(how to start an editor war)
My favorite is vi
and my 2 favorite vi .exrc features use the little known commands: adjust and spell
map #3 !}exec adjust -m72^M
map S G:w!^M:r!spell %^M
The first is a shorthand for trapping function keys, in this case f3. So when I put the cursor somewhere on the first line of a paragraph and press f3, the paragraph is reformatted to fit into 72 columns. (I have other keys for 60 columns and 80 columns). The adjust command is a powerful tool for formatting text files. You can simulate the HP function keys by typing the 2-letter sequence: f1 = ESC p f2 = ESC q and f3 = ESC r and so on.
The second comes right out of the "Ultimate Guide to VI" book (from HP) and will spellcheck your file, appending all the unknown words at the bottom of your file. Since there is no S command in vi, I defined it as the spell checker.
Another favorite is option is ai (as in :set ai) which eliminates having to space over when writing code so that sections are indented and aligned automatically.
The incantation: UNIX95= ps
is a favorite. There are a LOT of options most people don't know about in the ps man page, and some of the best require the UNIX95= setting. Ever seen this:
# ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep myprogram
Most of us learned this in Unix 101. It searches every line in ps -ef for the string myprogram and the grep -v grep gets rid of the grep that you are running. What if you need to search for grep?
So here's a great one to replace it:
# UNIX95= ps -f -C myprogram
See? No grep required! And what if you are looking for a program called root--grep doesn't care where the string is located. Here is another example:
# UNIX95= ps -f -C sh
Need to see all thre related parent/child relationships:
# UNIX95= ps -efH | more
And the favorite for solving memory problems:
# UNIX95= ps -e -o vsz,ruser,pid,args | sort -rn | more
Bill Hassell, sysadmin
