vi Editor: Options
Many parameters of the vi editor are controlled by option settings: search
modes, margins, tabs, line numbers, etc. To set these modes the way you like,
you can modify the values of these options.
You can set options while in the vi edit session. Just type colon (:) and to
the prompt type:
set option
Numerical options are followed by "=number". Boolean options are reset by
preceding their name with "no" (e.g. "nomagic"). For a complete list of
options, start vi and type ":set all". Some useful options are:
- autowrite - write buffer before changing files
- lisp - set up lisp mode
- ignorecase - ignore case of letters in searches
- number - number lines (numbers are not part of file)
- showmatch - show matching parentheses as they are closed
- wrapmargin=n - wrap lines when typing enters nth screen column
You can also create a file called .exrc in your home directory and place the
set commands in it:
set option1 option2 option3=n