elvis is a vi clone written by Steve Kirkendall.
-aLoad each file named on the command line to a separate window.
-ccommandExecute command at startup (POSIX version of the historical
+command syntax).-ffilenameUse filename for the session file instead of the default name.
-GguiUse the given interface. The default is the
termcapinterface. Other choices includex11,windows,curses,open, andquit. Not all the interfaces may be compiled into your version of elvis.
-iStart editing in input mode instead of in command mode.
-ologfileRedirect the startup messages out to a file, instead of stdout/stderr. This is of critical importance to MS Windows users because Windows discards anything written to standard output and standard error.
-RStart editing each file in read-only mode.
-sRead an ex script from standard input and execute (per the POSIX standard). This bypasses all initialization scripts.
-SSet the option
security=saferfor the whole session, not just execution of .exrc files. This adds a certain amount of security, but should not necessarily be trusted blindly.
-SSSet the option
security=restricted, which is even more paranoid thansecurity=safer.
-VOutput more verbose status information.
-?Print a summary of the possible options.
elvis provides multiwindow editing.
Command | Function |
|---|---|
| Close the current window; the buffer that the window was displaying remains intact |
| Create a new empty buffer and create a new window to show that buffer |
| Issue a |
| Create a new window for any files named in the argument list that don’t already have a window |
| Create a new window, showing the last file in the argument list |
| Same as |
| Create a new window, showing the next file in the argument list |
| Create a new window, showing the previous file in the argument list |
| Create a new window; load it with file if supplied; otherwise, the new window shows the current file |
| Create a new window, showing the first file in
the argument list; reset the “current” file as the first with
respect to the |
| Create a new window, showing the file where the requested tag is found |
| With no target, list all windows; the possible values for target are described in the next table |
| Write the buffer back to the file and close the window; the file is saved whether or not it has been modified |
Command | Function |
|---|---|
| Hide the buffer and close the window |
| Toggle the display mode between “normal” and the buffer’s usual display mode; this is a per-window option |
| Move down to the next window |
| Move up to the previous window |
| Create a new window and a new buffer to be displayed in the window |
| Save the buffer and close the window |
| Split the current window |
| Toggle the |
[ | Move to the next window, or to the Nth window |
| Create a new window, then look up the tag underneath the cursor |
| Increase the size of the current window
( |
| Reduce the size of the current window
( |
Make the current window as large as possible
( |
(...)Used for grouping to allow the application of additional regular expression operators.
{...}Describes an interval expression (interval expressions were defined in Vim Extended Regular Expressions).
POSIX bracket expressions (character classes, etc.; see POSIX character classes) are available.
Key | Effect |
|---|---|
↑, ↓ | Page up and down through the |
←, → | Move around on the command line |
Insert characters by typing and erase them by backspacing over them.
You can use the TAB key for filename expansion.
To get a real tab character, precede it with a
^V. Disable filename completion entirely by setting
the Elvis ex history buffer’s
inputtab option to tab via the
following command:
:(Elvis ex history)set inputtab=tab
elvis provides several commands to increase programmer productivity.
Mode | Display appearance |
|---|---|
| An interactive hex dump, reminiscent of mainframe hex dumps; good for editing binary files |
| A simple web page formatter; the tag commands can follow links and return to the starting web page |
| Simple manpage formatter; like the output of
|
| No formatting; display text as it exists in the file |
| Like |
| A simple subset of the TEX formatter |
Option | Function |
|---|---|
lpcolor
(lpcl) | Enable color printing for PostScript and MS Windows printers |
| The printer’s width |
lpcontrast
(lpct) | Control shading and contrast; for use with the
|
| If set, convert Latin-8 extended ASCII to PC-8 extended ASCII |
| The printer needs <CR><LF> to end each line |
| Send a formfeed after the last page |
| The length of the printer’s page |
| Control of various printer features; this matters only for PostScript printers |
| The file or command to print to |
| The printer type |
| Simulate line wrapping |
Name | Printer type |
|---|---|
| Overtyping is done via backspace characters; this setting is the closest to traditional Unix nroff |
| Line printers; overtyping is done with carriage return |
| Plain ASCII; no font control |
| Most dot-matrix printers; no graphic characters supported |
| Hewlett-Packard printers and most non-PostScript laser printers |
| Dot-matrix printers with IBM graphic characters |
| Panasonic dot-matrix printers |
| PostScript; one logical page per sheet of paper |
PostScript; two logical pages per sheet of paper |
elvis 2.2 has a total of 225 options that affect its behavior. The most important ones are summarized here. Options shared with vi are not repeated here.