Posts

Showing posts from January, 2012

vi Commands

What is vi? The default editor that comes with the UNIX operating system is called vi (visual editor). The UNIX vi editor is a full screen editor and has two modes of operation: Command mode commands which cause action to be taken on the file, and Insert mode in which entered text is inserted into the file. In the command mode, every character typed is a command that does something to the text file being edited; a character typed in the command mode may even cause the vi editor to enter the insert mode. In the insert mode, every character typed is added to the text in the file; pressing the (Escape) key turns off the Insert mode. While there are a number of vi commands, just a handful of these is usually sufficient for beginning vi users. To assist such users, this Web page contains a sampling of basic vi commands. The most basic and useful commands are marked with an asterisk (* or star) in the tables below. With practice, these commands should become automatic. NO