Using VI Editor

root's picture
General Startup
      To use vi: vi filename
      To exit vi and save changes: ZZ or :wq
      To exit vi without saving changes: :q!
      To enter vi command mode: [esc]

[top]

Counts
      A number preceding any vi command tells vi to repeat that command that many times.

[top]

Cursor Movement
      h - move left (backspace)
      j - move down
      k - move up
      l - move right (spacebar)
      [return] - move to the beginning of the next line
      $ - last column on the current line
      0 - move cursor to the first column on the current line
      ^ - move cursor to first nonblank column on the current line
      w - move to the beginning of the next word or punctuation mark
      W - move past the next space
      b - move to the beginning of the previous word or punctuation mark
      B - move to the beginning of the previous word, ignores punctuation
      e - end of next word or punctuation mark
      E - end of next word, ignoring punctuation
      H - move cursor to the top of the screen
      M - move cursor to the middle of the screen
      L - move cursor to the bottom of the screen

[top]

Screen Movement
      G - move to the last line in the file
      xG - move to line x
      z+ - move current line to top of screen
      z - move current line to the middle of screen
      z- - move current line to the bottom of screen
      ^F - move forward one screen
      ^B - move backward one line
      ^D - move forward one half screen
      ^U - move backward one half screen
      ^R - redraw screen (does not work with VT100 type terminals)
      ^L - redraw screen (does not work with Televideo terminals)

[top]

Inserting
      r - replace character under cursor with next character typed
      R - keep replacing character until [esc] is hit
      i - insert before cursor
      a - append after cursor
      A - append at end of line
      O - open line above cursor and enter append mode

[top]

Deleting
      x - delete character under cursor
      dd - delete line under cursor
      dw - delete word under cursor
      db - delete word before cursor

[top]

Copying Code
      yy - (yank)'copies' line which may then be put by the p(put) command. Precede with a count for multiple lines.

[top]

Put Command
      brings back previous deletion or yank of lines, words, or characters
      P - bring back before cursor
      p - bring back after cursor

[top]

Find Commands
      ? - finds a word going backwards
      / - finds a word going forwards
      f - finds a character on the line under the cursor going forward
      F - finds a character on the line under the cursor going backwards
      t - find a character on the current line going forward and stop one character before it
      T - find a character on the current line going backward and stop one character before it
      ; - repeat last f, F, t, T

[top]

Miscellaneous Commands
      . - repeat last command
      u - undoes last command issued
      U - undoes all commands on one line
      xp - deletes first character and inserts after second (swap)
      J - join current line with the next line
      ^G - display current line number
      % - if at one parenthesis, will jump to its mate
      mx - mark current line with character x
      'x - find line marked with character x
      NOTE: Marks are internal and not written to the file.

[top]

Line Editor Mode
      Any commands form the line editor ex can be issued upon entering line mode.
      To enter: type ':'
      To exit: press[return] or [esc]

[top]

ex Commands
      For a complete list consult the UNIX Programmer's Manual

[top]

[top]
READING FILES
      copies (reads) filename after cursor in file currently editing
      :r - filename

[top]

WRITE FILE
      :w - saves the current file without quitting

[top]

MOVING
      :# - move to line #
      :$ - move to last line of file

[top]

SHELL ESCAPE
      executes 'cmd' as a shell command.
      :!'cmd'

[top]

Find and replace
      :%s/find/replace/g

[top]

Dos2unix conversion (Remove ^M at the end of every line)
      :%s/<Ctrl-V><ENTER>//g
PS: <Ctrl-V> means you have to press V while holding CTRL and <ENTER> means Enter key from your keyboard

[top]

Replace ^M with newline
      :%s/<Ctrl-V><ENTER>/\r/g
PS: <Ctrl-V> means you have to press V while holding CTRL and <ENTER> means Enter key from your keyboard

[top]

Thou shalt not steal!

If you want to use this information on your own website, please remember: by doing copy/paste entirely it is always stealing and you should be ashamed of yourself! Have at least the decency to create your own text and comments and run the commands on your own servers and provide your output, not what I did!

Or at least link back to this website.

Recent content

root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root
root