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Home > Help Files > Unix > Vi Editor Commands
Vi
SOME HINTS ON USE OF THE VI EDITOR ON UNIX
Prepared by C W Radcliffe for ME 128 students
The vi editor is a full screen editor and a very powerful
one. The number of possibilities boggles the mind of the
simple souls who only want to create and edit some text.
The following is a list of some of the commands which
will enable you to get started.
1. CURSOR CONTROL
The cursor is moved using single key strokes on the keyboard
when you are NOT in an append or insert mode. No CTRL or
ESC key is used here. The direction moved is as given below.
h moves the cursor left
l right
j down
k up
w one word to the right
b back one word
one line down
- one line up (same as using k)
2. SCREEN MOVEMENTS -- SCROLLING
CTRL - f One screen forward
CTRL - b backward
CTRL - u Scroll upward
CTRL - d downward
3. DELETIONS
Again, characters are used without CTRL or ESC.
x Delete character under the cursor
dw word containing the cursor
dd line containing the cursor
3dd 3 lines
4. SEARCHING AND SUBSTITUTIONS (REPLACE)
/pattern Search forward in the file for the pattern
?pattern backward
/ or ? Repeat search for the pattern last specified
rx Replace a single character with x
R Replace multiple characters
5. INSERTING AND APPENDING TEXT TO THE FILE
a Append what follows AFTER the cursor
i Insert what follows BEforE the cursor
ESC End the append or insert mode
o (use letter o) Open a new line below the cursor
O (use letter O) Open a new line above the cursor
6. COMMAND MODE
Command mode can be called from vi and is better for some
operations. For example, to substitute one pattern for
another after you have found it in vi.
: Prefix to a command mode instruction
(commands are like ex instructions)
: The prompt while in command mode or ex
:1,5p Print lines 1 to 5, inclusive
:1,$p Print line 1 to end-of-file, inclusive
:nu Print current line number
:s/pat1/pat2/ Substitutes pat2 for pat1 in current line
Either / and ; work as delimiters.
pat2 could be a lot of new text.
:s/pat1/pat2/g The 'g' means global. Substitute pat2 for pat1
for each occurence in the line.
:g/pat1/s//pat2/ global search for each occurence of pat1 ... after it is
found then substitute pat2 (// uses previously defined
pat1) for pat1. Global search and replace.
:w filename Write current buffer to file, then return to vi
An easy way to rename the edited file.
:x Exit from command mode saving the changes
:q! Quit from command mode discarding changes
ZZ Exit from vi saving changes
7. THE EX/VI QUICK REFERENCE CARD HAS ALL THE COMMANDS
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