Essential VI Editor Techniques for Efficient Text Editing in Linux

Umar Farooque Khan

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Mar 12, 2025

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Basic Modes in VI

1. Normal Mode — Default mode for navigation and commands.
2. Insert Mode — For editing text (press i or a to enter).
3. Visual Mode — For selecting text (press v to enter).
4. Command Mode — For saving, quitting, and other commands (press : to enter).

Essential Commands

Opening & Exiting VI

• vi filename → Open a file in vi.
• :q → Quit (if no changes were made).
• :q! → Quit without saving changes.
• :w → Save the file.
• :wq or ZZ → Save and exit.

Navigation

• h → Move left
• l → Move right
• j → Move down
• k → Move up
• w → Jump forward by a word
• b → Jump backward by a word
• 0 → Go to the beginning of the line
• $ → Go to the end of the line
• gg → Go to the start of the file
• G → Go to the end of the file
• :n → Jump to line n (e.g., :10 goes to line 10)

Editing Text

• i → Insert mode before cursor
• a → Insert mode after cursor
• o → Open a new line below and enter insert mode
• O → Open a new line above and enter insert mode
• r → Replace one character
• x → Delete one character
• dd → Delete (cut) the whole line
• yy → Copy (yank) the whole line
• p → Paste after cursor
• P → Paste before cursor

Search & Replace

• /word → Search forward for "word"
• ?word → Search backward for "word"
• n → Repeat last search forward
• N → Repeat last search backward
• :%s/old/new/g → Replace all occurrences of "old" with "new"
• :10,20s/old/new/g → Replace "old" with "new" only from line 10 to 20

Advanced Tricks

• u → Undo the last change
• Ctrl + r → Redo the last undo
• . → Repeat the last command
• V → Enter Visual Line Mode (select whole lines)
• Ctrl + d → Scroll half-page down
• Ctrl + u → Scroll half-page up
• :set number → Show line numbers
• :set nonumber → Hide line numbers