vi Editing Commands

vi changes the content of the text file in response to keys that you press. Table 18-2 shows the most useful commands.

Table 18-2. vi Editing Commands

Operation	Command	What It Does
Insert	i	Inserts text before the cursor. (Insert mode)
	a	Inserts text after the cursor. (Insert mode)
	o	Inserts a line after the current line. (Insert mode)
	O	Inserts a line before the current line. (Insert mode)
	A	Appends text at the end of the line. (Insert mode)
	I	Inserts text at the start of the current line. (Insert mode)
Delete	x	Deletes the character under the cursor.
	dd	Deletes the current line. Saves line in a buffer.
	dw	Deletes the next word.
	D	Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line.
Replace	rx	Replaces the current character with x.
	s	Replaces one character with text. (Insert mode)
	cw	Replaces a word with text you type. (Insert mode)
	cc	Replaces a line with text you type. (Insert mode)
	C	Replaces text from cursor to end of the line with text you type.(Insert mode)
Copy	YY	Copies a line into the buffer.
Put	p	Copies text from buffer into file following the current line.
Undo	u	Undoes the last change to the file.
	U	Undoes all changes on the current line.
Help	:help	Displays a help file.

NOTE

Commands that turn on Insert mode are noted in the table. Press <Esc> when finished inserting text to return to Normal mode.