Linux Vim Error – How to Resolve ‘__vi_internal_vim_alias: Command Not Found’

fedoralinuxsudovim

I have recently upgraded to Fedora 33 (Linux 5.9.16-200) on my machine. I am running vim-enhanced version 8.2. When I type sudo vim (or even sudo vi) in order to edit files with admin privilege, I get the following error.

sudo: __vi_internal_vim_alias: command not found

I am not sure what is causing this. Vim loads fine without the sudo. Could you please tell me how to troubleshoot this? Thank you.

Update:
Upon executing which vim, I get the following result.

alias vim='__vi_internal_vim_alias'
    __vi_internal_vim_alias ()
    { 
        ( test -f /usr/bin/vim && exec /usr/bin/vim "$@";
        test -f /usr/bin/vi && exec /usr/bin/vi "$@" )
    }

I am not sure what did this and where. Maybe it's a Fedora 33 thing. Given the above information, what do you suggest is a permanent fix?

Best Answer

As @scy mentioned unalias-ing the vi and vim is a workaround solution for keeping the sudo="sudo " alias so it can be used with other aliases.

Expanding his/her answer for the different shells:

ZSH Shell: Add to the .zshrc file (of the user you want to be affected by the changes)

  • located at:

For Fedora 33 Workstation(or Server or another non-atomic OS Distro): /home/$USER/.zshrc

For Fedora CoreOS 33.x (or Silverblue 33 or other similar atomic OS Distro): /var/home/$USER/.zshrc

  • the following lines of code:
[ "$(type -w vi)" = 'vi: alias' ] && unalias vi
[ "$(type -w vim)" = 'vim: alias' ] && unalias vim

BASH Shell: Add to the .bashrc file (of the user you want to be affected by the changes)

  • located at the same locations, respective to the OS/Distro specific location for the $USER 's home directory (check the directions for Fedora Workstation, etc...)
  • the following code:
[ "$(type -t vi)" = 'alias' ] && unalias vi
[ "$(type -t vim)" = 'alias' ] && unalias vim

P.S. Concerning ZSH Shell, this solution can resolve similar problems with other CLI applications that are in a similar initialization situation. For example: mc (Midnight Commander). Meanwhile, mc will not have any such problem in BASH Shell.

Related Question