Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!rad@Mitre-Bedford From: rad@Mitre-Bedford Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: Re: h,j,k,l in vi (and cursor key time-outs) Message-ID: <8684@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Tue, 26-Feb-85 18:42:09 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.8684 Posted: Tue Feb 26 18:42:09 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Mar-85 04:32:28 EST Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Lines: 22 >> But 'vi' *doesn't* force h,j,k,l cursor control on you. >> Every version of it that I have ever seen also supports the *real* >> arrow keys on terminals that have them. Why not use them if you >> don't like the ADM3-a approach. >Because they can be unreliable. On the few occasions when I use "vi" >(heh heh), I've seen it get confused when I use the arrow keys on my >VT100, so I've adjusted to using h/j/k/l. I suspect it may be related >to the fact that "vi" does timeouts on input to distinguish escape sequences >from normal typing (but since I rarely use "vi" I don't really care why >it does it). The timeout problem that you mention is particularly irksome when you're working over a terminal network with the delays that it introduces. To make "vi" quit worrying so much about escape sequences, put "set notimeout" in your ~/.exrc file. I've had this in my .exrc file for some time, and the only "bad" thing that I've noticed about this is that I have to hit escape twice before I can force a visual bell. Dick Dramstad rad@mitre-bedford.arpa