VI(Visual) Editor Reference manual

The vi is a text editor. It is small, powerful, and standard on most UNIX systems. The vi often frustrates new users with a unique distinction between its two modes: Command Mode and Insert/Overtype Mode. This distinction, although difficult to become accustomed to for many users, provides great power and ability to the vi editor. Insert/Overtype Mode is designed for inserting text only. All text manipulations and cursor moving should be done from with in Command Mode. To know the vi editor well, is to love it. This page is not meant to replace the vi manual or vi man page. They are fine the way they are. This page is to provide a quick reference sheet for the vi editor and it's most often used functions. Editors such as vim or vile are supersets (at least for the most part) of the vi editor, so this page should still prove useful. I hope even the most ardent vi lover can find something useful in this vi editor reference page.

Entering the vi

`prompt$` `vi`
`prompt$` `vi file1 file2 ...`
`prompt$` `vi -r file`	#Recover file from crash
`prompt$` `vi +string file`	#Execute ex command "string"
`prompt$` `vi @rcfile`	#Read commands from rcfile

Insert/Overtype Mode

Insert/Overtype Mode is solely for entering text. To leave one of these two modes press the [ESC] key. if you wish to enter the ESC character or any other control character while in insert mode: type [CONTROL]-V and then the control sequence. The only difference between Insert Mode and Overtype Mode is that characters are placed in front of the text after the cursor in Insert Mode, where as existing characters are overwritten in Overtype Mode.

Command Mode

Entering Insert Mode

`a`	append text, after the cursor
`i`	insert text, before the cursor
`R`	enter Overtype Mode
`A`	append text, after end of line
`I`	insert text, before first non-whitespace character
`o`	open new line below cursor in Insert Mode
`O`	open new line above cursor in Insert Mode

vi Syntax

vi commands follow the general form:

n operator m object

which means:

execute operator n times on m objects. If n and/or m are omitted, they default to 1.

Operators which take objects are(if the operator is pressed twice then the object is the current line)

`c`	Change
`d`	Deletion
"c`y`	Yank, if "c is omitted, uses general buffer.
`<`	shift lines left by shiftwidth variable
`>`	shift lines right by shiftwidth variable
`!`cmd	filter trough cmd

#The operators <, >, and ! are line based so the set of objects is diminished greatly.

Operators which do not take objects:

`s`	Substitute
`x`	Delete character
`r`	Replace character
`~`	change case of character

Objects (if given without an operator are interpreted as a cursor motion command):

`w`	forward until beginning of word
`e`	forward until end of word
`b`	backward until beginning of word
`$`	forward until end of line
`^`	backward until first non-whitespace character
`0`	backward until first column of line
n`G`	line number n. (default: `$`, i.e. last line of file)
n`\|`	column n of current line
`/`pat	forward until beginning of pat, search
`?`pat	backward until beginning of pat, backward search
`n`	repeat last search
`N`	repeat last search/backward search, but in opposite direction
`%`	until match of parenthesis, brace, or bracket
`t`c	until next appearance of c on current line
`T`c	backward until next appearance of c on current line
`f`c	until and including next appearance of c on current line
`F`c	backward until and including next appearance of c on current line
`;`	repeat last f, F, t, or T
`,`	repeat last f, F, t, or T in reverse
`}`	forward until end of paragraph
`{`	backward until end of paragraph
`)`	forward until end of sentence
`(`	backward until end of sentence
`]]`	forward until end of section
`[[`	backward until end of section
n`H`	n lines before first line on screen; n defaults to 0
n`L`	n lines before last line on screen; n defaults to 0
`M`	the middle line of the screen
`j`	down one line
`k`	up one line
`h`	left one character
`l`	right one character
`[BS]`	left one character, backspace usually equals ^H
`[SPACE]`	right one character
`_`	the entire current line
`-`	until first non-whitespace character on previous line
`+`	until first non-whitespace character on next line
`[RETURN]`	until first non-whitespace character on next line

Miscellaneous¹

`u`	undo last change
`U`	undo entire line
"c`p`	put "c or general buffer after the cursor
"c`P`	put "c or general buffer before the cursor
`m`c	set mark with character c
`c	goto mark c
`'`c	goto beginning of line with mark c
``	return to position before mark jump or search
`''`	return to beginning of line before mark jump or search
`J`	join two lines
`D`	delete rest of line
`C`	change rest of line
`Y`	yank current line into general buffer
`&`	execute last ex-style substitution
`.`	execute last modification
`!`obj cmd	send object as stdin to command and replace with stdout
`[Ctrl]-G`	print information about file
: `map` x y	when character x is pressed, execute y
: `map!` x y	map input mode character x to string y
: `ab` x y	x is an abbreviation for y, changes are made on the fly
: `su`	Suspend the current editor session
: `sh`	run a shell

ex Commands

ex syntax

ex commands in the vi follow this general form:

: addr command

which means:

Execute command on specific lines obtained from the address part of the general form. If address is omitted, current line is used. Keep in mind that the ex is a line based editor, so all actions are line based.

addresses:

`%`	all lines in file
`x,y`	lines `x` to `y`
`.`	current line
`n`	line number: `n`
`$`	last line of file
`x-n`	`n` lines before line `x`
`x+n`	`n` lines after line `x`
`/pat/`	forward to line containing `pat`
`?pat?`	backward to line containing `pat`

Some commands are:

refer to ex manual page for more commands

`s/pat/text/`	substitute 1^st match of `pat` with `text`
`s/pat/text/g`	substitute every match of `pat` with `text`
`s/pat/text/n`	substitute the `n^th` occurrence of `pat` with `text`
`ya` c	yank into buffer c or the general buffer if c is omitted
`g address cmd`	execute `cmd` on all lines which satisfy `address`
`>`	shift right
`<`	shift left
`d`	delete line
`! UNIX-cmd`	execute `UNIX-cmd` on line
`m` address	move lines to address

The vi environment variables

set: You can customize your environment with this command by typing set var=value, this will set the specified var to value for a scalar variable. For boolean variables, use set var to set and set novar to unset. You can see which variables are set by just typing the set by its self. You can see a list of all variables by typing set all. Some environment variables are specific to the ex editor and some are specific to the vi editor. I have included both.

(I am missing some variables, please contact me with additions.)

boolean variables:

`autoindent(ai)`	begin editing next line at same level of indent-ion as this one.
`autowrite(aw)`	write current buffer before leaving
`exrc(ex)`	tells vi/ex if it should read the .exrc file in the current directory(this can be a security risk).
`errorbells`	editor sends a beep to the terminal when an incorrect
`flash`	inverse the screen on an error instead of producing a bell
`ignorecase(ic)`	ignore case of characters in searches.
`lisp`	enter lisp mode
`list`	place a $ at the end of each line and a ^I on each tab.
`magic`	allow ., [, and * to be interpreted as special characters in RE's.
`modelines`	execute the first and last 5 lines of the file if of the form: `ex:command:` or `vi:command:`
`number(nu)`	number lines in left margin
`showmatch(sm)`	when closing a paren., brace or bracket; move the visual cursor to opening item to check scope
`showmode(smd)`	show type of insert mode
`wrapscan(ws)`	when searching and at bottom of file, continue searching from the top

scalar variables:

`directory`	the location of the temporary directory used by vi
`paragraphs(para)`	macros to signify the beginning of a paragraph
`report`	vi will notify you if you change more lines than the value of `report`
`sections(sect)`	macros to signify the beginning of a section
`shell`	The shell to use when executing the command `:sh` or `:!`
`shiftwidth(sw)`	number of spaces to to insert on a shift operation
`showmatch(sm)`	show the match of ) and } when typed
`tabstop`	the length, in characters, of a tabstop
`term`	holds the name of the terminal type being used
`wrapmargin(wm)`	split lines at the column which is equal to the value of `wrapmargin`

File Saving and Loading

: `wq`	write file and quit
: `w`	write file
: `w file`	write to specified `file`
: `w!`	overwrite existing file
: `e file`	edit new `file`
: `r file`	put contents of `file`
: `q`	quit the editor
: `q!`	force quit the editor, do not save changes
: `x`	quit the editor, save file if it was modified
`ZZ`	quit the editor, save file if it was modified
: `n`	start editing next file in list
: `rew`	rewind file list, start editing 1^st file on argument list again
`Q`	quit vi and enter ex
: `pre`	Preserve file.
: `rec` file	recover file

Examples²

`j`	move cursor down
`k`	move cursor up
`h` or `[BS]`	move cursor left
`l` or `[SPACE]`	move cursor right
`+` or `[RETURN]`	first non-whitespace character on next line
`cw`	change word
`dd` or `d_`	delete line
`yy` or `y_`	yank current line into the general buffer
`"ayj`	yank current line and one below into buffer `a`
`yfc`	yank until next occurrence of `c` on current line into the general buffer
`3dl` or `d3l`	delete next 3 characters
`4c(` or `2c2(` or `c4(`	change next 4 sentences
`>%`	while on a brace, paren., or bracket; shift right until closing brace, etc.
`:%!sort` or `:1,$!sort`	sort current file
`:5,10s/foo/bar/2`	change the second occurrence of `foo` with `bar` on lines 5-10
`:map g 1G`	map `g` to really run `1G`
`3J`	Join next 2 lines to current one
`3,9m$`	move lines 3 through 9 to the end of the file
`ab w/o without`	when `w/o` is typed change to `without`
`:?foo?,/bar/d`	delete from the reverse match of foo until the next match of bar
`:g/{/,/}/<`	shift all lines between, and including, a "`{`" and a "`}`" left
`:$-4,$d`	delete last five lines of buffer
`:%s/^$.$ $.$$/\2 \1/`	swap everything before and after the first space
`d''`	delete from current position to line of last jump

¹ It is noteworthy to add that most control sequences are bound in the vi. I do not mention them here because they remind me of emacs and I hope to spare you such pain.

² For the record, no animals were physically harmed during the testing of these examples; although some elephants are now in psychological therapy as a direct result of my actions. I kind of feel rather guilty about this :(

I hope you liked my vi reference manual, if you have any questions or suggestions then feel free to send me mail.

BTW: RTFM

Last modified: 21 December 02006: William Totten (totten@pobox.com)