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Jan 15

Quick vi tip: Show Hidden Characters

posted in unix/linux, vi on 01/15/08 at 12:01 PM
0 comments

I do a lot of development in linux/unix. In fact, that’s where all my development is, but I spend a fair amount of time in the “CLI” or command line interface. I use putty and ssh in to edit files and look at logs and just generally do what I do.

Today I ran into a problem with a file and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I kept getting an error and the spacing was off so I started suspecting a hidden character. vi, the command line editor I use in linux can show you hidden characters. Just type:

set: list

And bingo, hidden characters are revealed.

Turning them back off is just as easy:

set: nolist

Write that down, it comes in handy.

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