vi cheat sheet

vi in wikipedia, original article.

Command Line

Command	Action
vi file	edit file
view file	view file
vi -r file	view file
vi -R file	view file
vi + file	edit file, cursor at last line
vi +n file	edit file, cursor at line n

Modes: Command & Input

vi starts in command mode. Navigation commands operate in command mode. To switch to input mode enter one of the input commands. Once in input mode, any character you type is added to the file. To exit the input mode, press the Esc key.

graph LR
    A[Start] --> B(Command Mode)
    B -- Navigation --> B
    B -- Deletion --> B
    B -- Input Command --> D(Input Mode)
    D --Esc--> B

Open

Key	Action
:e file	Open file for editing
:e! file	Discard changes, open file for editing

Save, Exit

While in command mode…

Key	Action
:x	Save and exit
:q	Quit
:q!	Discard changes, quit
:e!	Discard changes since last save
:w	Save
:w!	Save, overwrite protection
:w file	Save as file
:wq	Save the file, exit vi

Navigation

While in Command Mode…

Key	Action
H	Upper left corner (home)
M	Middle line
L	Lower left corner
h	Back a character
l	Forward a character
	Word navigation
w	One word forward
b	One word back
	Line navigation
^	Beginning of line
$	End of line
j	Down a line
k	Up a line
G	go to the last line
1 G	go to the first line
n G	go to line n
: n	go to line n
Ctrl+G	display line

Viewport

Key	Action
z [Enter]	Cursor at top
z.	Cursor in the middle
z-	Cursor at bottom

Search & Replace

Searches are case sensitive by default.

Search case sensitivity	Command
Ignore case	:set ic
Respect case	:set noic

Special characters in search pattern:

Character	Matching
^	Beginning of line
$	End of line
\<	Beginning of word
\>	End of word
.	Wildcard characters

Key	Action
fc	Find c
;	Repeat find (find next c)
/ pattern	Forward
/	Repeat forward
? pattern	Reverse
?	Repeat reverse
n	Next occurrence in the direction of search
N	Prev occurrence in the direction of search
:g/from/s//to/g	Global replace
:g/from/s//to/g	Global replace, consult

Deletion Commands

While in command mode…

Key	Action
dd	Delete a line
n dd	Delete n lines
d)	Delete to end of sentence
db	Delete the previous word
D	Delete to the end of line
x	Delete a character

Undo commands

Key	Action
u	Undo last change
U	Undo all changes on line

Input Commands

These force transition to input mode. To get back into command mode, press Esc.

Key	Action
i	Insert before
a	Insert after
I	Insert at the beginning of line
A	Insert at the end of line
o	Open line below
O	Open line above
:r file	Import a file
:12r file	Import a file at line 12