Vi / Vim Editor Commands in Linux

Here is the List of Useful Vi/Vim Editor Commands in Linux


Cursor Movement Commands :

 h         move left  

 j         move down  

 k         move up  

 l         move right  

 w         jump by start of words (punctuation considered words)  

 W         jump by words (spaces separate words)  

 e         jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)  

 E         jump to end of words (no punctuation)  

 b         jump backward by words (punctuation considered words)  

 B         jump backward by words (no punctuation)  

 0         (zero) start of line  

 ^         first nonblank character of line  

 $         end of line  

 G                    Go To command (prefix with number 5G goes to line 5)  

Insert Mode Inserting/ Appending Test :

 i      start insert mode at cursor  

 I      insert at the beginning of the line  

 a      append after the cursor  

 A      append at the end of the line  

 O     open (append) blank line below current line (no need to press return)  

 O      open blank line above current line  

 Ea     Append at end of word  

 Esc      exit insert mode  

Editing :

 r      replace a single character (does not use insert mode)  

 J      join line below to the current one  

 cc     change (replace) an entire line  

 cw      change (replace) to the end of word  

 c$      change (replace) to the end of line  

 s      delete character at cursor and subsitute text  

 S      delete line at cursor and substitute text (same as cc)  

 Xp      transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)  

 u      undo  

 .      repeat last command  

Marking Text (Visual Mode) :

 v      start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as yyank)  

 V      start Linewise visual mode  

 o      move to other end of marked area  

 Ctrl+v start visual block mode  

 O     move to Other corner of block  

 aw      mark a word  

 ab     a () block (with braces)  

 aB      a {} block (with brackets)  

 ib      inner () block  

 iB     inner {} block  

 Esc      exit visual mode  

Visual Commands :

 >      shift right  

 <      shift left  

 y      yank (copy) marked text  

 d      delete marked text  

 ~      switch case  

Cut & Paste :

 yy      yank (copy) a line  

 2yy      yank 2 lines  

 yw      yank word  

 y$      yank to end of line  

 p      put (paste) the clipboard after cursor  

 P      put (paste) before cursor  

 dd      delete (cut) a line  

 dw      delete (cut) the current word  

 x      delete (cut) current character  

Exiting :

 :w      write (save) the file, but don't exit  

 :wq      write (save) and quit  

 :q     quit (fails if anything has changed)  

 :q!      quit and throw away changes  

Search/ Replace :

 /pattern      search for pattern  

 ?pattern      search backward for pattern  

 n           repeat search in same direction  

 N           repeat search in opposite direction  

 :%s/old/new/g      replace all old with new throughout file  

 :%s/old/new/gc      replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations  

Working With Multiple Files :

 :e filename           Edit a file in a new buffer  

 :bnext (or :bn)      go to next buffer  

 :bprev (of :bp)      go to previous buffer  

 :bd                delete a buffer (close a file)  

 :sp filename       Open a file in a new buffer and split window  

 ctrl+ws           Split windows  

 ctrl+ww           switch between windows  

 ctrl+wq           Quit a window  

 ctrl+wv           Split windows vertically