I share your sentiment about vi which I consider to be a bug, not a feature. I agree that there could have been a better way to do pattern matching. The reality is that there are alternatives for vi, ranging from ISPF all the way to Notepad++ and many options in between, but in the same reality, if you need to do serious pattern matching, and I need to do it all the time, there is no viable alternative. The regex methodology is the one that took an hold on the world and became the Lingua Franca, the de-facto language of the trade. I came to the world of pattern matching when this was already a fact of life with I real chance to change it. Now, the reality is also that the only major programming languages that do not have access to regex functionality are COBOL and PL/1. All other major languages have this capability. And it is that deficiency that I intended to resolve . I am encouraged by those who expressed more positive feelings and will continue to push it. ZA
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