ex Commands
This section summarizes the ex commands used from the colon prompt in vi.
Command Syntax
:[address]command[options]
Address Symbols
Address | Includes |
|---|---|
| All lines in the file |
| Lines x through y |
| Lines x through y, with current line reset to x |
| Top of file |
| Current line |
| Absolute line number n |
| Last line |
| All lines; same as
|
| n lines before x |
| n lines after x |
| One or n lines previous |
| One or n lines ahead |
| Line marked with x (single quote) |
| Previous mark (two single quotes) |
| Ahead or back to the line where pat matches |
Command Option Symbols
Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A variant form of the command |
| Repeat the command count times |
| Filename: |
Alphabetical List of Commands
The following table of ex commands covers both standard ex commands and selected commands specific to Vim. Commands covered in Vim—vi Improved are omitted here.
| Full name | Command | Vim only |
|---|---|---|
| Abbrev |
| |
| Append |
[ | |
| Args |
| |
| Args |
| ✓ |
| Bdelete | [ | ✓ |
| Buffer | [ | ✓ |
| Buffers | [ | ✓ |
| Center | [ | ✓ |
| Change |
[ | |
| Chdir | | |
| Copy | [ | |
| Delete | [ | |
| Edit |
| |
| File |
| |
| Global | [ | |
| Insert |
[ | |
| Join | [ | |
| K (mark) | [ | |
| Left | [ | ✓ |
| List | [ | |
| Map |
| |
| Mark | [ | |
| Mkexrc |
| ✓ |
| Move | [ |