BVI: Colon (ex) Commands

Command Overview Colon (ex) Commands |

[ Cursor Movements | Edit Cmds | Yank and Put Cmds | Set Options | Colon (ex) Cmds ]

> When forming a colon command, the first character, the colon, can be followed by zero, one or two addresses. These addresses are byte addresses, in contrast to vi, which uses line addresses.
> The byte addresses can be given in decimal notation or, with a leading zero, in hexadecimal notation. If you have specified an address offset (e.g. :set offset=256), this offset has to be added to the byte addresses.
> Without an address, the whole file is affected or the current cursor position is used (depending of the command).

> Address | Corresponding bytes
> --- | ---
> . | The current byte
> 7 | The seventh byte of file (if offset=0)
> .-n | n bytes before the current byte
> .+n | n bytes after the current byte
> 'x | The byte marked with x
> ^ | The first byte in file
> $ | The last byte
> '' | The previous current byte
> /pat/ | The first byte that matches pat
> #12 A4 6F# | The first byte that matches hex pattern

Command | BVI | VI
--- | --- | ---
File Commands |
:w :w %.new :w filename :w>> existingfile :w! file :e newfile :e! :f :f newname | Write to the current file Write to current.new Write to filename Append to existing file Overwrite existing file Terminate session and edit newfile Reload the current file Prints current filename and some additional info Changes the current filename to newname
Substitute Commands |
:s/pattern/replace/ :s/pattern/replace/g :s/pattern/replace/gc | Search for pattern and replace it once Search for pattern and replace it global Search for pattern and replace it global conditional (ask)
:s\80 af\ff ff\ | Binary search and replace
| Not available
Edit Commands |
:a m :c m :i m | append change insert bytes, where m is a(scii), b(inary), d(ecimal), h(exadecimal) or o(ctal). You can type in several (screen) lines of bytes, a line with only a '.' in it terminates the command.
| Usually not available in vi but in ex (without the m - modifier).
Logical Operations |
:and n :or n :xor n :neg :not :sl i :sr i :rr i :rl i | and n or n exclusive or n negate invert shift left i bits shift right i bits rotate left i bits rotate right i bits
| Not available.
Miscellaneous |
:g/pat/p :n :q :rew :sh :so file :ve :x :! command | Global search for pattern pat Next file to edit Exit session without saving the file Rewind to first file spawn a new shell Read and execute a file with colon commands Version of the editor Exit session, save the file if changed execute a system command
Currently not available
:map :unm(ap) :ab(breviate) :una(bbreviate)

[ Cursor Movements | Edit Cmds | Yank and Put Cmds | Set Options | Colon (ex) Cmds ]

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Last update: October 30th 1999 by Gerhard Bürgmann, Purkersdorf/Austria