VI Cheat Sheet

This is a quick reference to using VI professionally. VI is a popular text editor that comes built-in on most unix based operating systems.

Create a new file and open it

vi <newfilename.txt>

Open an existing filename

vi <existingfilename.txt>

Switch to edit mode

Press i to insert before current character Press a to insert after current character Press O to start a new line below current line

Switch to command mode

Press Esc to switch back to command mode

Basic commands

1. x - Delete a character
2. dd - Delete a line
3. r - Replace a character
4. R - Overwrite text, press <Esc> to end
5. :set nu - Display line numbers
6. :wq! - Save and quit
7. :q! - Quit
8. e - Move to end of current word
9. $ - Move to end of current line
10. ^ - Move to beginning of current line
11. + - Move to beginning of next line
12. - - Move to beginning of previous line
13. G - Go to last line of the file
14. :n - Go to line n (:10 for line 10)
15. u - Undo last single change
16. ~ - Change letter's case
17. yy - Copy the current line
18. 6yy - Copy six lines from current line
19. P - Paste the text after the cursor position
20. /text - Search down for 'text'
21. ?text - Search up for 'text'
22. n - Toggle through search results

Detailed cheatsheet -

https://staff.washington.edu/rells/R110/