This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Opening a File for Editing
To create a new file in the current subdirectory, you type the following:
vi filename
To create a new file in a particular directory, use the full path as follows:
vi /full/path/to/file
Sometimes you will want vi to open a file with a search string and put the cursor on the first found instance of that string. To accomplish this you'd enter
vi +/string filename
Other times you'll want to edit a file and have the cursor jump to a particular line when the file is opened, such as the initdefault line in the /etc/ inittab. You'd enter this:
vi +18 /etc/inittab
CAUTION
Expect questions about opening files with particular options, searching a file upon opening it, and other ways to start the vi editor.