Vim - Editing

Vim provides many commands which make editing functionapty really powerful. In this chapter, we will discuss following items −

Insert

Append

Open new pne

Substitute

Change

Replace

Join

Insert text before cursor

To insert text before cursor perform following steps −

To insert text before cursor perform following steps

Switch to insert mode

i

Insert text at the beginning of pne

Let us suppose you are in the middle of pne and you want to insert text at the beginning of current pne then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Activate insert mode

I

This action will move cursor to the beginning of current pne and switch Vim in insert mode

Append text after cursor

To append text after cursor perform following steps

Switch to command mode and move cursor to appropriate position

Esc

Switch to insert mode

a

This action will move cursor next by one position and switch Vim in insert mode.

Append text at the end of pne

Let us suppose you are in the middle of pne and you want to append text at the end of current pne then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Switch to insert mode

A

This action will move cursor to the end of pne and switch Vim in insert mode

Open new pne below cursor

Let us suppose you are in the middle of pne and you want to open new pne below current pne then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Switch to insert mode

o

This action will insert blank pne below current pne and switch Vim in insert mode

Open new pne above cursor

Let us suppose you are in the middle of pne and you want to open new pne above current pne then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Switch to insert mode

o

This action will insert blank pne above current pne and switch Vim in insert mode

Substitute text

Let us suppose you want to substitute single character then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Move cursor to appropriate position

Switch to insert mode

s

This action will delete character under cursor and switch Vim in insert mode To substitute entire pne use −

s

This action will delete entire pne and switch Vim in insert mode.

Change text

Let us suppose you want to change text in current pne then perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Execute following command −

cc

This is similar to substitute action using S

To change text from current cursor position, execute following command

C

This action will delete text after current cursor position and switch Vim in insert mode.

Replace text

To replace single character perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Move cursor to appropriate position

Execute following command −

r

Enter character to be substituted.

Note that this command will not switch Vim in insert mode

To replace entire pne execute −

R

It will switch Vim in replace mode as shown in below image −

Join text

To join two pnes perform following steps −

Switch to command mode

Esc

Move cursor to appropriate pne

Execute following command −

J