Operating Systems & Administration

[Day 5] 2. VI Editor

D

DITISS Admin

•August 26, 2026•3 min read

VI Editor Overview

VIM stands for VI IMproved, an enhanced version of the VI text editor. It's a powerful CLI (Command Line Interface) editor commonly used in Linux systems.

1. Installation Commands:

Install VIM using
```
apt
```
:
```
sudo apt-get install vim
```
Install VIM using
```
snap
```
:
```
sudo snap install vim
```
Both
```
snap
```
and
```
apt
```
are package managers that install various software packages on your system.

2. VIM Modes

VIM operates in three modes:

Command Mode:
- Access by pressing
```
Esc
```
  .
- This mode allows you to give commands to save, copy, cut, and perform other actions.
Text Mode / Insert Mode:
- Access by pressing
```
i
```
  .
- This mode is used to add or insert content into the file.
Visual Mode:
- Access by pressing
```
v
```
  .
- Used to select text within the editor.

By default, the VI editor opens in Command Mode.

3. Common VIM Commands

File Operations:

```
:w
```
: Save or write to the file.
```
:q
```
: Quit or exit the VI editor.
```
:wq
```
: Save and quit the file.

Copy (Yank) Commands:

```
:y
```
: Copy the current line.
```
yy
```
: Copy the current line.
```
:ny
```
: Copy the
```
n
```
th line.
```
nyy
```
: Copy the next
```
n
```
lines from the current line.
```
m,ny
```
: Copy lines from line
```
m
```
to line
```
n
```
.
```
yw
```
: Copy the next word.
```
y$
```
: Copy from the cursor position to the end of the line.
```
y^
```
: Copy from the start of the line to the cursor position.

Cut (Delete) Commands:

```
:d
```
: Cut the current line.
```
dd
```
: Cut the current line.
```
:nd
```
: Cut the
```
n
```
th line.
```
ndd
```
: Cut the next
```
n
```
lines from the current line.
```
m,nd
```
: Cut lines from line
```
m
```
to line
```
n
```
.

Delete Commands (without pasting):

```
:d
```
: Delete the current line.
```
dd
```
: Delete the current line.
```
:nd
```
: Delete the
```
n
```
th line.
```
ndd
```
: Delete the next
```
n
```
lines from the current line.
```
m,nd
```
: Delete lines from line
```
m
```
to line
```
n
```
.

Paste and Undo:

```
p
```
: Paste the copied line.
```
u
```
: Undo the last action.

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