VI Editor Help

7. Searching for Text:
Instead of using the "Moving Around" commands, above, you can go directly forward or backward to specified text using "/" and "?". Examples:

/wavelet Rtn

jump forward to the next occurrence of the string "wavelet"

?wavelet Rtn

jump backward to the previous occurrence of the string "wavelet"

repeat the last search given by "/" or "?"

Using the VI editor (basic commands only)

The VI editor is a screen-based text editor available on all Unix computers (and available for all other kinds of computers, sometimes as "vim" rather than "vi"). Given that it takes some effort, why bother to learn VI? Because:

sometimes it`s the only available editor
when you log on remotely (ssh) to a Unix host from a Mac or PC, only a text editor (like VI or emacs or pico)
can be used to edit files in a text-only terminal window
mouse movements (e.g., menus, highlighting, clicking, scrolling) slow down the touch-typist. VI requires none
as mentioned above, VI is the editor sure to be on every Unix computer in the world
VI is a very powerful editor for those who learn more than just the beginner commands, and even more
powerful for those who are familiar with Unix commands

If you will be using Unix/Linux computers, especially via ssh, save yourself headaches and learn the basics of VI.

In the following, ^X denotes a control character.
For example, " ^D " means to hold down the Control key and press the "d" key.

"Rtn" means to press the Return (or Enter) key, while "Esc" means to press the Escape key, located in the far upper left corner of the keyboard.

1. Starting:
To edit a file named (say) "mytext" on a Unix computer, type the command "vi mytext". Note that you must type the command with lowercase letters.

2. Two Modes: Pay attention, this is the crucial feature of VI! There are two modes, command and insert. When in insert mode, everything you type appears in the document at the place where the blinking cursor is. When in command mode, keystrokes perform special functions rather than actually inserting text to the document. (This makes up for the lack of mouse, menus, etc.!) You must know which keystroke will switch you from one mode to the other:
	Switch to insert mode:	press i (or a, or o)
	Switch to command mode:	press Esc

3. Getting out: When you want to get out of the editor, switch to command mode (press Esc) if necessary, then:
	:wq Rtn	to save the edited file and quit
	:q! Rtn	press Esc
	ZZ	to save and quit (a shortcut for :wq Rtn)
	:w	to save the edited file to new file "filename"

4. Moving Around: When in command mode you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor up, down, left, right. In addition, these keystrokes will move the cursor:
	h	left one character	b	back one word	^B	back one page
	l	right one character	f	forward one word	^F	forward one page
	k	up one line	{	up one paragraph	17G	to line #17
	j	down one line	}	down one paragraph	^G	to the last line
			$	to end of the line

5. Inserting Text: From command mode, these keystrokes switch you into insert mode with new text being inserted
	i	just before the current cursor position	a	just after the current cursor position
	o	into a new line below current cursor	O	into a new line above current cursor
	I	at the beginning of the current line	A	at the end of the current line

6. Cutting, Copying, Pasting: From command mode, use these keystroke (or keystroke-combination) commands for the described cut/copy/paste function:
	x	delete (cut) character under the cursor	24x	delete (cut) 24 characters
	dd	delete (cut) current line	4dd	delete (cut) four lines
	dw	delete to the end of the current word	D	delete to the end of the line from the cursor
	yy	copy (without cutting) current line	5yy	copy (without cutting) 5 lines
	p	paste after current cursor position/line	P	paste before current cursor position/line

8. Replacing Text: This amounts to combining two steps; deleting, then inserting text.
	r	replace 1 character (under the cursor) with another character
	8r	replace each of the next 8 characters with a given character
	R	overwrite; replace text with typed input, ended with Esc
	C	replace from cursor to end of line, with typed input (ended with Esc)
	S	replace entire line with typed input (ended with Esc)
	4S	replace 4 lines with typed input (ended with Esc)
	cw	replace (remainder of) word with typed input (ended with Esc)

Typed Command	what it does
9. Miscelleous: The commands on these two pages are just the start. Many more powerful commands exist in VI, especially those which invoke other Unix text-filtering commands (sort, fmt, uniq, cat, sed, awk, grep, etc.). More complete descriptions of all the possible commands are available on the web; see the list of VI manuals/tutorials maintained at The Vi Lovers Home Page or use a generic web search to search for "vi tutorial" or "vim tutorial". Some useful or spectacular "miscellaneous" commands (not in categories 1-8 above):
u	undo the last change to the file (and type "u" again to re-do the change)
U	undo all changes to the current line
^G	show the current filename and status and line number
:set nu Rtn	show all line numbers (":set nonu" gets rid of the numbers)
^L	clear and redraw the screen
:%s/Joe/Bob/g Rtn	change every "Joe" to "Bob" throughout the document
J	join this line to the next line
5J	join 5 lines
xp	exchange two characters (actually the two commands x=delete and p=paste)
:w Rtn	write (save) the current text, but don`t quit VI
:12,17w filename Rtn	write lines #12-17 of the current text to a (new) text file
:r filename Rtn	read (and insert) contents of a text file
!]]sort -u \| cat -n	sort all lines from cursor downwards, deleting duplicates, and number the lines
:26,$s/\<[a-z]/\U&/g Rtn	Capitalize the first letter of each word from line #26 through the end of the file