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Elvis (text editor)

December 15, 2023

Elvis is an enhanced clone of the vi text editor, first released in January 1990. It introduced several new features, including syntax highlighting and built-in support for viewing nroff and HTML documents. Elvis is written by Steve Kirkendall and is distributed under the Clarified Artistic License (ClArtistic) which is used by Perl and is a GPL-compatible free software license.

Elvis
Elvis
Original author(s)Steve Kirkendall
Stable release
2.2 / October 21, 2003; 20 years ago (2003-10-21)
Written inC
PlatformCross-platform,including Unix, Linux and Microsoft Windows
Available inEnglish
TypeText editor
LicenseClArtistic[a][1]
Websiteelvis.the-little-red-haired-girl.org

Elvis is the version of vi that comes with Slackware, Frugalware, and KateOS.

Comments edit

Elvis was the pioneering vi clone, widely admired in the 1990s for its conciseness, and many features.[2][3] It influenced the development of Vim until about 1997.[4][5]

It was the first to provide color syntax highlighting (and to generalize syntax highlighting to multiple file types), first to provide highlighted selections via keyboard.

Elvis's built-in nroff (early) and (later) HTML displays gave it unusual WYSIWYG features.

 
Example of Elvis' hypertext help screen.

Elvis recognizes binary files, as well and provides a split screen for editing them.

 
Example of Elvis' hexadecimal editing mode.

jelvis, a Japanese variant, is available, based on work by Jun-ichiro itojun Hagino up until 1998.[6] His more recent work in this area has been distributed as patches against nvi. A Korean variant helvis is also available, originally by Park Chong-Dae.[7][8] These variants were modifications of elvis 1.8 (July 10, 1994).[9] The nvi editor is based on an older version of elvis 1.5 (April 2, 1992).[10]

History edit

Elvis is an enhanced clone of vi. To understand the full context in which Elvis was created, readers should consider the history of vi. In this section we examine the version history of Elvis almost exclusively.

Steve Kirkendall posted the first version of Elvis to the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.minix in early January, 1990, intending it to be a more complete and faithful clone of Vi than Tim Thompson's Stevie (ST editor for VI enthusiasts), released three years previously.[11][12] Kirkendall outlined several ways in which Elvis was different from Stevie, namely:

  • The text is stored in a temporary file, just like the real vi, and unlike stevie. Because of this, you can edit files that are larger than a single process' data space. Also, you can recover your file after a crash or power failure.
  • Arrow keys work in input mode. In fact, if you invoke the editor via the name "input", then it will start editing in input mode. You can make your changes, and then exit by hitting Control-Z twice, and NEVER go into visual command mode. In other words, elvis can act pretty much like a normal editor -- something that the real vi certainly can't do.
  • Long lines are displayed differently. Where vi and stevie wrap the line onto several rows of the screen, elvis displays it on one row and allows you to scroll sideways.

In addition, in Elvis almost all ex/vi commands worked (except  :@, :abbr, and :preserve in ex mode and @ in visual mode and appending to named buffers).[13]

It quickly attracted considerable interest in a number of enthusiast communities.[14]Andrew Tanenbaum quickly asked the community to decide one of these two editors to be the vi clone in Minix;[15] Elvis was chosen, and remains the vi clone for Minix today.

In 1989, Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz began porting BSD Unix to run on 386 class processors, but to create a free distribution they needed to avoid any AT&T-contaminated code, including Joy's vi. To fill the void left by removing vi, their 1992 386BSD distribution adopted Elvis as its vi replacement. But at UC Berkeley, Keith Bostic wanted a “bug for bug compatible” replacement for Joy's vi for BSD 4.4 Lite. Using Kirkendall's Elvis (version 1.8) as a starting point, Bostic created nvi, releasing it in Spring of 1994.[16]

In August 1994, Kirkendall announced that he was working on a major rewrite of Elvis,[17] and in October 1996, it was ready for release.[18] The new version had a number of new features, including

  • Multiple edit buffers, so you can edit several files at the same time.
  • Multiple windows, so those edit buffers can share screen space.
  • Multiple display modes, including...
    • "normal" which looks like the traditional vi screen
    • "hex" which is good for viewing binary files
    • "syntax" which supports syntax coloring (configurable)
    • "man" which formats Unix man-pages like nroff
    • "html" which formats Web pages
  • Online hypertextual help
  • A variety of user interfaces, including...
    • "termcap" which uses text screens like the traditional vi
    • "x11" which provides a GUI interface for Unix/X Window users
    • Compiling: elvis can parse error messages, and move to source of error
  • WYSIWYG printing, with drivers for most printer types
  • Built-in calculator with a C-like syntax
  • Extreme customizability
  • "Open" mode, for one-line-at-a-time editing even on very dumb terminals

In December 1998, Kirkendall released Elvis 2.1,[19] with added features, including name completion, via the <Tab> key, network protocols (allowing can reading/writing via Web URLs), and a "tex" display mode. Kirkendall maintained the 2.1 release with bugfixes and minor enhancements as 2.1_1, 2.1_2, 2.1_3, and culminating in 2.1_4, released in October 1999.[20]

In October 2003, four years after the previous release, Kirkendall released Elvis 2.2,[21] which added a number of new features, including a built-in context-sensitive spell checker, text folding, region highlighting, and user-definable URL protocols. In addition, it adopted a number of ideas from Vim.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Clarified Artistic License

References edit

  1. ^ "Clarified Artistic License". spdx.org.
  2. ^ . Newsgroup: comp.editors. August 13, 1992. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
  3. ^ . 1994-09-21. Archived from the original on 2008-05-20. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  4. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-05-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  5. ^ "Wishlist for vim 6.0". 1998. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  6. ^ Jun-ichiro Hagino; Yoshitaka Tokugawa (June 6–11, 1999). "Multilingual vi Clones: Past, Now and the Future". 1999 USENIX Annual Technical Conference. USENIX.
  7. ^ "FreshPorts description of helvis".
  8. ^ "README file for helvis".
  9. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  10. ^ Thomas E. Dickey (January 23, 2007). "how to draw a line in vi at 80 columns". Newsgroup: comp.unix.programmer.
  11. ^ Thompson, Tim (2000-03-26). "Stevie". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  12. ^ Tim Thompson (1987-06-28). "A mini-vi for the ST". Newsgroup: comp.sys.atari.st. Usenet: 129@glimmer.UUCP. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  13. ^ Steve Kirkendall (1990-04-20). "A new clone of vi is coming soon: ELVIS". Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 2719@psueea.UUCP. Retrieved 2010-12-29. (discusses January comp.os.minix posting, and design goals)
  14. ^ Usenet, various newsgroups (comp.editors, comp.sys.*, comp.os.*), 1990
  15. ^ Andrew S. Tanenbaum (1990-01-18). "Elvis vs. stevie". Newsgroup: comp.os.minix. Usenet: 5133@ast.cs.vu.nl. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  16. ^ Robbins, Arnold; Hannah, Elbert; Lamb, Linda (2008). "Chapter 16: nvi: New vi". Learning the vi and vim editors (7th ed.). O'Reilly Media, Inc. pp. 307–308. ISBN 978-0-596-52983-3. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  17. ^ Steve Kirkendall (1994-09-07). "Elvis 2.0 is not released, but..." Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 324d04$9vh@rigel.cs.pdx.edu. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  18. ^ Steve Kirkendall (1996-10-02). "Second Coming of Elvis (elvis 2.0 released)". Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 52updt$qhj@rigel.cs.pdx.edu. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  19. ^ Steve Kirkendall (1998-12-09). "It's official: Elvis 2.1 is hereby released". Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 74n8au$2hh$1@sirius.cs.pdx.edu. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  20. ^ Steve Kirkendall (1999-10-22). "Elvis 2.1_4 is now available". Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 7uq0ib$lfc$1@sirius.cs.pdx.edu. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  21. ^ Steve Kirkendall (2003-10-20). "Elvis 2.2 is now officially released". Newsgroup: comp.editors. Usenet: 3f949d6b@nntp0.pdx.net. Retrieved 2010-12-31.

External links edit

December 15, 2023
elvis, text, editor, elvis, enhanced, clone, text, editor, first, released, january, 1990, introduced, several, features, including, syntax, highlighting, built, support, viewing, nroff, html, documents, elvis, written, steve, kirkendall, distributed, under, c. Elvis is an enhanced clone of the vi text editor first released in January 1990 It introduced several new features including syntax highlighting and built in support for viewing nroff and HTML documents Elvis is written by Steve Kirkendall and is distributed under the Clarified Artistic License ClArtistic which is used by Perl and is a GPL compatible free software license ElvisElvisOriginal author s Steve KirkendallStable release2 2 October 21 2003 20 years ago 2003 10 21 Written inCPlatformCross platform including Unix Linux and Microsoft WindowsAvailable inEnglishTypeText editorLicenseClArtistic a 1 Websiteelvis wbr the little red haired girl wbr orgElvis is the version of vi that comes with Slackware Frugalware and KateOS Contents 1 Comments 2 History 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksComments editElvis was the pioneering vi clone widely admired in the 1990s for its conciseness and many features 2 3 It influenced the development of Vim until about 1997 4 5 It was the first to provide color syntax highlighting and to generalize syntax highlighting to multiple file types first to provide highlighted selections via keyboard Elvis s built in nroff early and later HTML displays gave it unusual WYSIWYG features nbsp Example of Elvis hypertext help screen Elvis recognizes binary files as well and provides a split screen for editing them nbsp Example of Elvis hexadecimal editing mode jelvis a Japanese variant is available based on work by Jun ichiro itojun Hagino up until 1998 6 His more recent work in this area has been distributed as patches against nvi A Korean variant helvis is also available originally by Park Chong Dae 7 8 These variants were modifications of elvis 1 8 July 10 1994 9 The nvi editor is based on an older version of elvis 1 5 April 2 1992 10 History editElvis is an enhanced clone of vi To understand the full context in which Elvis was created readers should consider the history of vi In this section we examine the version history of Elvis almost exclusively Steve Kirkendall posted the first version of Elvis to the Usenet newsgroup comp os minix in early January 1990 intending it to be a more complete and faithful clone of Vi than Tim Thompson s Stevie ST editor for VI enthusiasts released three years previously 11 12 Kirkendall outlined several ways in which Elvis was different from Stevie namely The text is stored in a temporary file just like the real vi and unlike stevie Because of this you can edit files that are larger than a single process data space Also you can recover your file after a crash or power failure Arrow keys work in input mode In fact if you invoke the editor via the name input then it will start editing in input mode You can make your changes and then exit by hitting Control Z twice and NEVER go into visual command mode In other words elvis can act pretty much like a normal editor something that the real vi certainly can t do Long lines are displayed differently Where vi and stevie wrap the line onto several rows of the screen elvis displays it on one row and allows you to scroll sideways In addition in Elvis almost all ex vi commands worked except abbr and preserve in ex mode and in visual mode and appending to named buffers 13 It quickly attracted considerable interest in a number of enthusiast communities 14 Andrew Tanenbaum quickly asked the community to decide one of these two editors to be the vi clone in Minix 15 Elvis was chosen and remains the vi clone for Minix today In 1989 Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz began porting BSD Unix to run on 386 class processors but to create a free distribution they needed to avoid any AT amp T contaminated code including Joy s vi To fill the void left by removing vi their 1992 386BSD distribution adopted Elvis as its vi replacement But at UC Berkeley Keith Bostic wanted a bug for bug compatible replacement for Joy s vi for BSD 4 4 Lite Using Kirkendall s Elvis version 1 8 as a starting point Bostic created nvi releasing it in Spring of 1994 16 In August 1994 Kirkendall announced that he was working on a major rewrite of Elvis 17 and in October 1996 it was ready for release 18 The new version had a number of new features including Multiple edit buffers so you can edit several files at the same time Multiple windows so those edit buffers can share screen space Multiple display modes including normal which looks like the traditional vi screen hex which is good for viewing binary files syntax which supports syntax coloring configurable man which formats Unix man pages like nroff html which formats Web pages Online hypertextual help A variety of user interfaces including termcap which uses text screens like the traditional vi x11 which provides a GUI interface for Unix X Window users Compiling elvis can parse error messages and move to source of error WYSIWYG printing with drivers for most printer types Built in calculator with a C like syntax Extreme customizability Open mode for one line at a time editing even on very dumb terminalsIn December 1998 Kirkendall released Elvis 2 1 19 with added features including name completion via the lt Tab gt key network protocols allowing can reading writing via Web URLs and a tex display mode Kirkendall maintained the 2 1 release with bugfixes and minor enhancements as 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 3 and culminating in 2 1 4 released in October 1999 20 In October 2003 four years after the previous release Kirkendall released Elvis 2 2 21 which added a number of new features including a built in context sensitive spell checker text folding region highlighting and user definable URL protocols In addition it adopted a number of ideas from Vim Notes edit Clarified Artistic LicenseReferences edit Clarified Artistic License spdx org editor faq Editor List Newsgroup comp editors August 13 1992 Archived from the original on 2007 09 27 Editors available on central UNIX platforms 1994 09 21 Archived from the original on 2008 05 20 Retrieved 2008 02 07 VIM Wishlist Archived from the original on 2008 05 20 Retrieved 2008 05 22 Wishlist for vim 6 0 1998 Retrieved 2008 05 22 Jun ichiro Hagino Yoshitaka Tokugawa June 6 11 1999 Multilingual vi Clones Past Now and the Future 1999 USENIX Annual Technical Conference USENIX FreshPorts description of helvis README file for helvis A clone of vi ex the standard UNIX editor with Japanese patch Archived from the original on 2007 10 07 Retrieved 2007 09 03 Thomas E Dickey January 23 2007 how to draw a line in vi at 80 columns Newsgroup comp unix programmer Thompson Tim 2000 03 26 Stevie Retrieved 2010 12 29 Tim Thompson 1987 06 28 A mini vi for the ST Newsgroup comp sys atari st Usenet 129 glimmer UUCP Retrieved 2010 12 29 Steve Kirkendall 1990 04 20 A new clone of vi is coming soon ELVIS Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 2719 psueea UUCP Retrieved 2010 12 29 discusses January comp os minix posting and design goals Usenet various newsgroups comp editors comp sys comp os 1990 Andrew S Tanenbaum 1990 01 18 Elvis vs stevie Newsgroup comp os minix Usenet 5133 ast cs vu nl Retrieved 2010 12 29 Robbins Arnold Hannah Elbert Lamb Linda 2008 Chapter 16 nvi New vi Learning the vi and vim editors 7th ed O Reilly Media Inc pp 307 308 ISBN 978 0 596 52983 3 Retrieved 2010 12 29 Steve Kirkendall 1994 09 07 Elvis 2 0 is not released but Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 324d04 9vh rigel cs pdx edu Retrieved 2010 12 31 Steve Kirkendall 1996 10 02 Second Coming of Elvis elvis 2 0 released Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 52updt qhj rigel cs pdx edu Retrieved 2010 12 31 Steve Kirkendall 1998 12 09 It s official Elvis 2 1 is hereby released Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 74n8au 2hh 1 sirius cs pdx edu Retrieved 2010 12 31 Steve Kirkendall 1999 10 22 Elvis 2 1 4 is now available Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 7uq0ib lfc 1 sirius cs pdx edu Retrieved 2010 12 31 Steve Kirkendall 2003 10 20 Elvis 2 2 is now officially released Newsgroup comp editors Usenet 3f949d6b nntp0 pdx net Retrieved 2010 12 31 External links edit nbsp Free and open source software portalElvis homepage Unofficial Elvis on GitHub Elvis said to run on MINIX Comment on vi compatibility at the Wayback Machine archived May 19 2008 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Elvis text editor amp oldid 1188876275, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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