• what will happen ?

“man ls |col -b > ” will give the text file same as man ls.

• what is VI-editor ?

While in vi you can run AIX commands without exiting the editing session. The! creates a
shell to execute the command that follows.
1. :!ls will create a shell
2. All files in the current directory are listed. Press return to exit the shell and return to the
vi session or…
3. While still in command mode, issue the :r snacks command
4. The contents of snacks, in this case, are read into the vi file. By default, it will appear
after the current line.
If you need to run a series of commands without returning to vi after the first command is
executed, enter :sh. When you have run all the commands, press to exit the shell
and return to vi.

• VI Options:-

vi has many modes of operation. Some of these will affect the way text is presented, while
others will make editing easier for novice users.
:set all display all settings
:set display settings different than the default
:set ai sets autoindent on
:set noai turns autoindent mode off
:set nu enables line numbers
:set nonu turns line numbers off
:set list displays non-printable characters
:set nolist hides non-printable characters
:set showmode shows the current mode of operation
:set noshowmode hides mode of operation
:set ts=4 sets tabs to 4-character jumps
:set ic ignores case sensitivity
:set noic case sensitive

• Search

/word     Search “word” from top to bottom
?word     Search “word” from bottom to top
/jo[ha]n     Search “john” or “joan”
/\< the     Search “the”, “theatre” or “then”
/the\>     Search “the” or “breathe”
/\     Search “the”
/\     Search all words of 4 letters
/\/     Search “fred” but not “alfred” or “frederick”
/fred\|joe     Search “fred” or “joe”
/\     Search exactly 4 digits
/^\n\{3}     Find 3 empty lines
:bufdo /searchstr/     Search in all open files

• Replace

:%s/old/new/g     Replace all occurences of “old” by “new” in file
:%s/old/new/gw     Replace all occurences with confirmation
:2,35s/old/new/g     Replace all occurences between lines 2 and 35
:5,$s/old/new/g     Replace all occurences from line 5 to EOF
:%s/^/hello/g     Replace the begining of each line by “hello”
:%s/$/Harry/g     Replace the end of each line by “Harry”
:%s/onward/forward/gi     Replace “onward” by “forward” , case unsensitive
:%s/ *$//g     Delete all white spaces
:g/string/d     Delete all lines containing “string”
:v/string/d     Delete all lines containing which didn’t contain “string”
:s/Bill/Steve/     Replace the first occurence of “Bill” by “Steve” in current line
:s/Bill/Steve/g     Replace “Bill” by “Steve” in current line
:%s/Bill/Steve/g     Replace “Bill” by “Steve” in all the file
:%s/\r//g     Delete DOS carriage returns (^M)
:%s/\r/\r/g     Transform DOS carriage returns in returns
:%s#]\+>##g     Delete HTML tags but keeps text
:%s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/     Delete lines which appears twice
Ctrl+a     Increment number under the cursor
Ctrl+x     Decrement number under cursor
ggVGg?     Change text to Rot13

• Case

Vu     Lowercase line
VU     Uppercase line
g~~     Invert case
vEU     Switch word to uppercase
vE~     Modify word case
ggguG     Set all text to lowercase
:set ignorecase     Ignore case in searches
:set smartcase     Ignore case in searches excepted if an uppercase letter is used
:%s/\<./\u&/g     Sets first letter of each word to uppercase
:%s/\<./\l&/g     Sets first letter of each word to lowercase
:%s/.*/\u&     Sets first letter of each line to uppercase
:%s/.*/\l&     Sets first letter of each line to lowercase

• Read/Write files

:1,10 w outfile     Saves lines 1 to 10 in outfile
:1,10 w >> outfile     Appends lines 1 to 10 to outfile
:r infile     Insert the content of infile
:23r infile     Insert the content of infile under line 23

• File explorer

:e .     Open integrated file explorer
:Sex     Split window and open integrated file explorer
:browse e     Graphical file explorer
:ls     List buffers
:cd ..     Move to parent directory
:args     List files
:args *.php     Open file list
:grep expression *.php     Returns a list of .php files contening expression
gf     Open file name under cursor

• Interact with Unix

:!pwd     Execute the “pwd” unix command, then returns to Vi
!!pwd     Execute the “pwd” unix command and insert output in file
:sh     Temporary returns to Unix
$exit     Retourns to Vi

• Alignment

:%!fmt     Align all lines
!}fmt     Align all lines at the current position
5!!fmt     Align the next 5 lines

• Tabs

:tabnew     Creates a new tab
gt     Show next tab
:tabfirst     Show first tab
:tablast     Show last tab
:tabm n(position)     Rearrange tabs
:tabdo %s/foo/bar/g     Execute a command in all tabs
:tab ball     Puts all open files in tabs

• Window spliting

:e filename     Edit filename in current window
:split filename     Split the window and open filename
ctrl-w up arrow     Puts cursor in top window
ctrl-w ctrl-w     Puts cursor in next window
ctrl-w_     Maximise current window
ctrl-w=     Gives the same size to all windows
10 ctrl-w+     Add 10 lines to current window
:vsplit file     Split window vertically
:sview file     Same as :split in readonly mode
:hide     Close current window
:only     Close all windows, excepted current
:b 2     Open #2 in this window

• Auto-completion

Ctrl+n Ctrl+p (in insert mode)     Complete word
Ctrl+x Ctrl+l     Complete line
:set dictionary=dict     Define dict as a dictionnary
Ctrl+x Ctrl+k     Complete with dictionnary

• Marks

mk     Marks current position as k
‘k     Moves cursor to mark k
d’k     Delete all until mark k
Abbreviations
:ab pr printf(“This is a Demo Ver \n”);    Define pr as abbreviation of printf(“This is a Demo Ver \n”);

• Text indent

:set autoindent     Turn on auto-indent
:set smartindent     Turn on intelligent auto-indent
:set shiftwidth=4     Defines 4 spaces as indent size
ctrl-t, ctrl-d     Indent/un-indent in insert mode
>>     Indent
<<     Un-indent

• Syntax highlighting

:syntax on     Turn on syntax highlighting
:syntax off     Turn off syntax highlighting
:set syntax=perl     Force syntax highlighting

• How to Exit

:q[uit]     Quit Vim. This fails when changes have been made.
:q[uit]!     Quit without writing.
:cq[uit]     Quit always, without writing.
:wq     Write the current file and exit.
:wq!     Write the current file and exit always.
:wq {file}     Write to {file}. Exit if not editing the last
:wq! {file}     Write to {file} and exit always.
:[range]wq[!]     [file] Same as above, but only write the lines in [range].
ZZ     Write current file, if modified, and exit.
ZQ     Quit current file and exit (same as “:q!”).

• Editing a File

:e[dit]     Edit the current file. This is useful to re-edit the current file, when it has been changed outside                 of Vim.
:e[dit]!     Edit the current file always. Discard any changes to the current buffer. This is useful if you want                 to start all over again.
:e[dit] {file}     Edit {file}.
:e[dit]! {file}     Edit {file} always. Discard any changes to the current buffer.
gf     Edit the file whose name is under or after the cursor. Mnemonic: “goto file”.

• Inserting Text

a     Append text after the cursor [count] times.
A     Append text at the end of the line [count] times.
i     Insert text before the cursor [count] times.
I     Insert text before the first non-blank in the line [count] times.
gI     Insert text in column 1 [count] times.
o     Begin a new line below the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times.
O     Begin a new line above the cursor and insert text, repeat [count] times.

• Inserting a file

:r[ead] [name]     Insert the file [name] below the cursor.
:r[ead] !{cmd}     Execute {cmd} and insert its standard output below the cursor.