omg set -o vi!!!

February 27th, 2008

I just found out bash has a vi input mode. I think my life has changed permanently. No more annoying Alt+b.

set -o vi

Now hit Esc and you're in command mode, standard vi. I haven't played with it long enough to figure out what the restrictions are yet, given how you're only editing one line. But copy/paste doesn't seem to work.

:: random entries in this category ::

• long passwords are evil
• svn builds for the commoner
• aarrgh!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 2:19 p.m. and is filed under en, technology.

3 Responses to "omg set -o vi!!!"

1. Menelkir says:

   February 27, 2008 at 11:38 p.m.  

   I use this in every AIX install that I do for years.
   Ksh doesn't have tab completion, etc, but have set -o vi.

2. emacs that firefox! ~ numerodix blog says:

   June 24, 2008 at 10:20 p.m.  

   [...] discovered a while back that bash has input modes for both vi and emacs and ever since then editing earlier commands is so [...]

3. Joe says:

   February 22, 2009 at 2:31 a.m.  

   Oh wow. i have just discovered set -o vi. My life has changed. Found out about it 4 days ago and i am still tickled. i always thought it ironic when doing a long ex command that i had to use  or the arrow keys to edit the middle of the line. But i always lamented that same problem while editing a complex bash command. My only annoyance is  no longer works in bash. i haven't been this excited about a new tool since i discovered vimerator last year.

   i know this post is a little dated but i had to post a reply.