Section 7.5. Edit Commands

7.5. Edit Commands

Recall that c, d, and y are the basic editing operators.

7.5.1. Inserting New Text

Command	Action
a	Append after cursor.
A	Append to end of line.
i	Insert before cursor.
I	Insert at first nonblank character of line.
gI	Insert at beginning of line. ( vim )
o	Open a line below cursor.
O	Open a line above cursor.
Esc	Terminate insert mode.

The following commands work in insert mode.

Command	Action
Tab	Insert a tab.
Backspace	Delete previous character.
Ctrl-E	Insert character found just below cursor. ( vim )
Ctrl-Y	Insert character found just above cursor. ( vim )
Ctrl-H	Delete previous character (same as Backspace).
Delete	Delete current character.
Ctrl-W	Delete previous word. ( vim )
Ctrl-A	Repeat last insertion. ( vim )
Ctrl-I	Insert a tab.
Ctrl-N	Insert next completion of the pattern to the left of the cursor. ( vim )
Ctrl-P	Insert previous completion of the pattern to the left of the cursor. ( vim )
Ctrl-T	Shift line right to next shift width. ( vim )
Ctrl-D	Shift line left to previous shift width. ( vim )
Ctrl-U	Delete current line.
Ctrl-V	Insert next character verbatim.
Ctrl-[	Terminate insert mode.

Some of the control characters listed in the previous table are set by stty . Your terminal settings may differ .

7.5.2. Changing and Deleting Text

The following table isn't exhaustive but illustrates the most common operations.

Command	Action
cw	Change through end of current word.
cc	Change line.
c$	Change text from current position to end of line.
C	Same as c$.
dd	Delete current line.
d$	Delete remainder of line.
D	Same as d$.
n dd	Delete n lines.
dw	Delete a word.
d}	Delete up to next paragraph.
d^	Delete back to beginning of line.
d/ pattern	Delete up to first occurrence of pattern .
dn	Delete up to next occurrence of pattern.
dfa	Delete up to and including a on current line.
dta	Delete up to (not including) a on current line.
dL	Delete up to last line on screen.
dG	Delete to end of file.
gqap	Reformat current paragraph to textwidth. ( vim )
g~w	Switch case of word. ( vim )
guw	Change word to lowercase. ( vim )
gUw	Change word to uppercase. ( vim )
p	Insert last deleted or yanked text after cursor.
gp	Same as p, but leave cursor at end of inserted text. ( vim )
]p	Same as p, but match current indention. ( vim )
[p	Same as P, but match current indention. ( vim )
P	Insert last deleted or yanked text before cursor.
gP	Same as P, but leave cursor at end of inserted text. ( vim )
r x	Replace character with x .
Rtext	Replace text beginning at cursor.
s	Substitute character.
n s	Substitute n characters.
S	Substitute entire line.
u	Undo last change.
Ctrl-R	Redo last change. ( vim )
U	Restore current line.
x	Delete current character.
X	Delete back one character.
n X	Delete previous n characters.
.	Repeat last change.
~	Reverse case.
&	Repeat last substitution.
Y	Copy (yank) current line to temporary buffer.
yy	Same as Y.
" x yy	Copy current line to buffer x .
ye	Copy text to end of word into temporary buffer.
yw	Same as ye.
y$	Copy rest of line into temporary buffer.
" x dd	Delete current line into buffer x .
" X dd	Delete current line and append to buffer x .
" x p	Put contents of buffer x .
J	Join previous line to current line.
gJ	Same as J, but without inserting a space. ( vim )
:j!	Same as J.
Ctrl-A	Increment number under cursor. ( vim )
Ctrl-X	Decrement number under cursor. ( vim )