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From: dwallach@soda.Berkeley.EDU (Dan Wallach)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: vi meta keys
Summary: arcane vi features?
Keywords: vi
Message-ID: <1990Dec12.231212.6385@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 12 Dec 90 23:12:12 GMT
Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator)
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Organization: UC Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Assocation
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I've been reading the vi power user threads with some interest for a while,
but I'm afraid that I must ask a simple question, that others probably don't
know, either.

Just what's the "meta" key in vi?  Tom Christensen mentions the tab key but
when I hit it I just get a beep.

In jove/emacs you would hit esc-key or ^X-key (or ...) for different flavors
of meta, but just what's it in vi and what are "standard" meta key functions?

I've also seen people referencing \U and \L as commands for macros to upper-
case and lower-case letters.  Are there more \ commands?

Go ahead and say rtfm, but our esteemed Apollo 10.2 docs mention nothing of meta
keys in vi nor \anything in ex (although it does mention & and \&).

Dan

P.S.  As much as I despise emacs, at least it's internally documented to death.
      I find out every time I hit ^H  :-)