I know there is a debate of vi vs. emacs, and I've used them both. My vi-using friends say vi is superior because it's always available, always consistant and you can work very fast in it. My emacs-using friends say emacs is the most versatile text editor available. I've used emacs quite a bit, and it's pretty good, and I've been trying to learn vi because it's pretty much the only option you've got in case of trouble.

My question is this - why is vi the best? Why do people use it above others? And how is it faster than any other text editor? I would be much obliged for your input.

*gets out popcorn for the flamewar*

And of course, you left out nano and pico.

It's all "horses for courses". Try them out and make your own decisions. For my needs, pico/nano are more than enough.

Well - even though I really like emacs, and particularly
for programming, I find myself using vi quite often as of
late. One reason is that vi is "universal", so to speak;
you'll have a hard time to find a linux-box without it.
It's also pretty darn small (and quick) in comparison,
and some of its features just do make more sense for
certain editing tasks. It's probably best to know both,
and as XavierP pointed out, use the right tool for the
right job. That said: if you're a C programmer using
emacs you DEFINITELY want to check out ELSE,
and emacs minor mode ( http://www.zip.com.au/~peterm/ )


Cheers,
Tink

Cool. What jobs would you say vi is particularly suited for?

Well ... if you want to do modifications to a file
that are not worth recording a macro (in other words,
it's not that many) for but are not easily solved with
a regex-replacment the . operator in vi is unbeatable.

It allows you to do the last action you did at the
current position of the cursor. So if you for instance
want to replace a given word at the beginning of some
lines, you go cw my_new_word<esc>, go to the next
word and press . ... a feature that kind of endeared vi
to me (I used to use emacs exclusively).


Cheers,
Tink

The very best editor is the one you know.

That said, one should know at least one or two others in case of problems.

I really need to become profficient with vi. I've been using linux for 7 years and getting by on pico (and now my preferred nano). Any good guides?

This one seems pretty good. I am presently reading it.

http://www.washington.edu/computing/unix/vi.html

Thanks. Appreciate the link.

I do for precisely the reasons you mentioned. It's incredibly fast to edit once you become familiar with the commands, and it can be found on almost any linux installation.

The reason it is fast is because its commands are all based on the main keyboard keys. You never need to leave the home row when working in vi, whether to use arrow keys, a mouse, a menu, etc. Add that to the ability to make large changes with the combination of 2 to 4 keys makes navigation and editing very quick. But it's a tradeoff. It is not easy to pick up. You'll probably end up taking longer to edit initially. But once you know you're way around, it's hard to make things more efficient.