VI Commands that I actually use on a regular basis. Click here for an alphabetical quick reference list of VI commands

Movement (in command mode) k Move Up (also <up arrow>) j Move Down (also <down arrow> <enter>) l Move Left (also <left arrow>, <bkspace>) h Move Right (also <right arrow>, <spacebar>) $ Jump to end of current line 0 Jump to beginning of current line w Jump to beginning of next word (space or metacharacter. ie semicolon) W Jump to beginning of next Word (space) b Jump to beginning of this (or previous) word B Jump to beginning of previous Word [[ Jump to top of section (default: top of document) ]] Jump to bottom of section (default: bottom of document) H Jump to top of screen ('4H' will Jump to 4 lines below top of screen) L Jump to bottom of screen ('4L' will Jump to 4 lines above bottom of screen) G Goto EOF ('4G' will Goto Line 4) Note: in any of the 'Jump to' commands, a number can be entered to specify more than one. ie 'w' will jump ahead 1 word, while '6w' will jump ahead 6 words. Insertion / Deletion i insert at cursor I insert at beginning of current line a add after cursor A add at end of current line o insert a new line below current line O insert a new line above current line Editing x delete character under cursor and return to command mode X delete character before cursor and return to command mode r replace character under cursor and return to command mode R overwrite characters (until <esc> is pressed) s substitute characters, then insert. Usually used with a number (ie '4s' overwrites the next 4 characters, then inserts any additional characters typed). d_ delete. This can be used in conjunction with any of the "Jump to" commands from the Movement section. In addition, number values can be included (ie 'd4w' will delete the next 4 words). 'dd' will delete current line. y_ yank. Used in the same manner as 'd_' p paste. u undo last set of commands U undo last editing on current line only (unless you move off the line you were editing) . repeat last command. Other Commands (in command mode) :q quit :q! quit without saving changes. :w write. ':w foo.txt' will specify write to the file 'foo.txt' -- default is current file. :wq write, then quit. Can also be done with 'ZZ' :!_ execute command line command. ie ':!pwd' will suspend vi and execute the 'pwd' command from the command line /_ search in document for string '_' (case matters) n find next (used in conjunction with the '/' command) N find previous :g/foo/s//bar/g globally replace any occurance of the string 'foo' in the document with the string 'bar' :%s/<ctrl-v><enter>//g :g/<ctrl-v><enter>///g remove the pesky ^M from the end of lines