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Pronunciation

It's pronounced "vee-eye".

6.2.2. Basic commands

6.2.2.1. Moving through the text

Moving through the text is usually possible with the arrow keys. If not, try:

• h to move the cursor to the left

• l to move it to the right

• k to move up

• j to move down

SHIFT-G will put the prompt at the end of the document.

6.2.2.2. Basic operations

These are some popular vi commands:

• n dd will delete n lines starting from the current cursor position.

• n dw will delete n words at the right side of the cursor.

• x will delete the character on which the cursor is positioned

• :n moves to line n of the file.

• :w will save (write) the file

• :q will exit the editor.

• :q! forces the exit when you want to quit a file containing unsaved changes.

• :wq will save and exit

• :w newfile will save the text to newfile.

• :wq! overrides read-only permission (if you have the permission to override permissions, for instance when you are using the root account.

• /astring will search the string in the file and position the cursor on the first match below its position.

• / will perform the same search again, moving the cursor to the next match.

• :1, $s/word/anotherword/g will replace word with anotherword throughout the file.

• yy will copy a block of text.

• n p will paste it n times.

• :recover will recover a file after an unexpected interruption.

6.2.2.3. Commands that switch the editor to insert mode

• a will append: it moves the cursor one position to the right before switching to insert mode

• i will insert

• o will insert a blank line under the current cursor position and move the cursor to that line.

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