Practical UNIX

Learn These Eight vi Commands Next

While the first 10 commands given previously enable you to complete any editing task, the job is much easier if you learn these next eight vi commands.

Press Ctrl+L Ctrl+R to Repaint the Screen

The Real Repaint Command Some terminals require only Ctrl+R, and some require only Ctrl+L to repaint the screen. If you use them both (in any order), however, it works for all cases and you don’t have to remember which command to use on which terminal types.

Sometimes over a modem line or slow network, garbage may appear on your screen or the cursor will end up on a different line than vi thinks it is. If the cursor is on the wrong line, you will see characters from a different line appear at the cursor when you space ...