vi editor - shortcuts/cheat sheet

vi editor shortcuts, cheat sheet

Invoking vi

Shortcut/command	Description
vi file	Invoke vi editor on file
vi file1 file2	Invoke vi editor on files sequentially
view file	Invoke vi editor on file in read­only mode
vi -R file	Invoke vi editor on file in read­only mode
vi -r file	Recover file and recent edits after system crash
vi + file	Open file at last line
vi +n file	Open file at line number n
vi +/pattern	file Open file at pattern

Inserting in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
i	Insert before cursor
I	Insert before line
a	Append after cursor
A	Append after line
o	Open a new line after current line
O	Open a new line before current line
r	Replace one character
R	Replace many characters
[Ctrl]v char	While inserting, ignores special meaning of char (e.g., for inserting characters like ESC and CTRL) until ESC is used
[Ctrl]i or tab	While inserting, inserts one shift width

Changes in inserting mode in vi editor

To delete/revert last inserted word/chars during inserting mode, without leaving insert mode, use these commands.

Shortcut/ command	Description
[Ctrl]h	Back /Remove last one character
[Ctrl]w	Back one word
[Ctrl]u	Back /Remove last Back to beginning of insert

Deleting in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
x	Delete character to the right of cursor
nx	Deletes n characters starting with current; omitting n deletes current character only
X	Delete character to the left of cursor
nX	Deletes previous n characters; omitting n deletes previous character only
D	Delete to the end of the line
dd or :d	Delete current line
:d	Delete current line
ndd	Delete n lines together
:n,md	Deletes lines n through m
dw	delete word
dnw	Delete n words
d)	Delete to end of sentence
db	Delete previous word
ndb	Deletes the previous n words starting with current

Motion/ Moving in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
h	Move left
j	Move down
k	Move up
l	Move right
w	Move to next word
W	Move to next blank delimited word
b	Move to the beginning of the word
B	Move to the beginning of blank delimted word
e	Move to the end of the word
E	Move to the end of Blank delimited word
(	Move a sentence back
)	Move a sentence forward
{	Move a paragraph back
}	Move a paragraph forward
[[	Move a section back
]]	Move a section forward
0 or |	Move to the begining of the line
n|	Moves to the column n in the current line
$	Move to the end of the line
1G	Move to the first line of the file
G	Move to the last line of the file
nG	Move to nth line of the file
:n	Move to nth line of the file
fc	Move forward to c
Fc	Move back to c
H	Move to top of screen
nH	Moves to nth line from the top of the screen
M	Move to middle of screen
L	Move to botton of screen
nL	Moves to nth line from the bottom of the screen
%	Move to associated ( ), { }, [ ]
[Ctrl]G	Shows filename, current line number, total lines in file, and % of file location
:.=	Display current line number
:=	Shows number of lines in file
|	Displays tab (^l) backslash (\) backspace (^H) newline ($) bell (^G) formfeed (^L^) of current line

Files, Exit and Save Commands in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
:w file	Write to file
:wq	Write to file and quit
:w %.new	Save current buffer named file as file.new
ZZ	Same as :wq
:x	Save and exit.
:q!	Quit without saving changes
:q	quit
:e file2	Edit other file file2 without leaving vi
:e! file2	Discard changes to current file, then edit file2 without leaving vi
:e!	Discard all changes since last save
:e#	Edit alternate file
:r file	Read file in after line
:r!command	Insert the output from a UNIX command into a file, immediately after the cursor
:n	Go to next file
:p	Go to previos file

Shell commands in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
:! cmd	Executes shell command cmd;
!! cmd	Executes shell command cmd, places output in file starting at current line
:!!	Executes last shell command
:r! cmd	Reads and inserts output from cmd
:f file	Renames current file to file
:w !cmd	Sends currently edited file to cmd as standard input and execute cmd
:cd dir	Changes current working directory to dir
:sh	Starts a sub-shell (CTRL-d returns to editor)
:so file	Reads and executes commands in file (file is a shell script)
!}sort	Sorts from current position to end of paragraph and replaces text with sorted text

Yanking Text/cut copy paste in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
yy or Y	Yank the current line
:y	Yank the current line
yw	Yank word to general buffer
“a9dd	Delete 9 lines to buffer a
“A9dd	Delete 9 lines; Append to buffer a
“ap	Put text from buffer a after cursor
p	paste yanked clipboard content after cursor
P	paste yanked clipboard content before cursor
J	Join lines
y$	yanks to the end of the line

Changing text in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
C	Change to the end of the line
CText	Changes rest of the current line to text until ESC is used
cc or s	Change the whole line
sText	Substitutes text for the current character until ESC is used
xp	Switches character at cursor with following character
cw	Change word (Esc)
cwText	Changes current word to text until ESC is used
c$	Change to end of line
rc	Replace character with c
<< or >>	Shifts the line left or right (respectively) by one shift width (a tab)
n<< or n>>	Shifts n lines left or right (respectively) by one shift width (a tab)

Markers in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
mc	Set marker c on this line
`c	Go to beginning of marker c line.
'c	Go to first non-blank character of marker c line.
'	Return to begining of line containing previous mark
``	Return to previous mark or context

Search operations in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
/string	Search forward for string
?string	Search back for string
n	Search for next instance of string
N	Search for previous instance of string
fx	search forward for character x in current line
Fx	search backward for character x in current line
tx	search forward for character before x in current line
Tx	search backward for character after x in current line
;	Repeat previous current­line search
,	Repeat previous current­line search in opposite direction
&	Repeats last :s command
:set ic	Ignores case when searching
:set noic	Pays attention to case when searching
:n,ms/str1/str2/opt	Searches from n to m for str1; replaces str1 to str2; using opt-opt can be g for global change, c to confirm change (y to acknowledge, to suppress), and p to print changed lines
:g/str/cmd	Runs cmd on all lines that contain str
g/str1/s/str2/str3/	Finds the line containing str1, replaces str2 with str3
:v/str/cmd	Executes cmd on all lines that do not match str

Replace operations in vi editor

The search and replace function is accomplished with the :s command. It is commonly used in combination with ranges or the :g command

Shortcut/ command	Description
:s/pattern/string/flags	Replace pattern with string according to flags.
g	Flag - Replace all occurences of pattern
c	Flag - Confirm replaces.
&	Repeat last :s command

Regular expressions in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
. (dot)	Any single character except newline
*	zero or more occurances of any character
[...]	Any single character specified in the set
[^...]	Any single character not specified in the set
^	Anchor - beginning of the line
$	Anchor - end of line
\<	Anchor - begining of word
\>	Anchor - end of word
\(...\)	Grouping - usually used to group conditions
\n	Contents of nth grouping

Ranges in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
:n,m	Range - Lines n-m
:.	Range - Current line
:$	Range - Last line
:'c	Range - Marker c
:%	Range - All lines in file
:g/pattern/	Range - All lines that contain pattern

Parameters in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
:set list	Show invisible characters
:set nolist	Don’t show invisible characters
:set number	Show line numbers
:set nonumber	Don’t show line numbers
:set autoindent	Indent after carriage return
:set noautoindent	Turn off autoindent
:set showmatch	Show matching sets of parentheses as they are typed
:set noshowmatch	Turn off showmatch
:set showmode	Display mode on last line of screen
:set noshowmode	Turn off showmode
:set all	Show values of all possible parameters

Scrolling in vi editor

To scroll within vi editor, use following commands.

Shortcut/ command	Description
[Ctrl]F	Scroll forward one screen
[Ctrl]B	Scroll backward one screen
[Ctrl]D	Scroll down one­half screen
[Ctrl]U	Scroll up one­half screen
[Ctrl]E	Show one more line at bottom
Ctrl]Y	Show one more line at  top of window
z	Reposition window: cursor at top
nz	Makes the line n the top line on the page
z.	Reposition window: cursor in middle
nz.	Makes the line n the middle line on the page
z-	Reposition window: cursor at bottom
nz-	Makes the line n the bottom line on the page

Other operations in vi editor

Shortcut/ command	Description
~	Toggle upp and lower case
.	Repeat last text-changing command
u	Undo last change
U	Undo all changes to line

tags: vi editor shortcuts, vi editor cheat sheet, vi editor commands, how to navigate in vi editor