Linux in a Nutshell, Fifth Edition

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Chapter 9: The vi, ex, and vim Editors

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2006 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

You can exit ex in several ways:

:x Exit (save changes and quit).

:q! Quit without saving changes.

:vi Enter the vi editor.

Review of vi Operations

This section provides a review of the following:

• vi modes

• Syntax of vi commands

• Status-line commands

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

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.”

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 deletion.

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.

Review of vi Operations ...