VI EDITOR
University of Mississippi
Vi Editor
• What is Vi ?
▫ Vi is a screen based editor.
▫ The screen of your terminal will act as a
window into the file you are editing.
▫ Most commands to Vi move the cursor around
the file.
▫ Faster (than pico) for those who can type
▫ Available standard on most Unix systems
Vi Editor
• Starting the Vi editor
▫ vi lets you create new files or edit existing files.
▫ Command to start Vi : vi
▫ Open existing (or create new) file in vi:
vi example1
Vi Editor
• Modes of Operation
▫ Command Mode
Allows the entry of commands to manipulate text
Commands are usually one or two characters long
▫ Insert Mode
Puts anything you type on the keyboard into the
current file
Vi Editor
• Modes of Operation
▫ Command Mode
Allows the entry of commands to manipulate text
Commands are usually one or two characters long
▫ Insert Mode
Puts anything you type on the keyboard into the
current file
Vi Editor
• Vi starts in command mode by default
• Most commonly used commands to get into
insert mode are a and i
• Once in insert mode, you get out of it by
hitting the Esc key
Vi Editor
• From within vi:
Hit i key
to enter edit Insert Mode
Type This is EASY.
Then hit the escape key, for Command Mode
Vi Editor
• Saving files and exiting the Vi editor
▫ :q
▫ :q!
Quit the editor
Quit the editor without saving the
changes to the file.
▫ :w
Save the file you are editing
▫ ZZ The editing buffer is written to the file
only if any changes were made.
▫ :wq :- Same effect as ZZ
To ensure you are in command mode:
Hit the Esc key twice.
To save your file:
Type :w
to write (save) the file.
To save your file under a different name:
Type :w example2
To save your file and quite:
Type :wq
Vi Editor
• How to type commands in command mode
[count] command [where]
count : Its a number
where : Specifies how many lines or how much
of the document the command affects.
It can also be any command that moves
the cursor.
Vi Editor
• Moving from Command to Insert Mode
▫ a
▫ i
o
Enter insert mode; the characters typed will be
inserted after the current cursor position. If a count is
specified, then the inserted text will be repeated that
many times
Enter insert mode, the characters typed will be
inserted before the current cursor position. If a count
is specified, the inserted text will be repeated that
many times
Enter insert mode; will start a new line beneath
current line.
Vi Editor
• Moving the cursor, in Command Mode
h
l
j
k
move cursor to the left
move cursor to the right
move cursor up
move cursor down
Use vi to edit example2 to have these 2 lines:
This is not hard.
This is VERY easy.
This is not hard at all.
Vi Editor
• Some simple Vi Commands
▫r
replace one character under the cursor. Specify
count to replace that many characters.
▫R
Starting from the current cursor position, replace
the characters with the one typed on the keyboard
▫x
Delete character under the cursor. Count specifies
how many characters to delete
Practice these commands to further edit example2
Vi Editor
• Cutting text
 d^
Deletes from current cursor position to the
beginning of the line
 d$
Deletes from current cursor position to the
end of the line
 Dw
Deletes from current cursor position to the
end of the word
 dd
Deletes one line from current cursor position.
Specify count to delete many lines.
Vi Editor
• Yanking and Pasting
 yl
yank a single character. Specify count to yank
more characters
 yw
yank a single word. Specify count to yank more
words
 yy
yank a single line. Specify count to yank more
lines
p
m
paste the text that was either deleted or yanked
previously
mark the current line
Practice Yanking, Deleting, and Pasting Lines of Text
Use vi to create a new file: example3, with these lines:
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
ten
Then, from command mode, enter :wq to save the file
Vi Editor
• To go to a specific line in the file
:linenumber
• To go to the last line in the file
:G
• String Search
▫ /[pattern] : search forward for the pattern
▫ ?[pattern] : search backward for the pattern
• To undo the last command:
More practice
Use vi to edit existing file: example3
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