elvis

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NAME

       elvis, ex, vi, view, input - The editor


SYNOPSIS

       elvis [flags] [+cmd] [files...]


DESCRIPTION

       Elvis is a text editor which emulates vi/ex.

       On  systems  which  pass  the program name as an argument,
       such as Unix and Minix, you may also install  elvis  under
       the  names  "ex",  "vi", "view", and "input".  These extra
       names would normally be links to elvis; see the "ln" shell
       command.

       When  elvis  is  invoked  as  "vi",  it behaves exactly as
       though it was invoked as "elvis".  However, if you  invoke
       elvis as "view", then the readonly option is set as though
       you had given it the "-R" flag.  If you  invoke  elvis  as
       "ex",  then  elvis will start up in the colon command mode
       instead of the visual command  mode,  as  though  you  had
       given it the "-e" flag.  If you invoke elvis as "input" or
       "edit", then elvis will start up in input mode, as  though
       the "-i" flag was given.


OPTIONS

       -r     To  the  real  vi,  this flag means that a previous
              edit should be recovered.   Elvis,  though,  has  a
              separate  program, called elvrec(1), for recovering
              files.  When you invoke elvis with -r,  elvis  will
              tell you to run elvrec.

       -R     This sets the "readonly" option, so you won't acci-
              dentally overwrite a file.

       -s     This set the "safer" option,  which  disables  many
              potentially harmful commands.  It has not been rig-
              orously proven to be absolutely secure, however.

       -t tag This causes elvis to start  editing  at  the  given
              tag.

       -m [file]
              Elvis  will  search through file for something that
              looks like an error message from  a  compiler.   It
              will then begin editing the source file that caused
              the error, with the  cursor  sitting  on  the  line
              where the error was detected.  If you don't explic-
              itly name a file, then "errlist" is assumed.

       -e     Elvis will start up in colon command mode.

       -v     Elvis will start up in visual command mode.

       -i     Elvis will start up in input mode.

       -w winsize
              Sets the "window" option's value to winsize.

       +command or -c command
              If you use the +command parameter, then  after  the
              first  file  is loaded command is executed as an EX
              command.  A typical example would  be  "elvis  +237
              foo",  which would cause elvis to start editing foo
              and then move directly to line 237.  The  "-c  com-
              mand"  variant  was added for UNIX SysV compatibil-
              ity.


FILES

       /tmp/elv*
              During editing, elvis stores text  in  a  temporary
              file.   For  UNIX, this file will usually be stored
              in the /tmp directory, and the first three  charac-
              ters  will be "elv".  For other systems, the tempo-
              rary files may be stored someplace  else;  see  the
              version-specific section of the documentation.

       tags   This  is the database used by the :tags command and
              the -t  option.   It  is  usually  created  by  the
              ctags(1) program.

       .exrc or elvis.rc
              On UNIX-like systems, a file called ".exrc" in your
              home directory is executed as a series of  ex  com-
              mands.   A file by the same name may be executed in
              the current directory, too.  On  non-UNIX  systems,
              ".exrc" is usually an invalid file name; there, the
              initialization file is called "elvis.rc" instead.


ENVIRONMENT

       TERM   This is the name of your terminal's  entry  in  the
              termcap  or  terminfo  database.  The list of legal
              values varies from one system to another.

       TERMCAP
              Optional.  If your system  uses  termcap,  and  the
              TERMCAP variable is unset, then
               will   read   your   terminal's   definition  from
              /etc/termcap.  If TERMCAP is set to the full  path-
              name  of  a  file  (starting with a '/') then  will
              look in the named file instead of /etc/termcap.  If
              TERMCAP  is set to a value which doesn't start with
              a '/', then its value is assumed  to  be  the  full
              termcap entry for your terminal.

       TERMINFO
              Optional.   If  your  system uses terminfo, and the
              TERMINFO variable is unset, then
               will read  your  terminal's  definition  from  the
              database  in  the  /usr/lib/terminfo  database.  If
              TERMINFO is set, then its  value  is  used  as  the
              database  name to use instead of /usr/lib/terminfo.

       LINES, COLUMNS
              Optional.  These variables, if set,  will  override
              the  screen  size  values given in the termcap/ter-
              minfo for your terminal.  On windowing systems such
              as  X,   has  other  ways of determining the screen
              size, so you should probably leave these  variables
              unset.

       EXINIT Optional.  This variable can hold EX commands which
              will be executed before any .exrc files.

       SHELL  Optional.  The  SHELL  variable  sets  the  default
              value  for  the  "shell"  option,  which determines
              which shell program is  used  to  perform  wildcard
              expansion  in file names, and also which is used to
              execute filters or external programs.  The  default
              value on UNIX systems is "/bin/sh".

              Note: Under MS-DOS, this variable is called COMSPEC
              instead of SHELL.

       HOME   This variable should be set to  the  name  of  your
              home directory.
               looks  for  its initialization file there; if HOME
              is unset then the initialization file will  not  be
              executed.

       TAGPATH
              Optional.   This variable is used by the "ref" pro-
              gram, which is invoked by the  shift-K,  control-],
              and :tag commands.  See "ref" for more information.

       TMP, TEMP
              These optional environment variables are only  used
              in non-UNIX versions of .  They allow you to supply
              a directory name to be used for  storing  temporary
              files.


SEE ALSO

       ctags(1), ref(1), virec(1)

       Elvis  -  A  Clone of Vi/Ex, the complete elvis documenta-
       tion.


BUGS

       There is no LISP  support.   Certain  other  features  are
       missing, too.

       Auto-indent mode is not quite compatible with the real vi.
       Among other things, 0^D and ^^D don't do  what  you  might
       expect.

       Long  lines  are displayed differently.  The real vi wraps
       long lines onto multiple rows of  the  screen,  but  elvis
       scrolls sideways.


AUTHOR

       Steve Kirkendall
       kirkenda@cs.pdx.edu

       Many  other  people  have  worked to port elvis to various
       operating systems.  To see who deserves  credit,  run  the
       :version command from within elvis, or look in the system-
       specific section of the complete documentation.
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