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The most common editor for a UNIX machine like bgunix is the vi
editor. To use vi to create or edit a file, use this command:
vi filename
There are two different operating modes:
1.) Command mode
This is the normal and initial startup state. You can enter commands but
no text.
2.) Insert mode
In Insert mode you can type text into the file, but you cannot enter any
commands. To enter a command you must first return to Command mode by
pressing the ESC key.
Commands to change from Command mode to Text
mode
| i |
inserts text at cursor position |
| I |
inserts text at the beginning of the current line |
| a |
appends text after the current character |
| A |
appends text at the end of the current line |
| o |
adds a blank line below the current line |
| O (letter O) |
adds a blank line above the current line |
Commands to save the file and/or quit
vi
| ZZ |
writes the file to disk and quits |
| :wq |
writes the file to disk and quits |
| :q |
quits the session if nothing changed in document |
| :q! |
quits the session without saving any changes to the file |
| :w filename |
writes the buffer contents to a new filename without exiting to
shell; will not write to an existing file |
| :w! filename |
writes the buffer contents to an existing filename, overwrites
contents of existing file |
Commands to move around in your
document
| cursor (arrow) keys |
moves up, down, left, or right one position |
| $ |
moves to end of line |
| 0 (zero) |
moves to beginning of line |
| H |
moves to the top of the screen |
| M |
moves to the middle of the screen |
| L |
moves to the bottom of the screen |
| G |
moves to the last line of the file |
| nG |
moves to line n of the file (e.g. 7G moves to line
seven) |
| Ctrl-F |
moves to the next page (hold down Ctrl, press F) |
| Ctrl-B |
moves to the previous page (hold down Ctrl, press B) |
Commands to delete or replace parts of the
document
| x |
deletes the character under the cursor |
| X |
deletes the character before the cursor |
| D |
deletes from the character under the cursor to the end of the
line |
| dd |
deletes the current line. (The line deleted is put into the
General-purpose Buffer) |
| r |
replaces the character under the cursor and stays in Command
mode |
| R |
replaces the character under the cursor and remains in overwrite
mode (following text will be overwritten) |
The x, X, and dd commands can be preceded by an integer to delete
multiple characters or lines (e.g. 12x or 12dd).
Commands to move lines within the
document
| dd |
deletes the current line, putting it into the General-Purpose
Buffer |
| ndd |
deletes n lines starting with the current line, putting
them into the General-Purpose Buffer |
| yy |
copies (yanks) the current line to the General-Purpose
Buffer |
| nyy |
copies (yanks) n lines starting with the current line,
putting them into the General Purpose Buffer |
| p |
inserts the lines from the General-Purpose Buffer just after the
current line |
| P |
inserts the lines from the General-Purpose Buffer just before the
current line |
Commands to search and replace a
string
| /searchstring |
searches forward for searchstring |
| ?searchstring |
searches backward for searchstring |
| n |
repeats the last search |
| N |
repeats the last search in the opposite direction |
| :%s/searchstring/replacestring |
replaces the first searchstring occurrence with
replacestring |
| :%s/searchstring/replacestring/g |
replaces all searchstring occurrences with
replacestring |
Other commands
| :set number |
displays line numbers |
| u |
will undo the last instruction |
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