| The vi (visual display)
editor is an interactive editor that is used to create and/or modify
ASCII (American Code for Information Interchange) text files. It is a
character-based editor that is an integral part of all UNIX operating
systems. The vi editor uses a screen display, but you cannot use the
mouse to position the cursor. All editing with the vi editor is done
within a memory buffer. Changes can be written to the disk or
discarded. The vi editor works only with text files and does not have
any formatting capabilities.
For users learning to become system
administrators, it is important to know how to use vi. It is sometimes
the only full screen editor available to edit crucial system files.
Examples of these include scripts and environment control files. Since
it does not impart any special formatting characters, the vi editor
can also be used to create programs for various programming languages.
Skill in using vi is also needed if the windowing system is not
available. The vi editor is a useful tool when working remotely on
other UNIX workstations or servers. Administrators routinely remote
login or telnet to another UNIX computer to perform maintenance and
troubleshooting tasks using vi. The availability and operation of vi
is consistent across all UNIX platforms and thus it is a tool that
will always be available.
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