Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!elbereth!rutgers!seismo!umcp-cs!chris From: chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: VI(1) vs. the world Message-ID: <3814@umcp-cs.UUCP> Date: Sat, 11-Oct-86 05:43:26 EDT Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3814 Posted: Sat Oct 11 05:43:26 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 12-Oct-86 13:36:07 EDT References: <4327@brl-smoke.ARPA> <357@maynard.UUCP> <113@twg-ap.UUCP> <523@epimass.UUCP> Organization: Computer Sci. Dept, U of Maryland, College Park, MD Lines: 34 >>>... I really like to be able to say ... "40a -" to be able >>>to make an 80 column dashed line. >In article <3772@umcp-cs.UUCP> I wrote: >>Vi has a major advantage over Emacs here. In article <523@epimass.UUCP> jbuck@epimass.UUCP (Joe Buck) replies: >I'm surprised at you, Chris. An old Emacs hand like you should know >that ESC 8 0 - makes an 80 column dashed line, in four keystrokes >instead of the five that vi requires. I use this all the time. In >Emacs everything is a command, so in a sense you're always in command >mode, rather than always being in insert mode. '-' is just the >"insert a -" command. Indeed, ESC 8 0 - inserts eighty `-' characters. That was not what the original poster (>>>) wanted: 4, 0, a, SPACE, -, ESC, inserts 40 pairs of ` -' characters: ---------------------------------------- vs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Incidentally, `-' is not an `insert a ``-'' command', since it has to do the appropriate magic to construct negative arguments if typed immediately after ESC. This cannot always be ignored: e.g., ^U k inserts four `k's, but ^U - inserts nothing, instead setting the prefix argument to -4. ^U 4 -, however, inserts four `-' characters. The exact details may vary according to your Emacs variety. (Nice try, Joe. I *do* make mistakes, but this was not one.) -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 1516) UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!chris CSNet: chris@umcp-cs ARPA: chris@mimsy.umd.edu