vi-Editor at a glance
To open a new or an existing file in vi use the following command in terminal:
$vi filename
Now use the following shortcuts for file editing.
| Purpose | Command |
| To insert new text | esc + i ( You have to press 'escape' key then 'i') |
| To save file | esc + : + w (Press 'escape' key then 'colon' and finally 'w') |
| To save file with file name (save as) | esc + : + w "filename" |
| To quit the vi editor | esc + : + q |
| To quit without saving | esc + : + q! |
| To save and quit vi editor | esc + : + wq |
| To search for specified word in forward direction | esc + /word (Press 'escape' key, type /word-to-find, for e.g. to find word 'shri', type as
/shri) |
| To continue with search | N |
| To search for specified word in backward direction | esc + ?word (Press 'escape' key, type word-to-find) |
| To copy the line where cursor is located | esc + yy |
| To paste the text just deleted or copied at the cursor | esc + p |
| To delete entire line where cursor is located | esc + dd |
| To delete word from cursor position | esc + dw |
| To Find all occurrence of given word and Replace then globally without confirmation | esc + :$s/word-to-find/word-to-replace/g
For. e.g. :$s/mumbai/pune/g
Here word "mumbai" is replace with "pune" |
| To Find all occurrence of given word and Replace then globally with confirmation | esc + :$s/word-to-find/word-to-replace/cg |
| To run shell command like ls, cp or date etc within vi | esc + :!shell-command
For e.g. :!pwd |
