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vi does not open file properly....

 
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# 1  
Old 11-18-2010
vi does not open file properly....
Hello all,

I am trying to edit a file using VI on hp-ux....but when i try to open the file using vi <filename> it dose not let me open up the right way...it just messes up the whole file....i cant even read that file...so for example...here is a file i created test1.txt...when i cat it...it give me the below, which is right...but when i try to vi test1.txt....it just messes up my format....do i have some env variable set wrong ???
Code:
/home/oracle >cat test1.txt
hello this is a new file
doing a test
but cannot eddit it
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >vi test1.txt
~0y0C51y0C"test1.txt" 4 lines, 59 characters0y0Cllo this is a new file

/home/oracle >echo $SHELL
/usr/bin/ksh
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >uname -a
HP-UX servername B.11.11 U 9000/800 1059436171 unlimited-user license
/home/oracle >

Last edited by Scott; 11-18-2010 at 04:33 PM.. Reason: Please use code tags
# 2  
Old 11-18-2010
You have some non-printing characters in the file. They can confuse vi.

Code:
cat -v test1.txt

will show them to you.
# 3  
Old 11-18-2010
dose not seem like it....
Code:
/home/oracle >cat -V test1.txt
cat: illegal option -- V
Usage: cat [-benrstuv] [-|File ...]
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >
/home/oracle >cat -v test1.txt
hello this is a new file
doing a test
but cannot eddit it
/home/oracle >

Last edited by Scott; 11-18-2010 at 04:33 PM.. Reason: Code tags
# 4  
Old 11-18-2010
Code:
vi test1.txt

After pressing <enter> you will be in command mode
then you can use
:set listto enable the display of invisible character
:set nolistto disable the display of invisible character
So you can identify and delete the character that are corrupting the file.
Note that to move, you should not use the arrow button but instead :

hmove left
jmove down
kmove up
lmove right
# 5  
Old 11-19-2010
What type of terminal (or terminal emulator) are you using and what it the value of $TERM ?
# 6  
Old 11-19-2010
cat -v == LOWERCASE v
# 7  
Old 11-19-2010
Code:
strings test1.txt >test2.txt
vi test2.txt

===> if you can edit test2.txt correctly with vi then
Code:
cat test2.txt >test1.txt
rm test2.txt

 
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