How to fix vi editor arrow key problem in Ubuntu

Vi Editor fix arrow keys

Many of ubuntu users encounter arrow key issue in Vi editor along with backspace key , which actually doesn’t work in a standard way. What actually looks to be a absurd issue was once a standard for Vi editor where keys h,j,kl represented function for left,down,up and down key and X was used to delete the character. Few old school nerds who used to work on Unix or non-bash environment are comfortable playing with it , but not everyone is agile and compromising.

Lets look at the method to circumvent and resolve the Vi editor arrow key issue :

Fixing Vi Editor keys issue Step 1 :

Open Vi editor configuration file using Vi or gedit or nano or any other editor

Fixing VI arrow key issue step 1

Fixing Vi Editor Keys issue Step 2 :

Set compatible mode to nocompatible mode in vimrc.tiny file

Change “set compatible” to “set nocompatible” , This will fix your arrow keys issue

vim arrow key issue step 2

Fixing Vi Editor Keys Issue Step 3 :

To fix the backspace key issue add backspace=2 vimrc.tiny

vim arrow key issue step3

 

Fixing Vi Editor using alternate method  :

Install and use Vim instead of VI

#apt-get update

#apt-get install vim -y

#vim filename