How to use VI

vi Overview

When in vi, the most important thing to remember is that you enter a " :" (colon) to get to the command line. From there, commands for the "ed" editor work.

Modes

Vi has two modes insertion mode and command mode. The editor begins in command mode, where the cursor movement and text deletion and pasting occur. Insertion mode begins upon entering an insertion or change command. [ESC] returns the editor to command mode (where you can quit, for example by typing :q!). Most commands execute as soon as you type them except for "colon" commands which execute when you press the ruturn key.

Starting and Ending VI

Starting VI

vi filename Edits filename

vi -r filename Edits last save version of filename after a crash

vi + n filename Edits filename and places curser at line n

vi + filename Edits filename and places curser on last line

vi +/string filename Edits filename and places curser on first occurance of string

vi filename file2 ... Edits filename, then edits file2 ... After the save, use  :n

Quitting

 ZZ    Saves and exits VI

 :wq   Saves and exits VI

 :x    Saves and exits VI

 :w    Saves current file but doesn't exit

 :w!   Saves current file overriding normal checks but doesn't exit

 :q    Quits VI and may prompt if you need to save

 :q!   Quits VI and without saving

 :e!   Edits file discarding any unsaved changes (starts over)

 :we!  Saves and continues to edit current file



 :w file    Saves current as file but doesn't exit

 :w! file   Saves to file overriding normal checks but doesn't exit



 :n,mw file     Saves lines n through m to file

 :n,mw >>file   Saves lines n through m to the end of file

Working with Text

Inserting Text

 i  Insert before cursor

 I  Insert before line

 a  Append after cursor

 A  Append after line

 o  Open a new line after current line

 O  Open a new line before current line

 r  Replace one character

 R  Replace many characters



 :r file      Reads file and inserts it after current line

 :nr file     Reads file and inserts it after line n



 CTRL-i or TAB   While inserting, inserts one shift width

 CTRL-v char     While inserting, ignores special meaning of

                  char (e.g., for inserting characters like

                  ESC and CTRL) until ESC is used



:Things to do while in Insert Mode

 CTRL-h   deletes previous character

 CTRL-w   deletes previous word

 CTRL-x   deletes to start of inserted text

 CTRL-v   Take the next character literally. (i.e. To insert a Control-H, type Control-v Control-h)

Motion

 h Move left

 j Move down

 k Move up

 l Move right

:Arrow Keys These do work, but they may be too slow on big files. Also may have unpredictable results when arrow keys are not mapped correctly in client.

 w   Moves to next word

 W   Moves to next blank delimited word

 b   Moves to the beginning of the word

 B   Moves to the beginning of blank delimted word

 ^   Moves to the first non-blank character in the current line

 +   Moves to the first character in the next line

 -   Moves to the first non-blank character in the previous line

 e   Moves to the end of the word

 E   Moves to the end of Blank delimited word

 (   Moves a sentance back

 )   Moves a sentance forward

 {   Moves a paragraph back

 }   Moves a paragraph forward

 0   Moves to the begining of the line

 |   Moves to the begining of the line

 n|  Moves to the column n in the current line

 $   Moves to the end of the line

 1G  Moves to the first line of the file

 G   Moves to the last line of the file

 nG  Moves to nth line of the file

 :n  Moves to nth line of the file

 fc  Moves forward to c

 Fc  Moves back to c

 H   Moves to top of screen

 nH  Moves to nth line from the top of the screen

 M   Moves to middle of screen

 L   Moves to botton of screen

 nL  Moves to nth line from the bottom of the screen



 CTRL-d Moves forward � screen

 CTRL-f Moves forward one full screen

 CTRL-u Moves backward � screen

 CTRL-b Moves backward one full screen

 CTRL-e Moves screen up one line

 CTRL-y Moves screen down one line

 CTRL-u Moves screen up � page

 CTRL-d Moves screen down � page

 CTRL-b Moves screen up one page

 CTRL-f Moves screen down one page

 CTRL-I Redraws screen



 z    Makes the current line the top line on the page

 nz   Makes the line n the top line on the page

 z.   Makes the current line the middle line on the page

 nz.  Makes the line n the middle line on the page

 z-   Makes the current line the bottom line on the page

 nz-  Makes the line n the bottom line on the page

 %    Moves to associated ( ), { }, [ ]

Deleting Text

:Almost all deletion commands are performed by typing d followed by a motion. For example, dw deletes a word. A few other deletes are :

 x   Delete character to the right of cursor

 nx  Deletes n characters starting with current; omitting n deletes current character only

 X   Delete character to the left of cursor

 nX  Deletes previous n characters; omitting n deletes previous character only

 D   Delete to the end of the line

 d$  Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line

 dd  Delete current line

 :d  Delete current line

 ndw Deletes the next n words starting with current

 ndb Deletes the previous n words starting with current

 ndd Deletes n lines beginning with the current line



 :n,md   Deletes lines n through m



 dMotion_cmd   Deletes everything included in the Motion Command

               (e.g., dG would delete from current position to

               the end of the file, and  d4 would delete to the

               end of the fourth sentence).



 "np       Retrieves the last nth delete (last 9 deletes are kept in a buffer)

 "1pu.u.   Scrolls through the delete buffer until the desired delete is retrieved (repeat u.)

Yanking Text

:Like deletion, almost all yank commands are performed by typing y followed by a motion. For example, y$ yanks to the end of the line.

 yy   Yank the current line

 :y   Yank the current line

 nyy  Places n lines in the buffer-copies

 nY   Places n lines in the buffer-copies



 yMotion_cmd   Copies everything from the curser to the Motion

                Command (e.g., yG would copy from current position

                to the end of the file, and y4 would copy to the

                end of the fourth sentence)



 "(a-z)nyy   Copies or cuts (deletes) n lines into a named buffer

              a through z; omitting n works on current line

 "(a-z)ndd   Copies or cuts (deletes) n lines into a named buffer

              a through z; omitting n works on current line

Changing text

:The change command is a deletion command that leaves the editor in insert mode. It is performed by typing c followed by a motion. For example cw changes a word. A few other change commands are :

 C   Change to the end of the line

 cc  Change the whole line until ESC is pressed

 S   Change the whole line until ESC is pressed

 xp  Switches character at cursor with following character



 stext   Substitutes text for the current character until ESC is used

 cwtext  Changes current word to text until ESC is used

 Ctext   Changes rest of the current line to text until ESC is used



 cMotion_cmd   Changes to text from current position to Motion Command until ESC is used

 << or >>      Shifts the line left or right (respectively) by one shift width (a tab)

 n<< or n>>     Shifts n lines left or right (respectively) by one shift width (a tab)



 "Motion_cmd"     Use with Motion Command to shift multiple lines left or right

Putting text

 p   Put after the position or after the line

 P   Put before the poition or before the line



 "(a-z)p   Pastes text from a named buffer a through z after or before the current line

 "(a-z)P   Pastes text from a named buffer a through z after or before the current line

Replace

:The search and replace function is accomplished with the  :s command. It is commonly used in combination with ranges or the  :g command (below).



 g Flag     Replace all occurences of pattern

 c Flag     Confirm replaces.



 :s/pattern/string/flags   Replace pattern with string according to flags.

 &                         Repeat last :s command

Buffers

Named buffers may be specified before any deletion, change, yank or put command. The general prefix has the form "c where c is any lowercase character. for example, "adw deletes a word into buffer a. It may thereafter be put back into text with an appropriate "ap.

Markers

Named markers may be set on any line in a file. Any lower case letter may be a marker name. Markers may also be used as limits for ranges.

mc Set marker c on this line

`c Go to beginning of marker c line.

'c Go to first non-blank character of marker c line.

Search for strings

 n   Search for next instance of string

 N   Search for previous instance of string

 %   Searches to beginning of balancing ( ) [ ] or { }

 ,   Repeats, in reverse direction, last / or ? search command

 fc  Searches forward in current line to char

 Fc  Searches backward in current line to char

 tc  Searches forward in current line to character before char



 Tchar  Searches backward in current line to character before char

 ?str   Finds in reverse for str



 :set ic    Ignores case when searching

 :set noic   Pays attention to case when searching



 /string   Search forward for string

 ?string   Search back for string



 :n,ms/str1/str2/opt       Searches from n to m for str1;

                           replaces str1 to str2;

                           using opt-opt can be g for global change,

                           c to confirm change (y to acknowledge, to suppress),

                           and p to print changed lines



 :g/str/cmd              Runs cmd on all lines that contain str

 :g/str1/s/str2/str3/    Finds the line containing str1, replaces str2 with str3

 :v/str/cmd              Executes cmd on all lines that do not match str

Regular Expressions

 . (dot)   Any single character except newline

 *         Zero or more occurances of any character

 [...]     Any single character specified in the set

 [^...]    Any single character not specified in the set

 \<        Matches beginning of word

 \>        Matches end of word

 ^         Anchor - beginning of the line

 $         Anchor - end of line

 \<        Anchor - begining of word

 \>        Anchor - end of word

 \(...\)   Grouping - usually used to group conditions

 \n        Contents of nth grouping

 \         Escapes the meaning of the next character

             (e.g., \$ allows you to search for $)

 \\        Escapes the \ character



 [...] - Set Examples [A-Z] The SET from Capital A to Capital Z

 [a-z]    The SET from lowercase a to lowercase z

 [0-9]    The SET from 0 to 9 (All numerals)

 [./=+]   The SET containing . (dot), / (slash), =, and +

 [-A-F]   The SET from Capital A to Capital F and the dash (dashes must be specified first)

 [0-9 A-Z]     The SET containing all capital letters and digits and a space

 [A-Z][a-zA-Z] In the first position, the SET from Capital A to Capital Z

:In the second character position, the SET containing all letters

 [a-z]{m}     Look for m occurances of the SET from lowercase a to lowercase z

 [a-z]{m,n}   Look for at least m occurances, but no more than n occurances of the SET from lowercase a to lowercase z

:Regular Expression Examples /Hello/ Matches if the line contains the value Hello

 /^TEST$/     Matches if the line contains TEST by itself

 /^[a-zA-Z]/  Matches if the line starts with any letter

 /^[a-z].*/   Matches if the first character of the line is a-z and there is at least one more of any character following it

 /2134$/      Matches if line ends with 2134

 /\(21|35\)/  Matches is the line contains 21 or 35

:Note the use of ( ) with the pipe symbol to specify the 'or' condition

 /[0-9]*/   Matches if there are zero or more numbers in the line

 /^[^#]/    Matches if the first character is not a # in the line



:Notes:

#Regular expressions are case sensitive

#Regular expressions are to be used where pattern is specified

Counts

Nearly every command may be preceded by a number that specifies how many times it is to be performed. For example, 5dw will delete 5 words and 3fe will move the cursor forward to the 3rd occurence of the letter e. Even insertions may be repeated conveniently with thismethod, say to insert the same line 100 times.

Ranges

Ranges may precede most "colon" commands and cause them to be executed on a line or lines. For example :3,7d would delete lines 3-7. Ranges are commonly combined with the :s command to perform a replacement on several lines, as with :.,$s/pattern/string/g to make a replacement from the current line to the end of the file.

 :n,m Range - Lines n-m

 :. Range - Current line

 :$ Range - Last line

 :'c Range - Marker c

 :% Range - All lines in file

 :g/pattern/ Range - All lines that contain pattern

Files

 :n  Go to next file

 :p  Go to previous file



 :w file   Write to file

 :r file   Read file in after line

 :e file   Edit file



 !!program   Replace line with output from program

Status

 :.= Shows current line number

 := Shows number of lines in file

 Control-G Shows filename, current line number, total lines in file, and % of file location

 l Displays tab (^l) backslash (\) backspace (^H) newline ($) bell (^G) formfeed (^L^) of current line

Shell Functions

 :! cmd   Executes shell command cmd; you can add these special characters to indicate :% name of current file# name of last file edited

 !! cmd   Executes shell command cmd, places output in file starting at current line

 :!!      Executes last shell command

 :r! cmd  Reads and inserts output from cmd

 :f file  Renames current file to file

 :w !cmd  Sends currently edited file to cmd as standard input and execute cmd

 :cd dir  Changes current working directory to dir

 :sh      Starts a sub-shell (CTRL-d returns to editor)

 :so      file Reads and executes commands in file (file is a shell script)

 !Motion_cmd Sends text from current position to Motion Command to shell command cmd

 !}sort      Sorts from current position to end of paragraph and replaces text with sorted text

VI Settings

:Note : Options given are default. To change them, enter type  :set option to turn them on or  :set nooptioni to turn them off.To make them execute every time you open VI, create a file in your HOME directory called .exrc and type the options without the colon ( :) preceding the option  :set ai Turns on auto indentation

 :set all Prints all options to the screen

 :set ap Prints line after d c J m  :s t u commands

 :set bf Discards control characters from input

 :set dir=tmp Sets tmp to directory or buffer file

 :set eb Precedes error messages with a bell

 :set ic Ignores case when searching

 :set lisp Modifies brackets for Lisp compatibility.

 :set list Shows tabs (^l) and end of line ($)

 :set magic Allows pattern matching with special characters

 :set mesg  Allows others to send messages

 :set nooption Turns off option

 :set nu Shows line numbers

 :set opt Speeds output; eliminates automatic RETURN

 :set prompt Prompts for command input with  :

 :set re Simulates smart terminal on dumb terminal

 :set report Indicates largest size of changes reported on status line

 :set ro Changes file type to "read only"

 :set scroll=n set n lines for CTRL-d and z

 :set sh=shell_path set shell escape (default is /bin/sh) to shell_path

 :set showmode Indicates input or replace mode at bottom

 :set sw=n Sets shift width to n characters

 :set term Prints terminal type

 :set terse Shorten messages with terse

 :set timeout Eliminates one-second time limit for macros

 :set tl=n Sets significance of tags beyond n characters (0 means all)

 :set ts=n Sets tab stops to n for text input

 :set wa Inhibits normal checks before write commands

 :set warn Warns "no write since last change"

 :set window=n Sets number of lines in a text window to n

 :set wm=n Sets automatic wraparound n spaces from right margin.

Key Mapping

:NOTE : Map allows you to define strings of VI commands. If you create a file called ".exrc" in your home directory, any map or set command you place inside this file will be executed every time you run VI. To imbed control characters like ESC in the macro, you need to precede them with CTRL-v. If you need to include quotes ("), precede them with a \ (backslash). Unused keys in vi are : K V g q v * = and the function keys.

:Example (The actual VI commands are in blue) :  :map v /I CTRL-v ESC dwiYou CTRL-v ESC ESC

:Description : When v is pressed, search for "I" (/I ESC), delete word (dw), and insert "You" (iYou ESC). CTRL-v allows ESC to be inserted  :map key cmd_seq Defines key to run cmd_seq when pressed

 :map Displays all created macros on status line

 :unmap key Removes macro definition for key

 :ab str string When str is input, replaces it with string

 :ab Displays all abbreviations

 :una str Unabbreviates str

Other

 ~   Toggle upp and lower case

 J   Join lines

 nJ  Joins the next n lines together; omitting n joins the beginning of the next line to the end of the current line

 .   Repeat last text-changing command

 u   Undo last change

 U   Undo all changes to line

 ;   Repeats last f F t or T search command