The vi/vim Editor

• There are two versatile editors in UNIX – vi and emacs.
• vi is a full-screen editor. It was created by a graduate student – Bill Joy – later to become the cofounder of Sun Microsystems.
• vim (vi improved) is a well-known vi editor in Linux. Bram Moolenaar has made three notable improvements – multiple windows, highlighting text, and command history.

HOW TO EXIT

:q[uit]	Quit Vim. This fails when changes have been made.
:q[uit]!	Quit without writing.
:cq[uit]	Quit always, without writing.
:wq	Write the current file and exit.
:wq!	Write the current file and exit always.
:wq {file}	Write to {file}. Exit if not editing the last
:wq! {file}	Write to {file} and exit always.
:[range]wq[!] [file]	Same as above, but only write the lines in [range].
ZZ	Write current file, if modified, and exit.
ZQ	Quit current file and exit (same as “:q!”).

EDITING A FILE

:e[dit]	Edit the current file. This is useful to re-edit the current file, when it has been changed outside of Vim.
:e[dit]!	Edit the current file always. Discard any changes to the current buffer. This is useful if you want to start all over again.
:e[dit] {file}	Edit {file}.
:e[dit]! {file}	Edit {file} always. Discard any changes to the current buffer.
gf	Edit the file whose name is under or after the cursor. Mnemonic: “goto file”.

INSERTING TEXT

a	Append text after the cursor [count] times.
A	Append text at the end of the line [count] times.
i	Insert text before the cursor [count] times.
I	Insert text before the first non-blank in the line [count] times.
gI	Insert text in column 1 [count] times.
o	Begin a new line below the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times.
O	Begin a new line above the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times.
ea	Insert (append) at the end of the line
Esc	Exit insert mode

INSERTING A FILE

:r[ead] [name]	Insert the file [name] below the cursor.
:r[ead] !{cmd}	Execute {cmd} and insert its standard output below the cursor.

DELETING TEXT

[Del] or x	Delete [count] characters under and after the cursor
X	Delete [count] characters before the cursor
d{motion}	Delete text that {motion} moves over
dd	Delete [count] lines
2dd	Delete (cut) 2 lines
D	Delete the characters under the cursor until the end of the line
dw	Delete (cut) the word
d$	Delete (cut) to the end of the line
{Visual}x or {Visual}d	Delete the highlighted text (for {Visual} see Selecting Text).
{Visual}CTRL-H or {Visual}	When in Select mode: Delete the highlighted text
{Visual}X or {Visual}D	Delete the highlighted lines
:[range]d[elete]	Delete [range] lines (default: current line)
:[range]d[elete] {count}	Delete {count} lines, starting with [range]