> > It is generally agreed that any Unix user should be able to use > vi, regardless of which editor he prefers to use regularly. > > Apparently vi doesn't exist in Debian - vim, nvi, and elvis > (maybe others) all like to have a symlink named vi pointing to them. > A year ago when I was running Slackware, I thought I learned enough > about vi to use it, but not well. Then I found I was learning elvis, > not vi. When I first installed Debian I tried using 'vi' (I don't > remember which of the almost clones it really was) and found that > some of the commands I was familiar with caused the famous "unexpected > results", so I gave up. > > Which of the vi semi-clones on Debian is most like the original > vi and most likely to work on a broad range of unices?
I think you want nvi. Afaik elvis and vim intend to add features. In the nvi manual page, you can see QUOTE Nex/nvi are intended as bug-for-bug compatible replacements for the original Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD) ex and vi programs. For the rest of this manual page, nex/nvi is used only when it's necessary to distinguish it from the historic implementations of ex/vi. UNQUOTE Very few differences are found in the manual page. Further on it also comments under `STANDARDS': QUOTE Nex/nvi is close to IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX''). That document differs from historical ex/vi practice in several places; there are changes to be made on both sides. UNQUOTE Altogether it looks as though nvi at least attempts to be a `true' vi as much as possible. Eric Meijer E.L. Meijer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) | tel. office +31 40 2472189 Eindhoven Univ. of Technology | tel. lab. +31 40 2475032 Lab. for Catalysis and Inorg. Chem. (TAK) | tel. fax +31 40 2455054 -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .