So this is a weird issue I can't seem to find online. Whenever I create or edit files with Vi, if I hit enter for a carriage return it instead inserts a newline above the one I was working on and automatically adds an 'M' character to the new line, but to clarify it's not a '^M'. I tried doing a ':set all&' and it still occurs. I'm not seeing a config file for Vi otherwise in my user profile. It seems to occur under any user account on my system, but I'm not seeing a global configuration file either. Can anyone shed some light for me please? This is a Debian OS.

I would try the :map (colon map) command to see if your enter key has been reprogrammed (if that's possible at all).

Also, there are commands that show you all the environment variables and all the startup files. Perhaps there is a setting that you haven't seen yet. Unfortunately I don't remember details; you need to investigate some more.

Possibly it is vim that you are using as vi on Debian, do you have a .vimrc file?

Oh, sure enough I found a bunch of symlinks that redirect it to /usr/bin/vim.tiny

But I still can't find a .vimrc file.

Do you have teh file '/etc/inputrc'.

Also why 'vi' is symlinked to 'vim.tiny'. You should install normal version of it. Also always use 'vim' and not 'vi'. vim is the advanced version while 'vi' is 'vi' emulation done by 'vim' package.

you can create .vimrc in your home and put the following line into it: set ffs=unix

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