How do I get "vi" shell edit mode in Mac OS X Terminal?

Thanks for your note! I like getting these sort of Unix and Linux questions, actually, since Iv'e been working in that environment for twenty-six years now! Sheesh.

The first step is to ensure that you're running the Bash shell, which you can do by typing this in:

When I run that, for example, I see this:

I'm running Bash. Good. (the '-' means it's a login shell, by the way).

What you want is "vi mode" in the Readline function. Readline is the module in Bash that processes input typing and command entry. Check the man page for Bash (which is incredibly long) and you'll find that you're talking about the readline keymapping, which is described thusly:

That's what you want. To set it once you've logged in, simply type:

To set it permanently for all future shells, add that line to your .bashrc in your home directory. That's all there is to it!

One more helpful tip: if you want to dig around in a Unix man page, here's a very helpful command to remember:

This gives you an version of the specified man page that you can explore and read at your leisure that's conveniently deleted once you're done reading it. I find it far more pleasant than just scrolling through with the "man" command.

And say "Hi" to those Unix old-timers. We probably know each other. :-)