Vi Editor Tips and Tricks

By: Tariq Nazir (http://tariqnazir.tripod.com)

 

 

  For introduction to vi editor and commands, click here 

1-                        Search and Replace

Search STRING forward :   / STRING.

Search STRING backward:   ? STRING.

Repeat search:   n

Repeat search in opposite direction:  N  (SHIFT-n)

Search and Replace

First occurrence on current line:      :s/OLD/NEW

Globally (all) on current line:        :s/OLD/NEW/g 

Between two lines #,#:                 :#,#s/OLD/NEW/g

Every occurrence in file:              :%s/OLD/NEW/g 

2-                        Reading the output from a command into current file.

In a vi session, move the cursor to the position in the file where you want to bring the output of a command and run the command like: 

      :r !df -h 

 

Here df command is used for example. Replace it with your command.

 

 

3-                        To sort contents of the file.

Move the cursor to the line where apple is located, then run the following

:.,$ !sort

   . - represents the current line

   $ - represents the last line of the file

If you don't want to replace the text, but want to see the sorted output, do the following:

   :.,$w !sort | more

apple

orange

pear

lemon

lime

grape

 

        

Introduction to vi editor