Summary of Basic vi Commands

Starting vi

vi filename

Open or create file

vi

Open new file to be named later

vi -r filename

Recover crashed file

view filename

Open file read-only

Cursor Commands

h

Move left one character

j

Move down one line

k

Move up one line

l

Move right one character

w

Move right one word

W

Move right one word (past punctuation)

b

Move left one word

B

Move left one word (past punctuation)

e

Move to end of current word

Return

Move down one line

Back Space

Move left one character

Space Bar

Move right one character

H

Move to top of screen

M

Move to middle of screen

L

Move to bottom of screen

Ctrl-F

Page forward one screen

Ctrl-D

Scroll forward one-half screen

Ctrl-B

Page backward one screen

Ctrl-U

Scroll backward one-half screen

Inserting Characters and Lines

a

Insert characters to right of cursor

A

Insert characters at end of line

i

Insert characters to left of cursor

I

Insert characters at beginning of line

o

Insert line below cursor

O

Insert line above cursor

Changing Text

cw

Change word (or part of word) to right of cursor

cc

Change line

C

Change from cursor to end of line

s

Substitute string for character(s) from cursor forward

r

Replace character at cursor with one other character

r Return

Break line

J

Join current line and line below

xp

Transpose character at cursor and character to right

~

Change case of letter (upper or lower)

u

Undo previous command

U

Undo all changes to current line

:u

Undo previous last-line command

Deleting Text

x

Delete character at the cursor

X

Delete character to the left of the cursor

dw

Delete word (or part of word to right of cursor)

dd

Delete line containing the cursor

D

Delete part of line to right of cursor

dG

Delete to end of file

d1G

Delete from beginning of file to cursor

:5,10 d

Delete lines 5-10

Copying and Moving Text

yy

Yank or copy line

Y

Yank or copy line

p

Put yanked or deleted line below current line

P

Put yanked or deleted line above current line

:1,2 co 3

Copy lines 1-2 and put after line 3

:4,5 m 6

Move lines 4-5 and put after line 6

Setting Line Numbers

:set nu

Show line numbers

:set nonu

Hide line numbers

Setting Case-sensitivity

:set ic

Searches should ignore case

:set noic

Searches should be case-sensitive

Finding a Line

G

Go to last line of file

1G

Go to first line of file

21G

Go to line 21

Searching and Replacing

/string

Search for string

?string

Search backward for string

n

Find next occurrence of string in search direction

N

Find previous occurrence of string in search direction

:g/search/s//replace/g

Search and replace

Clearing the Screen

Ctrl-L

Clear (refresh) scrambled screen

Inserting a File into a File

:r filename

Insert (read) file after cursor

:34 r filename

Insert file after line 34

Saving and Quitting

:w

Save changes (write buffer)

:w filename

Write buffer to named file

:wq

Save changes and quit vi

ZZ

Save changes and quit vi

:q!

Quit without saving changes