Vi & Vim Guide

Vi is a small, fast and efficient text editor that is installed by default in almost any Unix or Linux system, and Vim (Vi IMproved) is an enhanced version of vi. Most people find vi somewhat hard to learn at first, but it enables fast, simple and effective editing once you get used to it. I got hooked to vi when I first worked with Sun Sparc10 workstation in 1995. Vi is extremely powerful in moving around files without touching any arrow keys. Vi operates in three modes: command mode (colon prompt), insert mode and default mode. For insert mode, press ESC and type colon to switch to command mode. Vi works in default mode after ESC is pressed in all modes (without input colon). In default mode, we are able to move around in the file, switch to insert mode or command mode.

Follow is the vi/vim commands I most use:

Command	Mode	Description
vi filename	default	start editing a file
:wq	command	write to disk and quit ( equal to :x)
:q!	command	quit without saving any changes
:e!	command	recover to the original without any changes
:!command	command	execute a command; :!sh fork a shell, Ctrl-d to exit
h; l; k; j	default	one space to the left, right; one line up, down respectively
^; $	default	the beginning or end of current line
w; e	default	the beginning or end of next word
Ctrl-b; Ctrl-f	default	one page up (backward) or down (forward)
:number	command	move line with the number
Ctrl-L	command	clear and redraw the screen
G	default	move to the end of file
/string; n	default	search string and repeat search (next)
a; A	default	append from next letter or the end of current line
i; I	default	insert from current position or the beginning of current line
o; O	default	open new line down or up of current line
x	default	delete single character; 5x deletes 5 characters
dw; dd	default	delete word or linde; 5dw deletes 5 words and 5dd deletes 5 lines
yy	default	yank (copy) into buffer; 5yy copies 5 lines into buffer
p; P	default	paste buffer to next or previous line
u; U	default	undo last change or restore the current line
:set num; :set nonum	command	turn on or off line numbering
:set ic; set noic	command	ignore (or not ignore) case when searching
ma; :'a; y'a; d'a	default command	set marker 'a' (could be 'a' to 'z') to the current position, go to marker 'a', copy text from current position to marker 'a' into buffer, delete text from current position to marker 'a'
:%g/^#/d; :%s/^#//g	command	delete all comment lines or uncomment all the comment lines
:[10-20]g/hello/d; :[10-20]v/hello/d	command	delete all lines containing (or not containing) text "hello" from line 10 to 20
:i,jd; :'a,'bd	command	delete text from line i to j or from marker 'a' to marker 'b' inclusively
:i,js/old text/new text/g	command	substitute "new text" for "old text" from line i to j
:'a,'bs/old text/new text/g	command	substitute texts from marker 'a' to marker 'b'
:25,30m50; 'a,'bm50; 25,30co50	command	move lines 25-30 to a new position after line 50; move the text between markers to line after 50; copy lines 25-30 to line after 50