Linux basic commands (Vi)

All commands in vi must be preceded by pressing the “Escape” key. Most commands are case sensitive.

CURSOR MOVEMENT

All commands in vi must be preceded by pressing the “Escape” key. Most commands are case sensitive.

CURSOR MOVEMENT

• Arrow Keys -> generally work as expected
• Page up/down -> generally work as expected
• nh -> Left n spaces (n indicates a number and is optional)
• nj -> Right n spaces (n indicates a number and is optional)
• nk -> Up n spaces (n indicates a number and is optional)
• nl -> Down n spaces (n indicates a number and is optional)
• ^F -> Forward one screen (^ indicates the “Control” key)
• ^B -> Back one screen (^ indicates the “Control” key)
• 0 -> (Zero) beginning of line
• $ -> End of line
• H -> Beginning of top line of screen
• L -> Beginning of last line of screen
• :1 -> Beginning of file
• G -> End of file
• INSERTING TEXT
• i -> Insert text before cursor
• a -> Append text after cursor (does not overwrite)
• I -> Insert text at beginning of line
• A -> Append text at end of line
• r -> Replace the character under the cursor with next character typed
• R -> Overwrite characters until end of line
• o -> (Lowercase “o”) new line after the current line
• O -> (Uppercase “O”) new line before the current line
• DELETING TEXT
• dd -> Deletes current line
• ndd -> Deletes next n lines
• D -> Deletes from cursor to end of line
• x -> Deletes current character
• X -> Deletes previous character
• FILE MANIPULATION
• :w file ->  Writes changes to file (file is optional, default is current file)
• :w file -> Overwrites file (file is optional, default is current file)
• :f -> Name renames current file to name
• :q -> Quits edit session when no changes have been made
• :q! -> Quits edit session and discards changes
• :wq -> Writes changes to current file and quits edit session
• MISCELLANEOUS
• u -> Undo the last command made to a line
• . -> Repeat the last command made to a line
• nyy -> Yank n lines to buffer (n indicates a number and is optional)
• ynw -> Yank n words to buffer (n indicates a number and is optional)
• p -> Puts yanked or deleted text after cursor
• P -> Puts yanked or deleted text before cursor
• :r file -> Inserts file at current cursor position