useful vi commands…

by Andreas Mastichis | May 7, 2010 | Linux

Some of the most useful vi commands:

• Insert (key) …edit mode
• Esc (key) …exit edit mode
• :wq or ZZ …save and exit vi (must not be in edit mode)
• :q! …exit vi without saving (must not be in edit mode)
• :w myfilename …save vi editor buffer to new file (must not be in edit mode)
• yy or Y …copy a line to buffer
• p or P …paste a line from buffer
• i …insert single character at cursor (Esc to exit edit mode)
• r …replace single character at cursor (Esc to exit edit mode)
• x …delete single character at cursor (Esc to exit edit mode)
• :sh …to switch to shell mode (use Ctrl + d to return to vi)
• :set number/nonumber …will turn line-numbers on or off

searching text (not in edit mode):

• /nas …will search forward for any string ‘nas’
• ?nas …will search backward for any string ‘nas’
• n …will go to the next found string
• :nohlsearch …will turn-off highlight search results

copy-paste from windows to vi:

1. ctrl + v (copy text from source in windows)
2. :sh …to switch to shell mode
3. cat > output + r-click (to paste what copied from windows)
4. r: ! + r-click (from within vi)

for more commands see source at www.colorado.edu