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Category: Bash
Date: Jan. 28, 2025, 11:44 p.m. PST
Tags: cli

Before doing anything to a document, type the following command followed by a carriage return: :set showmode

Counts - Nearly every command may be preceded by a number that specifies how many times it is to be performed. For example, 5dw will delete 5 words and 3fe will move the cursor forward to the 3rd occurence of the letter e. Even insertions may be repeated conveniently with this method, say to insert the same line 100 times.

Starting VI

Command Description
vi filename Edits filename
vi -r filename Edits last save version of filename after a crash
vi + n filename Edits filename and places curser at line n
vi + filename Edits filename and places curser on last line
vi +/string filename Edits filename and places curser on first occurance of string
vi filename file2 ... Edits filename, then edits file2 ... After the save, use :n

Ending VI

Key Combo Description
ZZ or :wq or :x Saves and exits VI
:w Saves current file but doesn't exit
:w! Saves current file overriding normal checks but doesn't exit
:w file Saves current as file but doesn't exit
:w! file Saves to file overriding normal checks but doesn't exit
:n,m w file Saves lines n through m to file
:n,m w <<file Saves lines n through m to the end of file
:q Quits VI and may prompt if you need to save
:q! Quits VI and without saving
:e! Edits file discarding any unsaved changes (starts over)
:we! Saves and continues to edit current file

Status

Key Combo Description
:.= Shows current line number
:= Shows number of lines in file
^-G Shows filename, current line number, total lines in file, and % of file location

Inserting Text

Key Combo 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
^-v char While inserting, ignores special meaning of char (e.g., for inserting characters like ESC and ^) until ESC is used
:r file Reads file and inserts it after current line
:nfr file Reads file and inserts it after line n
^-i or TAB While inserting, inserts one shift width

While in Insert Mode

Key Combo Description
^-h or Backspace While inserting, deletes previous character
^-w While inserting, deletes previous word
^-x While inserting, deletes to start of inserted text
^-v Take the next character literally. (i.e. To insert a ^-H, type ^-v ^-h )

Motion

Key Combo Description
h Move left
j Move down
k Move up
l Move right
Arrow Keys These do work, but they may be too slow on big files. Also may have unpredictable results when arrow keys are not mapped correctly in client.
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
^ Moves to the first non-blank character in the current line
+ or CR Moves to the first character in the next line
- Moves to the first non-blank character in the previous line
e Move to the end of the word
E Move to the end of Blank delimited word
( Move a sentance back
) Move a sentance forward
{ Move a paragraph back
} Move a paragraph 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
n\G Move to n line of the file
:n Move to n line of the file
fc Move forward to c
Fc Move back to c
H Move to top of screen
n\H Moves to n line from the top of the screen
M Move to middle of screen
L Move to botton of screen
n\L Moves to n line from the bottom of the screen
^-d Move forward 1/2 screen
^-f Move forward one full screen
^-u Move backward 1/2 screen
^-b Move backward one full screen
^-e Moves screen up one line
^-y Moves screen down one line
^-u Moves screen up 1/2 page
^-d Moves screen down 1/2 page
^-b Moves screen up one page
^-f Moves screen down one page
^-I Redraws screen
z CR Makes the current line the top line on the page
n\z CR Makes the line n the top line on the page
z. Makes the current line the middle line on the page
n\z. Makes the line n the middle line on the page
z- Makes the current line the bottom line on the page
n\z- Makes the line n the bottom line on the page
% Move to associated ( ), { }, [ ]

Deleting Text

Almost all deletion commands are performed by typing d followed by a motion. For example, dw deletes a word. A few other deletes are:

Key Combo Description
x Delete character to the right of cursor
n\x Deletes n characters starting with current; omitting n deletes current character only
X Delete character to the left of cursor
n\X Deletes previous n characters; omitting n deletes previous character only
D Delete to the end of the line
d$ Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line
dd or :d Delete current line
n\dw Deletes the next n words starting with current
n\fdb Deletes the previous n words starting with current
n\fdd Deletes n lines beginning with the current line
:n,m\dd Deletes lines n through m
"n\fp Retrieves the last n delete (last 9 deletes are kept in a buffer)

Yanking Text

Like deletion, almost all yank commands are performed by typing y followed by a motion. For example, y$ yanks to the end of the line.

Key Combo Description
yy Yank the current line
:y Yank the current line
n\fyy or n\fY Places n lines in the buffer-copies
"(a-z) n fyy or "(a-z) n fdd Copies or cuts (deletes) n lines into a named buffer a through z; omitting n works on current line

Changing text

The change command is a deletion command that leaves the editor in insert mode. It is performed by typing c followed by a motion. For example cw changes a word.

Key Combo Description
C Change to the end of the line
cc or S Change the whole line until ESC is pressed
xp Switches character at cursor with following character
stext Substitutes text for the current character until ESC is used
cwtext Changes current word to text until ESC is used
Ctext Changes rest of the current line to text until ESC is used
cMotion_cmd Changes to text from current position to Motion Command until ESC is used
<< 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)

Putting text

Key Combo Description
p Put after the position or after the line
P Put before the poition or before the line
"(a-z)p or "(a-z)P Pastes text from a named buffer a through z after or before the current lin e

Markers

Named markers may be set on any line in a file. Any lower case letter may be a marker name. Markers may also be used as limits for ranges.

Key Combo 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.

Search for strings

Key Combo 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
% Searches to beginning of balancing ( ) [ ] or { }
f char Searches forward in current line to char
F char Searches backward in current line to char
t char Searches forward in current line to character before char
T char Searches backward in current line to character before char
?str Finds in reverse for str
:set ic Ignores case when searching
:set noic Pays attention to case when searching
:n,m s/str1/str2/opt Searches from n to m for str1; Replaces str1 to str2; opt: g: global change, c: confirm (y to acknowledge, to suppress), p: print changed lines
& Repeats last :s command
: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
, Repeats, in reverse direction, last / or ? search command

Replace

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

Key Combo 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

Key Combo 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
\< Matches beginning of word
\> Matches end of word
^ Anchor - beginning of the line
$ Anchor - end of line
(...) Grouping - usually used to group conditions
\ n Contents of n grouping
\ Escapes the meaning of the next character (e.g., \$ allows you to search for $)
\ \ Escapes the \ character

[...] - Set Examples

Key Combo Description
[A-Z] The SET from Capital A to Capital Z
[a-z] The SET from lowercase a to lowercase z
[0-9] The SET from 0 to 9 (All numerals)
[./=+] The SET containing . (dot), / (slash), =, and +
[-A-F] The SET from Capital A to Capital F and the dash (dashes must be specified first)
[0-9 A-Z] The SET containing all capital letters and digits and a space
[A-Z][a-zA-Z] In the first position, the SET from Capital A to Capital Z. In the second character position, the SET containing all letters
[a-z]{m} Look for m occurances of the SET from lowercase a to lowercase z
[a-z]{m,n} Look for at least m occurances, but no more than n occurances of the SET from lowercase a to lowercase z

Regular Expression Examples

Key Combo Description
/Hello/ Matches if the line contains the value Hello
/^TEST$/ Matches if the line contains TEST by itself
/^[a-zA-Z]/ Matches if the line starts with any letter
/^[a-z].*/ Matches if the first character of the line is a-z and there is at least one more of any character following it
/2134$/ Matches if line ends with 2134
/(21 35)/ Matches if the line contains 21 or 35
/[0-9]*/ Matches if there are zero or more numbers in the line
/^[^#]/ Matches if the first character is not a # in the line

Ranges

Ranges may precede most "colon" commands and cause them to be executed on a line or lines. For example :3,7d would delete lines 3-7. Ranges are commonly combined with the :s command to perform a replacement on several lines, as with :.,$s/pattern/string/g to make a replacement from the current line to the end of the file.

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

Shell Functions

Key Combo Description
:! cmd Executes shell command cmd; you can add these special characters to indicate:% name of current file# name of last file edited
!! 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 (^-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

Files

Key Combo Description
:w file Write to file
:r file Read file in after line
:n Go to next file
:p Go to previous file
:e file Edit file
!! Replace line with output from

VI Settings

Options given are default. To change them, enter type :set option to turn them on or :set nooptioni to turn them off.To make them execute every time you open VI, create a file in your HOME directory called .exrc and type the options without the colon (:) preceding the option

Key Combo Description
:set ai Turns on auto indentation
:set all Prints all options to the screen
:set ap Prints line after d c J m :s t u commands
:set bf Discards control characters from input
:set dir=tmp Sets tmp to directory or buffer file
:set eb Precedes error messages with a bell
:set ic Ignores case when searching
:set lisp Modifies brackets for Lisp compatibility.
:set list Shows tabs (^l) and end of line ($)
:set magic Allows pattern matching with special characters
:set mesg Allows others to send messages
:set no Turns off option
:set nu Shows line numbers
:set opt Speeds output; eliminates automatic RETURN
:set prompt Prompts for command input with :
:set re Simulates smart terminal on dumb terminal
:set report Indicates largest size of changes reported on status line
:set ro Changes file type to "read only"
:set scroll=n set n lines for ^-d and z
:set sh=shell_path set shell escape (default is /bin/sh) to shell_path
:set showmode Indicates input or replace mode at bottom
:set sw=n Sets shift width to n characters
:set term Prints terminal type
:set terse Shorten messages with terse
:set timeout Eliminates one-second time limit for macros
:set tl=n Sets significance of tags beyond n characters (0 means all)
:set ts=n Sets tab stops to n for text input
:set wa Inhibits normal checks before write commands
:set warn Warns "no write since last change"
:set window=n Sets number of lines in a text window to n
:set wm=n Sets automatic wraparound n spaces from right margin.
:set tabstop=4 N/A
:set shiftwidth=4 N/A
:set smarttab N/A
:set expandtab N/A
:set softtabstop=4 N/A

Key Mapping

Map allows you to define strings of VI commands. If you create a file called ".exrc" in your home directory, any map or set command you place inside this file will be executed every time you run VI. To imbed control characters like ESC in the macro, you need to precede them with ^-v. If you need to include quotes ("), precede them with a \ (backslash). Unused keys in vi are: K V g q v * = and the function keys.

Key Combo Description
:map key cmd_seq Defines key to run cmd_seq when pressed
:map Displays all created macros on status line
:unmap key Removes macro definition for key
:ab str string When str is input, replaces it with string
:ab Displays all abbreviations
:una str Unabbreviates str

$!

Key Combo Description
~ Toggle upp and lower case
J Join lines
n\J Joins the next n lines together; omitting n joins the beginning of the next line to the end of the current line
. Repeat last text-changing command
u Undo last change (Note: u in combination with . can allow multiple levels of undo in some versions)
U Undo all changes to line
; Repeats last f F t or T search command