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Christopher Negus

"Linux Bible, 2008 Edition: Boot up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, openSUSE, and 11 Other Distributions"


nedit An excellent programmer??™s editor. You need to install the optional nedit package
to get this editor.
If you use ssh to log in to other Linux computers on your network, you can use any editor to edit
files. A GUI-based editor will pop up on your screen. When no GUI is available, you will need a text
editor that runs in the shell, such as vi, jed, or joe.
75
Running Commands from the Shell 2
Starting with vi
Most often, you start vi to open a particular file. For example, to open a file called /tmp/test,
type the following command:
$ vi /tmp/test
If this is a new file, you should see something similar to the following:
~
~
~
~
~
???/tmp/test??? [New File]
The box at the top represents where your cursor is. The bottom line keeps you informed about
what is going on with your editing (here you just opened a new file). In between, there are tildes
(~) as filler because there is no text in the file yet. Now here??™s the intimidating part: There are no
hints, menus, or icons to tell you what to do. On top of that, you can??™t just start typing. If you do,
the computer is likely to beep at you. And some people complain that Linux isn??™t friendly.
The first things you need to know are the different operating modes: command and input. The vi
editor always starts in command mode.


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