Simple Text Editors

vi

• Console

Commands

Save and quit

ZZ    Save and quit
:x    Save and quit
:wq   Save and quit

:q    Quit
:q!   Quit without saving

:w               Save
:w <file-name>   Save as <file-name>

Insert mode

a   After the current cursor position
A   End of the current line
i   Before the current cursor position
I   Beginning of the current line

esc   Switch back to command mode

Delete

x   Delete character at current cursor position
X   Delete character before the cursor

cc   Replace current line with a blank line
dG   Delete all lines from cursor to end of file

Traversing a file

:<n>  Go to line number n
G     last line in file

0   First character on the current line
^   First non-whitespace character on the current line

$   end of current line

w   next word
b   previous word

%   go to matching parenthesis, curly brace, or square bracket

Copy and paste

yy       Copy current line
dd       Cut current line into unnamed buffer (delete)

y        Copy selection
delete   Cut selection

p        Paste after the cursor
P        Paste before the cursor

Visually select text

• Define one end of the selection area:

v           Character select
shift + v   Line select
ctrl + v    Column select

• Move the cursor using hjkl or the arrow keys to define the other end

Search and replace

:/pattern       Search for the specified pattern
n               Search for the next occurrence of the pattern
N               Search for the previous occurrence of the pattern

:s/a/b/g        Replace every occurrence of "a" with "b" on the current line
:%s/a/b/g       Replace every occurrence of "a" with "b" in the entire file

:s/a/b/c        Confirm the substitution

:n1,n2s/a/b/g   Run the substitution for lines n1 to n2

:hi clear search   Disable the search highlighting

Undo

u   Undo the last action
U   Undo recent changes to the current line
.   Redo the last change   (period)

Misc commands

o     Add a blank line after the current line
O     Add a blank line before the current line

Configuration

Set

:set all              Show a list of "set" options

:set [no]list         Show hidden characters
:set [no]number       Show line numbers

:set [no]ignorecase   Perform case insensitive searches (:set ic)

Config file

• ~/.vimrc
• Putting commands in this file is the same as typing them individually  in vi (:set ...)

Soft tabs

set expandtab
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4

Misc

Multiple commands

• Can run multiple commands by separating them with a "|" character:

:s/a/b/g | s/c/d/g

Editing a set of files

vi file1 file2
vi $(...)

• Use :next, :prev, :first, and :last to switch between the buffers

vi $(find . -name "*.php" -exec grep -il "text" {} \;)