A table of commands used in the Unix-based vi editing program. Commands include moving the cursor, text insertion and deletion, screen commands, and change commands.
| Moving the Cursor | |
|---|---|
| h | One space to the left |
| j | One space to up |
| k | One space down |
| l | One space to the right |
| Beginning of new line | |
| – | Beginning of previous line |
| ^ | Beginning of current line |
| $ | End of current line |
| Forward one space | |
| nG | Beginning of line n |
| b | Beginning of current word |
| w | Beginning of next word |
| e | End of current word |
| Control – e | Scroll forward |
| Control – b | Scroll backward |
| /pattern | First occurence of pattern |
| n | Next occurence of pattern |
| N | Previous occurence of pattern |
| / | Repeats last pattern search |
| Text Insertion and Deletion | |
| a | Appends text to the right of the cursor |
| A | Appends text at the end of the line |
| i | Inserts text to the left of the cursor |
| I | Inserts text at the beginning of the line |
| o | Opens a new line below the current line for text to be inserted |
| O | Opens a new line above the current line for text to be inserted |
| x | Deletes character at cursor position |
| X | Deletes character left of cursor position |
| dd | Deletes current line |
| dw | Deletes current word |
| d) | Deletes rest of sentence |
| D or d$ | Deletes from cursor to end of line |
| P | Puts back text from the previous delete |
| rx | Replaces selected character with x |
| u | Undoes last change |
| U | Restores current line |
| :R myfile | Appends file “myfile” to current file at current cursor position |
| DEL | Overwrites last character during text insertion |
| ESC | Stops text insertion, returns to command mode |
| Screen Commands | |
| Control – I | Reprints current screen |
| Control – L | Exposes one more line at top of screen |
| Control – E | Exposes one more line at bottom of screen |
| Control – F | Pages forward one screen |
| Control – B | Pages back one screen |
| Control – D | Pages down half a screen |
| Control – U | Pages up half a screen |
| Change Commands | |
| cw | Changes characters of current word until escape key is pressed |
| c$ | Changes text up to the end of the line |
| C or cc | Changes remaining text on the current line until escape key is pressed |
| ~ | Changes case of the current character |
| xp | Transposes the current and following characters |
| J | Joins current line with the next line |
| s | Deletes current character and enters insertion mode |
| rx | Replaces current character with x |
| R | Replaces the following characters until escape key is pressed |
| yy | Puts current line in a buffer without deleting the line |
| p | Places the line stored in buffer after the current position of the cursor |