vi Editor Commands
Quick links...
General Startup
Counts
Cursor Movement
Screen Movement
Inserting
Deleting
Copying Code
Put Command
Find Commands
Miscellaneous Commands
Line Editor Mode
ex Commands
Substitutions
Reading Files
Write File
Moving
Shell Escape
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]
Counts
A number preceding any vi command tells vi to repeat
that command that many times.
Cursor Movement
h
move left (backspace)
move down
move up
move right (spacebar)
[return]
move to the beginning of the next line
last column on the current line
move cursor to the first column on the
current line
move cursor to first nonblank column on the
current line
move to the beginning of the next word or
punctuation mark
move past the next space
move to the beginning of the previous word
or punctuation mark
move to the beginning of the previous word,
ignores punctuation
end of next word or punctuation mark
end of next word, ignoring punctuation
move cursor to the top of the screen
move cursor to the middle of the screen
move cursor to the bottom of the screen
Screen Movement
G
move to the last line in the file
xG
move to line x
z+
move current line to top of screen
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 )
Inserting
r
replace character under cursor with next
character typed
keep replacing character until [esc] is hit
insert before cursor
append after cursor
append at end of line
open line above cursor and enter append mode
Deleting
x
delete character under cursor
dd
delete line under cursor
dw
delete word under cursor
db
delete word before cursor
Copying Code
yy
(yank)'copies' line which may then be put by
the p(put) command. Precede with a count for
multiple lines.
Put Command
brings back previous deletion or yank of lines,
words, or characters
P
bring back before cursor
bring back after cursor
Find Commands
?
finds a word going backwards
finds a word going forwards
finds a character on the line under the
cursor going forward
F
finds a character on the line under the
cursor going backwards
find a character on the current line going
forward and stop one character before it
find a character on the current line going
backward and stop one character before it
repeat last f, F, t, T
Miscellaneous Commands
.
repeat last command
undoes last command issued
undoes all commands on one line
xp
deletes first character and inserts after
second (swap)
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.
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]
ex Commands
For a complete list consult the
UNIX Programmer's Manual
READING FILES
copies (reads) filename after cursor in file
currently editing
:r filename
WRITE FILE
:w
saves the current file without quitting
:#
move to line #
:$
move to last line of file
MOVING
SHELL ESCAPE
executes 'cmd' as a shell command.
:!'cmd'
