Page Comparison

...

[cwid@hostname /athena/labname/scratch/cwid ]$ vim demo.txt -- opens current or will create new text file

Insert Mode

When you first open a document, you will always start in normal mode and have to enter insert mode. To enter insert mode where the cursor is currently located in the file, press the letter i or the Insert key. Additionally, you can press the letter a (for append) if you would like to enter insert mode at the character after the cursor. To exit insert mode, press the Esc key. When in insert mode, -- INSERT -- will be visible at the bottom of the shell. Navigation in insert mode is done with the standard arrow keys.

Examples

Editing a Script with vim

...

Open terminal.

...

Type vim myscript.sh.

...

Press i to enter Insert mode.

...

Make your changes.

...

Press Esc to return to Normal mode.

...

...

Editing Features

Here are some important commands to know:

• Undo the previous command, even the last edit in insert mode, with the command u

• Redo the previous command (after undo) with Ctrl-R

• Copy (yank) characters, words, or lines:

  • yl to copy a single character under the cursor

  • yy to copy the current line

  • y#y or #yy where # is replaced with the number of lines you want to copy (i.e. y25y will copy 25 lines).

• Paste (put) characters, words, or lines:

  • p will paste after the cursor for characters and words

  • P will paste before the cursor for characters and words

• Delete characters, words, or lines:

  • dd to delete the current line

  • dw to delete a word

  • d#d or #dd where # is replaced with the number of lines you want to delete (similar to copy).

• Search and Replace:

  • Use / to search for text and n to move to the next occurrence and N to jump to the previous occurrence.

    • /word followed by Enter. Phrases can also be used.

  • Use :%s/old/new/g to replace all occurrences of “old” with “new” in the file

For more features on vim

cwid@login-node ~ $ man vim