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11.11. Alphabetical List of Keys in Command Mode

For brevity, control characters are marked by ^.

Command Action
a Append text after cursor.
A Append text at end-of-line.
^A Search for next occurrence of word under cursor.
b Back up to beginning of word in current line.
B Back up one word, treating punctuation marks as words.
^B Scroll backward one window.
c Change text up to target of next movement command.
C Change to end of current line.
^C End insert mode; interrupts a long operation.
d Delete up to target of next movement command.
D Delete to end of current line.
^D

Scroll down half-window; in insert mode, unindent to shiftwidth if autoindent is set.

e Move to end of word.
E Move to end of word, treating punctuation as part of word.
^E Show one more line at bottom of window.
f Find next character typed forward on current line.
F Find next character typed backward on current line.
^F Scroll forward one window.
g Unused.
G Go to specified line or end-of-file.
^G Print information about file on status line.
h Left arrow cursor key.
H Move cursor to home position.
^H Left arrow cursor key; Backspace key in insert mode.
i Insert text before cursor.
I Insert text before first nonblank character on line.
^I

Unused in command mode; in insert mode, same as Tab key.

j Down arrow cursor key.
J Join previous line to current line.
^J Down arrow cursor key; in insert mode, move down a line.
k Up arrow cursor key.
K Unused.
^K Unused.
l Right arrow cursor key.
L Move cursor to last position in window.
^L Redraw screen.
m Mark the current cursor position in register (a-z).
M Move cursor to middle position in window.
^M Move to beginning of next line.
n Repeat the last search command.
N Repeat the last search command in reverse direction.
^N Down arrow cursor key.
o Open line below current line.
O Open line above current line.
^O Unused.
p Put yanked or deleted text after or below cursor.
P Put yanked or deleted text before or above cursor.
^P Up arrow cursor key.
q Unused.
Q

Quit vi and enter ex line-editing mode.

^Q Unused. (On some terminals, resume data flow.)
r Replace character at cursor with the next character you type.
R Replace characters.
^R Redraw the screen.
s Change the character under the cursor to typed characters.
S Change entire line.
^S Unused. (On some terminals, stop data flow.)
t

Find next character typed forward on current line and position cursor before it.

T

Find next character typed backward on current line and position cursor after it.

^T

Unused in command mode; in insert mode, move to next tab setting.

u Undo the last change made.
U Restore current line, discarding changes.
^U Scroll the screen upward a half-window.
v Unused.
V Unused.
^V

Unused in command mode; in insert mode, insert next character verbatim.

w Move to beginning of next word.
W

Move to beginning of next word, treating punctuation marks as words.

^W

Unused in command mode; in insert mode, back up to beginning of word.

x Delete character under cursor.
X Delete character before cursor.
^X Unused.
y

Yank or copy text up to target of following movement command into temporary buffer.

Y Make copy of current line.
^Y Show one more line at top of window.
z

Reposition line containing cursor. z must be followed by Return (reposition line to top of screen), . (reposition line to middle of screen), or - (reposition line to bottom of screen).

ZZ Exit the editor, saving changes.


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