VI Editor Shortcuts

Modes in VI Editor

• Normal Mode (default) – Used for navigation and command execution.
• Insert Mode – Used for text editing (press i to enter, Esc to exit).
• Command Mode – Used for saving, quitting, and searching (press : in Normal mode).

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Basic Navigation

• h – Move left
• l – Move right
• j – Move down
• k – Move up
• 0 – Move to the beginning of the line
• ^ – Move to the first non-blank character of the line
• $ – Move to the end of the line
• w – Move to the next word
• b – Move to the previous word
• gg – Move to the start of the file
• G – Move to the end of the file
• :n – Move to line number n

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Insert Mode Shortcuts

• i – Insert before cursor
• I – Insert at the beginning of the line
• a – Append after cursor
• A – Append at the end of the line
• o – Open a new line below
• O – Open a new line above
• Esc – Exit insert mode

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Editing Text

• x – Delete a character
• X – Delete a character before cursor
• dw – Delete a word
• dd – Delete a line
• d$ – Delete from cursor to end of line
• d0 – Delete from cursor to beginning of line
• D – Delete from cursor to end of line
• u – Undo last action
• Ctrl + r – Redo an undone change
• yy – Copy (yank) a line
• yw – Copy (yank) a word
• p – Paste after the cursor
• P – Paste before the cursor

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Search and Replace

• /pattern – Search forward for a pattern
• ?pattern – Search backward for a pattern
• n – Repeat last search forward
• N – Repeat last search backward
• :%s/old/new/g – Replace all occurrences of "old" with "new"
• :s/old/new/g – Replace all occurrences in the current line

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Working with Multiple Files

• :e filename – Open a new file
• :w – Save file
• :wq – Save and exit
• :q! – Quit without saving
• :split filename – Split screen horizontally and open another file
• :vsplit filename – Split screen vertically
• Ctrl + w + w – Switch between split screens

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