VI EDITOR COMMANDS

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)

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

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)

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

Deleting

x delete character under cursor

dd delete line under cursor

dw delete word under cursor

db delete word before cursor

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

p bring back after cursor

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

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.

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

MOVING

:# move to line #

:$ move to last line of file

SHELL ESCAPE

Executes 'cmd' as a shell command.

:!'cmd'

In vi, how can I do a global search and replace?

Invoke vi's edit mode by pressing the Esc key, then a colon ( : ), and enter: 1,$s/oldstring/newstring/g

This will change oldstring into newstring wherever it occurs throughout the entire text. The 1 (the number one) in the
above command means "start the search on the first line". The $ means "end the search on the last line". The g at the
end executes the change globally on each line. If you omit the g , the search will stop after finding the first occurrence of
oldstring.