Useful "vi" Commands
Switching Modes
Command Mode
[Esc] Enter Command Mode
Insert Mode
a Append after cursor
A Append at end of line
c Begin change operation
C Change to end of line
i Insert before cursor.
o Open below current line
O Open above current Line
R Begin overwrite
Delete
5x Delete 5 charcaters
dd Delete current line
Movement Commands
h, l or Spacebar Left, Right
b, B, w, W Left, Right by word
j, k Down, Up
[Ctrl]-F, [Ctrl]-B Foward Screen, Back Screen
[Ctrl]-L Redraw
0, $ Beginning, End of line
nH, nL n lines after top line, before last line
nG, G move to line n, move to last line in file
Copy / Paste
yy Copy line
ye Copy to end of word
p Paste
Save/Quit Commands
ZZ Quit and save if changes were made
:q! Quit w/o saving
:w file Write to file
:n1,n2w >> file Append line n1 to n2 to existing file.
Command Line Options
vi options files General syntax
-R Read only mode
+ Position vi on last line of file
+n Position vi on nth line of file
+/pat Position vi on line containing pattern pat
Other
u Undo
:1,$s/pattern-to-substitute/new-text
Search and replace. 1 means start from line 1; $ means go to EOF