I sometimes have to edit files in Linux and I HATE using vi, is there a non gui, non xwindows editor like Dos edit available for Linux? No special requirements, just something where I don't have to remember to press I for insert or cw for change word...

I use pico mostly. I also can't stand vi. Probably only because I don't use it enough to get used to it.

Thanks very much Rob, like you it's only occasionally that I have to edit a file and to be frank I find vi scary

Looks easier than vi, but the cursor keys seem to delete text if I scroll backwards (like backspace) is that just the way it is?

The back arrow isn't deleting text for me and never has. I am not sure what setting (if any) would cause that. Are you sure text is going away?

I'm having term type problems that are doing weird things to my screen too, I'd better get those figured before I start on pico. Thanks for your help though.

If pico is not on the machine, nano (a clone of pico) or joe might be. Both are easier to use.

However, still try to learn vi to the point of usability, in case none are available.

I remember the following for vi:

Arrow keys navigate
i changes to insert mode to type where the cursor is
Esc backs out of the insert mode
x when not in insert mode deletes the character under the cursor
dd deletes a line
:w writes the file to disk, :q quits, :q! quits without saving

Actually, some versions of vi simply don't support the arrows, period. I'll give you that it's been a while since I've seen one, but I learned it the hard way.

Also, adding a few extra characters isn't really as bad as the things that the arrow escape sequences can do.

Heh - it took me years of using VIle before I found out that I could use $ to go to the end of the line rather than A<esc>...

I notice no-one has suggested emacs. That's probably because it's even more arcane and brain-draining than vi.

Most people are probably using vim as a replacement for vi now. Vim does all sorts of things, like allowing you to move around while in insert mode and syntax highlighting, that are pretty nifty. If you're not using vim and you've used vi a bit, then this may be a good thing to try.

Otherwise, I just use nedit. Even if I have to use ssh -X.

Have fun,

Paul

Emacs: combining all the power of EDLIN with all the ease-of-use of EDLIN.

I really like Joe, it has the old Wordstar keybindings (Ctrl-K-B to start a block, Ctrl-K-K to end a block, Ctrk-K-C to copy the block, Ctrl-K-H for help on the other keybindings etc).

I tend to only edit files on Linux once or twice a week, so I need an easy to use editor that doesn't need to have too many bells and whistles. Joe meets my needs in ways vi and emacs can't...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/joe-editor/

There seems to be a total lack of screenshots of Joe on the web, so here are a few to give you a flavour.

Selecting a block:


Running a search and replace:


Showing the help:

Maybe you should try Ed...

ED WILL NOT CORRUPT YOUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS!!

Well that's allright then

Do you know whether the application uses (n)curses library or something of its own? Also, curses package has two terminal capability databases: termcap (older) and terminfo (newer). Perhaps something is wrong with that part of setup.

Another thing: IIRC, the default codes wyse60 arrow keys generate are very badly chosen: down-arrow sends linefeed, left-arrow backspace etc. When I was working with physical wy60 terminals I was always remapping them to some ESC sequences (but then I had to tweek all terminal capability descriptions)

I would suggest that you first swithc your terminal emulator to something else (e.g. vt100, if you don't need function keys), and set TERM env variable accordingly. Then, using octal dump (od) command verify that arrow keys produce ANSI escape sequences (or whatever is expected of the terminal emulated by your amulator). Finally, use infocmp to verify that terminal capability database contains correct definitions.

Or, if you want to avoid learning much more about Unix 'TUI' handling than you ever wanted to know, switch to something with WS-like navigation, as suggested (but there things also can go wrong, from similar reasons: editor has to know how to repaint the screen etc).

Thanks for that Bonzi

I think I'll wait till somebody in support's free to sort it out for me. Call me stupid but Dos 5.0 was my favourite OS.

Glad you resisted the temptation to call me stupid