How to type ^A in unix shell script/VI

Question

I am new to unix and writing script to extract data in delimited file format.

want to use ^A as delimiter , can you please suggest how to type/insert it

Answer 1

Type Ctrl + V, then Ctrl + A.

According to your system configuration, you may need to type other key sequence. Check the output of stty -a, especially lnext:

$ stty -a | grep lnext
lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
^^^^^^^^^^