WebGearRESOURCES
For MultiMedia Technologies

List of Commands for vi - Unix Editor

Index

Download Text Version ~ Right Click and Save Target As... here

• Appending Files into the Current File
• Changing Commands
• Complete Documentation
• Cursor Positioning Commands
• Cutting and Pasting Text
• Exiting from vi
• Screen Commands
• Starting an Editing Session
• Text Deletion Commands
• Text Insertion Commands
• Undo Command

Complete Documentation

The vi editor is a common editor for unix systems in that it makes use of a regular keyboard with an escape key. Complete documentation is available by typing

man vi

at the unix prompt.

^ top

Starting an Editing Session

vi filename

where filename is the name of the file to be edited.

^ top

Undo Command

u

undo the last command.

^ top

Screen Commands

CTL/l

Reprints current screen.

CTL/L

Exposes one more line at top of screen.

CTL/E

Exposes one more line at bottom of screen.

CTL/F

Pages forward one screen.

CTL/B

Pages back one screen.

CTL/D

Pages down half screen.

CTL/U

Pages up half screen.

^ top

Cursor Positioning Commands

j

Moves cursor down one line, same column.

k

Moves cursor up one line, same column.

h

Moves cursor back one character.

l

Moves cursor forward one character.

RET

Moves cursor to beginning of next line.

0

Moves cursor to beginning of current line.

$

Moves cursor to end of current line.

SPACE

Moves cursor forward one character.

nG

Moves cursor to beginning of line n. Default is last line of file.

0

Moves the cursor to the first character of the line.

:n

Moves cursor to beginning of line n.

b

Moves the cursor backward to the beginning of the previous word.

e

Moves the cursor backward to the end of the previous word.

w

Moves the cursor forward to the next word.

/pattern

Moves cursor forward to next occurrence of pattern.

?pattern

Moves cursor backward to next occurrence of pattern.

n

Repeats last / or ? pattern search.

^ top

Text Insertion Commands

a

Appends text after cursor. Terminated by escape key.

A

Appends text at the end of the line. Terminated the escape key.

i

Inserts text before cursor. Terminated by the escape key.

I

Inserts text at the beginning of the line. Terminated by the escape key.

o

Opens new line below the current line for text insertion. Terminated by the escape key.

O

Opens new line above the current line for text insertion. Terminated by the escape key.

DEL

Overwrites last character during text insertion.

ESC

Stops text insertion.

^ top

Text Deletion Commands

x

Deletes current character.

dd

Deletes current line.

dw

Deletes the current word.

d)

Deletes the rest of the current sentence.

D, d$

Deletes from cursor to end of line.

P

Puts back text from the previous delete.

^ top

Changing Commands

cw

Changes characters of current word until stopped with escape key.

c$

Changes text up to the end of the line.

C, cc

Changes remaining text on current line until stopped by pressing the escape key.

~

Changes case of current character.

xp

Transposes current and following characters.

J

Joins current line with next line.

s

Deletes the current character and goes into the insertion mode.

rx

Replaces current character with x.

R

Replaces the following characters until terminated with the escape key.

^ top

Cut and Paste Commands

yy

Puts the current line in a buffer. Does not delete the line from its current position.

p

Places the line in the buffer after the current position of the cursor.

^ top

Appending Files into Current File

:R filename

Inserts the file filename where the cursor was before the ``:'' was typed.

^ top

Exiting vi

ZZ

Exits vi and saves changes.

:wq

Writes changes to current file and quits edit session.

:q!

Quits edit session (no changes made).

^ top