vi Editor Commands

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]

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

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 )

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

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.

brings back previous deletion or yank of lines, words, or characters

P	bring back before cursor
p	bring back after cursor

?	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

NOTE: Marks are internal and not written to the file.
.	repeat last command
u	undoes last command issued
U	undoes all commands on one line
xp	deletes first character and inserts aftersecond (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

Any commands form the line editor ex can be issued upon entering line mode.

To enter: type ':'

To exit: press[return] or [esc]

For a complete list consult the UNIX Programmer's Manual

:#,#s/old/new/g
#	line number range
old	pattern to replace
new	pattern to insert
g	optional key for global substitution
(multiple occurences of old on the same line will not be replace without this)

copies (reads) filename after cursor in file currently editing

:r	filename

:w	saves the current file without quitting

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

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

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