What Does Vi Stand For? - Command Line - Ask Ubuntu

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Learn more about Teams What does Vi stand for? Ask Question Asked 10 years, 8 months ago Modified 5 years, 1 month ago Viewed 34k times 25

I was just wondering what "Vi" means in Linux (the command used for editing files)?

• command-line
• vi

Share Improve this question Follow edited Sep 14, 2015 at 14:40 Sylvain Pineau 62.7k1919 gold badges155155 silver badges185185 bronze badges asked Mar 30, 2014 at 11:35 Umair AyubUmair Ayub 1,06055 gold badges1717 silver badges3838 bronze badges 6

• 1 It's not an acronym and it shouldn't be capitalized. – david25272 Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 1:06
• 9 Seems like a simple search on Wikipedia would've answered this one? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi – slm Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 2:48
• @slm u r right though – Umair Ayub Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 7:57
• Vi = VIrtual VIM = VIrtual IMproved – Umair Ayub Commented Apr 1, 2014 at 6:31
• 2 No, visual not virtual. And vim is "Vi improved", not virtual improved. – Jonathan Wakely Commented Apr 1, 2014 at 10:54

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4 Answers 4

Sorted by: Reset to default Highest score (default) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 59

Wikipedia has a concise and properly cited explanation:

The name vi is derived from the shortest unambiguous abbreviation for the command visual in ex; the command in question switches the line editor ex to visual mode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi

Note that this does not mean that the full name of the text editor "vi" is still "visual" or, even, that "vi" currently stands for "visual" - the name of the editor is just "vi". The above quote just explains how the name originally came into being.

As Ben Voigt helpfully points out, the people (and websites) claiming that it stands for "Visual Instrument" are confusing it with another product unrelated to the text editor.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Oct 10, 2019 at 23:59 answered Mar 30, 2014 at 15:17 thomasrutterthomasrutter 37.3k1010 gold badges8989 silver badges111111 bronze badges 2

• 10 The association of VI = Visual Instrument comes from LabVIEW, which has an editor for visual instruments and therefore matches searches for "VI editor". There is no connection between the Linux text editor "vi" and the acronym Visual Instrument. +1 – Ben Voigt Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 19:35
• 3 In case anyone wonders why a program would be named after a command in another, remember that programs under Unix can be installed under multiple names, and change their behaviour appropriately. Thus invoking ex with the name vi would start it in visual mode. vim can be started in many modes this way, including ex, exim ("ex improved"), view (read-only), rvim (restricted), evim (easy), vimdiff (compare two files) etc – IMSoP Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 17:00

Add a comment | 23

Vi is a screen editor for Linux, Unix and other Unix-like operating systems. Pronounced (vee-aye). Stands for VIsual.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi and http://www.techopedia.com/definition/10347/vi

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Mar 31, 2014 at 6:32 answered Mar 30, 2014 at 11:39 Sylvain PineauSylvain Pineau 62.7k1919 gold badges155155 silver badges185185 bronze badges 16

• 13 VI improved, just that – Sylvain Pineau Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 11:40
• 3 It should probably be noted that while it is excellent (once you know how to use it), vi/vim takes some effort to learn. It can be overwhelming the first time you have to use it; if you're not editing plain text files regularly, it's probably better to use (in the terminal) nano or (in the GUI) gedit (which lack the advanced features, flexibility and efficiency of vim, but are much more new-user-friendly). – evilsoup Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 13:01
• 17 VI = Visual Instrument in the context of National Instruments' LabVIEW programming environment. Not the Linux text editor. This answer erroneously suggests a relationship between the two. – Ben Voigt Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 19:36
• 4 I also disagree with the second half of this answer, as I've always pronounced it "vie". – IMSoP Commented Mar 30, 2014 at 23:44
• 2 I just say "vim" - nobody really uses the original vi anyway - they may type "vi" but it'll most likely actually be vim, nvi or Busybox. Or in some cases Elvis. – thomasrutter Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 1:25

| Show 11 more comments 19

If one goes back and looks at an old man page for vi, such as the one for SunOS 5.10 from '07:

SunOS 5.10 Last change: 16 May 2007 1 User Commands vi(1) The vi (visual) utility is a display-oriented text editor based on an underlying line editor ex. It is possible to use the command mode of ex from within vi and to use the command mode of vi from within ex. The visual commands are described on this manual page; how to set options (like automatically numbering lines and automatically starting a new output line when you type carriage return) and all ex line editor com- mands are described on the ex(1) manual page.

Or from Ultrix (latest release '95):

Name vi - screen editor Syntax vi [ -t tag ] [ +command ] [ -l ] [ -r ] [ -wn ] [ -x ] name... Description The (visual) editor is a display-oriented text editor based on The com mand and the command run the same code. You can access the command mode of from within

And thus you have it: vi is from vi‍sual. This matches the pattern its ancestor editors: ex is the ex‍tended editor and ed is an ed‍itor.

There is no indication that this stands for anything else. Maybe V‍isual I‍nterface (what I learned it as back long ago), but there is no documentation that it stands for anything other than vi‍sual.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Mar 31, 2014 at 1:50 user153310user153310 Add a comment | -1

Vi just stands for Visual, as in Visual Editor. Vim stands for Visual Improved, as in Visual Editor Improved.wikibooks

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Mar 31, 2014 at 0:04 ChrisR.ChrisR. 52744 silver badges77 bronze badges 7

• 1 Vim stands for Vi IMproved proved really, with the "V" from "VI" and the "IM" from "IMPROVED". – thomasrutter Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 0:27
• I said that and gave an example of usage. – ChrisR. Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 0:28
• Your answer says it stands for "visual improved". What I'm trying to say is it stands for "vi improved", not "visual improved". The "v" is from "vi". – thomasrutter Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 0:46
• 1 Vi, which stands for Visual (according to the link and the old man page according the MichaelT) and IM, which stands for Improved. If the abbreviation stands for Vi Improved, then the Vi in that would still be Visual. – ChrisR. Commented Mar 31, 2014 at 3:56
• 1 Vim certainly does not stand for Visual Improved. Expanding acronyms multiple times is not valid—far less something that isn't even an acronym. Also, incidentally: quoting the Vim manual: "VIM stands for Vi IMproved." – Chris Morgan Commented Apr 1, 2014 at 4:51

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