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| ==Insert/Command States==
| | Page moved to: [http://genomewiki.ucsc.edu/genecats/index.php/VI_quick_start VI quick start] |
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| vi is usually either in an 'insert' state, or in a 'command' state. It starts up in the 'command' state.
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| There are other states that I do not use but I sometimes enter them accidentally and need to use the :q
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| to get out of those states.
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| There is a lot more to vi than indicated here. This is a very brief cheat-sheet, but even with this
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| small set of commands, vi is a powerful tool for managing documents.
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| To enter the 'insert' state from the 'command' state, issue some kind of insert editing command.
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| When you are in 'insert' state, whatever you type becomes text in the document. To exit 'insert'
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| state and return to 'command' state, press the 'Esc' key. When in doubt about the state,
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| press the 'Esc' key to get to 'command' state. Your terminal should indicate the INSERT
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| state with a message at the bottom of the screen:
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| -- INSERT --
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| The bottom line of your terminal when in 'command' state will indicate the line and column
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| position of the cursor, and a percent indication of how far down you are in your document.
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| ==Starting vi==
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| vi file.ext # start editing the file called file.ext - whether it exists now or not
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| vi -r file.ext # recover the edits to a file. The previous session to vi was lost due
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| # to login disconnect or system crash. This will resume close to where you where
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| # when vi died. After this recover and exit from vi, remove the .file.ext.swp file
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| # which is used by vi for its housekeeping.
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| vi -x secure.txt # edit a file in secure encoded form. You will need to establish a password to use
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| # this file in vi. The contents are only seen in a vi -x session, otherwise they
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| # are encoded and can not be read by others unless they know the password
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| ==Exit vi==
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| :wq # write file and quit vi - saves all edits to file being edited
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| :q! # abandon edits since last file write and quit vi
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| :w # simply write out file contents saving all edits to this point. Remain in vi
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| ==Cursor movement==
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| Cursor movement commands are given when in the 'command' mode.
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| It is vital to learn cursor movement keys to rapidly move around your document. You probably
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| shouldn't be using arrow keys repeatedly to move the cursor one character at a time unless that
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| is really what you need to be doing at that moment. It is much more efficient to move the
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| cursor based on objects in the document. Adding a number in front of any of these commands multiplies
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| their operation by that number.
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| nG # where n is a number of digits to number a line, G goes to that line number
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| G # go to the end of the document
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| 1G # go to the top (line 1) of the document
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| w # move forward to the beginning of the next word
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| W # move forward to the beginning of the next string
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| b # move back to the beginning of the current word
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| B # move back to the beginning of the current string
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| e # move to the end of the current word
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| E # move to the end of the current string
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| 0 # go to the beginning (column 1) of this line
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| $ # go to the last character on this line
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| <CR> # go to the beginning (column 1) of the next line
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| - # go to the beginning (column 1) of the previous line
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| <space> # move forward one character
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| Ctrl-h # move back one character
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| Ctrl-f # scroll to next page (one screen full minus two lines)
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| Ctrl-b # scroll back one page (one screen full minus two lines)
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| Ctrl-d # scroll down one half page (one half screen)
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| Ctrl-u # scroll up one half page (one half screen)
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| z. # scroll the document to move the line the cursor is on to the middle of the screen
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| % # move to associated ( ) { } [ ]
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| /string # go forward to the beginning of 'string' - great for moving around the document
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| # on the screen when it is somewhere distant from where the cursor is, especially when
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| # 'string' is short and unique
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| ?string # go backward to the beginning of 'string' - same benefit as above, but in reverse
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