Vi(m) Quick Reference

Vi(m) command-line options

vi [ filename ] : Open the file or create a new file
vi -R filename: open the file in read-only mode
vi -r filename: open the file from a swap file if the last session crashed
vi +n filename: open the file and locate at the specified line number
vi + filename: open the file and locate at the last line
vi +/'pattern' filename: open the file and locate at the first line that contains the pattern

Vi(m) modes

Command mode: This is the initial mode when running vi. You can press Esc key to enter the command mode. In this mode, you are able to run some vi commands as below. If you press Esc multiple times, you will hear beeps. So it is also called beep mode.
Insert mode: you need to press some keys as below to enter insert mode, in which you can edit the contents of the file. Most of time, you can insert more contents. But if you press R key, you will overwrite the contents.

Vi(m) commands

Move the cursor
Key strokes	Meaning	Notes
Arrow keys	Move the cursor by one character/line
h	Move the cursor to the left character
j	Move the cursor to the character below it
k	Move the cursor to the character above it
l	Move the cursor to the right character
b	Move the cursor to the begining of the previous word
w	Move the cursor to the begining of the next word
$ or End	Move the cursor to the end of the line
^	Move the cursor to the first non-blank character of the line
0 or Home	Move the cursor to the beginning of the line
Ctrl + d	Show the next half screen	'd' is short for 'down'.
Ctrl + u	Show the previous half screen	'u' is short for 'up'.
Ctrl + f or Page Down	Show the next screen	'f' is short for 'foward'.
Ctrl + b or Page Up	Show the previous screen	'b' is short for 'back'.
number G	Move the cursor to the line with line number number	If you don't specify number, the cursor is moved to the end of the file
Insert characters (switch to insert mode)
i	Insert characters before the cursor
I	Move the cursor to the beginning of the line and insert characters before the cursor
a	Append characters after the current location of the cursor
A	Move the cursor to the end of the line and append characters
o	Create a blank line after the current line to insert characters
O	Create a blank line before the current line to insert characters
Delete characters
x	Delete the character at the location of the cursor
d w	Delete the characters from the cursor to the end of the word
d b	Delete the characters from the beginning of the word to the cursor
d d	Delete the current line
(book)Marks
m mark	Set a (book)mark mark at the cursor	There are quite a few (book)marks to use (a - z, 0 - 9, ', ", [, and ]). The current location to the (book)mark can be used a text unit in delete, copy, etc.
` mark	Move the cursor to (book)mark mark	You use backtick symbol
' mark	Move the cursor to the begining of the line with (book)mark mark	You use single quote symbol
:marks [ mark ]	Show all the (book)marks or a specific (book)mark mark
Replace and change characters
r x	Replace the current character with x	Stay in command mode
R	Overwrite characters	Switch to insert mode, but overwrite old contents
c w	Delete the characters the cursor to the end of the word and switch to insert mode
c b	Delete the characters from the beginning of the word to the cursor and switch to insert mode
c c	Delete the current line and switch to insert mode
Undo and redo
u	Undo
Ctrl + r	Redo
.	Repeat last delete or change operation	The last delete or change operation can be performed in a different location
Save and exit
:w [ filename ]	Save the file
:w >> filename	Append the contents to the end of the file
:q	Exit vi(m) program
:q!	Force vi(m) program to exit (discard any changes)
:wq or :ZZ	Save the contents and exit vi(m) program
Work with multiple files
:vi filename	Open another file in vi to edit
:view filename	Open another file in vi in read-only mode
:next	Switch to the next opened file in vi	Suppose you pass multiple filenames to vi in the command line.
:previous or :Next	Switch to the previous opened file in vi	Suppose you pass multiple filenames to vi in the command line.
:first or :rewind	Switch to the first opened file in vi
:args	Show all the opened files	Suppose you pass multiple filenames to vi in the command line. The current file's name is enclosed in square bracket
Other editint commands
J	Join the current line with the next one
~	Change the character's case
Find and replace
f letter	Search to the right in the same line for letter	'f' is short for 'forward'
F letter	Search to the left in the same line for letter
t letter	Search to the right in the same line for the character before letter	't' is short for 'till'
T letter	Search to the left in the same line for the character after letter
/pattern	Search from the current location to the end of the file for pattern	After typing '/', you can use Up and Down arrow keys to select a recent search
?pattern	Search from the current location to the beginning of the file for pattern
n	Repeat the search in the same direction	The direction is determined by the previos search operation. If you use '/', the same direction is towards the end of the file; if you use '?', the same direction is towards the begnining of the file.
N	Repeat the search in the reverse direction
:set hlsearch	Turn on highlighting matched strings
:set nohlsearch	Turn off search highlighting
:nohlsearch	Clear the current highlighting
:1,$s/search-string/replace-string[/g]	Substitute search-string with replace-string throughout the file	'g' means global replacement in each line
Copy and paste
y y	Copy the current line to the anonymous clipboard	'y' is short for 'yank'. BTW, any delete operation moves the deleted characters to the anonymous clipboard.
p or P	Paste the characters from the anonymous clipboard after/before the current location
" letter y w	Copy the characters from the current location to the end of the word to a named clipboard	The name of the clipboard is letter. You have 26 named clipboards (a-z) to use. The key w can be replaced with other keys, as explained below.
" LETTER y w	Append the characters from the current location to the end of the word to a named clipboard	The name of the clipboard is letter. Here, you still have 26 named clipboards (a-z) to use, but you need to use an uppercase letter (A-Z). The key w can be replaced with other keys, as explained below.
" letter p or " letter P	Paste the characters from the named clipboard (a-z) after/before the current location
Work with multiple windows
[ lines ] :split [ +command ] [ filename ]	Open a new window	Specify a filename to open a new file in the new window. You can also specify the size of the new window as the number of lines, and run some initial command
Ctrl-w w	Switch to a different window
Ctrl-w +	Increase the current window by 1 line
Ctrl-w -	Decrease the current window by 1 line
Ctrl-w =	Make windows the same size
[ lines ] Ctrl-w _	Maximize the current window without line numbers. Otherwise, set the window size to the line number
Other commands
:help [ subject ]	Show vi(m) help screen	Press :q or :ZZ to exit help screen
!command	Run a UNIX/Linux command in shell forked from vi(m)
!text-unit command	Run a UNIX/Linux filter command on the selected text and replace them with the output of the command	Eg., type !10Gsort to sort the lines from first line to line 10. !! runs the current line through a filter command.
:set showmode	Display the mode of vi
:set nu or :set number	Display the line number
:set nonu or :set nonumber	Hide the line number

General format of vi editing command

General format: [ number ] command text-unit
Press number key to indicate the number of text units
Press command key for the vi(m) command, such as h to move the cursor, or c to change the contents, d to delete contents, y to copy cotents.
Press text-unit key to indicate the type of the text unit, as the table below:

Text unit key	Meaning
b	Towards the begining of the word
w	Towards the end of the word
(	Towards the begining of the sentence
)	Towards the end of the setence
{	Towards the begining of the paragraph
}	Towards the end of the paragraph
letter	The same letter means the current line, like d d

Using macros in vi(m)

In command mode, press q letter to start recording. letter is the name of the macro, which could be a - z, so you have 26 macros to use;
Type any vi(m) commands;
Press q to stop recording;
press @ letter to run the macro.

References

Linda Lamb and Arnold Robbins, Learning the vi Editor, 6th edition
Steve Oualline, Vim Book