elvis
Section: User Commands (1)
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NAME
elvis - a clone of the ex/vi text editor
SYNOPSIS
elvis
[-V...]
[-a]
[-r]
[-R]
[-b]
[-e]
[-i]
[-s]
[-S|-]
[-f
session]
[-o
logfile]
[-G
gui]
[-c command|+command]
[-t
tag]
[-w
scroll]
[-B
blksize]
[file]...
DESCRIPTION
elvis
is a text editor.
It is intended to be a modern replacement for the classic
ex/vi
editor of UNIX fame.
elvis
supports many new features, including multiple edit buffers, multiple
windows, multiple user interfaces (including an X11 interface), and a
variety of display modes.
For a more complete description, you should see
elvis's
on-line documentation.
To view this documentation, start elvis and then give the command ":help".
To exit
elvis,
you can give the command ":q" in each of its windows.
If you've modified the buffer in a window, and you want to abandon those
changes, then give the command ":q!" instead.
OPTIONS
- -V
-
"Verbose" mode, causes elvis to output more status messages.
You can use multiple -V flags to get even more detailed
information.
-VVV can be handy when elvis isn't initializing itself quite the way you
expected.
See also the
-ologfile
option, described below.
- -a
-
Instructs elvis to load all files named on the command line simultaneously
with a separate window for each.
- -r
-
This is used for recovering an edit session after a crash.
Each elvis process uses a single "session file" to store the contents of all
edit buffers.
While elvis is running, a flag is set near the beginning of the session file so that
other elvis processes won't try to use it at the same time.
If an elvis process dies abnormally, though, it will leave the session file
lying around with that flag set;
the -r flag allows elvis to open a session file even if it is marked
as being in use.
- -R
-
This sets the "defaultreadonly" option, which
causes all new buffers to be marked as "readonly" so you won't accidentally
overwrite the original file.
- -b
-
This sets the "binary" option, which
causes new buffers to be marked as "readeol=binary".
Without -b, elvis will try to guess the format by examining the first
hundred bytes or so of the file.
- -e
-
Causes elvis to start each window in ex mode, instead of visual command
mode.
Invoking elvis as "ex" implies this.
- -i
-
Causes elvis to start each window in input mode, instead of visual
command mode.
Novice users may prefer this.
- -S
-
Sets the "safer" option, making elvis paranoid about certain
potentially harmful commands.
The ./.exrc file and modelines are executed with the "safer" option
temporarily turned on regardless of whether -S was given.
The -S flag is just used to make elvis permanently
paranoid, for the duration of this process.
- -f session
-
Makes elvis use the session file named "session" instead of the default
file.
Session files are discussed in the description of the -r flag, above.
- -o logfile
-
Redirects messages and trace information out to
logfile
instead of going to stdout/stderr as usual.
This is useful under Windows95, where stdout/stderr don't show anywhere.
If you're having trouble configuring WinElvis, try running "WinElvis -VVV -o log"
and then you can find the trace and error messages in the file "log".
- -G gui
-
Makes elvis use the named gui user interface instead of the default.
To see a list of supported user interfaces, give the command "elvis -?".
- -c command or +command
-
Gives an ex command to be executed after loading the first file.
- -s
-
Read an ex script from stdin, and execute it.
This is similar to the -Gscript flag, except that -s has the
additional side-effect of bypassing all initialization scripts.
- -t tag
-
Causes editing to begin at the location where the given tag
is defined.
See the
ctags(1)
command for more information about tags.
- -w scroll
-
This sets the "window" option, which has very little effect in elvis.
- -B blksize
-
If a new session file is created, this causes it to use blocks of size
blksize.
In addition, the following options are also supported to maintain backward
compatibility, although their future use is discouraged.
- +command
-
Like -c command, this causes the ex command to be executed
after the first file is loaded. If the command is omitted, it is
understood to be "$", which causes the cursor to move to the last line of
the file.
- -
-
Like -s, this causes elvis to read a script from stdin and execute it.
TERMCAP INTERFACE
The termcap interface is the one you'll use most often on non-graphic terminals.
It looks and acts a heck of a lot like the traditional vi.
The biggest addition is the support for multiple windows.
For more information on how to use multiple windows, start elvis and give
the command ":help ^W".
The short form of that help is:
^Ws splits the screen to form an additional window,
^Wq closes the window, and
^W^W switches the cursor from one window to another.
If your terminal supports ANSI color escape sequences, then you can
use the ":color" command to assign different colors to various fonts.
You must assign a "normal" color first, e.g., ":color normal yellow on blue".
There are three additional options when using the termcap interface:
term, ttyrows, and ttycolumns.
The term option contains the name of the termcap entry being used;
it should correspond to the type of terminal you're using.
The ttyrows and ttycolumns options give the size of the screen.
The DOS and (text mode) Win32 version of the termcap interface support the mouse.
The mouse behaves almost exactly like the X11 mouse, described below.
The only differences are that the mouse can't be used to cut & paste
to the clipboard, and on a two-button mouse you can simulate a middle button
by simultaneously pressing the left and right buttons.
X11 INTERFACE
The x11 interface is used under X-Windows on UNIX systems.
It provides a scrollbar and mouse support, and allows you to
select which fonts to use.
X11 Options
To specify a normal font, use -font fontname or -fn fontname.
Proportional fonts are not properly supported, but they aren't rejected with an error message either.
If you don't specify a normal font, then elvis will use a font named "fixed"
by default.
(This default can be overridden by a "set font=..." command in the
elvis.ini
file.
The default
elvis.ini
file does this, making the new default font be 18-point Courier.)
To specify a bold font, use -fb fontname.
The specified font should have the same size character cell as the normal
font, but elvis does not verify this.
If you don't specify a bold font, then elvis will fake it by smearing the
normal font rightward one pixel.
To specify an italic font, use -fi fontname.
The specified font should have the same size character cell as the normal
font, but elvis does not verify this.
If you don't specify an italic font, then elvis will fake it by sliding the
top half of the normal font rightward one pixel.
If you want to use Courier fonts, there is a shortcut:
-courier size will use the normal, bold, and italic versions of
the Courier font in the requested size.
You can force elvis to use only black and white with the -mono flag;
this is the default if your display only has one bitplane. For color
displays, -fg color and -bg color can be used to set
the normal text color and the background color, respectively.
Elvis has a built-in icon, which is generally a good thing.
Some window managers won't allow you to assign a new icon to a program that
has a built-in one, so elvis has a -noicon flag which disables the
built-in icon.
The -fork client causes elvis to run in the background, so that your
shell prompt returns immediately.
The -client option causes elvis to look for an already-running elvis
process on the same X server and, if there is one, send the new arguments to it.
This causes the old elvis process to create new windows for file arguments.
The new elvis process then exits, leaving the old one to do the real work
and allowing your shell program to prompt for a new command immediately.
For the sake of uniformity, if -client fails, then a new elvis process
starts up as though you had used the -fork argument instead.
The -client option is implemented in an interesting way:
the client elvis simply sends a series of ex commands to an existing window
of the server elvis.
For each file name argument, the client elvis sends a ":split file"
command.
For -ttag, the client elvis sends a ":stag tag" command.
For -ccommand, the client elvis simply sends the command,
and this results in some quirks.
First, the server elvis temporarily sets the "safer" option while the
command is executed, for security reasons.
Second, the command is executed by the server's existing window, not the
new one, so (for example) "elvis -client -c 20 foo" creates a new window for the file
"foo", and then moves the OLD WINDOW's cursor to line 20 of whatever file
it was showing.
X11 Mouse
I've tried to reach a balance between the mouse behavior of
xterm(1)
and what makes sense for an editor.
To do this right, elvis has to distinguish between clicking and dragging.
Dragging the mouse always selects text.
Dragging with button 1 pressed (usually the left button) selects characters,
dragging with button 2 (the middle button) selects a rectangular area, and
dragging with button 3 (usually the right button) selects whole lines.
These operations correspond to elvis' v, ^V, and V commands, respectively.
When you release the button at the end of the drag, the selected text is
immediately copied into an X11 cut buffer, so you can paste it into another
application such as xterm.
The text remains selected, so you can apply an operator command to it.
Clicking button 1 cancels any pending selection, and moves the cursor to
the clicked-on character.
Clicking button 3 moves the cursor without canceling the pending selection;
you can use this to extend a pending selection.
Clicking button 2 "pastes" text from the X11 cut butter.
If you're entering an ex command line, the text will be pasted into the
command line as though you had typed it.
If you're in visual command mode or input mode, the text will be pasted into
your edit buffer.
When pasting, it doesn't matter where you click in the window; elvis always
inserts the text at the position of the text cursor.
Double-clicking button 1 simulates a ^] keystroke,
causing elvis to perform tag lookup on the clicked-on word.
If elvis happens to be displaying an HTML document, then tag lookup
pursues hypertext links so you can double-click on any underlined text
to view the topic that describes that text.
Double-clicking button 3 simulates a ^T keystroke,
taking you back to where you did the last tag lookup.
If your mouse has a scroll wheel, then elvis can be configured to use it.
For instructions on doing this, start elvis and give the command
":howto scrollwheel".
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
- HOME
-
This is used to determine where your home directory is.
It is always defined under UNIX.
For WindowsNT, if HOME is undefined then elvis will derive it from the values
of HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH, which are always defined;
the default value is typically "C:\users\default".
For OS/2 and MS-DOS, if it is undefined then elvis will use the directory which
contains the elvis program as your home directory.
-
This is significant because your home directory is a popular location
for storing configuration files.
The .exrc or ELVIS.RC file resides there.
- SHELL
-
This is the name of your command-line interpreter.
Elvis needs to know this so you can run programs from inside elvis.
- ELVISPATH
-
If ELVISPATH is defined in the environment, then its value is copied into
the elvispath option, which is a list of directories that elvis should search
through when looking for its support files.
If ELVISPATH is undefined, elvis will use a default list which usually
includes the your home directory, and maybe a system-wide default location.
- SESSIONPATH
-
This is a list of directories where elvis might be able to create the
session file.
Elvis uses the first writable directory from the list, and ignores
all others.
- INCLUDE
-
This is a list of directories where the "syntax" display mode should look
for #include files.
- LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, or LANG
-
If LANG is defined, then elvis will look for for its message translations
in $LANG/elvis.msg, and only use just plain elvis.msg if it can't find
$LANG/elvis.msg.
The LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL environment variables work similarly, and
take precedence over LANG.
- EXINIT
-
If defined, the value of this option is typically interpreted as a
series of EX commands when elvis starts up.
This behavior isn't built into elvis though;
it is handled by the standard elvis.ini file.
Elvis has commands which can examine any environment variable.
Because of this, a comprehensive list of environment variables isn't
possible.
FILES
- ~
-
This is your home directory.
Whenever elvis sees a ~ at the start of a pathname,
it replaces the ~ with the value of the "home" option.
The "home" option is initialized from the HOME environment variable;
if HOME is unset then some operating systems will set "home" to the
the directory where the elvis program resides.
- lib
-
In this man-page, "lib" is a placeholder for the name of a directory
in which elvis' configuration files reside.
The "elvispath" option's value is a list of directories that elvis will
check for each configuration file.
- elvis*.ses
-
These are the default names for sessions files.
Session files store the contents of all edit buffers for a given
edit session.
You can instruct elvis to use a specific session file via the
-fsession
command-line flag.
Note that sessions specified via
-fsession
normally reside in the current directory,
but when elvis chooses its own session file name, it will place it in the
first writable file named in the SESSIONPATH environment variable.
- tags
-
This file stores the tags for the files in a directory.
It is used by the :tag command, among others.
- lib/elvis.ini
-
This file contains EX commands which are executed whenever elvis starts up.
Elvis searches through the ELVISPATH for the file.
- ~/.exrc, ~/.elvisrc, or ~\elvis.rc
-
The .exrc or .elvisrc (for UNIX) or elvis.rc (for non-UNIX)
file in your home directory will generally be executed as a series of
EX commands,
unless the EXINIT environment variable is defined.
This behavior isn't built into elvis though;
it is handled by the standard elvis.ini file.
- .exrc, .elvisrc, or elvis.rc
-
The .exrc or .elvisrc (for UNIX) or elvis.rc (for non-UNIX) file in the
current directory is interpreted as a series of EX commands,
but only if the exrc option has been set.
This behavior isn't built into elvis;
it is handled by the standard elvis.ini file.
- lib/elvis.brf
-
This file contains EX commands which are executed
Before
Reading
a
File.
Typically this is used to distinguish a binary file from a text file
by examining the file name extension of the file.
The "readeol" option is then set accordingly.
- lib/elvis.arf
-
This file contains EX commands which are executed
After
Reading
a
File.
If the current directory doesn't contain an elvis.arf file, then elvis
searches through the ELVISPATH for the file.
Typically, this is used to set the bufdisplay option for a buffer,
based on the file name extension of the file.
- lib/elvis.bwf
-
This file contains EX commands which are executed
Before
Writing
a
File.
If the current directory doesn't contain an elvis.bwf file, then elvis
searches through the ELVISPATH for the file.
Typically,
elvis.bwf
is used to rename the old file to "filename.BAK" before
writing out the new file.
- lib/elvis.lat
-
This contains a series of ":digraph" commands which set up the digraph
table appropriately for the ISO Latin-1 symbol set.
The "lib/elvis.ini" file executes this script during initialization,
except under OS/2, MS-DOS, or text-mode Win32.
- lib/elvis.pc8
-
This contains a series of ":digraph" commands which set up the digraph
table appropriately for the PC-8 symbol set.
This is the normal symbol set for MS-DOS, OS/2, and text-mode Win32 (although the graphical Win32 uses "lib/elvis.lat").
The "lib/elvis.ini" file executes this script during initialization
if under MS-DOS.
- lib/elvis.msg
-
This file's data is used for mapping the elvis' terse error messages into
verbose messages.
- lib/elvistrs.msg
-
Elvis doesn't use this file directly;
it is simply meant to serve as a resource from which you can extract
the terse form of one of elvis' messages;
you can then add the terse form and your own custom verbose form to the
"lib/elvis.msg" file.
- lib/elvis.syn
-
This file controls how elvis' "syntax" display mode highlights the text
for a given language.
- lib/elvis.x11
-
This file contains a series of ex command.
This file is sourced by elvis.ini if elvis is using its X11 user
interface.
It configures up the toolbar and default colors.
- lib/elvis.ali
-
This contains a set of aliases.
If your copy of elvis is configured to support aliases (i.e., if it isn't
the MS-DOS version) then these aliases will be loaded automatically.
They are partly intended to serve as examples of what aliases can do
and how to write them,
but mostly these aliases are intended to be truly useful.
To see a list of the aliases, give the command ":alias".
- lib/elvis*.html
-
These files contain the online documentation.
If the current directory doesn't contain the required elvis*.html file,
then elvis searches through the ELVISPATH for the file.
- lib/*.man
-
These contain the man pages -- shorter summaries of the programs,
with descriptions of the command-line flags.
- guix11/*.xpm and guix11/elvis.xbm
-
These contain icon images for use with X-windows.
The "elvis.xbm" image is a 2-color bitmap, and it is compiled into elvis.
The other files, such as "elvis.xpm," contain color images.
The "insticon.sh" shell script (which is invoked as part of the "make install"
operation) tries to copy these into appropriate directories.
SEE ALSO
ex(1),
vi(1),
ctags(1)
You should also view the on-line documentation, via ":help".
AUTHOR
Steve Kirkendall
kirkenda@cs.pdx.edu
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- TERMCAP INTERFACE
-
- X11 INTERFACE
-
- X11 Options
-
- X11 Mouse
-
- ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
-
- FILES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHOR
-
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Time: 23:39:18 GMT, February 15, 2023