Quick Reference for the Vi Text Editor
The most common editor for a UNIX machine like bgunix is the vi editor. To use vi to create or edit a file, use this command:
vi filename
There are two different operating modes:
- Command mode This is the normal and initial startup state. You can enter commands but no text.
- Insert mode In Insert mode you can type text into the file, but you cannot enter any commands. To enter a command you must first return to Command mode by pressing the ESC key.
Commands to change from Command mode to Text mode
| i | inserts text at cursor position |
| I | inserts text at the beginning of the current line |
| a | appends text after the current character |
| A | appends text at the end of the current line |
| o | adds a blank line below the current line |
| O (letter O) | adds a blank line above the current line |
Commands to save the file and/or quit vi
| ZZ | writes the file to disk and quits |
| :wq | writes the file to disk and quits |
| :q | quits the session if nothing changed in document |
| :q! | quits the session without saving any changes to the file |
| :w filename | writes the buffer contents to a new filename without exiting to shell; will not write to an existing file |
| :w! filename | writes the buffer contents to an existing filename, overwrites contents of existing file |
Commands to move around in your document
| cursor (arrow) keys | moves up, down, left, or right one position |
| $ | moves to end of line |
| 0 (zero) | moves to beginning of line |
| H | moves to the top of the screen |
| M | moves to the middle of the screen |
| L | moves to the bottom of the screen |
| G | moves to the last line of the file |
| nG | moves to line n of the file (e.g. 7G moves to line seven) |
| Ctrl-F | moves to the next page (hold down Ctrl, press F) |
| Ctrl-B | moves to the previous page (hold down Ctrl, press B) |
Commands to delete or replace parts of the document
| x | deletes the character under the cursor |
| X | deletes the character before the cursor |
| D | deletes from the character under the cursor to the end of the line |
| dd | deletes the current line. (The line deleted is put into the General-purpose Buffer) |
| r | replaces the character under the cursor and stays in Command mode |
| R | replaces the character under the cursor and remains in overwrite mode (following text will be overwritten) |
The x, X, and dd commands can be preceded by an integer to delete multiple characters or lines (e.g. 12x or 12dd).
Commands to move lines within the document
| dd | deletes the current line, putting it into the General-Purpose Buffer |
| ndd | deletes n lines starting with the current line, putting them into the General-Purpose Buffer |
| yy | copies (yanks) the current line to the General-Purpose Buffer |
| nyy | copies (yanks) n lines starting with the current line, putting them into the General Purpose Buffer |
| p | inserts the lines from the General-Purpose Buffer just after the current line |
| P | inserts the lines from the General-Purpose Buffer just before the current line |
Commands to search and replace a string
| /searchstring | searches forward for searchstring |
| ?searchstring | searches backward for searchstring |
| n | repeats the last search |
| N | repeats the last search in the opposite direction |
| :%s/searchstring/replacestring | replaces the first searchstring occurrence with replacestring |
| :%s/searchstring/replacestring/g | replaces all searchstring occurrences with replacestring |
Other commands
| :set number | displays line numbers |
| u | will undo the last instruction |
Department of Computer Science
Dr. Jong Kwan "Jake" Lee, Chair
Department of Computer Science
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
leej@bgsu.edu
Department Office
Hayes 221
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
419-372-2337
bgcs@bgsu.edu
BGSU B.S. in Computer Science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Computer Science.
BGSU B.S. in Software Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Software Engineering.
Updated: 06/17/2020 01:08PM