Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!whuts!homxb!homxc!marty
From: marty@homxc.UUCP (M.B.BRILLIANT)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Yet another vi question (solution)
Summary: There is a way
Message-ID: <3779@homxc.UUCP>
Date: 12 Oct 88 15:02:34 GMT
References: <270@tijc02.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 28

Sorry I came in late with this, but my curiosity was not aroused until
I noticed that all gurus were stumped.

There is a way to get vi to read a template before editing the file.
The quirk is that vi will not execute the '+command' argument unless
it successfully reads the file.  I tried that with a simple '+map x p'
argument, and the mapping did not take effect unless vi also received
a file argument, and the named file already existed.

The only excuse I could find for this quirk is that the manual page
explains the +command argument by saying "The specified ex command is
interpreted before editing begins."  If no file is read in, there is
nothing to edit, so editing never "begins," and +command is skipped.

So you will not be able to name a new nonexistent file as the file
argument for vi, and use the +command argument to read a template.

The solution is to name the template file in the vi command, and use
the +command argument to ask vi to change the file name.

Thus (on the system I am working on) the command
	"vi '+r template' newfile"
does not work, but the command
	"vi '+f newfile' template"
does exactly what you want.

						Marty
M. B. Brilliant		houdi!marty1, homxc!marty