{"id":169,"date":"2011-12-19T09:40:05","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T09:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/linux\/vi-commands-basic\/"},"modified":"2018-12-11T16:09:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T15:09:10","slug":"vi-commands-basic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/2011\/12\/19\/vi-commands-basic\/","title":{"rendered":"VI commands (basic)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was most recently updated on December 11th, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n
Basic “vi” features<\/font><\/big><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

One edits a file in vi<\/tt> by issuing the command: vi file-to-edit.txt<\/tt><\/p>\n

The vi editor has three modes, command mode, insert mode and command line mode.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Command mode:<\/b> letters or sequence of letters interactively command vi. Commands are case sensitive. The ESC key can end a command.<\/li>\n
  2. Insert mode:<\/b> Text is inserted. The ESC key ends insert mode and returns you to command mode. One can enter insert mode with the “i” (insert), “a” (insert after), “A” (insert at end of line), “o” (open new line after current line) or “O” (Open line above current line) commands.<\/li>\n
  3. Command line mode:<\/b> One enters this mode by typing “:” which puts the command line entry at the foot of the screen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Partial list of interactive commands:<\/p>\n

    \n
    Cursor movement:<\/b> <\/p>\n
    \n
    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Keystrokes<\/th>\nAction<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    h\/j\/k\/l<\/td>\nMove cursor left\/down\/up\/right<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    spacebar<\/td>\nMove cursor right one space<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    -\/+<\/td>\nMove cursor down\/up in first column<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ctrl-d<\/td>\nScroll down one half of a page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ctrl-u<\/td>\nScroll up one half of a page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ctrl-f<\/td>\nScroll forward one page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ctrl-b<\/td>\nScroll back one page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    M (shift-h)<\/td>\nMove cursor to middle of page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    H<\/td>\nMove cursor to top of page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    L<\/td>\nMove cursor to bottom of page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    W
    w
    5w<\/td>\n    		Move cursor a word at a time
    Move cursor ahead 5 words<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    B
    b
    5b<\/td>\n    		Move cursor back a word at a time
    Move cursor back a word at a time
    Move cursor back 5 words<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    e
    5e<\/td>\n    		Move cursor to end of word
    Move cursor ahead to the end of the 5th word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    0 (zero)<\/td>\nMove cursor to beginning of line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    $<\/td>\nMove cursor to end of line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    )<\/td>\nMove cursor to beginning of next sentence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    (<\/td>\nMove cursor to beginning of current sentence<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    G<\/td>\nMove cursor to end of file<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    %<\/td>\nMove cursor to the matching bracket.
    Place cursor on {}[]() and type “%”.
    Use the matchit<\/font><\/u><\/a> or xmledit<\/font><\/u><\/a> plug-in to extend this capability to XML\/XHTML tags.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ‘.<\/td>\nMove cursor to previously modified line.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ‘a<\/td>\nMove cursor to line mark “a” generated by marking with keystroke “ma”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ‘A<\/td>\nMove cursor to line mark “a” (global between buffers) generated by marking with keystroke “mA”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ]’<\/td>\nMove cursor to next lower case mark.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    [‘<\/td>\nMove cursor to previous lower case mark.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

    Editing commands:<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Keystrokes<\/th>\nAction<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    i<\/td>\nInsert at cursor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    a<\/td>\nAppend after cursor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    A<\/td>\nAppend at end of line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ESC<\/td>\nTerminate insert mode<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    u<\/td>\nUndo last change<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    U<\/td>\nUndo all changes to entire line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    o<\/td>\nOpen a new line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    dd
    3dd<\/td>\n    		Delete line
    Delete 3 lines.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    D<\/td>\nDelete contents of line after cursor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\nDelete contents of line after cursor and insert new text. Press esc key to end insertion.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    dw
    4dw<\/td>\n    		Delete word
    Delete 4 words<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    cw<\/td>\nChange word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    x<\/td>\nDelete character at cursor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    r<\/td>\nReplace character<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    R<\/td>\nOverwrite characters from cursor onward<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    s<\/td>\nSubstitute one character under cursor continue to insert<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    S<\/td>\nSubstitute entire line and begin to insert at beginning of line<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ~<\/td>\nChange case of individual character<\/td>\n<\/tr\n> <\/p>\n
    ctrl-a
    ctrl-x<\/td>\n    		Increment number under the cursor.
    Decrement number under the cursor.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \/search_string<\/i>{CR}<\/td>\nSearch for search_string<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    ?search_string<\/i>{CR}<\/td>\nSearch backwards (up in file) for search_string<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \/\\<search_string<\/i>\\>{CR}<\/td>\nSearch for search_word<\/i>
    Ex: \/\\
    Search for variable “s” but ignore declaration “string” or words containing “s”. This will find “string s;”, “s = fn(x);”, “x = fn(s);”, etc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    n<\/td>\nFind next occurrence of search_word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    N<\/td>\nFind previous occurrence of search_word<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    .<\/td>\nrepeat last command action.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

    Terminate session:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Use command: ZZ
      Save changes and quit.<\/li>\n
    • Use command line: “:wq<\/tt>“
      Save (write) changes and quit.<\/li>\n
    • Use command line: “:w<\/tt>“
      Save (write) changes without quitting.<\/li>\n
    • Use command line: “:q!<\/tt>“
      Ignore changes and quit. No changes from last write will be saved.<\/li>\n
    • Use command line: “:qa<\/tt>“
      Quit all files opened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This post was most recently updated on December 11th, 2018 Basic “vi” features One edits a file in vi by issuing the command: vi file-to-edit.txt The vi editor has three modes, command mode, insert mode and command line mode. Command mode: letters or sequence of letters interactively command vi. Commands are case sensitive. The ESC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bleuanus.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}