vi Editor “Cheat Sheet” Invoking vi: vi filename Format of vi commands: [count][command]Command mode versus input modeVi starts in command mode. The positioning commands operate only while vi is in command mode. You switch vi to input mode by entering any one of several vi input commands. (See next section.) Once in input mode, any character you type is taken to be text and is added to the file. You cannot execute any commands until you exit input mode. To exit input mode, press the escape (Esc) key.Input commands (end with Esc)a Append after cursor i Insert before cursor o Open line below O Open line above :r file Insert file after current lineAny of these commands leaves vi in input mode until you press Esc. Pressing the RETURN key will not take you out of input mode.Change commands (Input mode) cw Change word (Esc)cc Change line (Esc) - blanks line c$ Change to end of line rc Replace character with c R Replace (Esc) - typeover s Substitute (Esc) - 1 char with string S Substitute (Esc) - Rest of line withtext . Repeat last changeChanges during insert mode <ctrl>h Back one character <ctrl>w Back one word <ctrl>u Back to beginning of insert | VI “Cheat” SheetACNS Bulletin ED–03Februa ry 1995(count repeats the effect of the command)File management commands :w name Write edit buffer to file name :wq Write to file and quit :q! Quit without saving changes ZZ Same as :wq :sh Execute shell commands (<ctrl>d)Window motions <ctrl>d Scroll down (half a screen) <ctrl>u Scroll up (half a screen) <ctrl>f Page forward <ctrl>b Page backward /string Search forward ?string Search backward <ctrl>l Redraw screen <ctrl>g Display current line number andfile information n Repeat searchN Repeat search reverse G Go to last line nG Go to line n :n Go to line n z<CR> Reposition window: cursor at topz. Reposition window: cursor in middle z- Reposition window: cursor at bottomCursor motions H Upper left corner (home) M Middle lineL Lower left corner h Back a character j Down a line k Up a line ^ Beginning of line $ End of linel Forward a character w One word forward b Back one word fc Find c ; Repeat find (find next c) |
Deletion commands dd or n dd
Delete
n lines to general buffer
Delete word to general buffer dw d n Delete w n words
Delete to end of sentence
d)
Delete previous word db Delete to end of line
D
x
Delete character
Recovering deletions p Put general buffer after cursor
P
Put general buffer before cursor
Undo commands
Undo last change u Undo all changes on line
U
Rearrangement commands
Yank (copy) line to general buffer yy or Y
“
z yy 6
Yank 6 lines to buffer z yw
Yank word to general buffer
“
a dd 9
Delete 9 lines to buffer a “
A
dd
9
Delete 9 lines; Append to buffer a “ a p
Put text from buffer a after cursor
Put general buffer after cursor p Put general buffer before cursor
P
Join lines
J
Parameters
Show invisible characters
:
set list
Don’t show invisible characters
:
set nolist
Show line numbers
:
set number
:
set nonumber
Don’t show line numbers set autoindent
:
Indent after carriage return
Turn off autoindent
:
set noautoindent
Show matching sets of
:
set showmatch parentheses as they are typed
Turn off showmatch
:
set noshowmatch
:
set showmode
Display mode on last line of screen
:
set noshowmode
Turn off showmode
:
set all
Show values of all possible parameters Move text from file old to file new vi old “ a yank 10 lines to buffer yy 10 a write work buffer
:
w
:
e new edit new file
“
a p put text from a after cursor w :30,60 new Write lines 30 to 60 in file new Regular expressions (search strings)
^
Matches beginning of line
$
Matches end of line
.
Matches any single character
*
Matches any previous character
.*
Matches any character
Search and replace commands
Syntax:
address]s/old_text/new_text/
:[
Address components:
.
Current line n Line number n
.+
m
Current line plus m lines
$
Last line
/string/
A line that contains "string"
%
Entire file
[
Specifies a range addr1],[addr 2]
Examples:
The following example replaces only the first occur- rence of Banana with Kumquat in each of 11 lines starting with the current line (.) and continuing for the
10
that follow
(.+10).
.,.+10s/Banana/Kumquat
:
The following example replaces every occurrence
(
caused by the g at the end of the command) of apple with pear.
%s/apple/pear/g
:
The following example removes the last character from every line in the file. Use it if every line in the file ends with ^M as the result of a file transfer. Execute it when the cursor is on the first line of the file.
:
%s/.$//
Deletion commands dd or n dd
Delete
n lines to general buffer
Delete word to general buffer dw d n Delete w n words
Delete to end of sentence
d)
Delete previous word db Delete to end of line
D
x
Delete character
Recovering deletions p Put general buffer after cursor
P
Put general buffer before cursor
Undo commands
Undo last change u Undo all changes on line
U
Rearrangement commands
Yank (copy) line to general buffer yy or Y
“
z yy 6
Yank 6 lines to buffer z yw
Yank word to general buffer
“
a dd 9
Delete 9 lines to buffer a “
A
dd
9
Delete 9 lines; Append to buffer a “ a p
Put text from buffer a after cursor
Put general buffer after cursor p Put general buffer before cursor
P
Join lines
J
Parameters
Show invisible characters
:
set list
Don’t show invisible characters
:
set nolist
Show line numbers
:
set number
:
set nonumber
Don’t show line numbers set autoindent
:
Indent after carriage return
Turn off autoindent
:
set noautoindent
Show matching sets of
:
set showmatch parentheses as they are typed
Turn off showmatch
:
set noshowmatch
:
set showmode
Display mode on last line of screen
:
set noshowmode
Turn off showmode
:
set all
Show values of all possible parameters Move text from file old to file new vi old “ a yank 10 lines to buffer yy 10 a write work buffer
:
w
:
e new edit new file
“
a p put text from a after cursor w :30,60 new Write lines 30 to 60 in file new Regular expressions (search strings)
^
Matches beginning of line
$
Matches end of line
.
Matches any single character
*
Matches any previous character
.*
Matches any character
Search and replace commands
Syntax:
address]s/old_text/new_text/
:[
Address components:
.
Current line n Line number n
.+
m
Current line plus m lines
$
Last line
/string/
A line that contains "string"
%
Entire file
[
Specifies a range addr1],[addr 2]
Examples:
The following example replaces only the first occur- rence of Banana with Kumquat in each of 11 lines starting with the current line (.) and continuing for the
10
that follow
(.+10).
.,.+10s/Banana/Kumquat
:
The following example replaces every occurrence
(
caused by the g at the end of the command) of apple with pear.
%s/apple/pear/g
:
The following example removes the last character from every line in the file. Use it if every line in the file ends with ^M as the result of a file transfer. Execute it when the cursor is on the first line of the file.
:
%s/.$//