LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] vi editor auto-completion

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vi editor auto-completion

Hi guys!
I am using ex-050325.tar.bz2 (traditional vi editor),
and complie it from source.
I want to accomplish auto-completion in this version of vi editor.
(e.g. by typing "gr<space>", the string "group" emerges on the screen.)
I did this by adding the following line to my ~/.exrc:
------------
ab gr group
------------
The problem is, I have some hundreds of such abbreviations to add.
However, I always get an "ERROR" when the number of lines of .exrc file
reach a certain limit.
Can anybody help me out? New ways of solution are always welcome!

Notice that I also use the command
-------------
so /root/mylist_of_abbreviations
-------------
in the editor to use /root/my...tions as a source read by vi,
and the same problem occurred:
there is a limit of number of lines for the sourced file...

PS: Please do not recommend another editor, though a newbie, I am
quite hard-nose on the traditional vi editor, and there is no reason
for changing only because of this little problem.
(everything perfectly feed my needs except this one)

Would you consider "vim" to be "another editor"? It has all the "vi" facilities and much more facilities for "abbr" and mapping.

Alternatively - if you look at the source file "ex_tune.h" you will see

Code:

/*

 * Size of in-core buffers for temporary file. Since this is

 * sizeof (char) * (INCORB + 1) * BUFSIZ, it should not be too

 * large.

 *

 * If not defined, no in-core buffers are used.

 */

#ifdef  VMUNIX

#if    (BUFSIZ - 0) <= 16384

#define INCORB          (65536/BUFSIZ)

#else  /* Huge-memory systems. */

#define INCORB          4

#endif  /* Huge-memory systems. */

#endif  /* VMUNIX */



/*

 * Except on VMUNIX, these are a ridiculously small due to the

 * lousy arglist processing implementation which fixes core

 * proportional to them.  Argv (and hence NARGS) is really unnecessary,

 * and argument character space not needed except when

 * arguments exist.  Argument lists should be saved before the "zero"

 * of the incore line information and could then

 * be reasonably large.

 */

BUFSIZ is defined as 512 - therefore - (assuming VMUNIX is false) INCORB = 4 seems to be a limiting factor. Perhaps you could try undefining INCORB and see if "no in core buffers are used" will remove the limitations you are experiencing - OR instead of 4 for INCORB - try a factor of 10 bigger?

Dave

davemguru, Thank you very much for your insightful reply!
I think I will try the ex_tune.h method as soon as possible.
Since I am not familiar with computer program languages (only a user of Linux), I have not consider the problem as far as you do...
I will finally post the result for my problem. :-)

davemguru: hi, I tried out the two ways you propose *, but neither of them work.
A little pity. Maybe I shall try vim instead.
(* That is, undefine INCORB by comment out the whole section you posted and compile again, or change the line
-------
#define INCORB 4
-------
to
------
#define INCORB 9
------
and re-compile.)
Anyway, thank you for your time and effort.

Hi, guys.
I finally find a fair solution myself.
After searching on the net a huge time, I learned that the traditional vi editor
has a limitation on the number of key maps in exrc file.
(It is designed to have this limitation!!)
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infoce...ixcmds6/vi.htm

I now switch to the editor nvi (new vi), it is great!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvi
https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi

It retains the heritages of the traditional vi
(elegance, simplicity, ...) and removes the limitations of the traditional vi.
So now I can have hundreds of abbreviations defined in exrc.
I must say that, nvi perhaps is the simplest editor which possesses all the
powerful functions of triditional vi, yet free of the many limitations of it.