Quick Start Guide
extended mode
In this mode, also known as colon mode (as you have to enter a colon to switch
to this mode), vi can execute also more complex tasks such as searching and
replacing text.
In the following (very simple) example, you will learn how to open and edit a le with
vi, how to save your changes and quit vi.
17.7.1 Example: Editing with vi
NOTE: Display of Keys
In the following, nd several commands that you can enter in vi by just pressing
keys. These appear in uppercase as on a keyboard. If you need to enter a key
in uppercase, this is stated explicitly by showing a key combination including
the [Shift] key.
1 To create and open a new le with vi, enter
vi textfile.txt
By default, vi opens in command mode in which you cannot enter text.
2 Press [I] to switch to insert mode. The bottom line changes and indicates that
you now can insert text.
3 Write some sentences. If you want to insert a new line, rst press [Esc] to
switch back to command mode. Press [O] to insert a new line and to switch
to insert mode again.
4 In the insert mode, you can edit the text with the arrow keys and with [Del].
5 To leave vi, press [Esc] to switch to command mode again. Then press [:]
which takes you to the extended mode. The bottom line now shows a colon.
6
To leave vi and save your changes, type wq (w for write; q for quit) and press
[Enter]. If you want to save the le under a dierent name, type w
filename
and press [Enter].
To leave vi without saving, type q! instead and press [Enter].
17.8 Searching for Files or Contents
Bash oers you several commands to search for les and to search for the contents
of les:
locate
This utility is only available if you have installed the findutils-locate package.
With this command you can nd out in which directory a specied le is located.
Shell Basics 209