vi cheat sheet
Command of the day
:.,$s/find-this-string/replace-with-this-string/g
Quitting
| :x | Exit, saving changes |
| :wq | Exit, saving changes |
| :q | Exit as long as there have been no changes |
| ZZ | Exit and save changes if any have been made |
| :q! | Exit and ignore any changes |
Motion
| h | Move left |
| j | Move down |
| k | Move up |
| l | Move right |
| w | Move to next word |
| W | Move to next blank delimited word |
| b | Move to the beginning of the word |
| B | Move to the beginning of blank delimted word |
| e | Move to the end of the word |
| E | Move to the end of Blank delimited word |
| ( | Move a sentence back |
| ) | Move a sentence forward |
| { | Move a paragraph back |
| } | Move a paragraph forward |
| 0 | Move to the begining of the line |
| $ | Move to the end of the line |
| 1G | Move to the first line of the file |
| G | Move to the last line of the file |
| nG | Move to nth line of the file |
| :n | Move to nth line of the file |
| fc | Move forward to c |
| Fc | Move back to c |
| H | Move to top of screen |
| M | Move to middle of screen |
| L | Move to botton of screen |
| % | Move to associated ( ), { }, [ ] |
Deleting Text
Almost all deletion commands are performed by typing d followed by a motion. For example, dw deletes a word. A few other deletes are:
| x | Delete character to the right of cursor |
| X | Delete character to the left of cursor |
| D | Delete to the end of the line |
| dd | Delete current line |
| :d | Delete current line |
Yanking Text
Like deletion, almost all yank commands are performed by typing y followed by a motion. For example, y$ yanks to the end of the line. Two other yank commands are:
| yy | Yank the current line |
| :y | Yank the current line |
Inserting Text
| i | Insert before cursor |
| I | Insert before line |
| a | Append after cursor |
| A | Append after line |
| o | Open a new line after current line |
| O | Open a new line before current line |
| r | Replace one character |
| R | Replace many characters |
Changing text
The change command is a deletion command that leaves the editor in insert mode. It is performed by typing c followed by a motion. For wxample cw changes a word. A few other change commands are:
| C | Change to the end of the line |
| cc | Change the whole line |
Putting text
| p | Put after the position or after the line |
| P | Put before the poition or before the line |
Buffers
Named buffers may be specified before any deletion, change, yank or put command. The general prefix has the form “c where c is any lowercase character. for example, “adw deletes a word into buffer a. It may thereafter be put back into text with an appropriate “ap.
Markers
Named markers may be set on any line in a file. Any lower case letter may be a marker name. Markers may also be used as limits for ranges.
| mc | Set marker c on this line |
| `c | Go to beginning of marker c line. |
| ‘c | Go to first non-blank character of marker c line. |
Search for strings
| /string | Search forward for string |
| ?string | Search back for string |
| n | Search for next instance of string |
| N | Search for previous instance of string |
Replace
The search and replace function is accomplished with the :s command. It is commonly used in combination with ranges or the :g command (below).
| :s/pattern/string/flags | Replace pattern with string according to flags. |
| g | Flag – Replace all occurences of pattern |
| c | Flag – Confirm replaces. |
| & | Repeat last :s command |
Regular Expressions
| . (dot) | Any single character except newline |
| * | zero or more occurances of any character |
| […] | Any single character specified in the set |
| [^…] | Any single character not specified in the set |
| ^ | Anchor – beginning of the line |
| $ | Anchor – end of line |
| \< | Anchor – begining of word |
| \> | Anchor – end of word |
| \(…\) | Grouping – usually used to group conditions |
| /n | Contents of nth grouping |
[…] – Set Examples
| [A-Z] | The SET from Capital A to Capital Z |
| [a-z] | The SET from lowercase a to lowercase z |
| [0-9] | The SET from 0 to 9 (All numerals) |
| [./=+] | The SET containing . (dot), / (slash), =, and + |
| [-A-F] | The SET from Capital A to Capital F and the dash (dashes must be specified first) |
| [0-9 A-Z] | The SET containing all capital letters and digits and a space |
| [A-Z][a-zA-Z] | In the first position, the SET from Capital A to Capital Z In the second character position, the SET containing all letters |
Counts Ranges Files Other
| /Hello/ | Matches if the line contains the value Hello |
| /^TEST$/ | Matches if the line contains TEST by itself |
| /^[a-zA-Z]/ | Matches if the line starts with any letter |
| /^[a-z].*/ | Matches if the first character of the line is a-z and there is at least one more of any character following it |
| /2134$/ | Matches if line ends with 2134 |
| /\(21|35\)/ | Matches is the line contains 21 or 35 Note the use of ( ) with the pipe symbol to specify the ‘or’ condition |
| /[0-9]*/ | Matches if there are zero or more numbers in the line |
| /^[^#]/ | Matches if the first character is not a # in the line |
:.,$s/pattern/string/g
| :n,m | Range – Lines n-m |
| :. | Range – Current line |
| :$ | Range – Last line |
| :’c | Range – Marker c |
| :% | Range – All lines in file |
| :g/pattern/ | Range – All lines that contain pattern |
| :w file | Write to file |
| :r file | Read file in after line |
| :n | Go to next file |
| :p | Go to previos file |
| :e file | Edit file |
| !!program | Replace line with output from program |
| ~ | Toggle upp and lower case |
| J | Join lines |
| . | Repeat last text-changing command |
| u | Undo last change |
| U | Undo all changes to line |