VI Editor Cheatsheet

Modes:

• Normal Mode (Esc): Used for navigation and commands.
• Insert Mode (i): Used for inserting or editing text.
• Visual Mode (v): Used for selecting text.

Navigation:

• h, j, k, l: Move left, down, up, and right respectively.
• 0 (zero): Move to the beginning of the line.
• ^ (caret): Move to the first non-whitespace character of the line.
• $: Move to the end of the line.
• G: Move to the end of the file or to a specified line number (e.g., :12).

Editing:

• i: Enter Insert mode before the cursor.
• I: Enter Insert mode at the beginning of the line.
• a: Enter Insert mode after the cursor.
• A: Enter Insert mode at the end of the line.
• o: Open a new line below the current line.
• O: Open a new line above the current line.
• x: Delete the character under the cursor.
• dd: Delete the current line.
• yy: Copy (yank) the current line.
• p: Paste the yanked or deleted text after the cursor.
• u: Undo the last change.
• Ctrl + r: Redo the last undone change.

Visual Mode:

• v: Enter Visual mode to select characters.
• V: Enter Visual mode to select whole lines.
• Ctrl + v: Enter Visual block mode to select a block of text.

Search and Replace:

• /pattern: Search forward for the specified pattern.
• ?pattern: Search backward for the specified pattern.
• n: Move to the next occurrence of the search pattern.
• N: Move to the previous occurrence of the search pattern.
• :s/old/new: Replace the first occurrence of ‘old’ with ‘new’ in the current line.
• :s/old/new/g: Replace all occurrences of ‘old’ with ‘new’ in the current line.
• :%s/old/new/g: Replace all occurrences of ‘old’ with ‘new’ in the entire file.

Saving and Quitting:

• :w: Save changes.
• :q: Quit (close) the editor.
• :wq or :x: Save changes and quit.
• :q!: Quit without saving.

Miscellaneous:

• Ctrl + g: Show file information and cursor position.
• :set number: Display line numbers.
• :set nonumber: Hide line numbers.
• :help command: Open help for a specific command.