From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Sep 21 20:28:43 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4F2E316A4CE for ; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:28:43 +0000 (GMT) Received: from pimout1-ext.prodigy.net (pimout1-ext.prodigy.net [207.115.63.77]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE35443D41 for ; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:28:42 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bob@immure.com) Received: from maul.immure.com (adsl-66-136-206-1.dsl.austtx.swbell.net [66.136.206.1])i8LKSfWC265816; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 16:28:41 -0400 Received: from luke.immure.com (luke.immure.com [10.1.132.3]) by maul.immure.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i8LKSd4j024552; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:28:39 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from bob@immure.com) Received: from luke.immure.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by luke.immure.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i8LKSdmW063518; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:28:39 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from bob@luke.immure.com) Received: (from bob@localhost) by luke.immure.com (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) id i8LKSdYv063517; Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:28:39 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from bob) Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:28:39 -0500 From: Bob Willcox To: Jason Andresen Message-ID: <20040921202839.GE57728@luke.immure.com> References: <414F8934.4080509@cinci.rr.com> <20040921021141.GA77929@parodius.com> <414FA035.6000503@cinci.rr.com> <20040921035919.GA81408@parodius.com> <414FAB6C.4040504@cinci.rr.com> <20040921043545.GA82495@parodius.com> <"41500529.9020004"@cinci.rr.com> <20040921154447.GB57728@luke.immure.com> <41508747.3090207@mitre.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <41508747.3090207@mitre.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-immure-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-immure-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-MailScanner-From: bob@immure.com cc: Current cc: Jeremy Chadwick Subject: Re: BETA4 Vi backspace behavior X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Bob Willcox List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:28:43 -0000 On Tue, Sep 21, 2004 at 03:55:51PM -0400, Jason Andresen wrote: > Bob Willcox wrote: > > >On Tue, Sep 21, 2004 at 06:40:41AM -0400, Mike B wrote: > > > > > >>Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > >>>Do things work properly in vim (preferrably ports/editors/vim-lite) but > >>>not native /usr/bin/vi, or are they generally horked all around? > >>> > >>You all are right about the behavior of vi, but the backspace in vim is > >>definitely broken. I've tried using the :fixdel command and also > >>remapping the key with :map but the result is always the same. Perhaps > >>this is a bug or incompatability that has arisen in vim; every other > >>text editor seems to work flawlessly. Thanks > >> > >> > > > >FWI, all versions of vi that I've used over the past 20 years (I only > >use vim when using Linux) had this behavior wrt the backspace key > >(backing over but no erasing). This has been mostly on on AIX, ESIX, and > >FreeBSD. So for me anyway, it's the "norm." > > > > > > AFAIK, the "backspace as a motion key" behavior dates all the way back > to teletypes, because they were just typewriters with modems and they > didn't have any way of actually deleting characters on the line. I > think this is also where the use of "x" as a delete character comes > from, people actually x-ing out words on their teletype. > > Look on the bright side, your editor may have bizarre commands, but it > will still work even if you're stuck in the most primitive of editing > environments. I actually prefer the backspace w/o erasing the character behavior of vi. Indeed, that's one (of several) differences with vim that I find disturbing (using the "u" key for multi-undoing rather than re-doing is my pet peave). Bob -- Bob Willcox Acquaintance, n.: bob@immure.com A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, Austin, TX but not well enough to lend to. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"