Basic Vi Editor Commands

Front 1

h

Back 1

move left (backspace for backup-delete)

Front 2

j

Back 2

move down

Front 3

k

Back 3

move up

Front 4

l

Back 4

move right (spacebar for space)

Front 5

$

Back 5

last column on the current line

Front 6

0

Back 6

0 (zero)
moves cursor to the first column on the current line.

Front 7

^

Back 7

move cursor to first nonblank column on the current line

Front 8

w

Back 8

move to the beginning of the next word or punctuation mark

Front 9

W

Back 9

move past the next space

Front 10

b

Back 10

move to the beginning of the previous word or punctuation mark

Front 11

B

Back 11

move to the beginning of the previous word, ignores punctuation

Front 12

e

Back 12

end of next word or punctuation mark

Front 13

E

Back 13

end of next word, ignoring punctuation

Front 14

H

Back 14

move cursor to the top of the screen

Front 15

M

Back 15

move cursor to the middle of the screen

Front 16

L

Back 16

move cursor to the bottom of the screen

Front 17

G

Back 17

move to the last line in the file

Front 18

xG

Back 18

move to line x

Front 19

z+

Back 19

move current line to top of screen

Front 20

z

Back 20

move current line to the middle of screen

Front 21

z-

Back 21

move current line to the bottom of screen

Front 22

^F

Back 22

move forward one screen

Front 23

^B

Back 23

move backward one line

Front 24

^D

Back 24

move forward one half screen

Front 25

^U

Back 25

move backward one half screen

Front 26

^R

Back 26

redraw screen ( does not work with VT100 type terminals )

Front 27

^L

Back 27

redraw screen ( does not work with Televideo terminals )

Front 28

r

Back 28

replace character under cursor with next character typed

Front 29

R

Back 29

keep replacing character until [esc] is hit

Front 30

i

Back 30

insert before cursor

Front 31

a

Back 31

append after cursor

Front 32

A

Back 32

append at end of line

Front 33

O

Back 33

open line above cursor and enter append mode

Front 34

x

Back 34

delete character under cursor

Front 35

dd

Back 35

delete line under cursor

Front 36

dw

Back 36

delete word under cursor

Front 37

db

Back 37

delete word before cursor

Front 38

yy

Back 38

(yank)'copies' line which may then be put by
the p(put) command. Precede with a count formultiple lines.

Front 39

p

Back 39

brings back previous deletion or yank of lines, words, or characters (BEFORE CURSOR)

Front 40

P

Back 40

brings back previous deletion or yank of lines, words, or characters (AFTER CURSOR)

Front 41

?

Back 41

finds a word going backwards

Front 42

/

Back 42

finds a word going forwards

Front 43

f

Back 43

finds a character on the line under the cursor going forward

Front 44

F

Back 44

finds a character on the line under the cursor going backwards

Front 45

t

Back 45

find a character on the current line going forward and stop one character before it

Front 46

T

Back 46

find a character on the current line going backward and stop one character before it

Front 47

;

Back 47

repeat last f, F, t, T

Front 48

. (period)

Back 48

repeat last command

Front 49

u

Back 49

undoes last command issued

Front 50

U

Back 50

undoes all commands on one line

Front 51

xp

Back 51

deletes first character and inserts after second (swap)

Front 52

J

Back 52

join current line with the next line

Front 53

^G

Back 53

display current line number

Front 54

%

Back 54

if at one parenthesis, will jump to its mate

Front 55

mx

Back 55

mark current line with character x
NOTE: Marks are internal and not written to the file.

Front 56

'x

Back 56

find line marked with character x
NOTE: Marks are internal and not written to the file.

Front 57

:$

Back 57

move to last line of file

Front 58

:#

Back 58

move to line #

Front 59

:r filename

Back 59

copies (reads) filename after cursor in file currently editing

Front 60

:!'cmd'

Back 60

executes 'cmd' as a shell command.

Front 61

>>

Back 61

Shifts the current line to the right by one shift width.

Front 62

<<

Back 62

Shifts the current line to the left by one shift width.

Front 63

CTRL-F, CTRL-B

Back 63

Scroll forward, backward one screen

Front 64

CTRL-D, CTRL-U

Back 64

Scroll down, up one-half screen

Front 65

CTRL-E, CTRL-Y

Back 65

Show one more line at bottom, top of window

Front 66

z RETURN

Back 66

Reposition line with cursor: to top of screen

Front 67

z .

Back 67

Reposition line with cursor: to middle of screen

Front 68

z –

Back 68

Reposition line with cursor: to bottom of screen

Front 69

CTRL-L

Back 69

Redraw screen (without scrolling)

Front 70

/pattern

Back 70

Search forward for pattern

Front 71

?pattern

Back 71

Search backward for pattern

Front 72

n, N

Back 72

Repeat last search in same, opposite direction

Front 73

/, ?

Back 73

Repeat previous search forward, backward

Front 74

o, O

Back 74

Open new line for text below, above cursor

Front 75

I, A

Back 75

Insert text before beginning, after end of line

Front 76

i, a

Back 76

Insert text before, after cursor

Front 77

yw

Back 77

Yank (copy) word

Front 78

ymotion

Back 78

Yank text between the cursor and the target of motion

Front 79

ZZ

Back 79

Write (save) and quit file

Front 80

:e #

Back 80

Edit alternate file

Front 81

gg

Back 81

go to....beginning of file

Front 82

match brackets and parenthesis

Back 82

command at colon: set showmatch

Front 83

Turn on line numbers

Back 83

command: :set number

to unset: :set nonumber

Front 84

command for:
when line is wrapped (80-value)

Back 84

:set wrapmargine(wm)

Front 85

Access the next file for editing

Back 85

:n

Front 86

J

Back 86

to join lines

Front 87

save the file to newfilename from the command mode

Back 87

:w newfilename

Front 88

Include the contents of the specified file at this position in the file that is currently being edited.

Back 88

:r filename

Front 89

Write the file to disk with the specified filename.

Back 89

:w filename

Front 90

open vi at specific line

Back 90

example:
vi +3 filename

Front 91

open vi at specific pattern

Back 91

example:
vi +/pattern filename

Front 92

open vi in READONLY

Back 92

example:
vi -R filename

Front 93

edit another file (file2) from current file (file1)

Back 93

:e file2

Front 94

go to next file (if opened multiple files)

Back 94

:n

Front 95

save to different filename

Back 95

:w newFileName

Front 96

type a command-line entry without leaving vi

Back 96

:! command

Front 97

replace current-line with the result of a command-line

Back 97

!! command

Front 98

Move forward and back one paragraph

Back 98

} (forward)

{ (backward)

Front 99

Move forward and back one sentence

Back 99

) [forward]

( [backward]