VI Editor Manual

^{Initial version 2004 by Fabio Szostak, updated 2018}

VI editor command summary. Enjoy and increase it. You're welcome.

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Open, save and exit

On shell:

$ vi filename

On editor:

:e filename open file
:e! filename open file with ignore changes
:e# or :e!# open previous file
:wq or :x or :x! save and exit
:q! exit without save

!!command run command and get output

Check on bottom of screen the current mode:

nothing is on command mode
-- INSERT -- is on insert mode
-- REPLACE -- is on replace mode

Note: Always type esc to switch to command mode

Basic commands Navigation h go left, like ← j go down, like ↓ k go up, like ↑ l go right, like → 0 begin of line $ end of line H top of screen L bottom of screen w begin next word e end next word b back previous word CTRL-F go next page, like PageDown CTRL-B go previous page, like PageUp G go end of file :n go to line number :$ go to end of file Search / + str find next match str ? + str find previous match str % find match close char {}()[] Insert mode i enter on insert mode I at begin of line a at next character A at end of file o at next line O at previous line Undo changes u last command U all commands in current line Delete x delete current character dd delete current line :g/regexp/d delete all lines match regexp Replace mode r replace one character R enter in replace mode cw replace current word s replace one char and enter in replace mode :x,y s /find/replace/g find and replace x,y is line range, % is oll, g is all occurences in line ~ change character case (uppercase|lowercase) Join lines J Join current line with next line Repeat . Repeat last command Indent >> shift current line to right << shift current line to left Put to buffer yy or Y put current line to temporary buffer Paste buffer P paste buffer previous line p paste buffer next line Mark m[a-z] put [a-z] mark in current line ’[a-z] go to [a-z] mark ’’ go to last mark

Advanced commands Navigation n h go n chars to left n j go n lines to down n k go n lines to up n l go n chars to right n w go next n words n e go next n words at end n b go back n words n G go n lines from begin of file Insert mode n i insert n times after esc n I insert n times after esc n a insert n times after esc n A insert n times after esc Delete n x delete n characters n dd delete n lines d/ str delete until match str d% delete match character {} dG delete until end of file d1G delete to beginning of file d n G delete to beginning of file, except n first lines dw delete to end of word d n w delete n words Replace mode n s replace n characters c n w replace n words c$ replace to end of line c0 replace to beginning of line c/ str replace until match str c% replace to match char {} cG replace to end of file Join lines nJ n join *n lines above current line Indent n >> shift n lines to right n << shift n lines to left >% shift until match char to right <% shift until match char to left >G shift to end of file >1G shift to beginning of file >/ str shift until match str Registers “ [a-z] open the register @ [a-z] execute commands into the register Put to register “ r yy put current line to register “r” “ r y’ m put until match mark "m” to register "r" “ r y/ str put until find string "str" to register "r" “ r y$ put until find end of line to register "r" “ r yw put one word to register “r” Get from register “ r p paste content of register “r” after “ r P paste content of register “r” before

RegExp Replace Example

 ORIGINAL FILE         CHANGED FILE
 ........ 1234.10  =>  ........ 1234,10
 ........ 2233.20  =>  ........ 2233,20 

Command:       :1,$ s /\.\([0-9]\)/,\1/

Find:     .(dígit 0 to 9)
Replace:  ,(dígit 0 to 9)