Vi/Vim-commands

 Vi editor is the most popular text editor from the early days of Unix. Whereas Vim(Vi IMproved) is an improved version of vi editor to be used in CLI (command line interface) for mainly text editing tasks in many configuration files. Some of the other alternatives are Elvis, Nvi, Nano, Joe, and Vile. It has two main operation modes,

  1. Command Mode: It allows the entry of commands to manipulate text.
  2. Entry mode(Or Insert mode): It allows typed characters on the keyboard into the current file.

1. Start with Vi Editor

You can create a new file or open an existing file using vi filename command.

 vi <filename_NEW> or <filename_EXISTING> // Create a new file or open an existing file

 Example:
 vi first.txt

Let's see how do you create file, enter the content and leave the CLI by saving the changes.

  1. Create a new file named first.txt
  2. Press i to enter the insert mode
  3. Enter the text "Hello World!"
  4. Save the text and exit by pressing :wq! command
  5. Check the entered text

2. Cursor movement

These commands will be used in Command mode.
Move cursor

You can use arrow keys(left, right, up and down) to move the cursor on the terminal. But you can also other keys for this behavior.

 h        # Move left
 j        # Move down
 k        # Move up
 l        # Move right
Jump one word

These commands used to jump one word at a time

w        # Jump forwards to the start of a word
W        # Jump forwards to the start of a WORD
e        # Jump forwards to the start of a word
E        # Jump forwards to the start of a WORD
b        # Jump backwords to the start of a word
B        # Jump backwords to the start of a WORD
Jump to start or end of a line or next line

These commands used to jump starting or ending of a line or a next line.

^        # Jump to the start of a current line
$        # Jump to the end of a current line
return   # Jump to the start of a next line
Move sides

These commands used to moves all sides of the screen

Backspace # Move cursor one character to the left
Spacebar  # Move cursor one character to the right
H(High)   # Move cursor to the top of the screen
M(Middle) # Move cursor to the middle of the screen
L(Low)    # Move cursor to the bottom of the screen
Paging and Scrolling

Paging is used to moves the cursor up or down through the text a full screen at a time. Whereas Scrolling happens line by line.

Ctrl + f     # move forward one full screen
Ctrl + b     # move backward one full screen
Ctrl + d     # move forward half a screen
Ctrl + u     # move backward half a screen
Inserting Text

These commands places vi in entry mode from command mode. First, you need to be in command mode to use the below commands.

Insert
i    # Insert text to the left of the cursor
I    # Insert text at the beginning of a line
ESC  # Exit insert mode
Append
a    # Insert(or Append) text to the right of the cursor
A    # Insert(or Append) text at the end of a line
Open a line
o    # Open a line below the current cursor position
O    # open a line above the current cursor position
Editing Text

  1. Change word: Change word/part of word to right of cursor

    cw

  2. Change line Change entire line

    cc

  3. Change line from specific character Change from cursor to end of line

    C
Deleting Text

  1. Deleting One Character: Position the cursor over the character to be deleted and type x

    x
X       //To delete one character before the cursor

  2. Deleting a Word: Position the cursor at the beginning of the word and type dw

    dw

  3. Deleting a Line: Position the cursor anywhere on the line and type dd.

    dd
Cut, Copy & Paste

Copy, Cut and Paste operations can be done in either Normal or visual Mode.

  1. Normal mode: This mode appears on click of Esc key.

    Copy There are various copy or yank commands based on amount of text to be copied. The y character is used to perform this operation.

    i. Copy an entire line: Just place the cursor at the beginning of the line and type yy

    yy

    ii.Copy three lines: Just place the cursor from where to start copying and type 3yy

    3yy

    iii. Copy word with trailing whitespace: Place the cursor at the beginning of the word and type yaw

    yaw

    iv. Copy word without trailing whitespace: Place the cursor at the beginning of the word and type yiw.

    yiw

    v. Copy right of the cursor: Copy text right of the cursor to the end of line using y$ command

    y$

    vi.Copy left of the cursor: Copy text left of the cursor to the end of line using y^ command

    y^

    vii. Copy text between the cursor and character: Copy text between the cursor and specified character.

    ytx(Copy until x and x is excluded)
yfx(Copy until x and x is included)

    Cut There are various cutting or deleting commands based on amount of text to be deleted. The d character is used to perform this operation.

    i. Cut entire line: Cut the entire line where the cursor is located

    dd

    ii.Cut three lines: Cut the three lines starting from the place where cursor is located

    3dd

    iii.Cut right of the cursor: Cut the text from the right of the cursor till the end of line

    d$

    iii.Cut left of the cursor: Cut the text from the left of the cursor till the beginning of line

    d^

    Paste This operation is performed using p command to paste the selected text

    p

  2. Visual Mode In this mode, first select the text using below keys

    1. v (lowercase): To select individual characters
    2. V (uppercase): To select the entire line
    3. Ctrl+v: To select by block

    and perform copy, cut and paste operations using y,d and p commands

Exiting
These commands are used to exit from the file.
```cmd
:w	    # Write (save) the file, but don't exit
:wq	    # Write (save) and quit
:wq!	# Force write (save) and quit
:q	    # Quit, but it fails if anything has changed
:q!	    # Quit and throw away for any changes
```

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