VI Reference

VI is a minimalistic text editor that is found on most varities of Unix, including Linux. It typically does not have a graphical user-interface, which means that most of its functionality is accessed through obscure keyboard commands. I've always had a hard time remembering all of the commands, so I've made a short reference to the commands that I've found useful. You can obtain a complete list of these commands by typing ':help' while running VI. Note that some of these commands may be specific to the version of VI that I am running (VIM 5.8.7), so you might not get all of them to work in your version.

The Basics

These are the commands that you will use most frequently.

i

Puts you into Insert mode, which allows you to add new text.

ESC key

Takes you out of any mode and into Normal mode.

x

Deletes the character under the cursor.

gg

Moves the cursor to the start of the file.

G

Moves the cursor to the end of the file.

dd

Deletes the current line.

yy

Copies the current line to the clipboard.

D

Deletes from the character under the cursor to the end of the line.

p

Pastes the previously deleted/yanked text after the current character.

P

Pastes the previously deleted/yanked text before the current character.

u

Undo the last command/edit.

.

Redo the last command/edit.

v

Puts you into Visual mode, which allows you to select a range of characters.

V

Puts you into Visual mode, but selects entire lines.

J

Joins the next line onto the end of the current line.

>>

Indent a line by one tab.

<<

Unindent a line by one tab.

Repetition

Allows you to repeat a single command multiple times.

#dd

Deletes # lines.

#yy

Copies # lines to the clipboard.

#G

Moes the cursor to the #'th line of the file.