Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!caen!uflorida!shark!jeffb From: jeffb.bbs@shark.cs.fau.edu (Jeffrey Boser) Newsgroups: comp.editors Subject: vi help! Message-ID: Date: 18 May 91 04:50:18 GMT Sender: bbs@cs.fau.edu (Waffle BBS) Organization: Florida Atlantic University Lines: 30 I just recently got an account on a unix machine that considerately does not have a man or help function to access any sort of documentation, and it seems I tried to mail from it, and its default editor is vi. I was warned that for some really stupid reason, disconnecting a vi process crashes the machine. I do not have the ability to un-crash it, so I need to know how to get out of the damn thing. vi will not suspend, or recognize any sort of control or escape key. It used to accept ctl-\, and give me a ':' prompt, from which I could quit, but I lost that along with full-screen capabilities. an escape key causes the next key to be one space to the right, with the cursor on top of it, like typing a space, the caracter, then left arrow. any information anybody can send me at all will be graciously received. but I have to get it now, or otherwise leave the process going all night. a man page would be great, and I can read mail fine, but until I can get elm to take emacs as its editor, I can only email from this bbs account. you can send me mail here, at jeffb.bbs@shark.cs.fau.edu, or at my new unix account, jboser@shark.cs.fau.edu btw... if someone could explain to me why elm, rn, and vi do not like either backspaces or deletes, and treats them as control chars, I would appreciate it. thanks for any and all replys in advance, .....jeff jeffb.bbs@shark.cs.fau.edu "Make something an idiot can use, and only an idiot will use it" -RAH Like a Bible, maybe?