Basic Vi Commands

Modes & Controls

Command	Description
vi filename	Edit filename
vi -r filename	Edit last version of filename after crash
vi + n filename	Edit filename at end of file
vi + filename	Edit filename at end of file
vi +/str filename	Edit filename at first occurance of str

Command	Description
:w	Save
:x or :wq	Save & Exit
:q	Exit if no changes made
:q!	Exit & discard any changes

Cursor Navigation

Command	Description
h or ←	Cursor left
j or ↓	Cursor down
k or ↑	Cursor up
l or →	Cursor right
w	Next word
W	Next blank delimited word
b	Start of word
B	Start of blank delimited word
e	End of word
W	End of blank delimited word
(	Back a sentence
)	Forward a sentence
{	Back a paragraph
}	Forward a paragraph
0	Beggining of line
$	End of line
1G	Start of file
G	End of file
:n	nth line of file
f< char >	Forward to char
F< char >	Back to char
H	Top of screen
M	Middle of screen
L	Bottom of screen
%	Matching bracket
gg	Start of document

Inserting Text

Command	Description
i	Insert before cursor
a	Append after cursor
I	Insert before line
A	Append after line
o	Add new line after current line
O	Add new line before current line
r	Overwrite one character
R	Overwrite many characters
:r file	Reads file and inserts it after this line
p	Put after the position or line
P	Put before the position or line
C	Rewrite the whole line

Marking Text (Visual Mode)

Command	Description
v	Start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as y-yank)
V	Start Linewise visual mode
o	Move to other end of marked area
ctrl + v	Start visual block mode
O	Move to Other corner of block
aw	Mark a word
ab	A () block (with braces)
aB	A {} block (with brackets)
ib	Inner () block
iB	Inner {} block
esc	Exit visual mode

Visual commands

Command	Description
>	Shift right
<	Shift left
y	Yank (copy) marked text
d	Delete marked text
~	Switch case

Cut and Paste

Command	Description
yy	yank (copy) a line
2yy	yank 2 lines
yw	yank word
y$	yank to end of line
p	put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P	put (paste) before cursor
dd	delete (cut) a line
dw	delete (cut) the current word
x	delete (cut) current character

Deleting Text

Command	Description
x	Delete character to right of cursor
X	Delete character to left of cursor
D	Delete the rest of line
dd or :d	Delete current line
ndw	Deletes the next n words
ndb	Deletes the previous n words
ndd	Deletes n lines starting with current
:x,yd	Delete lines x through y
:r < file >	Reads file and inserts it after this line
d{nav_cmd}	Overwrite many characters

Searching

Command	Description
/string	Search forward for string
?string	Search backwards for string
n	Go to next match
N	Go to previous match
:set ic	Ignore case while searching
:set noic	Case-sensitive searching
:set nu	Turn on line numbers
:x,yg/str	Search for str from line x to line y
:g/str/cmd	Run cmd on lines containing str
*	Search for next instance of current word
#	Search for last instance of current word
:%s/old/new/g	Replace all old with new throughout file
:%s/old/new/gc	Replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations

Working with multiple files

Command	Description
:e filename	Edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext (or :bn)	Go to next buffer
:bprev (of :bp)	Go to previous buffer
:bd	Delete a buffer (close a file)
:sp filename	Open a file in a new buffer and split window
ctrl + ws	Split windows
ctrl + ww	Switch between windows
ctrl + wq	Quit a window
ctrl + wv	Split windows vertically

Other

Command	Description
u	Undo last change
J	Join lines
nJ	Join next n lines
.	Repeat last command
U	Undo all changes to line
ctrl + c	Escape insert mode