Do you use Vi or Emacs.

Hi,

Another vi vs emacs flame-war in the making.......

And yes, I do prefer one above the other, but who really cares. Use the one you like/know.

Vi/m, I've done systems administration since the early 90s on Solaris/Windows/Linux/BSD and it's nice to have same editor installed just about everywhere by default and that it supports as many features as I need on any particular machine with no hassles. Emacs is OK, and I'd like to say that I'm of the mind set I'd rather have a tool do one thing exceptionally well rather than do everything at mediocre level, but in all honesty... I like vi better because I've used it ~a lot~ more. Both are fully functional editors with a ton of bells and whistles. Vi/m is more commonly installed by default (in a light configuration), but both are easily installable on just about any operating system with minimal effort. Pick the one that appeals to you more-- Vi/m is mostly just an editor. Emacs is almost a full shell with an editor as a base. Learn either and you'll be better off in the long run

Basic Emacs & Basic Vi/m

Nano, what else? Though if I have to do complex re-arrangement of text, like transposing tabulated columns, I start-up my QL emulator and run The Editor: over 20 years old and still earning its keep!

VI with leading votes. Most prefered / obvious choice for any professional.

When I first programed on a UNIX system we used ed
I didn't even know of vi
vi is a dream come true compared to ed

Emacs > Vim for me, but I use nano these day and a real GUI editor when I need to do real work. I like the simplicity of nano, you don't have to know how tu use it, you just have to use it. I am ok in vi, I like some of the features, but I don't nee the point of having to make so many command to do anything. Keyboard shortcut > keyboard commands

I prefer either vi(m) or a GUI editor. Depends on my mood and/or circumstances.

Nano and the like works for quick tasks - making a change in a config file, for example. But for more involved editing you really need a serious editor.

I haven't used Emacs much at all, but I've read that its syntax highlighting beats Vim's. I wouldn't mind better syntax highlighting.. but speed and efficiency are much more important to me, and nothing beats Vi/m for that. Using an editor like nano feels like moving through molasses compared to Vi. Waiting for the cursor to move to where you want it is torturous when you could just hit a couple keys and make it jump to a precise location.

I also hate how in non-modal editors the text feels fragile.. like you could bump a key or the mouse and everything would disappear. In Vi/m you "unlock" the text when you want to edit it, and "lock" it when you are done.

That's the eternal vi-emacs war...

Vi(m) vote here!

Emacs here

I have nothing against Vim, though. I use vim for very quick/small jobs. Emacs for everything else.

I find VIM easiest to use since I find its command a lot quicker to the hands. Using Nano is also easy but I already grew tired of CTRL-*/ALt-* just like the old edit.com of DOS. I needed something more interesting or brain twisting and more powerful and something that challenges speed but doesn't sacrifice greater functionality. Since I already know VIM I no longer tried to learn EMACS. I don't know which one is better but I prefer VIM.

both. emacs > vi as you can spend a whole working day in one session and go faster.

emacs for host systems when it's handy to have many files open and
vi for quick edits and smaller systems

eclipse handy to use as tabbed editor with loads of plugin tools as replacement for emacs ... though it's GUIer and less scriptable. You can do quite alot with any tool with a regexp Find/Replace.

What the heck, my first post may as well be in the eternal editor wars.

I'm mostly an emacs person but I use vi for small shell tasks.

But, that's because I'm usually working on markup when I'm in a text editor and I know emacs better then vi. They're both great editors.

How so? What do you mean by "one session"?

Have you ever used Vi/m's buffers? I use Vim with many files open every day..