unix cheatsheets

vi Cheatsheet

Level up your vi Kung Fu

Posted by RICK FARMER Jan 30, 2017

The Basics

Use ESC or CTRL-[ to enter Normal mode.

History

ctrl-p : Previous command in history
ctrl-n : Next command in history
/ : Search backward in history
n : Repeat the last /

Movement

$ : To the end of the line
^ : To the first non-blank character of the line
0 : To the first character of the line
w : [count] words forward
W : [count] WORDS forward
e : Forward to the end of word [count] inclusive
E : Forward to the end of WORD [count] inclusive
b : [count] words backward
B : [count] WORDS backward
t{char} : Till before [count]’th occurrence of {char} to the right
T{char} : Till before [count]’th occurrence of {char} to the left
f{char} : To [count]’th occurrence of {char} to the right
F{char} : To [count]’th occurrence of {char} to the left
; : Repeat latest f, t, F or T [count] times
, : Repeat latest f, t, F or T in opposite direction

Insertion

i : Insert text before the cursor
I : Insert text before the first character in the line
a : Append text after the cursor
A : Append text at the end of the line
o : Insert new command line below the current one
O : Insert new command line above the current one

Delete and Insert

ctrl-h : While in Insert mode: delete character before the cursor
ctrl-w : While in Insert mode: delete word before the cursor
d{motion} : Delete text that {motion} moves over
dd : Delete line
D : Delete characters under the cursor until the end of the line
c{motion} : Delete {motion} text and start insert
cc : Delete line and start insert
C : Delete to the end of the line and start insert
r{char} : Replace the character under the cursor with {char}
R : Enter replace mode: Each character replaces existing one
x : Delete [count] characters under and after the cursor
X : Delete [count] characters before the cursor

How to Use the vi Editor