Re: Vi mode and g commands

[Greg Wooledge]

On Mon, Jun 08, 2020 at 02:28:05AM +0100, Dan Shearer wrote:
> Some g commands are implemented, but incorrectly. Examples:
> * g0 is equivalent to 0, rather than 'beginning of screen line when wrapped'
> * g$ is equivalent to $, rather than 'end of screen line when wrapped'
> 
> Other g commands are not implemented, just ignored. Examples:
> * gM is ignored, rather than going to the middle of the line
> * gE is ignored, rather than going to the end of the last word

Those are not standard vi commands, as far as I can tell.  They appear
to be vim extensions.

I opened /usr/bin/vi on HP-UX 11i and typed a line that was longer than
my terminal's width, and then tried these commands.  They do not do what
you describe.

In real vi, in an 80-wide terminal, with a single line of 120 or so
characters, and the cursor at position 40, g$ acts just like $.

With the cursor now at the end of the line, g0 acts just like 0.

gE acts just like E (moves to the end of the current word).

gM acts just like M (moves to the start of the middle line, which happens
to be the first line, because there's only one line).

I see no evidence that 'g' is even a meaningful keystroke in real vi.
Maybe that's why vim chose it as the prefix for so many of their
extension commands.