VI Quick Reference

Movement Commands

Character Movement

h or <left arrow> or Ctrl-H

l or <right arrow> or <Space>

k or <up arrow> or Ctrl-P

j or <down arrow> or Ctrl-N or Ctrl-J

one character to the left

one character to the right

one character up

one character down

Text

b, w

B, W

e, E

( , )

{ , }

backward, forward one regular word

backword, forward one blank delimited word

forward to end of regular/blank delimited word

beginning of previous, next sentence

beginning of previous, next paragraph

Lines

0, $

-, +

H, M, L

:n<Enter>

first, last position of current line

first nonblank character of current line

first character of previous, next line

move to column 1 of current line

move to column n of current line

top, middle, bottom line of screen

n lines after top line

n lines before bottom line

move to last line in file

move to line n

Screens

Ctrl-B, Ctrl-F

Ctrl-U, Ctrl-D

Ctrl-Y, Ctrl-E

z <Enter>

Scroll backward, forward one screen

Scroll up, down one half screen

Show one more line at top, bottom of screen

Reposition line with cursor to top of screen

Reposition line with cursor to middle of screen

Reposition line with cursor to bottom of screen

Marking Position

'' (two single quotes)

Mark current position as x

Move to first character of line with mark x

Move to character at mark x

Move to previous position

Move to beginning of line with previous position

Searches

;

/pattern <Enter>

?pattern <Enter>

n, N

/, ?

Search forward in current line for character x

Search backward in current line for character x

Search forward in current line for character before character x

Search backward in current line for character after character x

Repeat last f, F, t, T in same direction

Repeat last f, F, t, T in opposite direction

Search forward for pattern

Search backward for pattern

Repeat last search in same, opposite direction

Repeat last search in forward, backward direction

Moving to Matching Delimiter

Move to matching (, ), [, ], {, }

Editing Commands

Inserting Text

i, a

I, A

o, O

Insert text before, after cursor

Insert text at beginning, end of current line

Open new line after, before current line

Changing Text

c'x

c/pattern

Replace with next typed character

Change case of character

Delete character and enter input mode

Delete current line and enter input mode

Delete to end of line and enter input mode

Overwrite text starting with current character

Delete current line and enter input mode

Replace next regular word and enter input mode

Replace next blank delimited word and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of regular word and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of blank delimited word and enter input mode

Same as cw

Same as cW

Delete to beginning of next sentence and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of sentence and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of next paragraph and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of paragraph and enter input mode

Delete to beginning of line and enter input mode

Delete to end of line and enter input mode

Delete to first non blank in line and enter input mode

Delete to top line of screen and enter input mode

Delete to middle line of screen and enter input mode

Delete to position x and enter input mode

Delete to next occurrence of pattern and enter input mode

Delete to last line of screen and enter input mode

Note: All possible change commands were not listed.

Deleting Text

d'x

d/pattern

Delete character

Delete character before cursor

Delete current line

Delete to end of line

Delete next regular word

Delete next blank delimited word

Delete to beginning of regular word

Delete to beginning of blank delimited word

Same as dw

Same as dW

Delete to beginning of next sentence

Delete to beginning of sentence

Delete to beginning of next paragraph

Delete to beginning of paragraph

Delete to beginning of line

Delete to first nonblank in line

Delete to top of screen

Delete to middle line of screen

Delete to position x

Delete to next occurrence of pattern

Delete to last line of screen

Note: All possible delete commands were not listed.

Cutting and Pasting Text (Yanking and Putting)

Y'x

Y/pattern

Yank current line

Put yanked (deleted) text after cursor

Put yanked (deleted) text before cursor

Yank next regular word

Yank next blank delimited word

Yank to beginning of regular word

Yank to beginning of blank delimited word

Same as Yw

Same as YW

Yank to beginning of next sentence

Yank to beginning of sentence

Yank to beginning of next paragraph

Yank to beginning of paragraph

Yank to beginning of line

Yank to end of line

Yank to first nonblank in line

Yank to top line of screen

Yank to middle line of screen

Yank to position x

Yank to next occurrence of pattern

Yank to last line of screen and enter input mode

Note: p and P can also be used to paste (put) deleted text.

Note: All possible Yank commands were not listed.

Exit Commands

:wq

:q!

:n,mw newfile

:n,mw>>file

:e!

Save file and exit

Save file

Exit (if no changes)

Exit (even if changes)

Save lines n as m to newfile

Append lines n through m to file

Return file to last saved version

Other

Ctrl-G

:!cmd

:rfilename

:r!cmd

:set option

:set option=value

:set

:set all

:set option?

Display current line number

Repeat last edit command

undo last edit

Restore current line

Join current line and follow line

Execute Unix command cmd

Read contents of filename into current file

Read output of Unix command cmd into file

Activate option

Assign value to option

Display options set by user

Display all current options

Display setting of option

Alphabetical List of Keys

Ctrl-A

Insert text after cursor position

Insert text at end of line

not used

Ctrl-B

Move to beginning of regular word

Move to beginning of blank delimited word

Scroll Back on screen

Ctrl-C

Change text

Change to end of line

not used

Ctrl-D

Delete text

Delete to end of line

Scroll down half a screen

Ctrl-E

Move to end of regular word

Move to end of blank delimited word

Show one more line at bottom of screen

Ctrl-F

Find next x in current line

Find previous x in current line

Scroll forward one screen

Ctrl-G

not used

Go to last line in file (or specified line)

Display current line number

Ctrl-H

Move cursor one character left

Move cursor to beginning of top line of screen

Move cursor one character left (deletes text in input mode)

Ctrl-I

Insert text before cursor

Insert text at beginning of line

not used

Ctrl-J

Move cursor down one line

Join two lines

Move cursor down one line

Ctrl-K

Move cursor up one line

not used

Ctrl-L

Move cursor right one character

Move cursor to last line on screen

Redraw screen

Ctrl-M

Mark the cursor position as x

Move cursor to line in middle of screen

Move cursor to beginning of next line

Ctrl-N

Repeat last search command

Repeat last search command in opposite direction

Move cursor down one row

Ctrl-O

Add a line after current line and enter input mode

Add a line before current line and enter input mode

not used

Ctrl-P

Put yanked or deleted text after cursor

Put yanked or deleted text before text

Move cursor up one line

Ctrl-Q

not used

Quit vi and start ex

not used in command mode; in insert mode quotes next character

Ctrl-R

Replace character with next character typed

Replace characters

Redraw Screen

Ctrl-S

Change the character at cursor position

Change entire line

not used

Ctrl-T

Find character before next x in current line

Find character after previous x in current line

not used

Ctrl-U

Undo last change made

Restore current line discarding changes to it

Scroll up one half screen

Ctrl-V

not used

not used in command mode; in insert mode quotes next character

Ctrl-W

Move to beginning of next regular word

Move to beginning of next blank delimited word

not used in command mode; in insert mode, backs up one word

Ctrl-X

Delete character at cursor

Delete character before cursor

not used

Ctrl-Y

Yank text

Yank current line

Show one more line at top of screen

Ctrl-Z

Reposition current line

not used (ZZ saves file and exits)

not used

Furnished by the Mainframe/Minicomputer Team of Academic Computing