xvi/src/XVI.LST



XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


NAME
     xvi - multi-file text editor

SYNOPSIS
     xvi { -s  _p_a_r_a_m_e_t_e_r-_a_s_s_i_g_n_m_e_n_t  }  [  -t  _t_a_g  |  +_n_u_m_b_e_r  |
     +/_p_a_t_t_e_r_n ] { _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ...  }

DESCRIPTION
     Xvi (pronounced _e_c_k_s-_v_e_e-_e_y_e) is a  free,  portable,  multi-
     window  implementation  of the popular vi(1) editor.  It has
     some useful enhancements, although, as described below,  not
     all  of  vi's  features  have been implemented yet, and some
     things work differently from vi.

OPTIONS
     The following command-line options are available:

     -s _p_a_r_a_m_e_t_e_r-_a_s_s_i_g_n_m_e_n_t
	  Set the value of the specified  parameter  at  startup.
	  The  assignment  has  the same form as when given as an
	  editor command, i.e:

	  _n_a_m_e=_s_t_r_i_n_g
	       for string parameters

	  _n_a_m_e=_n_u_m_b_e_r
	       for numeric parameters

	  _n_a_m_e to turn a Boolean parameter on

	  no_n_a_m_e
	       to turn a Boolean parameter off

     -t _t_a_g
	  Edit the file containing the  definition  specified  as
	  _t_a_g, at the start of the definition (as per vi).

     +_n_u_m_b_e_r
	  Go to the specified  line  number  of  the  file  being
	  edited.

     +/_p_a_t_t_e_r_n
	  Go to the first occurrence  of  the  specified  _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
	  within the file being edited.

     The -r command line option is not supported.

ENHANCEMENTS
  Multiple buffers and windows
     A _b_u_f_f_e_r is the  internal  object  which  holds  a  file  in
     memory,  while a _w_i_n_d_o_w is an area of the screen which shows
     part of a buffer.  Every window references a buffer, even if


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XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


     no  file  is  being  edited.   The  following  commands  are
     available for operating on buffers and windows:

     :buffer
	  create a new buffer in a new window; can be followed by
	  a filename, which will be edited in the new buffer.

     :split
	  create a  new  window  on  to  the  current  buffer  by
	  splitting   the   current  window  in  half.   The  two
	  resulting windows are similar  to  _v_i_e_w_p_o_r_t_s  on  to  a
	  single  editing  buffer,  in  that  changes made in one
	  window are reflected in the other one.

     :close
	  close the current window; will also close the buffer if
	  this is the last window on to it.

     :x / ZZ
	  close only the current window.  If the  window  is  the
	  only one on to the buffer, the buffer will be closed as
	  well, writing it first if it is modified.

     g    move to the next window.

     ^W   increase the size of the current window (may be given a
	  numeric prefix, default is one line).

     ^T   decrease the size of the current window (may be given a
	  numeric prefix, default is one line).

     ^O   make the current window as large as possible.

     ^]   as  for  vi,  but  create  a  new  buffer   window   if
	  appropriate (and if autosplit allows).

     Note that the :quit command quits out of the editor, not out
     of  a  window.  The :close command is thus the equivalent of
     :quit for windows.  There is no equivalent of :x or  ZZ  for
     the whole editor; these have been hijacked for operations on
     windows.

     The numeric autosplit parameter specifies the maximum number
     of   buffer  windows  that  will  be  created  automatically
     whenever you either edit more than one file, or use tags  to
     edit a different file.

     Undo works per buffer, as do marks; yank/put and redo (the .
     command) work over all buffers, i.e. you can delete from one
     buffer and put the text into a different buffer.


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  File preservation
     Rather than use vi's Unix-specific method for  preservation,
     xvi  does periodic preservation of all files currently being
     edited into temporary files in the same directory.  It tries
     to  do this when you aren't typing, so that you won't notice
     the short delay when the  temporary  file  is  written  out.
     Obviously, only changed files are preserved in this way, and
     the temporary file is removed once the real  file  has  been
     successfully written.

  8-bit character support
     Characters with the top bit set are accepted by xvi, but  it
     is  not  yet  possible  to  have null ('\0') bytes in a file
     buffer.  How characters are displayed can be  controlled  by
     the  cchars  and  mchars  parameters,  which,  if set, cause
     control  and  meta-characters  respectively  to  be   output
     unchanged;   otherwise   they  are  shown  as  sequences  of
     printable characters.

     Tabs are normally displayed as a series  of  spaces  of  the
     appropriate  length  (according  to the tabstops parameter);
     setting list mode will cause them to be displayed as control
     characters,  as  will unsetting the tabs parameter.  How the
     tab character is displayed is then under the control of  the
     cchars parameter.

     You can use the ^_ (control-underscore) command to flip  the
     top  bit  of  the  character  the cursor is on.  This may be
     useful on systems where it is otherwise impossible to  enter
     8-bit characters.

  File formats
     Xvi can read and write text files in non-Unix formats.   The
     current   format  is  given  by  the  value  of  the  format
     parameter, which may be set to "unix", "msdos", etc.  To see
     a list of available formats, type

	  :se fmt=?

  Extended regular expressions
     vi's  magic  parameter  is  superseded  by   the   regextype
     parameter, which can take the following values:

     tags only ^ and $ are significant (used for tags)

     grep like grep(1), but with \< and \> added

     egrep
	  like egrep(1), but with \< and \> added

     The default is grep.


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XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


     Note that it is still possible to set or unset magic  as  in
     vi;  this  will  simply  result  in  regextype  being set as
     appropriate.

     The sections and paragraphs  parameters  define  egrep-style
     patterns  to  search  for,  rather than vi's simplistic (and
     troff-dependent) character pairs.

  Improved replace mode
     The R command acts more intelligently when you press  return
     -  it  leaves  the  rest of the current line alone, and just
     starts replacing text on the  next  line,  starting  at  the
     screen column where you first typed R.

  Command re-execution
     As well as the normal named  (conjugate)  buffers,  and  the
     default  one (named @), there exist several extra ones named
     :, /, ? and !, which contain the last command lines typed to
     each  of  the  given commands.  So for instance, @: will re-
     execute the last ex command, or you can insert it into  your
     buffer, edit it and then re-execute it (e.g. with dd@@).

  Jumpscroll
     When multiple windows are used, xvi normally has to be  able
     to  scroll  individual  windows  without scrolling the whole
     screen.  This can be very inefficient on  terminals  without
     scrolling  regions,  so the jumpscroll parameter is provided
     to control the editor's scrolling behaviour.  It can be  set
     to one of:

     off  When the cursor moves outside  a  window's  boundaries,
	  and  the  new  position is near enough, the window will
	  scroll to the new position.

     on   When the cursor moves outside  a  window's  boundaries,
	  the window will always jump to the new position.

     auto A window will scroll only if it can do so  efficiently;
	  otherwise it will jump.

     The default value is auto.

     On  ISA-type  systems  which  have  memory-mapped  displays,
     hardware    character   generators   and   reasonably   fast
     processors, jumpscroll  should  generally  be  set  to  off;
     however,  on LCD screens or other displays with a long image
     persistence, this may actually make the text more  difficult
     to  read,  and  many  users  may be more comfortable with it
     turned on.

     Explicit scroll commands (e.g.  ^D and ^E) are not  affected
     by the jumpscroll parameter.


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XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


  Colour
     There are four new parameters to control screen colours:

     colour      colour used for text

     statuscolourcolour used for status lines

     roscolour   as statuscolour, but for readonly files

     systemcolourcolour used for system mode (i.e. subshells  and
     after termination)

     These parameters are numeric, and the value means  different
     things  on  different  operating systems.  On Unix, it is an
     index into the termcap(5) entries "c0" to  "c9",  which  are
     assumed  to  be  colour-setting escape sequences if they are
     present.  If they are  not  present,  "so"  (begin  standout
     mode) and "se" (end standout mode) are used instead.  Values
     of 0 and 1 give  normal  text,  whereas  2  and  above  give
     standout mode.

     The  default  colour  for  the  roscolour   parameter   will
     generally  involve  red  if  colours  are available; this is
     intended to provide a warning to the user that  writing  the
     file may not be possible.

  On-line help
     A primitive help facility is available;  the  :help  command
     simply  creates  a  new  buffer window on to a standard help
     file.  The name of the file which is edited is given by  the
     helpfile  string  parameter; the default on Unix versions is
     "/usr/lib/xvi.help".  Note that the help file buffer will be
     marked  "not  editable"  when  it is created, which prevents
     accidental overwriting of the help file even when  the  file
     permissions would allow it.

  Miscellaneous
     The command :wn (write file and edit next) is  provided,  as
     in PC-vi.

     The new edit parameter controls  whether  a  buffer  can  be
     modified.   This may be used to implement a nicer version of
     view(1) than the standard vi version, since  it  won't  fool
     you  into  thinking  that  editing  the buffer is in any way
     safe.  Be warned: once having set noedit, it is not possible
     to do a :set edit any more.  It's a one-way street.

     In insert and replace modes, ^A has the same meaning  as  ^@
     in  vi,  except  that it works at any time, not just for the
     first character.  Also, typing ^B_x where _x is the name of  a
     conjugate  buffer,  inserts the contents of that buffer into
     the input stream at that point.  The buffer named  <  always


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XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


     contains the last thing inserted, so that ^B< is the same as
     ^A.

LIMITATIONS
  Ex mode
     The main area in which xvi is lacking is vi's ex mode, which
     is  not implemented at all (and neither are edit, e, or open
     modes).  However, many of the ex commands are  available  in
     vi  mode as colon commands; the colon commands that have not
     been implemented are  mostly  those  which  offer  the  same
     functionality as other commands in vi mode.

     In particular, abbreviate, append, change, ex, insert, join,
     open, recover, unabbreviate, undo, write>>, z and | have not
     been implemented as colon commands yet.

  Vi mode
     In vi mode, the  U  and  =  commands  are  not  implemented,
     although  there  is  no  real  reason why they shouldn't be,
     whilst Q is inappropriate in the context of xvi, since there
     is no ex mode.

  Parameters
     Many of vi's  parameters  have  not  been  implemented;  the
     command  :se all gives a complete list, with current values,
     of those that have been.

  Miscellaneous
     Repeat counts before insertions don't work.

     Appending to named buffers is not yet implemented.

     Typing ^Q in input mode does not mean the  same  as  ^V;  it
     just  inserts  a `^Q', assuming it gets as far as the editor
     at all.

     Typing ^W in insert mode does not back up one word as in vi.

     It is not possible to  interrupt  the  editor  while  it  is
     performing  certain  operations.   If  you  start  off a big
     global command, you have to wait for it to finish.

     Flags and counts after ex mode commands are not supported.

     It is not possible to read the output of  a  system  command
     using

	  :r !_c_o_m_m_a_n_d

     or to write into a command using

	  :w !_c_o_m_m_a_n_d.


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XVI(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     XVI(1)


     Regular expressions, although implemented  (see  above),  do
     not  support the ~ metacharacter; also, the \u and \l escape
     sequences  are  not  supported  in  substitute   replacement
     patterns.   Newlines  included  on  the right hand side of a
     substitution do not currently cause the line  to  be  split;
     the newline character is literally inserted into the line.

     The :global command only supports the commands [lps&~d].

OTHER DIFFERENCES FROM VI
     The XVINIT environment variable is read instead  of  EXINIT.
     Whilst no files are sourced automatically, users who wish to
     have a startup file can arrange it very  easily.   sh(1)  or
     ksh(1) users should add this line to their $HOME/.profile:

	  XVINIT='source _x_v_i-_s_t_a_r_t_u_p-_f_i_l_e'; export XVINIT

     csh(1) users should add this to their $HOME/.login:

	  setenv XVINIT 'source _x_v_i-_s_t_a_r_t_u_p-_f_i_l_e'

     The tags parameter can be  used  to  specify  multiple  tags
     files;  these  can  be separated by either ``\ '' (backslash
     space) or ``,'' (comma).

     Alternate files are handled slightly differently,  owing  to
     the  presence  of  buffer and window handling.  Essentially,
     when you close a buffer, its filename is remembered  as  the
     alternate  file;  when  you  invoke the ^^ or :e # commands,
     this file is re-edited.  Note that ^^  edits  the  alternate
     file in a new buffer window, if autosplit allows.

     Hitting the escape key while in the command  line  does  not
     terminate  input;  instead,  it cancels input, returning the
     prompt to the beginning of the line.  This applies to  input
     for :, /, ? and !.

FILES
     /usr/lib/xvi.helpDefault help file.

SEE ALSO
     ex(1), vi(1), termcap(5).
     _S_u_m_m_a_r_y _o_f _D_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s _b_e_t_w_e_e_n _V_i _a_n_d _X_v_i.

BUGS
     o+    When the cursor is on the last word of  a  buffer,  the
	  command  dw  leaves  the  last  character  of  the word
	  undeleted.

     o+    Some screen updates do  not  get  shown  properly  when
	  buffers  are  split, and certain commands (e.g.  x) are
	  executed.


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     o+    If you do something like cf.WORD<_e_s_c> and then redo it,
	  and  the  f.  fails,  then  the WORD<_e_s_c> gets taken as
	  normal input.  The rest of the input should  really  be
	  cancelled when part of a redo fails.

     o+    A command of the form :/pat/;+1m. will not work because
	  the  editor  incorrectly  detects  a  conflict  between
	  source and destination.

     o+    The editor in its present form is very  inefficient  in
	  terms of CPU cycles.

     o+    Most termcap(5) terminal descriptions are  only  tested
	  with  vi(1)  (and possibly rogue(6)).  Since xvi is, in
	  some ways, more demanding than vi in its use of termcap
	  capabilities, it sometimes exposes bugs or inadequacies
	  in  termcap  entries.   This  applies   especially   to
	  scrolling regions.

AVAILABILITY
     Xvi has been ported to MS-DOS, OS/2, QNX and many  different
     versions  of  Unix.   Source  code  is  available  from  the
     authors.

AUTHORS
     Chris and John Downey.

     Derived from  STEVIE,  written  by  Tim  Thompson  and  Tony
     Andrews.


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