Section 9.3. Review of vi Operations

9.3. Review of vi Operations

This section provides a review of the following:

• vi modes

• Syntax of vi commands

• Status-line commands

9.3.1. Command Mode

Once the file is opened, you are in command mode. From command mode, you can:

• Invoke insert mode

• Issue editing commands

• Move the cursor to a different position in the file

• Invoke ex commands

• Invoke a Unix shell

• Save the current version of the file

• Exit vi

9.3.2. Insert Mode

In insert mode, you can enter new text in the file. You normally enter insert mode with the i command. Press the Escape key to exit insert mode and return to command mode. The full list of commands that enter insert mode is provided later, in the section Insert Commands."

9.3.4. Syntax of vi Commands

In vi , editing commands have the following general form:

[


n


]


operator


[


m


]


motion

The basic editing operators are:

c

Begin a change.

d

Begin a edeletion.

y

Begin a yank (or copy).

If the current line is the object of the operation, the motion is the same as the operator: cc , dd , yy . Otherwise, the editing operators act on objects specified by cursor-movement commands or pattern-matching commands. (For example, cf. changes up to the next period.) n and m are the number of times the operation is performed, or the number of objects the operation is performed on. If both n and m are specified, the effect is n x m .

An object of operation can be any of the following text blocks:

word

Includes characters up to a whitespace character (space or tab) or punctuation mark. A capitalized object is a variant form that recognizes only whitespace.

sentence

Is up to . , ! , or ? , followed by two spaces.

paragraph

Is up to the next blank line or paragraph macro defined by the para= option.

section

Is up to the next nroff / troff section heading defined by the sect= option.

motion

Is up to the character or other text object as specified by a motion specifier , including pattern searches.

9.3.4.1 Examples

2cw

Change the next two words.

d}

Delete up to next paragraph.

d^

Delete back to beginning of line.

5yy

Copy the next five lines.

y]]

Copy up to the next section.

cG

Change to the end of the edit buffer.

More commands and examples may be found in the section Changing and Deleting Text," later in this chapter

9.3.4.2 Visual mode (vim only)

vim provides an additional facility, "visual mode." This allows you to highlight blocks of text which then become the object of edit commands such as deletion or saving (yanking). Graphical versions of vim allow you to use the mouse to highlight text in a similar fashion. See the vim help file visual.txt for the full story.

v

Select text in visual mode one character at a time.

V

Select text in visual mode one line at a time.

Ctrl-V

Select text in visual mode in blocks.

9.3.5. Status-Line Commands

Most commands are not echoed on the screen as you input them. However, the status line at the bottom of the screen is used to edit these commands:

/

Search forward for a pattern.

?

Search backward for a pattern.

:

Invoke an ex command.

!

Invoke a Unix command that takes as its input an object in the buffer and replaces it with output from the command. You type a motion command after the ! to describe what should be passed to the Unix command. The command itself is entered on the status line.

Commands that are entered on the status line must be entered by pressing the Enter key. In addition, error messages and output from the Ctrl-G command are displayed on the status line.