You can use vi mode editing in any program that uses readline

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9055523

by dorfsmay • 11 years ago

86 17 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

With any program that uses readline, including psql, python and ipython, you can switch between vi and emacs editing by typing:

ctrl - alt - j

( C-M-j in emacs lingo)

amitutk• 11 years ago

To automatically enable this for all term applications, create a file .inputrc in $HOME and put this:

set editing-mode vi

$if mode=vi

set keymap vi-command

"gg": beginning-of-history

"G": end-of-history

set keymap vi-insert

"jj": vi-movement-mode

"\C-p": history-search-backward C-L: clear-screen

dorfsmay3• 11 years ago

Thanks!

You really only need the first line for the apps to start in vi mode automatically.

Knowing the key combination to toggle is still useful for when pairing etc...

Pwnguinz• 11 years ago

What happens if you don't set keymap "gg", "G", etc? Would they not work, or...? (Currently not on a *nix machine to be able to test it out, or else I wouldn't ask such a simple question :P)

madsravn• 11 years ago

My guess is, that you redefine them to mean the semantically same in a new domain. What I mean is that gg and G lets you go to the top of the file and to the bottom of the file, right? But on the command-line, what is the top of your file? And what is the bottom?

oftenwrong• 11 years ago

"G" works with a number for recalling shell history. For example, "4G" recalls the fourth command in the shell history. However, "G" alone without a number does not work as it does in vi (jump to last line). I suppose that was the desired functionality.

It makes sense for "gg" to be absent, as it is not a vi command. It is a "vimism". The typical vi command for moving to the first line is "1G".

mijoharas• 11 years ago

As well as ~/.inputrc (which I have "set editing-mode vi" within), there is also ~/.editrc which has support for the editline library (which some repls use). I have my ~/.editrc set to the following to give me a vim-like editing environment

    bind -v
    bind "^R" em-inc-search-prev
    bind \\t rl_complete

(NOTE: I forget the source for this, it was something like oh-my-vim but I can't find exactly where it was from.)

smhenderson2• 11 years ago

I'm probably not telling a lot of vi fans here anything new but just in case; add vi behaviour to Firefox with this add-on.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimperator/

darkr• 11 years ago

You can use vi mode editing in any program that uses readline

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