Vi on freeBSD : stuck into "ex input mode"

Question

I'm stuck in a file. I used vi to edit this file, and I tried to quit, but I got a message like "Entering ex input mode". It doesn't work if I press Escape, it writes ^[ in my file.

How can I properly close my file now?

Answer 1

The :visual command gets you out of it.

If your vi is actually Vim, you can find that information via :help Ex-mode, listed under the Q command, which gets you into that mode.

Answer 2

In ex input mode you type line by line and see these lines at the bottom of the screen. When you done simply type a new line consist of single period (.). This will take you out of the ex input mode.

Hope this help!