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Aucb.373 fa.editor-p utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:editor-people Thu Feb 4 23:15:35 1982 Undo >From LAWS@SRI-AI Thu Feb 4 23:10:53 1982 The VI undo will undo any destructive command, including reads from files. It will not undo a write to a file. Motion commands, including searches, are exempted so that you can examine the file before deciding to undo.

An undo may also be undone, so that you may toggle between two states. Deleted text is shifted down through a numbered series of buffers so that you can recover more ancient text, although this capability is a little difficult to use.

I have been exceedingly happy with this system, and have never felt the need for a more powerful one. Keeping multiple versions of a file around (even at the operating system level) quickly becomes counterproductive. I do write a backup copy every now and then, but that's mostly for protection against crashes.

[To be fair, VI's undo does have an implementation bug: enormous files cannot be handled because of "insufficient undo space." The user is forced to use EX, VI's siamese twin line editor. This has no bearing on your question, however.]

-- Ken Laws -------

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