Wasn\'t there another built-in editor (less powerful than vi, but easier)? Is \"emacs\" an editor... or something like that? I\'m trying to think back 10 years to my Unix days.
Emacs usually isn\'t considered \'built-in\', but yes it\'s an common editor.
Most people, I think, consider it more compex than vi.
Perhaps you are thinking of pico or nano.
Pico came as part of the pine mail client and was geared to people
who didn\'t want to learn vi or emacs. Nano is a replacement for pico
with a GPL license.
So much hassle just to add a single line to a text file. I think this is one of the reasons most people are turned off to Linux.
But... I\'m willing to put in the time (if you can give me the patience) to learn this powerful sophisticated, and yet unintuitive, OS.
Hrmph.
The thing that trips up people new to vi is that it was two modes.
A command mode and an insert mode.
To get back to command mode, press ESC -- press several times and it will beep at you \"reassuringly\".
some basic commands:
h,j,k,l basic movements left, down, up, right
0 (zero) move to beginning of the line
$ move to the end of the line
b, w move forward/backword a word
G move to the end of the buffer
[number]G move the line number, e.g. 1G
i enter insert mode at the cursor
a enter insert mode after the cursor
d* \'d\' followed by a movement specification deletes stuff
dd delete current line
dj delete line
d4j delete 4 lines down
x delete character(s)
5x delete 5 characters
c change characters(s) (switched to insert mode)
c$ change text from the cursor to the end of the line
cw change word forward
ZZ save and exit (that\'s capital z)
:q quit the current file (usually asks about saving changed buffers)
:q! quit the current file and don\'t save (i.e. abort changes)
:w write the current file
:w! write forcibily ( for files you own, but have set non-writable)
:w filename write to a new file
. (period) repeat last command
o,O (letter oh) insert line before/after the current line
/ search for matching regex
e.g. "/ogg[Enter]"
n,N go to next/previous matching regex of last search
There\'s SOOOO much more, but these are enough to just
get something done.
Good luck.