Crontab in dom0 and @ symbol with vim

User Support
1

When I am trying to use crontab in dom0, I am having trouble.

I type:

sudo crontab -e

I don’t get an option to use nano and it goes right to vim which I don’t understand much of

then I try to type @reboot and the @ symbol is not accepted “E348: No string under cursor”

What is going on?

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2

You certainly do not know how to use the editor vi?

Press i before typing text, once you are done, press escape, then :wq to save and quit.

Otherwise, you could edit the crontab with nano, which may be easier to get into?

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3

Hi wmrom2

How about:

sudo --preserve-env=EDITOR crontab -e

?

:slight_smile:

4 Likes
4

sadly it was actually this

nano ruined me

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5

Thanks!

This command line also work, in case you are not sure what EDITOR is or you want a specific editor for your crontab.

sudo env EDITOR=nano crontab -e
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6

Since vi is one of the few editors included in (almost?) every Unix-like system, I would recommend getting a minimal understanding of the “Command mode” and “Insert” … and how to switch between them … including the :q! (“Quit vi without saving changes!”)

:slight_smile:

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7

i know, i should

i’m such a freak for being a qubes user and being so limited in my linux understanding

i keep wanting to go back to nano but power users use vi

i’ll man vi one day, promise

1 Like
8

When I landed my first job, my new colleagues gave me one of these:

https://www.cafepress.com/mf/10388170/vi-reference_mugs

I’m [still] not a power user of vi – so the mug has followed me ever since …

:slight_smile:

1 Like