Vi editor will not open new to UNIX. help please.


 
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# 1  
Old 04-17-2013
Vi editor will not open new to UNIX. help please.

vi: syntax error at line 1: `)' unexpected

when I try to vi into the /etc/vfstab, the return gives me the above error.
how can resolve this so that I can have access into vi.
# 2  
Old 04-17-2013
Perhaps one of your vi config files is messed up.
Code:
cd $HOME
ls -la

See if any .exrc or .vimrc (if you use vim) files.

If so, try "cat .exrc" or "cat .vimrc" and see what is inside them.

Run "mv .exrc .exrc-old" and "mv .vimrc .vimrc-old" and see if that corrects the problem.
# 3  
Old 04-17-2013
This is the return I get when I cd $HOME and list the items.

ls -la
total 14
drwxr-xr-x 2 laura other 512 Apr 11 09:28 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 512 Apr 9 16:59 ..
-rw------- 1 laura other 276 Apr 16 22:30 .bash_history
-rw-r--r-- 1 laura other 144 Apr 9 16:59 .profile
-rw-r--r-- 1 laura other 136 Apr 9 16:59 local.cshrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 laura other 157 Apr 9 16:59 local.login
-rw-r--r-- 1 laura other 174 Apr 9 16:59 local.profile
# 4  
Old 04-17-2013
That's interesting. Assuming that's all the files ls found, there are no vi config files in your HOME directory. So bad config file is apparently not the explanation.

Does vi work for any other users on your system? Is there a sysadmin who maybe set up something "different" about how vi runs?

Try to figure out exactly what is happening when you enter the "vi" command. For example (results will be different on your system):
Code:
$ uname -a
Linux lark 2.6.32-21-generic-pae #32-Ubuntu ...
$ which vi
/usr/bin/vi
$ ls -l /usr/bin/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 May 11  2010 /usr/bin/vi -> /etc/alternatives/vi
$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 11  2010 /etc/alternatives/vi -> /usr/bin/vim.basic
$ ls -l /usr/bin/vim.basic
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1906912 Oct 26 09:46 /usr/bin/vim.basic
$ file /usr/bin/vim.basic
/usr/bin/vim.basic: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, ...

Post what the file command says when you track down what is being run. In my case, it's an executable program. In your case, who knows? My suspicion is it might be a shell script.
# 5  
Old 04-17-2013
If vi is aliased to anything, you can short-circuit that by running it with it's full path, i.e. /usr/bin/vi. It may not be exactly that on your system, which vi to find it.

Also, try vim instead of vi, on many systems vi is just a link or script running vim (one which may be misbehaving on your system for some reason)
# 6  
Old 04-19-2013
Try other editors like 'nano' or 'pico' if available.

Btw

Why you are trying to edit "/etc/vfstab" file as a normal user Smilie
# 7  
Old 04-19-2013
He could just be looking at it, though that'd be better done with less.
 
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