Elvis is a full-screen editor closely modeled on the famous
Berkeley vi editor. It provides essentially the same interface
to the user as vi, but the code is completely new, written from
scratch. This document provides a brief introduction to vi. It
is not intended as a tutorial for beginners. Most books on cover
vi. Like vi, elvis can operate as a screen editor (vi mode) or
as a line editor (ex) mode. It can be called either as elvis
vi,or as ex, depending on which is desired. They are all links
to the same file. Below is a list of the vi commands supported.
The following symbols are used in the table:
count Integer parameter telling how many or how much
key One character parameter to the command
inp Interactive input expected
mv Indicates how much for commands like delete and
change:
( Previous sentence
) Next sentence
{ Previous paragraph
} Next paragraph (delimited by blank line, .PP,
.LP, .IP etc.)
[ Previous section (delimited by .SH or .NH)
A repeated command character means the scope
is this line
MOVE Indicates commands that may also be used where mv is
specified
EDIT These commands affect text and may be repeated by the
. command
In addition to the above notation, the caret (^) is used as an
abbreviation for CTRL. For example, ^A means CTRL-A.
Count~~~~ Command Description Type
^A (Not defined)
^B Move toward the top of the file by 1 screenful
^C (Not defined)
count ^D Scroll down count lines (default 1/2 screen)
count ^E Scroll up count lines
^F Move toward the bottom of the file by 1 screenful
^G Show file status, and the current line
count ^H Move left, like h MOVE
^I (Not defined)
count ^J Move down MOVE
^K (Not defined)
^l Redraw the screen
count ^M Move to the front of the next lineMOVE
count ^N Move down MOVE
^O (Not defined)
count ^P Move up MOVE
^Q (Not defined)
^R Redraw the screen
^S (Not defined)
^T (Not defined)
count ^U Scroll up count lines (default 1/2 screen)
^V (Not defined)
^W (Not defined)
^X (Not defined)
count ^Y Scroll down count lines
^Z (Not defined)
ESC (Not defined)
^ (Not defined)
^] If the cursor is on a tag name, go to that tag
^^ Save this file and edit the previous file
^_ (Not defined)
count SPACE Move right,like l MOVE
! mv Run the selected lines thru an external filter program
" key Select which cut buffer to use next
# (Not defined)
$ Move to the rear of the current lineMOVE
% move to the matching (){}[] characterMOVE
& (Not defined)
' key Move to a marked line MOVE
count ( Move backward count sentences MOVE
count ) Move forward count sentences MOVE
* (Not defined)
count + Move to the front of the next lineMOVE
count , Repeat the previous [fFtT] but the other wayMOVE
count - Move to the front of the preceding lineMOVE
. Repeat the previous edit command
/ Text search forward for a given regular exprMOVE
0 If not part of count, move to 1st char of this lineMOVE
1 Part of count
2 Part of count
3 Part of count
4 Part of count
5 Part of count
6 Part of count
7 Part of count
8 Part of count
9 Part of count
: Text. Run single ex cmd
count ; Repeat the previous [fFtT] cmd MOVE
count < mv Shift text left EDIT
= (Not defined)
count > mv Shift text right EDIT
? text Search backward for a given regular expressionMOVE
@ (Not defined)
count A inp Append at end of the line EDIT
count B Move back Word MOVE
C inp Change text from cursor through end of lineEDIT
D Delete text from cursor through end of lineEDIT
count E Move end of Word MOVE
count F key Move leftward to a given characterMOVE
count G Move to line #count (default is the bottom line)MOVE
count H Move to home row (the line at the top of the screen)
count I inp Insert at the front of the line (after indents)EDIT
count J Join lines, to form one big line EDIT
K Look up keyword
count L Move to last row (the line at the bottom of the screen)
M Move to middle row (the line in the middle)
N Repeat previous search, but the opposite wayMOVE
count O inp Open up a new line above the current lineEDIT
P Paste text before the cursor
Q Quit to EX mode
R inp Overtype EDIT
count S inp Change lines, like countcc
count T key Move leftward almost to a given characterMOVE
U Undo all recent changes to the current line
V (Not defined)
count W Move forward count Words MOVE
count X Delete the character(s) to the left of the cursorEDIT
count Y Yank text line(s) (copy them into a cut buffer)
Z Z Save the file & exit
[ [ Move back 1 section MOVE
(Not defined)
] ] Move forward 1 section MOVE
^ Move to the front of the current line (after indent)MOVE
_ (Not defined)
` key Move to a marked character MOVE
count a inp Insert text after the cursor EDIT
count b Move back count words MOVE
c mv Change text EDIT
d mv Delete text EDIT
count e Move forward to the end of the current wordMOVE
count f key Move rightward to a given characterMOVE
g (Not defined)
count h Move left MOVE
count i inp Insert text at the cursor EDIT
count j Move down MOVE
count k Move up MOVE
count l Move right MOVE
m key Mark a line or character
n Repeat the previous search MOVE
count o inp Open a new line below the current lineEDIT
p Paste text after the cursor
q (Not defined)
count r key Replace count chars by a given characterEDIT
count s inp Replace count chars with text from the userEDIT
count t key Move rightward almost to a given characterMOVE
u Undo the previous edit command
v (Not defined)
count w Move forward count words MOVE
count x Delete the character that the cursor's onEDIT
y mv Yank text (copy it into a cut buffer)
z key Scroll current line to the screen's +=top -=bottom .=middle
count { Move back count paragraphs MOVE
count | Move to column count (the leftmost column is 1)
count } Move forward count paragraphs MOVE
count ~ Switch a character between upper & lower caseEDIT
DEL (Not defined)
Below is a list of the ex commands supported. All can be abbre-
viated.
[line] append
args [files]
cd [directory]
chdir [directory]
[line][,line] change
[line][,line] copyline
[line][,line] debug[!]
[line][,line] Delete[x]
edit[!] [file]
ex[!] [file]
file
[line][,line] global/regexp/ command
[line] Insert
[line][,line] join
[line][,line] list
map[!] key mapped_to
[line] mark x
mkexrc
[line][,line] Moveline
next[!] [files]
Next[!]
previous[!]
[line][,line] print
[line] put [x]
quit[!]
[line] read file
rewind[!]
set [options]
[line][,line] substitute/regexp/replacement/[p][g]
tag[!] tagname
[line][,line] toline
Undo
unmap[!] key
validate[!]
version
[line][,line] vglobal/regexp/ command
visual
wq
[line][,line] write[!][[>>]file]
xit[!]
[line][,line] yank[x]
[line][,line] !command
[line][,line] <
[line][,line] =
[line][,line] >
[line] append
[line][,line] change [x]
[line] Insert
The (a)ppend command inserts text after the specified line.
The (i)nsert command inserts text before the specified line.
The (c)hange command copies the range of lines into a cut buffer,
deletes them, and inserts new text where the old text used to be.
For all of these commands, you indicate the end of the text
you're inserting by hitting ^D or by entering a line which con-
tains only a period.
[line][,line] Delete [x]
[line][,line] yank [x]
[line] put[!] [x]
[line][,line] copy line
[line][,line] to line
[line][,line] Move line
The (d)elete command copies the specified range of lines into a
cut buffer, and then deletes them.
The (y)ank command copies the specified range of lines into a cut
buffer, but does not delete them.
The (pu)t command inserts text from a cut buffer after the speci-
fied line--or before it if the ! is present.
The (co)py and (t)o commands yank the specified range of lines
and then immediately paste them after some other line.
The (m)ove command deletes the specified range of lines and then
immediately pastes them after some other line. If the destina-
tion line comes after the deleted text, then it will be adjusted
automatically to account for the deleted lines.
[line][,line] print
[line][,line] list
The (p)rint command displays the specified range of lines.
The (l)ist command also displays them, but it is careful to make
control characters visible.
[line][,line] global /regexp/ command
[line][,line] vglobal /regexp/ command
The (g)lobal command searches through the lines of the specified
range (or through the whole file if no range is specified) for
lines that contain a given regular expression. It then moves the
cursor to each of these lines and runs some other command on
them.
The (v)global command is similar, but it searches for lines that
do not contain the regular expression.
[line][,line] join
[line][,line] ! program
[line][,line] <
[line][,line] >
[line][,line] substitute /regexp/replacement/[p][g]
The (j)oin command concatenates all lines in the specified range
together to form one big line. If only a single line is speci-
fied, then the following line is catenated onto it.
The ! command runs an external filter program, and feeds the
specified range of lines to it's stdin. The lines are then re-
placed by the output of the filter. A typical example would be
:'a,'z!sort -n to sort the lines 'a,'z according to their numeric
values.
The <; and > commands shift the specified range of lines left or
right, normally by the width of 1 tab character. The shiftwidth
option determines the shifting amount.
The (s)ubstitute command finds the regular expression in each
line, and replaces it with the replacement text. The p option
causes the altered lines to be printed, and the g option permits
all instances of the regular expression to be found &; replaced.
(Without g, only the first occurrence is replaced.)
undo
The (u)ndo command restores the file to the state it was in be-
fore your most recent command which changed text.
map[!] [key mapped_to]
unmap[!] key
set [options]
mkexrc
[line] mark x
visual
version
[line][,line] =
file
The (ma)p command allows you to configure elvis to recognize your
function keys, and treat them as though they transmitted some
other sequence of characters. Normally this mapping is done only
when in the visual command mode, but with the [!]present it will
map keys under all contexts. When this command is given with no
arguments, it prints a table showing all mappings currently in
effect. When called with two arguments, the first is the se-
quence that your function key really sends, and the second is the
sequence that you want elvis to treat it as having sent.
The (unm)ap command removes key definitions that were made via
the map command.
The (se)t command allows you examine or set various options.
With no arguments, it displays the values of options that have
been changed. With the single argument all it displays the val-
ues of all options, regardless of whether they've been explicitly
set or not. Otherwise, the arguments are treated as options to
be set.
The (mk)exrc command saves the current configuration to a file
called .exrc in the current directory.
The mar(k) command defines a named mark to refer to a specific
place in the file. This mark may be used later to specify lines
for other commands.
The (vi)sual command puts the editor into visual mode. Instead
of emulating ex, elvis will start emulating vi.
The (ve)rsion command tells you that what version of elvis this
is.
The = command tells you what line you specified, or, if you spec-
ified a range of lines, it will tell you both endpoints and the
number of lines included in the range.
The file command tells you the name of the file, whether it has
been modified, the number of lines in the file, and the current
line number.
args [files]
next[!] [files]
Next[!]
previous[!]
rewind[!]
When you invoke elvis from your shell's command line, any file-
names that you give to elvis as arguments are stored in the args
list. The (ar)gs command will display this list, or define a new
one.
The (n)ext command switches from the current file to the next one
in the args list. You may specify a new args list here, too.
The (N)ext and (pre)vious commands (they're really aliases for
the same command) switch from the current file to the preceding
file in the args list.
The (rew)ind command switches from the current file to the first
file in the args list.
edit[!] [file]
tag[!] tagname
The (e)dit command allows to switch from the current file to some
other file. This has nothing to do with the args list, by the
way.
The (ta)g command looks up a given tagname in a file called
tags";. This tells it which file the tag is in, and how to find
it in that file. Elvis then switches to the tag's file and finds
the tag.
quit[!]
wq
xit
The (q)uit command exits from the editor without saving your
file.
The (wq) and (x)it commands (really two names for the same com-
mand) both write the file before exiting.
[line] read file
[line][,line] write[!][[>>]file]
The (r)ead command gets text from another file and inserts it af-
ter the specified line.
The (w)rite command writes the whole file, or just part of it, to
some other file. The !, if present, will permit the lines to be
written even if you've set the readonly option. If you precede
the filename by >;> then the lies will be appended to the file.
cd [directory]
chdir [directory]
shell
The (cd) and (chd)ir commands (really two names for one command)
switch the current working directory.
The (sh)ell command starts an interactive shell.
[line][,line] debug[!]
validate[!]
These commands are only available if you compile elvis with the
-DDEBUG flag.
The de(b)ug command lists stats for the blocks which contain the
specified range of lines. If the ! is present, then the contents
of those blocks is displayed, too.
The (va)lidate command checks certain variables for internal con-
sistency. Normally it does not output anything unless it detects
a problem. With the !, though, it will always produce *some*
output.
In addition to the standard commands, a variety of extra fea-
tures are present in elvis that are not present in vi. They
are described below.
Elvis first runs a .exrc file (if there is one) from your $HOME
directory. After that, it runs a .exrc (if there is one) from
the current directory. The one in the current directory may
override settings made by the one in the $HOME directory.
This EX command saves the current :set and :map configurations in
the .exrc file in your current directory.
You can use the :args command to define a new args list, as in:
:args *.h
After you have defined a new args list, the next time you issue
a :next command elvis will switch to the first file of the new
list.
These commands move backwards through the args list.
In VI, the (lowercase) zz command will center the current line on
the screen, like z="
The default count value for . is the same as the previous command
which . is meant to repeat. However, you can supply a new
count if you wish. For example, after 3dw, . will delete 3
words, but 5. will delete 5 words.
"
The text which was most recently input (via a cw command, or
something similar) is saved in a cut buffer called ". (which is
a pretty hard name to write in an English sentence). You can
use this with the p or P commands thusly: ".p
You can move the cursor onto a word and press shift-K to have
elvis run a reference program to look that word up. This com-
mand alone is worth the price of admission! See the ctags and
ref programs.
You can backspace back past the beginning of the line. If you
type CTRL-A, then the text that you input last time is insert-
ed. You will remain in input mode, so you can backspace over
part of it, or add more to it. (This is sort of like CTRL-@ on
the real vi, except that CTRL-A really works.)
Real vi can only remember up to 128 characters of input, but
elvis can remember any amount.
charattr
ca
Elvis can display backslash-f style character attributes on the
screen as you edit. The following example shows the recognized
attributes:
normal boldface italics
NOTE: you must compile elvis without the -DSET_NOCHARATTR flag
for this to work.
A few vi features are missing. The replace mode is a hack. It
does not save the text that it overwrites. Long lines are dis-
played differently--where the real vi would wrap a long line onto
several rows of the screen, elvis simply displays part of the
line, and allows you to scroll the screen sideways to see the
rest of it. The :preserve and :recover commands are missing, as
is the -r flag. :Preserve" is practically never used and since
use of :recover*(CQ is so rare, it was decided to implement it
as a separate program. There's no need to load the recovery code
into memory every time you edit a file. LISP support is missing.
The @ and :@ commands are missing. You cannot APPEND to a cut
buffer. A variety of options can be set as described below:
Name Abbr Type DefaultDescription
autoindent as Bool FALSEautoindent during input?
autowrite aw Bool FALSEwrite file for :n command?
charattr ca Bool FALSE display bold & underline chars?
columns co Number 80 width of screen, in characters
directory dir String /usr/tmpwhere tmp files are kept
errorbells eb Bool TRUEring bell on error?
exrefresh er Bool TRUEEX mode calls write() often?
ignorecase ic Bool FALSEsearches: upper/lowercase OK?
keytime kt Number 1 allow slow receipt of ESC seq?
keywordprg kp String /usr/bin/refprogram to run for shift-K
lines ln Number 25 height of screen, in lines
list li Bool FALSE show tabs as ^I?
magic ma Bool TRUE searches: allow metacharacters?
paragraphs pa String PPppPApaparagraphs start with .PP, etc.
readonly ro Bool FALSE no file should be written back?
report re Number 5 report changes to X lines?
scroll sc Number 12 default #lines for ^U and ^D
sections se String SEseSHsh sections start with .SE, etc.
shell sh String /bin/sh shell program, from environment
shiftwidth sw Number 8width of < or > commands
sidescroll ss Number 8#chars to scroll sideways by
sync sy Bool FALSE call sync() after each change?
tabstop ts Number 8 width of a tab character
term te String "?" terminal type, from environment
vbell vb Bool TRUE use visible bell if possible?
warn wa Bool TRUE warn if file not saved for :!cmd
wrapmargin wm Number 0Insert newline after which col?
wrapscan ws Bool TRUE searches: wrap at EOF?
During input mode, the autoindent option will cause each added
line to begin with the same amount of leading whitespace as the
line above it. Without autoindent, added lines are initially
empty.
When you're editing one file and decide to switch to another--via
the :tag command, or :next command, perhaps--if your current
file has been modified, then elvis will normally print an error
message and refuse to switch.
However, if the autowrite option is on, then elvis will write
the modified version of the current file and successfully
switch to the new file.
Many text formatting programs allow you to designate portions of
your text to be underlined, italicized, or boldface by embed-
ding the special strings fU, fI, and fB in your text. The
special string fR marks the end of underlined or boldface
text.
Elvis normally treats those special strings just like any other
text. However, if the charattr option is on, then elvis will
interpret those special strings correctly, to display under-
lined or boldface text on the screen. (This only works, of
course, if your terminal can display underlined and boldface,
and if the TERMCAP entry says how to do it.)
This is a read only option. You cannot change its value, but you
can have elvis print it. It shows how wide your screen is.
Elvis uses temporary files to store changed text. This option
allows you to control where those temporary files will be.
Ideally, you should store them on in fast non-volatile memory,
such as a hard disk.
This option can only be set in the ".exrc" file.
Normally, elvis will ring your terminal's bell if you make an er-
ror. However, in noerrorbells mode, your terminal will remain
silent.
The EX mode of elvis writes many lines to the screen. You can
make elvis either write each line to the screen separately, or
save up many lines and write them all at once.
The exrefresh option is normally on, so each line is written to
the screen separately.
You may wish to turn the exrefresh option off (:se noer) if the
write system call is costly on your machine, or if you're using
a windowing environment. (Windowing environments scroll text a
lot faster when you write many lines at once.)
This option has no effect in vi mode.
Normally, when elvis searches for text, it treats uppercase let-
ters as being different for lowercase letters.
When the ignorecase option is on, uppercase and lowercase are
treated as equal.
The arrow keys of most terminals send a multi-character sequence.
It takes a measurable amount of time for these sequences to be
transmitted. The keytime option allows you to control the max-
imum amount of time to allow for an arrow key (or other mapped
key) to be received in full.
The default keytime value is 2. Because of the way timekeeping
works, the actual amount of time allowed will vary slightly,
but it will always be between 1 and 2 seconds.
If you set keytime to 1, then the actual amount of time allowed
will be between 0 and 1 second. This will generally make the
keyboard's response be a little faster (mostly for the ESC
key), but on those occasions where the time allowed happens to
be closer to 0 than 1 second, elvis may fail to allow enough
time for an arrow key's sequence to be received fully. Ugh.
As a special case, you can set keytime to 0 to disable this
time limit stuff altogether. The big problem here is: If your
arrow keys' sequences start with an ESC, then every time you
hit your ESC key elvis will wait... and wait... to see if maybe
that ESC was part of an arrow key's sequence.
NOTE: this option is a generalization of the timeout option of
the real vi.
Elvis has a special keyword lookup feature. You move the cursor
onto a word, and hit shift-K, and elvis uses another program to
look up the word and display information about it.
This option says which program gets run. It should contain the
full pathname of the program; your whole execution path is not
checked.
The default value of this option is /usr/bin/ref, which is a
program that looks up the definition of a function in C. It
looks up the function name in a file called refs which is cre-
ated by ctags.
You can substitute other programs, such as an English dictio-
nary program or the online manual. elvis runs the program, us-
ing the keyword as its only argument. The program should write
information to stdout. The program's exit status should be 0,
unless you want elvis to print <<< failed >>>".
This read only option shows how many lines you screen has.
Normally (in nolist"; mode) elvis will expand tabs to the proper
number of spaces on the screen, so that the file appears the
same would it would be if you printed it or looked at it with
more.
Sometimes, though, it can be handy to have the tabs displayed
as ^I". In list" mode, elvis does this, and also displays a $"
after the end of the line.
The search mechanism in elvis can accept regular expressions--
strings in which certain characters have special meaning. The
magic option is normally on, which causes these characters to
be treated specially. If you turn the magic option off (:se
noma), then all characters except ^ and $ are treated literal-
ly. ^ and $ retain their special meanings regardless of the
setting of magic.
The { and } commands move the cursor forward or backward in in-
crements of one paragraph. Paragraphs may be separated by
blank lines, or by a dot command of a text formatter. Differ-
ent text formatters use different dot commands. This option
allows you to configure elvis to work with your text formatter.
It is assumed that your formatter uses commands that start with
a ". character at the front of a line, and then have a one- or
two-character command name.
The value of the paragraphs option is a string in which each
pair of characters is one possible form of your text format-
ter's paragraph command.
Normally, elvis will let you write back any file to which you
have write permission. If you do not have write permission,
then you can only write the changed version of the file to a
different file.
If you set the readonly option, then elvis will pretend you do
not have write permission to any file you edit. It is useful
when you really only mean to use elvis to look at a file, not
to change it. This way you cannot change it accidentally.
This option is normally off, unless you use the view alias of
elvis. View is like vi except that the readonly option is on.
Commands in elvis may affect many lines. For commands that af-
fect a lot of lines, elvis will output a message saying what
was done and how many lines were affected. This option allows
you to define what a lot of lines means. The default is 5, so
any command which affects 5 or more lines will cause a message
to be shown.
The CTRL-U and CTRL-D keys normally scroll backward or forward by
half a screenful, but this is adjustable. The value of this
option says how many lines those keys should scroll by.
The [[ and ]] commands move the cursor backward or forward in in-
crement of 1 section. Sections may be delimited by a { charac-
ter in column 1 (which is useful for C source code) or by means
of a text formatter's dot commands.
This option allows you to configure elvis to work with your
text formatter's section command, in exactly the same way that
the paragraphs option makes it work with the formatter's para-
graphs" command.
When elvis forks a shell (perhaps for the :! or :shell commands)
this is the program that is uses as a shell. This is /bin/sh
by default, unless you have set the SHELL environment variable,
it which case the default value is copied from the environment.
The <; and > commands shift text left or right by some uniform
number of columns. The shiftwidth option defines that uniform
number. The default is 8.
For long lines, elvis scrolls sideways. (This is different from
the real vi, which wraps a single long line onto several rows
of the screen.) To minimize the number of scrolls needed,
elvis moves the screen sideways by several characters at a
time. The value of this option says how many characters'
widths to scroll at a time. Generally, the faster your screen
can be redrawn, the lower the value you will want in this op-
tion.
If the system crashes during an edit session, then most of your
work can be recovered from the temporary file that elvis uses
to store changes. However, sometimes will not copy changes to
the hard disk immediately, so recovery might not be possible.
The [no]sync option lets you control this. In nosync mode
(which is the default), elvis lets the operating system control
when data is written to the disk. This is generally faster.
In sync mode, elvis forces all changes out to disk every time
you make a change. This is generally safer, but slower.
Tab characters are normally 8 characters wide, but you can change
their widths by means of this option.
This read only option shows the name of the termcap entry that
elvis is using for your terminal.
If your termcap entry describes a visible alternative to ringing
your terminal's bell, then this option will say whether the
visible version gets used or not. Normally it will be.
If your termcap does NOT include a visible bell capability,
then the vbell option will be off, and you cannot turn it on.
Elvis will normally warn you if you run a shell command without
saving your changed version of a file. The nowarn" option pre-
vents this warning.
Normally (with wrapmargin=0) elvis will let you type in extremely
long lines, if you wish. However, with wrapmargin set to some-
thing other that 0 (wrapmargin=65 is nice), elvis will automat-
ically cause long lines to be wrapped" on a word break for
lines longer than wrapmargin's setting.
Normally, when you search for something, elvis will find it no
matter where it is in the file. elvis starts at the cursor po-
sition, and searches forward. If elvis hits EOF without find-
ing what you're looking for, then it wraps around to continue
searching from line 1.
If you turn off the wrapscan option (:se nows), then when elvis
hits EOF during a search, it will stop and say so.
Elvis uses many preprocessor symbols to control compilation.
Most of these flags allow you to disable small sets of features.
MINIX-ST users will probably want all features enabled, but
MINIX-PC users will have to disable one or two feature sets be-
cause otherwise elvis would be too large to compile and run.
These symbols can be defined via flags passed to the compiler.
The best way to do this is to edit the Makefile, and append the
flag to the CFLAGS= line. After you do that, you must recompile
elvis completely by saying
This flag causes elvis to use System-V ioctl() calls for control-
ling your terminal; normally it uses v7/BSD/MINIX ioctl()
calls.
The symbol DATE should be defined to look like a string constant,
giving the date when elvis was compiled. This date is reported
by the :version command.
You can also leave DATE undefined, in which case :version will
not report the compilation date.
This flag causes several large often-used macros to be replaced
by equivalent functions. This saves about 4K of space in the
.text segment, and it does not cost you any features.
This adds many internal consistency checks and the :debug and
:validate commands. It increases the size of text by about 5K
bytes.
This permanenently disables the charattr option. It reduces the
size of .text by about 850 bytes.
Normally, elvis will recycle space in the temporary file which
contains totally obsolete text. The -DNO_RECYCLE option dis-
ables this, making your .text segment smaller by about 1K but
also permitting the temporary file to grow very quickly. If
you have less than two megabytes of free space on your disk,
then do not even consider using this flag.
This leaves out the ( and ) visual commands, and removes the code
that allows the [[, ]], {, and } commands to recognize nroff
macros. The [[ and ]] commands will still move to the start of
the previous/next C function source code, though, and { and }
will move to the previous/next blank line. This saves about
650 bytes from the .text segment.
This leaves out the visual commands which locate a given charac-
ter in the current line: f, t, F, T, ;, and ,. This saves
about 900 bytes.
This leaves out the :mkexrc command, and the K and # visual com-
mands. Other extensions are either inherent in the design of
elvis, or are too tiny to be worth removing. This saves about
500 bytes.
This permanently disables the magic option, so that most meta-
characters in a regular expression are not recognized. This
saves about 3K bytes from the .text segment.
Elvis can use standard termcap entries, but it also recognizes
and uses several extra capabilities, if you give them. All of
these are optional.
Capability Description
:PU=: sequence received from the <PgUp> key
:PD=: sequence received from the <PgDn> key
:HM=: sequence received from the <Home> key
:EN=: sequence received from the <End> key
:VB=: sequence sent to start bold printing
:Vb=: sequence sent to end bold printing
Elvis was written by Steve Kirkendall.
He can be reached by email at: kirkenda@cs.pdx.edu
for comments regarding elvis.