an appropriate number of autoindent charac-
ters shall be added as a prefix to the line as described by the ex autoindent edit
option.

All columns after the cursor that are erase-columns (as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi ) shall be discarded.

If the autoindent edit option is set, all <blank>s immediately following the cursor
shall be discarded.

All remaining characters after the cursor shall be transferred to the new line,
positioned after any autoindent characters.

Current line: Set to current line +1.

Current column: Set to the first column that displays any portion of the first
character after the autoindent characters on the new line, if any, or the first
column position after the last autoindent character, if any, or column position 1.

<control>-T
Synopsis:

<control>-T

The <control>-T character shall have no special meaning when in text input mode for
a line-oriented command (see Command Descriptions in vi ).

This command need not be supported on block-mode terminals.

Behave as if the user entered the minimum number of <blank>s necessary to move the
cursor forward to the column position after the next shiftwidth (see the ex
shiftwidth command) boundary.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Set to column + shiftwidth - ((column -1) % shiftwidth).

<control>-U
Synopsis:

<control>-U

If there are characters other than autoindent characters that have been input on
the current line before the cursor, the cursor shall move to the first character
input after the autoindent characters.

Otherwise, if there are autoindent characters on the current line before the cur-
sor, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-U command is an error or if
the cursor moves to the first column position on the line.

Otherwise, if the cursor is in column position 1 and there are previous lines that
have been input, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-U command is an
error or if it is equivalent to entering <control>-U after the last input character
on the previous input line.

Otherwise, it shall be an error.

All of the glyphs on columns between the starting cursor position and (inclusively)
the ending cursor position shall become erase-columns as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi .

The current kill character (see stty) shall cause an equivalent action to the <con-
trol>-U command, unless the previously inserted character was a backslash, in which
case it shall be as if the literal current kill character had been inserted instead
of the backslash.

Current line: Unchanged, unless previously input lines are erased, in which case it
shall be set to line -1.

Current column: Set to the first column that displays any portion of the last char-
acter backed up over.

<control>-V
Synopsis:

<control>-V

<control>-Q

Allow the entry of any subsequent character, other than <control>-J or the <new-
line>, as a literal character, removing any special meaning that it may have to the
editor in text input mode. If a <control>-V or <control>-Q is entered before a
<control>-J or <newline>, the <control>-V or <control>-Q character shall be dis-
carded, and the <control>-J or <newline> shall behave as described in the <newline>
command character during input mode.

For purposes of the display only, the editor shall behave as if a '^' character was
entered, and the cursor shall be positioned as if overwriting the '^' character.
When a subsequent character is entered, the editor shall behave as if that charac-
ter was entered instead of the original <control>-V or <control>-Q character.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column: Unchanged.

<control>-W
Synopsis:

<control>-W

If there are characters other than autoindent characters that have been input on
the current line before the cursor, the cursor shall move back over the last word
preceding the cursor (including any <blank>s between the end of the last word and
the current cursor); the cursor shall not move to before the first character after
the end of any autoindent characters.

Otherwise, if there are autoindent characters on the current line before the cur-
sor, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-W command is an error or if
the cursor moves to the first column position on the line.

Otherwise, if the cursor is in column position 1 and there are previous lines that
have been input, it is implementation-defined whether the <control>-W command is an
error or if it is equivalent to entering <control>-W after the last input character
on the previous input line.

Otherwise, it shall be an error.

All of the glyphs on columns between the starting cursor position and (inclusively)
the ending cursor position shall become erase-columns as described in Input Mode
Commands in vi .

Current line: Unchanged, unless previously input lines are erased, in which case it
shall be set to line -1.

Current column: Set to the first column that displays any portion of the last char-
acter backed up over.

<ESC>
Synopsis:

<ESC>

If input was part of a line-oriented command:

1. If interrupt was entered, text input mode shall be terminated and the editor
shall return to command mode. The terminal shall be alerted.

2. If <ESC> was entered, text input mode shall be terminated and the command shall
continue execution with the input provided.

Otherwise, terminate text input mode and return to command mode.

Any autoindent characters entered on newly created lines that have no other non-
<newline>s shall be deleted.

Any leading autoindent and <blank>s on newly created lines shall be rewritten to be
the minimum number of <blank>s possible.

The screen shall be redisplayed as necessary to match the contents of the edit
buffer.

Current line: Unchanged.

Current column:

1. If there are text input characters on the current line, the column shall be set
to the last column where any portion of the last text input character is dis-
played.

2. Otherwise, if a character is displayed in the current column, unchanged.

3. Otherwise, set to column position 1.

EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:

0 Successful completion.

>0 An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
When any error is encountered and the standard input is not a terminal device file,
vi shall not write the file or return to command or text input mode, and shall ter-
minate with a non-zero exit status.

Otherwise, when an unrecoverable error is encountered it shall be equivalent to a
SIGHUP asynchronous event.

Otherwise, when an error is encountered, the editor shall behave as specified in
Command Descriptions in vi .

The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
None.

EXAMPLES
None.

RATIONALE
See the RATIONALE for ex for more information on vi. Major portions of the vi util-
ity specification point to ex to avoid inadvertent divergence. While ex and vi have
historically been implemented as a single utility, this is not required by
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.

It is recognized that portions of vi would be difficult, if not impossible, to
implement satisfactorily on a block-mode terminal, or a terminal without any form
of cursor addressing, thus it is not a mandatory requirement that such features
should work on all terminals. It is the intention, however, that a vi
implementation should provide the full set of capabilities on all terminals capable
of supporting them.

Historically, vi exited immediately if the standard input was not a terminal.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 permits, but does not require, this behavior. An end-of-file
condition is not equivalent to an end-of-file character. A common end-of-file char-
acter, <control>-D, is historically a vi command.

The text in the STDOUT section reflects the usage of the verb display in this sec-
tion; some implementations of vi use standard output to write to the terminal, but
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not require that to be the case.

Historically, implementations reverted to open mode if the terminal was incapable
of supporting full visual mode. IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires this behavior. His-
torically, the open mode of vi behaved roughly equivalently to the visual mode,
with the exception that only a single line from the edit