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vi is Found on Nearly Every Unix Computer
vi is Powerful and Fast
vi Stays Out of Your Way
Open a file with vi. Type: vi myfile.txt
Command Mode
Insert (or Text) Mode
When in doubt about which mode you are in, press <Esc>
From Command Mode
k Up one line
j Down one line
h Left one character
l Right one character (or use <Spacebar>)
w Right one word
b Left one word
NOTE: Many vi commands can take a leading count (e. g., 6k, 7e).
From Command Mode
i Enter text entry mode
x Delete a character
dd Delete a line
r Replace a character
R Overwrite text, press <Esc> to end
Displaying Line Numbers
From Command Mode
:set nu Display line numbers
:set nonu Hide line numbers
Setting Right Margin
From Command Mode
:set wm=number Set Wrap Margin number of spaces from right
edge of screen
:set wm=10 Set Wrap Margin 10 spaces from right edge
of screen
:set wm=0 Turn off Wrap Margin
From Command Mode
ZZ Write (if there were changes), then quit
:wq Write, then quit
:q Quit (will only work if file has not been changed)
:q! Quit without saving changes to file
UNIX ---> vi file ---> COMMAND ---> i I a A o O ---> TEXT
SHELL <---- ZZ <------- MODE <------ <Esc> <------ MODE
A Basic vi Session
- To enter vi, type: vi filename <Return>
- To enter insert mode, type: i
- Type in the text: This is easy.
- To leave insert mode and return to command mode, press: <Esc>
- In command mode, save changes and exit vi by typing: :wq <Return>
You are back at the Unix prompt.
From Command Mode
e Move to end of current word
$ Move to end of current line
^ Move to beginning of current line
+ Move to beginning of next line
- Move to beginning of previous line
G Go to last line of the file
:n Go to line with this number (:10 goes to line 10)
<Ctrl>d Scroll down one-half screen
<Ctrl>u Scroll up one-half screen
<Ctrl>f Scroll forward one full screen
<Ctrl>b Scroll backward one full screen
) Move to the next sentence
( Move to the previous sentence
} Move to the next paragraph
{ Move to the previous paragraph
H Move to the top line of the screen
M Move to the middle line of the screen
L Move to the last line of the screen
% Move to matching bracket: ( { [ ] } )
From Command Mode
i Insert text before current character
a Append text after current character
I Begin text insertion at the beginning of a line
A Append text at end of a line
o Open a new line below current line
O Open a new line above current line
Format Example
operator number object c2w
number operator object 2cw
Operators
c change
d delete
y yank
Objects and Locations
w one word forward
b one word backward
e end of word
H, M, L top, middle, or bottom line on screen
), ( next sentence, previous sentence
}, { next paragraph, previous paragraph
^, $ beginning of line, end of line
/pattern/ forward to pattern
From Command Mode
r Replace only the character under the cursor.
(Note: using r you remain in command mode.)
R Beginning with the character under the cursor,
replace as many characters on this line as you
want. (You are in overtype mode until you
press <Esc>
cw Beginning with the character under the cursor,
change a word to whatever you type. (You are
in insert mode until you press <Esc>)
c$ Beginning with the character under the cursor,
C change a line to whatever you type. (You are
in insert mode until you press <Esc>)
From Command Mode
x Delete a character
dw Delete an alphabetic word and the following space
(6dw deletes six words)
dW Delete a blank-delimited word and the following space
dd Delete a line (6dd deletes six lines)
d$ Delete all characters to the end of the line.
D
d} Delete all characters to the end of the paragraph.
:5,30d Delete lines 5 through 30
Deleted text goes into a temporary buffer that is replaced each time you delete (or copy) more text. The current contents of the buffer can be put back into your file.
From Command Mode
yy Copy (yank) the current line
6yy Copy (yank) six lines, beginning with the current line
yw Copy the current word
p Put the text after the cursor position
P Put the text before the cursor position
Copied text goes into a temporary buffer that is replaced each time you copy (or delete) more text. Only the current contents of the temporary buffer can be put back into your file. As a result, when you use copy (y), use the put (p) command immediately.
A yank and put procedure using colon commands:
From Command Mode
. Repeat last command
n. Repeat last command n number of times
J Join next line to current line
u Undo last single change
U Restore current line
~ Change letter's case (capital to lower and vice versa)
Temporary Buffer
Deleted or copied text goes into a temporary unnamed buffer. The contents of the temporary buffer may be retrieved by using the p or P commands.
p Put words from temporary buffer after cursor or
put lines from temporary buffer below current line
P Put words from temporary buffer before cursor or
put lines from temporary buffer above current line
Lettered Buffers
There are 26 lettered buffers (a-z). Contents of a lettered buffer are saved until you copy or delete more characters into it, or until you quit your current vi session.
From Command Mode "ayy Copy (yank) a line into buffer a "Ayy Appends to buffer a "a10yy Copies 10 lines into buffer a "a10dd Deletes 10 lines of text into buffer a "ap Put contents of lettered buffer a below the current line
Both temporary and lettered buffers last only for the current vi session.
:beginning_line, ending_line command destination
where destination is the line after which you want the text placed.
From Command Mode :5,10 co 105 Copy lines 5-10 to the line after 105 :5,20 m $ Move lines 5-20 to end of file :7,300 d Delete lines 7-300 (to buffer)
From Command Mode
/text Search forward (down) for text (text can include spaces
and characters with special meanings.)
?text Search backward (up) for text
n Repeat last search in the same direction
N Repeat last search in the opposite direction
fchar Search forward for a charcter on current line
Fchar Search backward for a character on current line
; Repeat last character search in the same direction
% Find matching ( ), { }, or [ ]
The simplest way to do substitutions over a range of lines, or throughout the file, is to use the s colon command. The basic form of this command is the following:
:n1,n2s/old/new/gc
n1 is the beginning line
n2 is the ending line number
s means to substitute text matching the pattern (old)
with text specified by (new)
g (global) is optional. It indicates you want to substitute
all occurrences on the indicated lines. If you use
g, the editor substitutes only the first occurrence
on the indicated lines.
c (confirm) is optional. It indicates you want to confirm
each substitution before vi completes it.
From Command Mode
:%s/old/new/g Substitutes old with new throughout the file
:.,$s/old/new/g Substitutes old with new from the current
cursor position to the end of the file
:^,.s/old/new/g Substitutes old with new from the beginning
of the file to the current cursor position
:& Repeats the last substitute (:s) command
From Command Mode :w file Write current file to file :w>>file Append current file to file :5,10w file Write lines 5 through 10 to file :5,10w>>file Append Lines 5 through 10 to file :r file Read a copy of file into current file :!ls See a list of files in your current directory
From Command Mode-within vi for the current file only
:set all Display all options
:set Display current settings of options
:set nooption Unset option
:set ai Set Auto Indentation during text entry
:set ic Set Ignore Case during searches
:set nu Show line Numbers
:set sm Show Matching ( or { when ) or } is entered
:set wm=10 Set Wrap Margin 10 spaces from right edge of screen
Options can be set four ways:
:set nu
Sample contents of a .exrc file
set nu
set ai
set wm=10
Example of setting the EXINIT environmental variable
setenv EXINIT "set nu ai ic"
On the Uniform Access systems (Homer, Saul, Mead, Alcott), the EXINIT environmental variable is used to set the shell within which the vi editor operates. Since the EXINIT environmental variable, if it has been defined, overrides anything set by a .exrc file, customizing vi on these computers requires redefining EXINIT. For example, to add numbering and auto indent, you would take the following steps:
% printenv EXINIT
set shell=/bin/csh
This response indicates that the shell is set to
the C shell.
% setenv EXINIT "$EXINIT nu ai"
% printenv EXINIT
set shell=/bin/csh nu ai
set ai
set ic
set nu
set wm=8
Do not leave blank lines at the beginning or end of the .exrc file.
Abbreviations are text strings that automatically expand into larger strings during insert mode.
From Command Mode :ab UW University of Washington
Mapping defines a single key to execute a sequence of keystrokes when the single key is pressed in command mode. In the following example,the @ key is mapped to replace the current word with "University of Washington". The <Control>v allows you to enter the <Esc> key into the command sequence.
From Command Mode :map @ cwUniversity of Washington <Control>v <Esc> <Return>
Mapping can also be used to call commands external to vi, such as sort or fmt. In the following example, the @ sign is mapped to the sort command, so that the current paragraph (indicated by the }) will be sorted. The <Control>v allows you to enter the <Return> key into the command sequence. The second <Return> completes the map command.
From Command Mode :map @ !}sort <Control>v <Return> <Return>
Note: You can also put abbreviation and mapping commands in your .exrc file.
editor=
editor=vi
When finished editing in vi, exit vi and you will be returned to the compose screen.
You can edit more than one file at a time with vi.
From The Unix Shell Prompt vi file1 file2 vi two (or more) files at the same time From Command Mode :n Move to file2 from file1 :rew Rewind back to file1 :e! Restore original file1 file2 (start all over) ZZ Save and quit file. (Must be done for each file.)
When you print a file you may want the left margin moved to the right. This leaves room for a three-hole punch.
From Command Mode
:1,$> Move entire file 1 shift width (eight spaces)
to the right
:1,$< Move entire file eight spaces to the left
:%s/^/ /g Insert any number of spaces at the
beginning of each line in the entire file.
Simply press the space bar the
desired number of times.
:20>> Moves next 20 lines over 1 shift width.
You can issue a single shell command while in the vi editor. For example, to list the files in your directory (ls), follow these steps:
From Command Mode :w Write changes to your file (just in case). :!ls List contents of your current directory on the screen. Press <Return> to return to vi.
You can issue many shell commands by temporarily leaving the vi editor.
From Command Mode
:w Write changes to your file.
:sh Return to the shell to enter a number of commands
without leaving vi.
Press <Control>d to return to vi editing.
Occasionally, you may want a double spaced version of your file for editing or review.
In Command Mode :w original.backup Save a backup copy of the original file :%! sed G Double space the entire file. :1,5! sed G Double space the lines from 1-5.
© Copyright 1996 University of Washington
Computing & Communications.
Permission to reprint or adapt sections from these class notes for
noncommercial purposes is granted, provided that the source is
acknowledged. Inquiries may be submitted to
rells@cac.washington.edu.
Class notes URL: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~rells/R110/
Last Modified: February 24, 1997