this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

The VIsual editor 

Tips and tricks 

Scroll, 

^D  scroll down

^U  scroll up

Edit several files, 

vi *pattern*

write and switch to the next one, 

:wn

Substitute, 

:%s/lala/lili/

:%s/lala/lili/g

Note. just like with sed 

Show all characters, 

:set list

With VIM only, convert file to UNIX format, 

:set ff=unix

Note. as for DOS format, 

:set ff=dos

VIM configuration 

Turn the freacking colors off, and disable the damn ~ backup files, 

vi ~/.vimrc

like, 

cd ~/

ls -l .vimrc

cat > ~/.vimrc <<EOF9

syn off

set nobackup

set nowritebackup

EOF9

VIM specific usage 

Select a block of lines, 

V

select a block of text, 

v

Indent, 

>

deindent, 

<

Those ones may help too, 

set ai tw=74 et sw=4 sts=4:

Disable UTF-8, 

set encoding=iso-8859-15

and for good, 

filetype on

autocmd FileType html set fileencoding=iso-8859-1

VI versions 

Vim Home : http://www.vim.org/ 

The Traditional Vi : http://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/ 

Nvi Home : http://www.kotnet.org/~skimo/nvi/devel/ 

Levee Home : http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~orc/Code/levee/ 

The One True Editor : http://www.pell.portland.or.us/~orc/Code/vi/ 

Basics 

To enter editing mode, 

i  insert before

a  insert after

A  insert end of line

To go back to command mode, 

ESC

Cursor 

h  left

j  down (remember: just like J goes down!)

k  up

l  right

Edit, 

x    delete

rX    replace one caracter by X

ce (de a)  replace until the end of the word

c$    replace until the end of the line

Write, 

:w filename

:wq

:x

Exit without saving, 

:q!

Undo/Redo, 

u  undo

U  redo

References 

http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/samples/vi.notes.html 

(FR) http://www.epons.org/vi.php 

http://www.rants.org/ed.html 

http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~ssk/vim/insert.html 

http://gergap.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/minimal-vimrc-for-cc-developers/ 

http://lfs.traduc.org/view/blfs-5.1-fr/postlfs/vimrc.html 

http://www.jonlee.ca/hacking-vim-the-ultimate-vimrc/