using vim objects in bash

16 Nov 2014

I’ve been using vi-mode in bash for a couple of years now, more than once I’ve tried to edit something with ci”, ca(, or any other popular vim object.

This week decided to go further and see how to do it, and it turned out to be possible =), so if you’ve missed this feature too you can now enjoy it by following this procedure

Setup

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:minos-archive/main #only Ubuntu LTS releases
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bash-minos-settings
$ echo 'set -o vi' >> ~/.bashrc

If you’re not interested in installing the whole enchilada or aren’t running an apt-get powered OS, you can get the raw inputrc file at:

https://github.com/minos-org/bash-minos-settings/blob/master/etc.inputrc

In the later case, the inputrc file should be placed at ~/.inputr or /etc/inputrc

Happy editing 😋

Javier López