Slides06.md

Step 6

vi

Why vi?

• Use nano if available
• But vi is (almost) always there
• Good to know the basics "just in case"

vi strangeness

vi is a "modal" editor

• In "command" mode to start
• Need to go into "insert mode" to insert new text
• Confusing to almost everyone at first

vi commands

• d - "delete"
• b - "jump 'back' one 'word'"
• i - enter "insert" mode
• ESC - exit "insert" mode
• dw - "delete 'word'"
• 3dw - "delete 3 'words'"

Get me out of here!

• :q! - exit without saving
• u - "undo" command
• 3u - "undo" last three changes
• view - "read-only" version of vi

Navigating

• Arrow and page keys tend to work right
  • Except in insert mode!
• 0 - jump to beginning of line
• $ - jump to end of line
• w - jump forward a "word"
• b - jump backward a "word"
• :0 - jump to beginning of file
• G - jump to end of file

I've been searching

• /foo - find "foo" from cursor forward
• ?foo - find "foo" from cursor backward
• n - find next instance of last search
• p - find previous instance of last search

Insertion

All of the following enter "insert mode":

• i - at cursor
• I - at beginning of line
• A - "append" at end of line
• o - insert line below (lowercase) current line
• O - insert line above (uppercase) current line
• ESC - exit insert mode

Ctrl-X

• d - "delete" is same as "cut"
• dd - delete/cut current line
• 3dw - delete/cut three "words"

Ctrl-C

• y - "yank" is the same as "copy"
• yy - yank/copy current line
• 3yw - yank/copy three "words"

Ctrl-V

• p - paste contents of buffer at cursor
• P - paste contents of buffer above (uppercase) current line
• u - remember "undo" when you need it!

"X" marks the spot

You can constrain the lines you want to affect by a command by "marking" a "range":

1. Mark line with m command followed by a character
2. Mark another line with m command, but with a different label character
3. Use the ' character to reference a label
4. :'m,'ns/This/That/

Invoking external commands

• :1,$!sort
• :'m,'n!sort