Editing Text Files with vi in a Pure CLI Environment

2026-01-18 updated 2026-01-20 5 min

Table of Contents

vi is an extremely lightweight text editor with many basic features, usually pre-installed on most Unix systems. Both Ubuntu and macOS come with the vi editor built-in. To flexibly modify text files on systems with only a CLI interface, learning to use the vi editor is essential.

Getting Started

To use the vi editor, you need to enter the following command in the terminal:

vi [options] [file(s)]

This will open the vi editor, allowing you to edit files through the process described below. Now let’s see what we can actually do after entering the vi editor.

flowchart TD
    Start([Start vi]) --> Command[Command Mode]
    
    Command -->|"/ ?"| Other[Other Commands]
    Other -->|Enter| Command
    
    Command -->|":"| Last[Last Line Mode]
    Last -->|"wq"| End([End vi])
    Last -->|"q!"| End
    Last -->|"q"| End
    
    Command -->|"i,a,o,r,c"| Insert[Insert Mode]
    Insert -->|Esc| Command
    Command -->|"ZZ"| End

Command Mode

As shown in the flowchart above, after entering the vi editor, you will directly enter Command Mode. In this mode, you can use various commands to move the cursor, edit text, copy and paste, enter Insert Mode, enter Last Line Mode and more.

These commands follow the syntax below:

[number of times to execute operation] operation [number of targets to act on] target

Moving the Cursor

You can use Ctrl + G to check the current cursor position. Here are some commonly used cursor movement commands:

Command	Action
`1G`, `gg`	Move to the first character of the first line
`G`	Move to the first character of the last line
`L`	Move to the first character of the last line on the screen
`^`	Move to the first non-whitespace character of the current line
`0`	Move to the first character of the current line
`$`	Move to the last character of the current line
`w`	Move to the first character of the next word
`b`	Move to the first character of the previous word
`}`	Move to the next paragraph

Editing Text

Command	Meaning	Action
`dd`	delete	Delete the current line
`7dd`	delete	Delete the current line and 6 lines below (7 lines total)
`d$`, `D`	delete	Delete all characters from the cursor position to the end of the line
`5dw`	delete	Delete 5 words
`x`	delete	Delete the character under the cursor
`X`	delete	Delete the character before the cursor
`u`	undo	Undo the last action

Copy and Paste

Command	Action
`y2W`	Copy two words to the right from the current cursor position
`4yb`	Copy four words to the left from the current cursor position
`yy` or `Y`	Copy the current line
`p`	Paste the copied text after the current cursor position
`P`	Paste the copied text before the current cursor position
`5p`	Paste the copied text from the buffer after the current cursor position five times
`Y`	Copy the current line
`yy`	Copy the current line
`" x yy`	Copy the current line to register x
`ye`	Copy to the end of the word
`yw`	Similar to `ye`, but includes the whitespace after the word
`y$`	Copy the rest of the line
`" x dd`	Delete the current line and store it in register x
`" x d`	Delete and store in register x
`" x p`	Paste the contents of register x
`y]]`	Copy to the next section heading
`J`	Join the current line with the next line
`gJ`	Similar to `J`, but without inserting a space (vim and gvim)
`:j`	Similar to `J`
`:j!`	Similar to `gJ`

Entering Insert Mode

Command	Meaning	Action
`a`	append	Add text after the cursor
`A`	append	Add text after the last character of the current line
`cw`	change	Enter replace mode until the end of the current word
`cc`	change	Delete the entire current line and enter insert mode
`c$`, `C`	change	Enter replace mode until the last character of the current line
`i`	insert	Add text before the cursor
`I`	insert	Add text before the first character of the current line
`o`	open	Open a new blank line below the current line and place the cursor there
`O`	open	Open a new blank line above the current line and place the cursor there
`R`	replace	Enter replace mode, where typed characters overwrite characters under the cursor
`s`	substitute	Replace one character and enter insert mode
`S`	substitute	Delete the entire line content and enter insert mode

Entering Last Line Mode

Simply type : to enter Last Line Mode.

Insert Mode

As the name suggests, this is the mode for entering text. In this mode, you can type text just like in a regular text editor. When you want to return to Command Mode, simply press the Esc key.

Last Line Mode

File Operations

Command	Action
`: n, m w file`	Write lines n through m to a new file
`: n, m w >> file`	Append lines n through m to an existing file
`:r filename`	Read and insert the contents of filename at the current cursor position
`:wq`	Save the buffer and exit
`:w`	Save the current buffer and remain in the editor
`:w filename`	Save the current buffer to filename
`:w! filename`	Overwrite filename with the current content
`:w!`	Force write the file (override protection)
`:w! file`	Overwrite file with the current content
`:w %.new`	Write the current buffer to a file named file.new
`:q`	Quit vi (fails if there are unsaved changes)
`:q!`	Quit vi without saving the buffer
`:Q`	Quit vi and start ex
`:vi`	Return to vi after the Q command
`ZZ`	Exit vi, saving the file only if changes were made since the last save
`%`	Represents the current filename in edit commands
`#`	Represents the alternate filename in edit commands

Search and Replace

Command	Action
`:s/john/jane/`	Replace `john` with `jane` on the current line, once only
`:s/john/jane/g`	Replace every occurrence of `john` with `jane` on the current line
`:1,10s/big/small/g`	Replace every `big` with `small` on lines 1 through 10
`:1,$s/men/women/g`	Replace every `men` with `women` throughout the entire file
`:'<,'>s/this/that/g`	First press `<Ctrl+V>` in Command mode and use arrow keys to select a range, then type `:` to replace `this` with `that` (vim, gvim only)
`:s/ \<tim\>/tom/`	Replace only the complete word `tim` with `tom`, not partial matches of `tim` within strings
`:%s/terrible/wonderful/gc`	Use the `c` option for interactive replacement of `terrible` with `wonderful` (vim, gvim only)
`:%s/^/ \=line(".") . ". "/g`	Permanently add line numbers to the beginning of all lines in the buffer (vim, gvim only)

Environment Settings

Setting Abbreviations

Command	Action
`:ab in out`	Define `in` as an abbreviation for `out` in Insert mode
`:unab in`	Remove the abbreviation for `in`
`:ab`	List all abbreviations

Setting Mappings

Command	Action
`:map string sequence`	Map a character string to a sequence of commands. Use #1, #2, etc. to represent function keys
`:unmap string`	Remove the mapping for the character string
`:map`	List mapped character strings
`:map! string sequence`	Map a character string to a command sequence for input mode
`:unmap! string`	Remove the input mode mapping (may need `<Ctrl+V>` to quote characters)
`:map!`	List mapped character strings in input mode
`qx`	Record typed characters into the register of the specified letter x (vim and gvim)
`q`	Stop recording (vim and gvim)
`@x`	Execute the register of the specified letter x. Use `@@` to repeat the last `@` command

Setting Options

Command	Action
`:set x`	Enable boolean option x, display values of other options
`:set nox`	Disable option x
`:set x=value`	Set the value of option x
`:set`	Display changed options
`:set all`	Display all options
`:set x?`	Display the value of option x

TIP
If you want to permanently save these environment settings, you can write the desired commands into .exrc.

Unix Course Notes