Vi

One of / The most popular text editors in Unix / Linux.


 * i edit befor cursor
 * a edit after cursor
 * o edit new line befor cursor
 * O edit new line after cursor
 * r replace char
 * cw change word
 * dw delete word
 * x delete
 * 7x dlete 7 chars
 * dd delete line
 * w write file
 * wq write quit
 * q! force quit
 * [Ctrl]+ ZZ quit writing if needed

Use / [string] to search ( n for next) Use [Ctrl+V] to enter escape codes Ie. [Ctrl+V] [backspace] makes a ^H (ie to use in .profile when you do a stty erase ^H)

Character h, j, k, l Left, down, up, right Text w, W, b, B Forward, backward by word e, E End of word ), ( Beginning of next, previous sentence }, { Beginning of next, previous paragraph ]], [[ Beginning of next, previous section Lines 0, $ First, last position of current line ^ First character of current line (ignore spaces) +, - First character of next, previous line n| Column n of current line H Top line of screen M Middle line of screen L Last line of screen nH n (number) of lines after top line nL n (number) of lines before last line Screens [CTRL-F], [CTRL-B] Scroll forward, backward one screen [CTRL-D] [CTRL-U] Scroll down, up one-half screen [CTRL-E] [CTRL-Y] Show one more line at bottom, top of window z [RETURN] Reposition line with cursor: to top of screen z. Reposition line with cursor: to middle of screen z- Reposition line with cursor: to bottom of screen [CTRL-L] [CTRL-R] Redraw screen (without scrolling) Searches /pattern Search forward for pattern ?pattern Search backward for pattern n, N Repeat last search in same, opposite direction /, ? Repeat previous search forward, backward fx Search forward for character x in current line Fx Search backward for character x in current line tx Search forward for character before x in current line Tx Search backward for character after x in current line ' Repeat previous current-line search in opposite direction Line number [CTRL-G] Display current line number nG Move to line number n G Move to last line in file
 * Repeat previous current-line search
 * n Move to line number n

Marking position mx Mark current position as x `x Move cursor to x `` Return to previous mark or context 'x Move to beginning of line containing mark x '' Return to beginning of line containing previous mark

Insert i, a Insert text before, after cursor I, A Insert text at beginning, end of line o, O Open new line for text below, above cursor Change r Change character cw Change word cc Change current line C Change to end of line R Type over characters s Delete character and substitute text S Delete current line and substitute text Delete, move x Delete character X Delete character before cursor dw Delete word dd Delete current line D Delete to end of line p, P Put deleted text after, before cursor "np Put text from delete buffer number n after cursor (for last nine deletions) Yank yw Yank (copy) word yy Yank current line "ayy Yank current line into named buffer a p, P Put yanked text after, before cursor "aP Put text from buffer a before cursor Other commands . Repeat last edit command u, U Undo last edit; restore current line J Join two lines ex edit commands
 * d Delete lines
 * m Move lines
 * co or :t Copy lines
 * .,$d Delete from current line to end of file
 * 30,60m0 Move lines 30 through 60 to top of file
 * .,/pattern/co$ Copy from current line through line containing pattern to end of file

Exit Commands ZZ Write (save) and quit file
 * x Write (save) and quit file
 * wq Write (save) and quit file
 * w Write (save) file
 * w! Write (save) file (overriding protection)
 * 30,60w newfile Write from line 30 through line 60 as newfile
 * 30,60w>> file Write from line 30 through line 60 and append to file


 * w %.new Write current buffer named file as file.new
 * q Quit file
 * q! Quit file (overriding protection)

Q Quit vi and invoke ex
 * e file2 Edit file2 without leaving vi
 * n Edit next file
 * e! Return to version of current file at time of last write (save)
 * e# Edit alternate file

% Current filename
 * 1) Alternate filename

Command Line Options vi file Invoke vi editor on file vi file1 file2 Invoke vi editor on files sequentially view file Invoke vi editor on file in read-only mode vi -R file Invoke vi editor on file in read-only mode vi -r file Recover file and recent edits after system crash vi + file Open file at last line vi +n file Open file directly at line number n vi +/pattern file Open file directly at pattern ex file Invoke ex editor on file from UNIX