You and I are talking about two different things. You're talking about command line editing, on the command line. And you're right, ge doesn't work there. vi m

You and I are talking about two different things. You're talking about command line editing, on the command line. And you're right, ge doesn't work there. vi mode at the command line is a small subset of vi. The next time you want to use ge or any other full vim feature, try this instead: - esc, to get into normal mode. - the single character 'v' (no quotes), to open a full vi (or vim, or $EDITOR). - the vim session will have your command line so far. - edit with the full power of vim or whatever opened. - :wq to execute the command. - or empty the buffer and then :wq to not execute anything.