Elvis

Elvis is a cool clone of the vi/ex editor that many UNIX users know. It supports almost all the commands you'd find in vi/ex, and it works in both visual mode and ex mode. What's really neat about Elvis is that it lets you work with multiple files at once, offers online help, and even has multiple windows open at the same time. Plus, there are various display modes to choose from!

Key Features of Elvis

Just like vi/ex, Elvis keeps most of your text in a temporary file instead of using up RAM. This means you can edit larger files that wouldn't fit into one process' data space. And if your power goes out or your computer crashes? No worries! The edit buffer will survive that too.

More Than Just vi/ex

The early versions of Elvis were made for Unix systems, but now it runs on lots of different operating systems! It's free to use, and you can even get the source code if you're interested. Plus, there are tons of new features compared to traditional vi.

User-Friendly Interface

The user interface might seem a bit odd at first. There are two main command modes in Elvis along with a few text input modes. You can easily switch between these modes with specific commands.

Visual Command Mode

You'll probably spend most of your time in visual command mode since that's how Elvis starts up. In this mode, your screen fills up with lines from your file, and every keystroke counts as part of a visual command. If you want to insert text, you have to start by giving an "insert text" command like 'i.' It might take some practice!

The Ex Mode

The ex mode looks different; it shows a ':' prompt at the bottom line where you can type in commands and hit Enter. The commands here are not the same as those in visual mode.

Additional Features You'll Love

• Multiple edit buffers for editing several files at once.


• Multiple windows for viewing different parts or files simultaneously.


• User-friendly graphical interfaces under Windows95/98/NT and X11.


• Syntax coloring and HTML display modes.


• Online help with handy hypertext links.


• Enhanced tags for C++ support.


• Network support for loading/saving via FTP or using it as a lightweight web browser.


• Create aliases for new ex commands.


• A built-in calculator!


• Syntax highlighting for easier reading.

You can even explore browse modes designed for LaTeX (which is still experimental), HTML, and MAN pages!

If you're curious to try out Elvis, check it out!