The UNIX vi commands listed on this page which handles navigation, cursor movement, searching, editing, inserting text, using auto-complete, cut copy and paste operations etc in vi are useful for taking advantage of the UNIX vi editor. vi (Visual Editor) is the default editor that comes with the UNIX operating system. The UNIX vi editor has two modes of operation: 1.Command mode (commands which cause action to be taken on the file - Press the 'i' character to change to Insert mode). 2.Insert mode (entered text is inserted into the file - Press the <Esc> (Escape) key to go to the command mode). When using vi, keep in mind that vi is case sensitive. Over time I have learned that the 'Escape' key is king in vi editor. Start and exit commands To open a file in the vi editor to start editing, simply type in 'vi <filename>' in the command prompt. e.g. prompt>vi tmp.txt To quit vi, type one of the following commands in the command mode and press 'Enter'. Exit vi, writing out modified file - : x Exit vi, writing out modified file - :wq Simply quit vi - :q Force exit from vi even though changes haven't been saved - :q! Cursor Navigation in vi editor By character – h, j, ...

This list of useful and frequently used UNIX commands is a good reference for someone who is new to UNIX/LINUX Operating System. The most commonly used and basic Unix commands and what they do are listed below. Use the “man” command to find the usage and details of any particular command e.g. prompt>man cp. Using "man cp" on the command prompt will display the details and usage of the copy (cp) command. File/Directory operation related Unix Commands cp - copy a file mv - move or rename files or directories tar - create and use archives of files gzip - compress a file ftp - file transfer program lpr - print out a file mkdir - make a directory rm - remove files or directories rmdir - remove a directory mount - attaches a file system to the file system hierarchy at the mount_point, which is the pathname of a directory. umount - unmounts a currently mounted file system. Navigational type Unix Commands cd - change directory pwd - display the name of your current directory ls - list names of files in a directory Display file content cat - concatenate and display files. more - The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of a text file on the terminal, one screenful at a time. less - ...