A Look at the VI Editor - Saving and Closing a file (
Page 2 of 4 )
Use :w for saving the content and :q for quitting. Here are some examples.
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:w |
Saves current file but doesn't exit |
|
:w file |
Saves current content as file but doesn't exit |
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:n,mw file |
Saves lines n through m to file |
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:n,mw >>file |
Saves lines n through m to the end of file |
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:q |
Quits VI and may prompt if you need to save |
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:q! |
Quits VI without saving |
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ZZ or :wq |
Saves and exits VI |
VI has two modes; one is the command mode and the other is the edit mode. To change to the edit mode you have to use i (insert) or a (append). Use the ESC character to change back to command mode.
Inserting texts: Use i, I, a, A, o or O for insertion as described in the following table.
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i |
Insert before cursor |
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I |
Insert before line |
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a |
Append after cursor |
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A |
Append after line |
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o |
Open a new line after current line |
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O |
Open a new line before current line |