VI or VIM EDITOR CHEAT SHEET There are two different modes of operation within vi: the command mode and the insert mode. The following commands are issued while in the command mode. The insert mode will insert whatever text you type into the current file (see Inserting Text section below). To return to command mode from insert mode, hit the ESCape key. (Note: This is always a safe thing to do.) Editor commands preceded by ‘:’, ‘/’, or ‘?’ will appear in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Other commands will not appear on the screen. A SENTENCE is defined to end at a ‘.’, ‘!’, or a ‘?’ which is followed by either the end of the line or two spaces. A PARAGRAPH is defined to begin after each empty line.
CRUISING AROUND ↑ or k ↓ or j → or l move cursor up move cursor down move cursor right
DELETING TEXT x nx dw dd ndd D dG delete current character delete next characters delete current word delete current line delete next lines delete to end of line delete from current line to bottom
← or h move cursor left + move cursor to next line % 0 or ^ $ n| w b e ) ( } { nG G move cursor to previous line
go to matching parenthesis or bracket
go to the beginning of line go to end of line go to column skip forward one word skip backward one word go to end of current word skip to next sentence skip to previous sentence skip to next paragraph skip to previous paragraph go to line go to bottom
IN SEARCH OF TEXT /string ?string n :n,m s/str1/str2/g :1,$ s/str1/str2/g search forward for search backward for repeat last search command search from line to line for and replace with search and replace all occurences of with CUTTING AND PASTING yw yb Y yank a copy of the current word yank a copy of the previous word yank a copy of current line yank a copy of the next lines put last yanked or deleted or changed text after cursor put last yanked or deleted or changed text before cursor
INSERTING TEXT a A i I o O append after cursor append after end of line insert before cursor insert at beginning of line open new line below current line open new line above current line
nY p P FIXING GOOFS u U :e!
undo last change restore current line re-edit current file without saving changes
CHANGING TEXT rx Rtext J replace single character with replace with join next line with current line FILE MANIPULATION :x or :wq :q! :w name :w name quit and save changes quit without saving changes write entire file to write (save) changes
cwtext change word to . repeat last command (text change, delete, etc.)
For a more detailed reference refer to: http://www.at.vcu.edu/faq/unix/vieditor.html