Re: stupid question on vi

[RVP <rvp%SDF.ORG@localhost>]

On Mon, 24 Feb 2025, Greg A. Woods wrote:

> Versions other than the one in NetBSD really aren't relevant here.  :-)

Fair enough.

> "imply"?  I would say it's pretty explicit.  The word "text" (when not
> appearing before the word "editor") in the manual page usually refers to
> "document text", though there are exceptions, such as "/text"
> (i.e. search text).

Right, but, it isn't mentioned anywhere that the stuff after <Ctrl-X> is
subject to modification based on locale, or any of the `set *encoding' settings.

And, so, for example, in UTF-8 mode, you can't actually insert a literal \xff
into the document. You have to force a "C" or other single-byte locale to do
that. Hence, "poorly documented".

> I wouldn't expect any such thing given what the documentation says
> ("available in text input mode", implying _not_ available in command
> mode, though clearly some of the others do work in command mode), so if
> it works, well, that'd be nice.

It does work at the `:' prompt too, actually. :)

> I am still puzzled by the lack of mention in the built-in cheat-sheet.

I think the documentation reflects the state of nvi-1.79...

-RVP