“vi” is powerful editor which is available in Unix/Linux to edit the text files.Its an command oriented text editor. It has three modes. 1.Insert mode.2.command mode. 3.last line mode.Once you open a file using vi,it opens the file in command mode,which will allow you to move the cursor quickly within a file.Insert mode allows you to enter a new text and modify text in your file. Press “i”,”a” or “o” to get to insert mode. Press ‹Esc› to get back to command mode.In command mode,if you press “:” , you will reach last line mode from where you can exit from the file by saving or without saving.To force quit type “:!” and enter.
The below commands are very useful in day to day administration.
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| Inserting and Appending Text | |
|---|---|
| a | Append text after the cursor |
| A | Appends text at the end of the line |
| i | Inserts text before the cursor |
| I | Inserts text at the beginning of the line |
| o | Opens a new line below the cursor |
| O | Opens a new line above the cursor |
| :r | Inserts text from another file into the current file |
| Key Sequence for the VI Editor | |
| n, left arrow or backspace | Left one characters |
| j or down arrow | Down one line |
| k or up arrow | Up one line |
| l, right arrow or spacebar | Right one character |
| w | Forward one word |
| b | Back one word |
| e | To the end of the current word |
| $ | To the end of the line |
| 0 (zero) | To the beginning of the line |
| ^ | To the first non whitespace character on the line |
| Return | Down to the beginning of the next line |
| G | Goes to the last line of the file |
| 1G | Goes to the first line of the file |
| :n | Goes to the line n |
| nG | Goes to the line n |
| Ctrl F | Pages forward one screen |
| Ctrl D | Scroll down one half screen |
| Ctrl B | Pages back one screen |
| Ctrl U | Scrolls up one half screen |
| Ctrl L | Refreshes the screen |
| Editing files using the VI editing commands | |
| R | Overwrites or replace characters to the right of the cursor |
| C | Changes or overwrites characters to the end of the line |
| s | Substitute a string for a character at the cursor |
| x | Deletes a character at the cursor |
| dw | Deletes a word or part of the word to the right of the cursor |
| dd | Dletes the line containing the cursor |
| D | Deletes the line from the cursor to the right end of the line |
| :n,nd | Deletes the line n through n |
| Using the Text Changing Commands | |
| u | Undoes the previous command |
| U | Undoes all changes to the current line |
| . | Repeats the previous command |
| Search and Replace Command | |
| /string | Searches forward for the string |
| ?string | Searches backward for the string |
| n | Searches the next occurrence of the string |
| N | Searches for the previous occurrence of the string |
| :%s/old/new/g | Searches for the old string and replace it with the new string globally |
| Using the text copying and Text Pasting Commands | |
| yy | Yanks a copy of a line |
| p | Puts yanked or deleted text under the line containing the cursor |
| P | Puts yanked or deleted text before the line containing the cursor |
| :n,n co n | Copies lines n through n and puts them after line n |
| :n,n m n | Moves lines n through n to line n |