VI Basic Commands

  

Editing 

• i - insert at the cursor

• I - insert at the beginning of the line

• a - write after the cursor

• A - write at the end of line.

• o - write at the next line 

• 3o - insert the 3 blank line. 

• O - write at the previous line. 

Cut, Copy and Paste

• x - delete one character at a time. 

• X - delete one character in opposite direction

• yy - copy the lines

• 5yy - copy next 5 lines.  

• yw - copy the single word. 

• dd - delete entire line

• dw - delete word

• d^ - delete from the cursor to beginning of the line.

• d$ - delete from the cursor to end of the line.

Navigation

• :n 🡪 jumps to nth line number

• :32 🡪 Jumps to 32nd line

• $ → end of line. 

• w - move forward one word

• W - move forward one word without punctuation.

• b - move back one word

• B - move back one word without punctuation. 

Find and Replace

• :%s/find/replace/g

Searching

• /pattern  == forward searching

• ?pattern == Backward Searching

• n  == Repeat search in same direction

• N == Repeat search in opposite direction

Other Commands

• J - join the two lines. 

• . -  repeat your last commands (dot)

• r - replace the character.

• R - overwrite characters from cursor onwards.