VI Editor: Cheat Sheet

In this post I am giving a cheat sheet of VI editor. I found it very useful, hope everyone finds it useful too.


Quitting

:x	Exit saving changes
:q	Exit as long as there have been no changes
ZZ	Exit and save changes if any have been made
:q!	Exit and ignore any changes

Inserting Text

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

Motion

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
0	Move to the begining of the 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
M	Move to middle of screen
L	Move to botton of screen
%	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:

x	Delete character to the right of cursor
X	Delete character to the left of cursor
D	Delete to the end of the line
dd	Delete current line
:d	Delete current line

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. Two other yank commands are:

yy	Yank the current line
:y	Yank the current line

Putting text

p	Put after the position or after the line
P	Put before the poition or before the line

Search for strings

/string	Search forward for string
?string	Search back for string
n	Search for next instance of string
N	Search for previous instance of string

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).

: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

:.=	Shows current line number
:=	Shows number of lines in file

VI Settings
Note: Options given are default. To change them, enter type :set option to turn them on or :set nooption 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 Set Default Description

:set ai noai	Turns on auto indentation
:set all	Prints all options to the screen
:set ap aw	Prints line after d c J m :s t u commands
:set aw noaw	Automatic write on :n ! e# ^^ :rew ^} :tag
:set bf nobf	Discards control characters from input
:set dir=tmp dir = /tmp	Sets tmp to directory or buffer file
:set eb noed	Precedes error messages with a bell
:set ed noed	Precedes error messages with a bell
:set ic noic	Ignores case when searching
:set lisp nolisp	Modifies brackets for Lisp compatibility.
:set list nolist	Shows tabs (^l) and end of line ($)
:set magic magic	Allows pattern matching with special characters
:set mesg  mesg	Allows others to send messages
:set nooption	Turns off option
:set nu nonu	Shows line numbers
:set opt opt	Speeds output; eliminates automatic RETURN
:set prompt prompt	Prompts for command input with :
:set re nore	Simulates smart terminal on dumb terminal
:set ro noro	Changes file type to "read only"
:set scroll=n scroll = 11	set n lines for CTRL-d and z
:set showmode nosm	Indicates input or replace mode at bottom
:set sm nosm	Show matching { or ( as ) or } is typed