Advantages of using set -o vi

Question

I have seen many developers using this command to set the option to vi. I never understood the real use of this?

When using bash commands, what help does switching to vi provide?

Answer 1

By setting your readline editing to either emacs (the default) or vi (set -o vi) you are essentially standardizing your editing commands, across the shell and your editor of choice¹.

Thus, if you want to edit a command in the shell you use the same commands² that you would if you were in your text editor. This means only having to remember one command syntax and (if that were not advantage enough) would probably make your editing in both environments faster and less error prone...

<sup>1. Assuming, of course, that you use Emacs or Vi/m as your editor.
2. Or, more accurately, a subset thereof...</sup>

Answer 2

I'm not sure if there is a direct advantage. I've been a vi user for more than 20 years. I'm also a screen user for even longer, and of other programs that use vi keys. It's natural for me to prefer to set "vi" mode in bash. But I also work on hundreds of servers in my job, most are set to the default "emacs" mode. So I need to use both modes. But it is really just a matter of preference.

Answer 3

The main advantage is modal editing of your command line. If you're familiar with Vim and likes its philosophy the benefits must be obvious. If you are experienced with it, your finger's muscle memory will make you edit your bash commands in lightning speeds.

NB: If you don't like modal editing, you should still learn to take advantage of the (default) emacs-mode. Here are some nifty keyboard shortcuts that will work on any process with readline, like bash.