the power of vi?

[viol8ion]

I have found very little USEFUL documentation on vi or elvis (the text editor, not the dead singer) and while I can create a document and save it, etc.. i can find no reference whatsoever of how to OPEN an existing document, and this seems to me to be sort of important...

I need to edit isapnp.conf so that I can get my modem working and get that box online...

also... I do not have X installed yet, so please don't refer me to any X powered editor, i gotta do this all from command line and non-X apps right now..

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When in doubt, deny all terms and definitions.

[Muzzafarath]

How to open an existing file? From the shell:

vi file.name

[speck]

The following link
http://www.netqwest.com/vi.html

has some pretty good basic vi info to get you started. If you will be using vi on a regular basis, I would suggest getting the O'Reilly book "Learning the vi Editor". It's pretty much the bible of vi.

Speck

[Strike]

I suggest vim over vi (since vim is just VI iMproved, and can be set up to act exactly like vi). And there was a sweet-*** thread on vim help a while back, I'll unearth it - one second.

[Strike]

Duh, can't believe I didn't mention this - once you get vim installed, run vimtutor.

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000729.html - the thread to end all "vi help" threads http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/Forum14/HTML/001349.html - cool, but more focus on configuration http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/tools/customize_vim1.html - my customizing vim NHF (again, more on configuration than usage)

[wmHardRock]

To open a file, there are two ways.
From the shell: vi filename
in vi: :e filename