The One and Only - Original CV'ers
VI Reference Page
"But Miss Lucey, I can't edit my quota - I don't know vi..."


Cursor movement keys and commands

h one character to the left
l one character to the right
k up one line
j down one line
<line_num>G moves to the line number specified
G moves to the end of a file

Text insertion commands

a appends text after cursor
A appends text at end of line
i inserts text before cursor
I inserts text at start of line
o opens a line below cursor
O opens a line above cursor

Commands to eliminate text

x deletes character at cursor
dw deletes word
dd deletes line at cursor
D deletes from cursor to end of line

Commands to modify existing text

r replaces single character
R replaces multiple characters
cw change word at cursor
yw copies (yanks) word
yy copies (yanks) line
p put copied input after cursor
P put copied input before cursor
u undo last change
U undo all line changes
/string locate string
n locate next occurance of string
N reverse search for string
:%s/string1/string2/ substitute string1 for string2
g add to end of substitute for global substitute

Commands to leave the vi session

:w writes (saves) the file
:w! forces a write (save)
:q quits a file (no save)
:q! forces a quit
:wq write and quit vi
ZZ writes file if changes made or else just quit

Additional cursor movement

space moves one char to the right
backspace moves one char to the left
linefeed down one line
- up one line
+ down one line
CTRL-H one character to the left
CTRL-J down one line
CTRL-N move down one line
CTRL-K up one line
CTRL-P move up one line
CTRL-D scroll down half a screen
CTRL-U scroll up half a screen
CTRL-F scroll forward one page
CTRL-B scroll backward one page
CTRL-Y expose one more line at top of screen
CTRL-E expose one more line at bottom of screen
w moves you forward to the beginning of the next word
e moves you forward to the end of the word
b moves you backward to the beginning of the word
W moves forward to the next character following a space
E move to end of current big word
B move to the beginning of the current big word
) forward to the beginning of the next sentence
( backward to the beginning of the sentence
{ forward to the beginning of the next paragraph
} backward to the beginning of the paragraph
]] forward to the beginning of the next section
[[ backward to beginning of the section
^ forward to the first nonblank character of the line
0 forward to the real beginning of the line
$ forward to the end of the line
H move to the home position, upper leftmost of your screen
M move to the beginning of the middle line on your screen
L move to the beginning of the last line on your screen
G move to the end of the file
#G move to that # line
#| move to that # specified column
J join two lines
. repeats last command that changed the file

6 Deletion

d space same as x (requires a space after d)
#d space deletes # of characters (requires a space after d)
db delete to the beginning of the word
de delete to the end of the word
d0 delete to the beginning of the line (from cursor position)
d) delete to the end of the sentence
d{ delete from start of current paragraph upto cursor position

Replacing text

#rx replaces # amount of char with the letter x
r CR replaces a character with a carraige return
c space deletes single character, then insert mode (needs a space.) Use ESC.
#c space deletes # characters, then insert mode (nees a space.) Use ESC.
cc change the entire line. Use ESC to stop input.
C same as cc

While in text entry mode, certain key combinations are also available.

CTRL-I same as the tab key. Tabstops can be setup with the :se command
CTRL-W backs up to the beginning of the current word when in entry mode
CTRL-U backs up to the beginning of the current line when in entry mode
CTRL-D back up over one level of indentation if autoindent set
0CTRL-D kill autoindent
^CTRL-D kill autoindent on this line, restore it on the next
CTRL-T if in autoindent mode, insert one shiftwidth blank or tab

Hitting ESC at any time, deletes all text starting with the cursor position forward to the end of the line.

Additional Keys

ESC terminate text entry/modification mode
. repeat last change command
: prepare to issue an ex command
; move to next occurence of symbol searched for with f or F on current line.
/pat search for string pat, starting at cursor position
n next occurence of pattern match
N previous occurence of pattern match
?pat search for string pat, backwards from cursor position
J join next line to current one
p put contents of buffer into line below cursor
P put contents of buffer into line above cursor
~ change case of character if alphabetic
CTRL-L redraw screen, useful if scrambled
CTRL-R redraw screen, eliminating deleted lines marked by @
% if given with cursor on (, {, [, moves it to matching
< decrease indent of each level of object by one shiftwidth
> increase indent of each level of object by one shiftwidth
= reindent lisp program, as if it had been entered using lisp
z redraw screen around current line

Setting options

:se displays currently set options
:se all displays all available options
:se autoindent set autoindention feature. Structured tabs will be repeated line after line. Excelent for showing loops in programs
:se autowrite automatically write out buffer (if changed) before :n, :rew, :stop, :ta, or :! given in visual mode
:se beautify prevents entry of control characters
:se lisp autoindent indents appropiately for lisp, and (), {}, [], commands suitably redefined
:se mesg allow messages to be received while in vi
:se optimize abolishes automatic CR when terminal prints
:se paragraphs=xxxx specifies paragraph macros used by { and } commands
:se redraw simulate intelligent terminal on dumb one
:se scroll=n set scrolling paramter to n lines
:se sections=xxxx specifies section macros used by [[ and ]] commands
:se shiftwidth=n number of characters to be backspaces over by CTRL-D when autoindent is on
:se showmatch when ) or } is entered, move cursor for one second to matching ( or { - verifies matching syntax
:se slowopen delays updating of screen during insertions
:se tabstop=n set editor tabs every n characters
:se taglength=x (tl, tl=o) only first x characters of tag are significant
:se tags= path of files path of files to be searched for tags
:se w300=n set window size to n lines if speed is 300 baud
:se window=n set window size to n lines
:se wrapmargin=n set margin for word wraparound a n char from end of line
:se writeany allow user to write to any file available to user

NOTE: The vi editor keeps a copy of your file in the /tmp directory. In case of a system crash (or a killed shell), a mail file is created instructing the operator of the recoverable vi file. The normal procedure is to invoke the vi e ditor with the -r (recover) option. The file is usually recoverable up to your last carraige return.

Many thanks to setwei for typing this up!!!!