I got the help I needed from Peter Dalgaard, Dirk Eddelbuettel, and Brian Ripley (thanks very much to all). The crucial thing is a file .inputrc in one's home directory, which controls various options for readline. If one creates this file with a line set editing-mode vi then one gets vi syntax in one's command-line editing in R, and all the universe is in harmony (OMMMMMMMMMMMM). The ``m'' phenomenon is thusly explained as well; I ***had*** fooled about with ~/.inputrc previously, but having mis-read the man entry I put ``editing-mode vi'' rather than ``set editing-mode vi'' which didn't work, but somehow had an unfortunate impact upon the ``m'' key. cheers, Rolf Turner rolf at math.unb.ca -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._