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toncho11 edited this page Jan 1, 2026 · 11 revisions

List of editors

Source code for editors is in: /elkscmd/misc_utils

Edit

Fastest editor in ELKS is the command edit. Use "CTRL+X" when done. It will ask you if you want to save the changes. edit is based on the MinEd editor from Minix: elkscmd/misc_utils. Below you can find a complete list of commands in edit/mined.

vi

The vi in ELKS is actually a port of [Elvis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(text_editor) - an enhanced clone of vi or levee (another clone)

Other

Versions of nano and kilo are also ported to ELKS, but they consume a lot of memory and are slow.

A complete list of commands for edit/mined:

Cursor Motion

Key Description
Arrow keys Move the cursor in the indicated direction
Ctrl + A Move cursor to start of current line
Ctrl + Z Move cursor to end of current line
Ctrl + ^ Move cursor to top of screen
Ctrl + _ Move cursor to end of screen
Ctrl + F Move cursor forward to start of next word
Ctrl + B Move cursor backward to start of previous word

Screen Motion

Key Description
Home Move to first character of the file
End Move to last character of the file
Page Up Scroll window up 23 lines
Page Down Scroll window down 23 lines
Ctrl + U Scroll window up 1 line
Ctrl + D Scroll window down 1 line

Modifying Text

Key Description
Delete Delete the character under the cursor
Backspace Delete the character to the left of the cursor
Ctrl + N Delete the next word
Ctrl + P Delete the previous word
Ctrl + T Delete from cursor to end of line
Ctrl + O Open up the line (insert line feed and back up)
Ctrl + G Get and insert a file at the cursor position

Buffer Operations

Key Description
Ctrl + @ Set mark at current position
Ctrl + C Copy text between mark and cursor into buffer
Ctrl + K Delete text between mark and cursor and copy to buffer
Ctrl + Y Yank (insert) buffer contents at cursor
Ctrl + Q Write contents of buffer to a file

Search and Miscellaneous

Key Description
Numeric + Search forward (regular expression)
Numeric - Search backward (regular expression)
Numeric 5 Display file status
Ctrl + ] Go to specific line
Ctrl + R Global replace (from cursor to end of file)
Ctrl + L Replace on current line
Ctrl + W Write edited file to disk
Ctrl + X Exit the editor
Ctrl + S Fork a shell (Ctrl + D to return)
Ctrl + \ Abort current command
Ctrl + E Erase screen and redraw
Ctrl + V Visit (edit) a new file

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