UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

since no one can give me mapping or scripts to make vi easier
I'm thinking about writing some for it.

But first I need some help (hopefully this one will be answered)
1) How do I execute scripts based on user action
ex.
user press ctrl+h I let him insert stuff and then making a search based on what he wrote
or
user press the arrow -> before end of line (last char) or the opposite and instead of going into command mode it will do the command a/i/o/O
2) How do I execute scripts based on user position in file
ex.
user gets to end of line in the text editor script runs...
or
user is not in end or start of line I start a script
(I want to know where the user is in the file and make adjustments for that)
3) Can I activate in vi coloring (like in Visual studio)?
4) Does vi have the auto completion button? (ctrl+p)

Thanks in advance!

Maybe all that sort of energy went into emacs! I turn most vi features off so I do not have to figure how to turn them on again if I am using vi elsewhere where the options do not exist or are turned off. Have you learned all the vi/ex tricks already? You could run eclipse, it has nice colors in the editor and is open and free, and even has C/C++ plugins. Since vi is a general editor, it is a matter of opinion what colors might be appropriate.

you did not answer my questions, and I already told you that I can only use vi in my course...
and you tell me to go to use a different editor? you didn't even answer one of my questions.

Check out vim, it may do some of the things you require.

Well, if it is a professor-problem, then play with the ex/vi options on those man pages and other online references to see what you can do. Either ex or vi can be drive by canned scripts into stdin. I have done it, using tools like "diff3 -e" to generate the file with all the changes of two different mods of an original (I think of it as the 4th corner of a square, given zero changes, zero + x changes and zero + y changes, create the file with zero + x + y changes. It helps if you use lots of lines when writing code, not being a one line showoff. Parallel development on a budget.)

Take a tip from diff3/diff -e: the line numbered modifications are created in descending line order, so the line numbers "ahead" are not changed by the mods already applied. You can pull, modify or add the diff/diff3 -e generated mods, as long as you preserve descending line order.

When using :commands, you are essentially in ex not vi. This is more likely useful when scripting, and a good start toward learning sed and ksh command line editing.

Beware that for big files, g and v line deletions can be a quadratic or n-squared sort of problem, as g/xxx/d deletes mean the entire file is reworked with for each hit. Sometimes it is better to grep out the lines you want into a new file, or just move them within the file, like to $ = the end ( g/xxx/m$ ). ex/vi seems to do this without reorganization!

Re-mapping keys for "vi" is about your environment. We know nothing about your environment.
https://www.unix.com/unix-dummies-que...s-scripts.html

Hopefully by now you will have read up on the subject.

vi is an interactive tool, not a batch tool, so it is a bad choice for what is normally the target of "scripting": unattended batch/cron/deamon activities. But perhaps all you want is keyboard mappings to some macros.

Barring a educational requirement, or antique code restoration like a Deuce Coupe 327 V-8 softtop, if I wanted to go super-custom, I'd start with emacs, at least. And really, I would start with a free IDE intended for many extensions to fit your needs.

But I don't, because as I travel, sommunicate, teach, do prod support, I have to use the stock product. The more you customize, the less capable you are without your mods, with fewer macros stored in your noggin.