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vi Commands cheat sheet

Vi Commands cheat sheet. Explore our ultimate quick reference for vi Commands.

Here’s a vi commands cheat sheet to help you navigate and edit files efficiently in the vi text editor. It covers essential commands for opening files, moving within a document, editing, searching, and saving.

Opening and Exiting

Open a file

  • vi filename – Open a file in vi.

Save and Exit

  • :w – Save the file.
  • :q – Quit (only if no changes have been made).
  • :wq or ZZ – Save and quit.
  • :q! – Quit without saving.

Moving by Character

  • h – Move left.
  • l – Move right.
  • j – Move down.
  • k – Move up.

Moving by Word

  • w – Move to the next word.
  • e – Move to the end of the word.
  • b – Move to the beginning of the word.

Moving by Line

  • 0 – Move to the beginning of the line.
  • ^ – Move to the first non-blank character of the line.
  • $ – Move to the end of the line.

Moving by Paragraph

  • { – Move to the beginning of the paragraph.
  • } – Move to the end of the paragraph.

Moving by Screen

  • Ctrl + d – Move half-page down.
  • Ctrl + u – Move half-page up.
  • Ctrl + f – Move full page down.
  • Ctrl + b – Move full page up.

Moving by File

  • gg – Go to the beginning of the file.
  • G – Go to the end of the file.
  • nG – Go to line n (e.g., 50G to go to line 50).
  • H – Move to the top of the screen.
  • M – Move to the middle of the screen.
  • L – Move to the bottom of the screen.

Editing

Insert Mode (Enter Text)

  • i – Insert before cursor.
  • I – Insert at the beginning of the line.
  • a – Append after cursor.
  • A – Append at the end of the line.
  • o – Open a new line below.
  • O – Open a new line above.

Delete Text

  • x – Delete the character under the cursor.
  • X – Delete the character before the cursor.
  • dw – Delete the word.
  • d$ – Delete from the cursor to the end of the line.
  • dd – Delete the whole line.
  • dG – Delete from cursor to end of file.
  • dgg – Delete from cursor to start of file.

Copy and Paste

  • yy – Copy (yank) the entire line.
  • yw – Yank a word.
  • y$ – Yank from cursor to end of line.
  • p – Paste after cursor.
  • P – Paste before cursor.

Undo and Redo

  • u – Undo the last change.
  • Ctrl + r – Redo the last undo.

Replace Text

  • r<char> – Replace the character under the cursor.
  • R – Enter replace mode (overwrite text).

Searching

Search Forward and Backward

  • /pattern – Search forward for pattern.
  • ?pattern – Search backward for pattern.
  • n – Repeat the search in the same direction.
  • N – Repeat the search in the opposite direction.

Search and Replace

  • :s/old/new/ – Replace first occurrence in current line.
  • :s/old/new/g – Replace all occurrences in current line.
  • :%s/old/new/g – Replace all occurrences in entire file.
  • :%s/old/new/gc – Replace all occurrences with confirmation.

Visual Mode

Selecting Text

  • v – Start character-wise selection.
  • V – Start line-wise selection.
  • Ctrl + v – Start block-wise selection.

Miscellaneous

Indentation

  • >> – Indent current line.
  • << – Unindent current line.

Case Change

  • ~ – Toggle case of character under the cursor.
  • gU – Change selection to uppercase.
  • gu – Change selection to lowercase.

Tips and Sources

Useful Tips

  • Use :set number to display line numbers.
  • Use :set ignorecase to make searches case-insensitive.
  • Use :set hlsearch to highlight search results.
  • Use :set autoindent to enable automatic indentation.
  • Press Esc multiple times if you’re stuck in a mode.

Reliable Sources

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