Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

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. 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 ×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.

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 in Changing and deleting text.

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