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VILE(1) 			  User commands 			 VILE(1)

NAME
     vile, xvile, uxvile, lxvile - VI Like Emacs

SYNOPSIS
     vile  [@cmdfile]  [+command]  [-FhIiRVv]  [-gNNN]	[-kcryptkey] [-spattern]
     [-ttag] [filename]...

DESCRIPTION
     vile is a text editor.  This man page is fairly  terse.   More  information
     can  be obtained from the internal help, available with the -h option or by
     using the ":help" command from within vile.

     xvile is the same text editor, built  as  an  X-windows  application,  with
     fully integrated mouse support, scrollbars, etc.

     uxvile  is a wrapper around xvile which invokes the latter program with the
     correct locale environment required to use a unicode character set and  the
     "UXVile" X resource class set.

     lxvile  is  a  wrapper around xvile which invokes the latter program with a
     font chosen to match the current locale environment.

SPIRIT
     vile retains the "finger-feel" if you will, of vi, while adding the  multi-
     ple  buffer and multiple window features of emacs and other editors.  It is
     definitely not a vi clone, in that some substantial stuff is  missing,  and
     the  screen  doesn't look quite the same.	The things that you tend to type
     over and over probably work.  Things done less frequently, like configuring
     a startup file, are somewhat (or very, depending on how ambitious you  are)
     different.   But  what  matters most is that one's "muscle memory" does the
     right thing to the text in front of you, and that is what vile tries to  do
     for vi users.

OPTIONS
     Vile  accumulates	most  options  into two temporary buffers [vileinit] and
     [vileopts].  The former is executed before reading the first  file  into  a
     buffer.  The latter is executed after reading the first file into a buffer.
     Each is removed after executing (unless an error is detected).

   COMMON OPTIONS
     -ccommand
	    vile  will	begin  the  session on the first file invoking the given
	    command.  Legal commands include many ex-style  commands,  vile-com-
	    mands, etc., subject to shell quoting.  This option is used most of-
	    ten with a line number or search pattern.  For example

	       vile -c123 filename
	       vile -c/pattern filename

	    They correspond to ex-style commands on the given file:

	       :123
	       :/pattern

	    These are more verbose equivalents:

	       vile -c'123 goto-line' filename
	       vile -c'search-forward /pattern/' filename

	    You can use more than one command, e.g.,

	       vile -c'123' -c'10*goto-col' filename

	    to	put  the  cursor on column 10 of line 123.  The "*"(or ":" sepa-
	    rates the repeat count (used by goto-col) from the line-  or  range-
	    specification used by line-oriented commands.

     @cmdfile
	    vile  will	run the specified file as its startup file, and will by-
	    pass any normal startup file (i.e.	.vilerc) or environment variable
	    (i.e.  $VILEINIT).	This is added to [vileinit].

     -D     tells vile to trace the results of macro execution into  the  hidden
	    buffer "[Trace]".

     -e | -EInvokes  vile in "noview" mode - changes are permitted to any buffer
	    while in this mode (see "-v".

     -F     will run the syntax filter that applies to each filename on the com-
	    mand-line, and write the attributed text to the standard output.

     -h     Invokes vile on the helpfile.  See "-?" for a short usage message.

     -i | -ITells vile to use vileinit.rc (which is installed) as  the	initial-
	    ization  file.  If you do not have a .vilerc, vile will make a short
	    one that sources vileinit.rc This is added to [vileinit].

     -k cryptkey | -K cryptkey
	    Specifies an encryption/decryption key.  See below for further  dis-
	    cussion.   This  option applies only locally to the buffers named on
	    the command-line, and is not added to [vileopts], since that is exe-
	    cuted too late.

     -R     Invokes vile in "readonly" mode - no writes are permitted  while  in
	    this  mode.   (This will also be true if vile is invoked as view, or
	    if "readonly" mode is set in the startup file.)

     -s pattern | -S pattern
	    In the first file, vile will execute an initial search for the given
	    pattern.  This is not the same as "-c/pattern" since that  positions
	    the  cursor to the line matching the pattern.  This option positions
	    the cursor within the line.

     -t tag
	    vile will edit the correct file and move the cursor to the	location
	    of the tag.  This requires a tagsfile created with the ctags(1) com-
	    mand.   The option -T is equivalent, and can be used when X11 option
	    parsing eats the -t.

     -U     overrides the $system-crlf variable, making new buffers start in dos
	    mode.

     -u     overrides the $system-crlf variable, making new buffers start in no-
	    dos mode.

     -v     Invokes vile in "view" mode - no changes are permitted to any buffer
	    while in this mode (see "-e".

     -V     vile will report its version number.

     -?     If an option is not recognized (or the special option "?" is given),
	    vile prints a short usage message.	Normally that  is  sent  to  the
	    standard  output.	The  GUI  winvile displays this information in a
	    window.

   SCREENSIZE OPTIONS
     Screensize can be set from the command line for certain configurations:

     -25 -43 -50 -60
	    On PC systems you may be able to set the initial  screen  resolution
	    from the command line.

     -80 -132
	    On	VMS systems you may be able to set the initial screen resolution
	    from the command line.  See vile.hlp for details.

   X11 OPTIONS
     xvile-specific command-line options are detailed  in  the	help  file  (see
     "Standard	X  command  line arguments".  The standard ones (e.g., -display,
     -fn, -geometry, -name, etc.) are all supported.

   OBSOLETE OPTIONS
     vile recognizes some options which duplicate the functionality of the POSIX
     "-c" option:

     +command
	    This has the same effect as "-ccommand"

     -g NNN | -G NNN
	    This has the same effect as "-cNNN" vile will begin the  session  on
	    the first file jumping to the given line number NNN.

INVOCATION
     vile  will  edit  the files specified on the command line.  If no files are
     specified, and standard input is not connected to	a  terminal,  then  vile
     will  bring  up  a buffer containing the output of the pipe it is connected
     to, and will re-open /dev/tty for commands.  Files (except for  the  first)
     are  not actually read into buffers until "visited" All buffers are kept in
     memory: machines with not much memory or swap space may have  trouble  with
     this.

STARTUP
     If  the  @cmdfile option is given, then the file given as "cmdfile" will be
     run before any files are loaded.  If no @ option appears, startup	commands
     will  be  taken  from  the user's VILEINIT variable, if it is set, from the
     file .vilerc in the current directory, if it exists, or from $HOME/.vilerc,
     as a last resort.	See the help file for examples of what sorts  of  things
     might go into these command files.

COMMANDS
     Please  refer to the help available within vile for vile-specific commands.
     (That document, however, assumes familiarity with vi.)  Short  descriptions
     of  each  vile  command  may  be obtained with the ":describe-function" and
     ":describe-key" commands.	All commands may be listed with ":show-commands"

     Additional documentation on writing macros  using	the  internal  scripting
     language  can  be	found  in the file macros.doc, distributed with the vile
     source.

RELATED PROGRAMS
   xvile
     vile may also be built and installed as xvile, in which case it behaves  as
     a native X Windows application, with scrollbars, better mouse support, etc.

     The  help	file has more information on this in the section X Window System
     specifics.

   vile-manfilt
     There is a program distributed with the vile source which	is  usually  in-
     stalled  as vile-manfilt.	It may be used in conjunction with vile or xvile
     (with the help of the macros in the file manpage.rc)  to  filter  and  view
     system manual pages.  xvile will even (with your font set properly) display
     certain portions of the manual page text in bold or italics as appropriate.

     See the help file section on Filtering "man" pages for details.

   Syntax filters
     Likewise,	there  are  several  language  filters, e.g., vile-c-filt for C,
     which can embolden, underline, or perform coloring on program source code.

     Again, see the help file section on Syntax Coloring for more information.

UTILITY SCRIPTS
     Vile is not simply an interactive program.  Its macro language and  use  of
     environment variables lets it be useful in scripting.

   vile-libdir-path
     The  syntax  filters  and vile-manfilt may not be installed where you would
     execute them in your PATH.  The vile-libdir-path script looks in the  usual
     places and prints an updated PATH variable which other scripts can use when
     executing these programs.

   vile-pager
     Vile can be used as a pager (typical examples include more and less).  This
     script  uses  vile-manfilt  to  preprocess  a  file which is piped to vile,
     adding markup which vile displays properly.

     Unlike a typical pager, vile-pager  handles  multi-line  color  escape  se-
     quences,  and  multiple levels of overstrikes.  But unlike a typical pager,
     vile-pager expects the pipe to be closed before it starts displaying.

   vile-to-html
     Vile's "-F" option makes it act like a smart interface to the collection of
     syntax filters.  But its output uses vile's  internal  markup  rather  than
     standard  escape sequences.  Vile's utilities include programs which trans-
     late that markup into different formats:

     atr2ansi
	    converts the markup to ANSI escape sequences.

     atr2html
	    converts the markup to HTML (with color).

     atr2text
	    converts the markup to plain text.

     The vile-to-html script uses atr2html to convert a text file into HTML  us-
     ing color.

ENCRYPTION
     The  program vile-crypt can be used to encrypt/decrypt files using the same
     algorithm as microEmac's internal crypt  algorithm.   This  program,  which
     uses public domain code written by Dana Hoggatt, is no longer used in vile,
     though it is provided for compatibility.

     vile  currently uses the crypt(3) function for encryption/decryption, which
     is available on most Unix systems.  This ensures that vile is able to  read
     and  write  files	compatibly with vi (but not vim, which uses an different
     algorithm derived from info-zip).	The editor's  encryption/decryption  key
     can be specified on the command line with "-k key" Text to be encrypted can
     be  specified as filenames on the command line, or provided as the standard
     input.

     On systems with a getpass() library routine, the user will be prompted  for
     the  encryption key if it is not given on the command line.  To accommodate
     systems (such as linux) where the getpass() library routine is  not  inter-
     ruptible  from the keyboard, entering a crypt-key password which ends in ^C
     will cause the program to quit.

     See the help file for more information on vile's  encryption  support,  in-
     cluding  a  discussion  of a collection of macros that interface with GNU's
     gpg package.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     VILEINIT
	    Editor initialization commands in lieu of a startup file.  These are
	    copied into [vileinit], and executed.

     VILE_HELP_FILE
	    Override the name of the help file, normally "vile.hlp".

     VILE_LIBDIR_PATH
	    Augment $PATH when searching for a filter program.

     VILE_STARTUP_FILE
	    Override the name  of  the	startup  file,	normally  ".vilerc"  (or
	    "vile.rc" for non-UNIX systems).

     VILE_STARTUP_PATH
	    Override the search path for the startup and help files.

SEE ALSO
     Your  favorite  vi  document,  the file macros.doc, and the vile help page,
     available with the -h option or as the text file vile.hlp.

DEBTS and CREDITS
     vile was originally built from a copy of microEmacs, so  a  large	debt  of
     gratitude	is  due to the developers of that program.  A lot of people have
     helped with code and bug reports on vile.	Names are named at the bottom of
     the help file.

AUTHORS
     vile was created by Paul Fox, Tom Dickey, and Kevin Buettner.

BUGS
     The "VI Like Emacs" joke isn't really funny.  It only sounds that way.  :-)
     Other  suspicious behavior should be reported via the project mailing list,
     or via the web-based bug reporting system.  Both  of  these  are  available
     here:

     https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/vile

VI-Like-Emacs			   2023-07-02				 VILE(1)

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