[Quite a few vi users understand how to build vi commands with the (number)(command)(text object) model. But not too many people understand the difference between line commands and character commands. This article explains that and gives some examples. -JP]
The
_
(underscore) command is very similar to the
(caret) command in that it moves to the first non-blank character of the current line. The key difference is that
_
is a
line
command while
is a
character
command. This is important for all functions that read an "address," for example,
d
,
y
, and
c
.
In fact, delete, yank, and so on all call a common internal routine in
vi
to get an "address." If the address is of a particular character,
vi
does a character-mode delete or yank or whatever. If it is a line address,
vi
does a line-mode operation. The "address" command may be any of the regular positioning commands (e.g.,
W
,
b
,
$
, or
/pattern/
) or the original character repeated (as in
dd
or
yy
).
Some examples are in Table 30.1 .
Keystrokes | Results |
---|---|
dd | Deletes the current line. |
d'a |
Deletes all lines between the current line and the line containing mark |
d`a |
Deletes all characters between the current character and the character at mark |
c/accord/ |
Changes all characters (
not
lines!) between the current character up to but not including the |
c?accord? |
Changes all characters between the current character and the |
yj | Yanks two lines, the current line and the one below. |
yH |
Yanks all the lines from the top of the screen to the current line, inclusive. |
<G |
Unindents or "dedents" the lines between the current line and the last line, inclusive. (The variable |
!}fmt |
Runs the lines between the current line and the end of the paragraph through the program fmt ( 30.37 ) . |
NOTE: If you have
wrapscan
set, a search likec?accord?
may wrap from the beginning of the file to the end. This can cause unexpected results, and is one reason why I haveset nows
in my .exrc . Unfortunately, turning offwrapscan
breaks tags ( 30.28 ) in many versions of vi .
vi
combines the repeat count, if any, on the command character with the repeat count on the motion command, so that
2y2j
yanks five lines. Interestingly,
2y2_
yanks 4 lines (so does
2y2y
) since the
_
command moves down (repeat count minus 1) lines. Beware, however, of using repeat counts on all of the motion commands; they're not all implemented in the same way.
4$
moves to the end of the third line below the current;
4
merely moves to the first non-blank character of the current line.
|
(vertical bar) is a synonym for
0
(zero); given a repeat count it goes that many characters to the right of the beginning of the line (as if you had typed
|
(
rept-1
)
l
). (Exercise for the reader: why can't you give a repeat count to
0
?)
Uppercase letters do different things depending on the command. The exact actions may not always seem sensible, but typically they affect the "current line":
D
acts like
d$
;
C
acts like
c$
;
Y
acts like
yy
. The list must merely be memorized, or you can use a good
vi
reference guide.
- in net.unix on Usenet, 19 March 1984