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Old 09-14-2011, 09:05 PM   #16
Yuhan
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Okay, and then in addition to the shell, reference is often made to an editor--usually emacs or vi. How does the "editor" figure in with the shell? You apparently have to have an editor and different shells use different editors, is that correct?
 
Old 09-15-2011, 01:34 AM   #17
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Hi,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuhan View Post
Okay, and then in addition to the shell, reference is often made to an editor--usually emacs or vi. How does the "editor" figure in with the shell? You apparently have to have an editor and different shells use different editors, is that correct?
You do not need different editors in different shells.

I've been using vi(m) ever since I started with computers and used it on hp-ux, solaris, AIX, FTX, and Linux using bash, ksh, sh (real sh, not the linked one) and on a few occasions csh.

The way you navigate on the shell command line (previous command, edit commands, search commands etc) is different. Ksh uses a vi style command line interface, bash does not. But this can be easily changed by editing the shell specific start-up files.

Here are 2 links related to this:

- Ksh - Command-Line Editing
- Bash - Command Line Editing

Hope this helps.
 
Old 09-15-2011, 05:27 AM   #18
jantanik
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I would like to thank you all for your valuable information. The details are very clear and informative. I currently using Beginning the Linux Command Line By Sander van Vugt. Its good, thanks for sharing the useful information.

Last edited by jantanik; 09-15-2011 at 05:36 AM.
 
Old 09-16-2011, 09:50 AM   #19
Yuhan
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Can you explain exactly what is the function of the editor? I constantly see and hear references to it, but I don't understand what it does. I know the choice is between vi(m)
and emacs and arguments about which one is better rival the ferocity of debates over which distro is better! But what does the editor do?
 
Old 09-16-2011, 10:17 AM   #20
druuna
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Hi,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuhan View Post
Can you explain exactly what is the function of the editor? I constantly see and hear references to it, but I don't understand what it does. But what does the editor do?
An editor is just a program that you use to create or edit files. It doesn't do anything by itself.

If you are familiar with Windows: Notepad is also an editor (although not a very good one ).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuhan
I know the choice is between vi(m) and emacs and arguments about which one is better rival the ferocity of debates over which distro is better!
Although vi(m) and emacs are used a lot, there are many other editors you can use (nano is also used by many). And editors are not distro specific. A distro chooses one to make sure you have one to start with, but you can change the editor you use if you want to do so.

Hope this clears things up a bit.
 
Old 09-16-2011, 11:02 AM   #21
Yuhan
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Hmm. So the shell itself cannot create or edit files?
 
Old 09-16-2011, 11:18 AM   #22
druuna
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Hi,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yuhan View Post
Hmm. So the shell itself cannot create or edit files?
The shell itself cannot do anything by itself. It is a special program that allows you to interact with it by entering certain commands from the keyboard; the shell will execute the commands and display its output on the monitor.

Have a look here: Tutorial: The Shell

Using the shell (or command line), you don't need an editor like vi or emacs to create files, there are other ways.

Hope this helps.
 
  


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