Note: when invoking vi, execute a "vi filename" from the UNIX shell prompt. All commands are then seperated by a pressing of the <escape> key.
| Command: | Meaning: |
| a | Append text after cursor |
| A | Append text at line's end |
| i | Insert text before the cursor |
| I | Insert text at the beginning of the line |
| o | Open a new line, below the cursor |
| O | Open a new line above the cursor |
| h | Move left one character |
| j | Move down one line |
| k | Move up one line |
| l | Move right (forward) one character |
| w | Move right (forward) one word |
| W | Move right one word (past punctuation) |
| b | Move left (backward) one word |
| B | Move left (backward) one word (past punctuation) |
| e | Move to end of the current word |
| <Return> | Move down one line |
| H | Move to top of screen |
| M | Move to middle of screen |
| L | Move to bottom of the screen |
| G | Go to the end of the file (last line) |
| 1G | Go to the first line of the file |
| 21G | Go to line 21 |
| nG | Go to line 'n' |
| <Control>-f | Page forward one screen |
| <Control>-d | Scroll down one half screen |
| <Control>-b | Page back one screen |
| <Control>-u | Scroll up one half screen |
| x | Delete the character at the cursor |
| X | Delete character to the left of the cursor |
| dw | Delete the word to the right of the cursor |
| dd | Delete the whole line that the cursor is on |
| D | Delete from the cursor to the end of the current line |
| dG | Delete from the cursor to the end of the file |
| d1G | Delete from the beginning of the file to the cursor |
| :5,10d | Delete lines 5 through 10 |
| cw | Change (replace) word at the cursor location |
| cw# | Change (replace) the number of words indicated by '#' |
| R | Change (replace) line |
| C | Change from cursor to the end of the line |
| s | Substitute string of characters from cursor forward |
| r | Replace character at cursor with another character |
| r <Return>
i <Return> |
Break line |
| J | Join current line and line below |
| xp | Transpose character at cursor and character to the right |
| ~ | Change case of letter (upper or lower) |
| u | Undo previous command |
| U | Undo all changes to current line |
| :u | Undo previous changes to last line command |
| yy | Yank (copy) the current line |
| Y | Yank (copy) the current line |
| p | Put yanked (or deleted) line below the current line |
| P | Put yanked (or deleted) line above the current line |
| :1,3 co 5 | Copy lines 1 through 3 and put them below line 5 |
| :4,6 m 8 | Move lines 4 through 6 to line 8. |
| :w | Save changes (write to file) |
| :w new_filename | Save as a new_filename |
| :wq | Save and quit |
| :wq! | Forced write (even on files with no write access) and quit (owner only). |
| zz | Save changes and quit vi |
| :q! | Quit without saving changes |
| :! cmd | execute cmd |
| :e file | edit file |
| :n | next file; when editting multiple files |
| :r file | read the contents of file into editor |
| :r! cmd | read output of cmd into text |
| :se | displays currently set options |
| :se all | displays all available options |
| :set nu | Show line numbers |
| :set nonu | Hide line numbers |
| :set ic | Searches should ignore case |
| :set noic | Searches should be case sensitive |
| :set list | Turn of the display of invisible characters |
| :set showmode | Turn on input mode identification |
| :set noshowmode | Turn off input mode identification |
| <Control>-l | Clear (refresh) scrambled screen |
| /string | Search forward for string |
| ?string | Search backward for string |
| n | Find next occurence of string in search direction |
| N | Find previous occurence of string in search direction |
| :s/old/new/g | Search and replace in the current line |
| :%s/old/new/g | Search and replace globally (whole file) |
Other vi reference pages can be found at:
http://www.wittys.com/vi.20030112.html
- Jason's vi page - text only
http://www.cis.udel.edu/~totten/vi/
http://www.hackensackhigh.org/viref.html
http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/vi.html
http://www.kichwa.com/quik_ref/vi_ref.html