welcome to the video tutorial on vi
editor there are many ways to edit files
on a Linux operating system we can
either use the GUI or work on the
terminal for those who like to go with
the terminal the VI editor is the most
popular and classic text editor in the
Linux family some reasons which make it
a widely used editor are first it is
available in almost all the Linux
distributions it works the same across
different platforms and distributions it
is user friendly
hence millions of 0x users love it and
use it for the editing needs nowadays
they advanced versions of the VI editor
available and the most popular one among
them is vent which is VI improved some
of the other ones are Alvis and VI Nano
and file it is wise to learn VI because
it is feature-rich and it offers endless
possibilities to edit a file in order to
work on VI editor you need to understand
its operation modes they can be divided
into two main parts and the first part
is the command mode the VI editor opens
in this mode and it only understands
commands in this mode you can move the
cursor and cut copy paste the text this
mode also saves the changes you have
made to the file commands are case
sensitive so make sure you use the right
letter and case the second part is the
insert mode this mode is for inserting
text in the file you can switch to the
insert mode from the command mode by
pressing I on the keyboard
once you are in the insert mode any key
would be taken as an input for the file
on which you are currently working to
return to the command mode and save the
changes you have made you need to press
the Escape key so moving on to starting
the VI editor you need to open the
terminal and type VI is pasted a new
file name or VI space an existing file
name you can create a new file or edit
an existing one this is how we will
create a new file in VI editor and it
would open in the command mold on the
launch screen we see a lot of team
decides on the left they denote unused
lines for this the file length that you
have created shows at the bottom now in
order to add content to this file you
need to press the i key on the keyboard
and only then you would be able to type
in something now let's learn some of the
VI editing command which should be noted
here that you need to be in the command
mode to execute these commands also VI
lter is case sensitive so make sure you
type the commands in the write letter
case so let us go ahead and try some of
the VI editing commands on terminal as
mentioned earlier when you enter the VI
mode it is on the command mode by
default
in order to add content you need to
press the i key on the keyboard
and only then you would be able to write
something otherwise if I go ahead and
type in hi right now I would get the
error buzz on the system VI editor does
not display any change on the screen
when you jump from the command mode to
the insert mode or vice versa this is an
important point to keep in mind while
you are editing or creating files on the
VI editor so let's press I and add some
content once you are done writing the
content and you want to save the file
you cannot do so in the insert mode you
need to jump back to the command mode to
do so and in order to move from the
insert mode to the command mode you need
to press the Escape key on the keyboard
once you have done it you will no longer
be able to write or edit the file so
let's say I want to open a new lion when
I am in the command mode I need to press
the old letter on the keyboard and the
VI editor would open a new line for me
and then side mode I can go ahead and
type in more content and here if I want
to undo all the changes to the entire
line I need to go back to the command
mode by pressing the Escape key and then
press the letter U in the upper case
this way all the changes made to the
entire line would be reverted now let's
say if I want to write off the cursor I
can press the letter A in the small case
when I'm in the command mode once I do
it I can go ahead and write the content
again make sure that you press the right
command otherwise you will end up making
undesirable changes to the file these
are some more of the commands that you
can use in the cub
and mold let us now learn how to move
within a file you need to be in the
command mode in order to navigate in a
file
the default keys for navigation are K G
H and L or you can also use the arrow
keys on the keyboard
let us try some of them right now I'm in
the command mode now I can always use
the arrow keys to navigate within a file
otherwise you can use the L key on the
keyboard to move right the H key to move
left the K key to move up and the key J
to move down this is how you can
navigate in a file that you are editing
when it comes to saving and closing the
file you should be again in the command
with mode the keystrokes are so if you
want to save the file and quit you can
either use the shift + Z to set the key
combination or you can use the : W Q if
you want to save the file but keep it
open then you can use the : W or if you
want to quit without saving : q is the
key combination so let us go ahead and
save this file that we have created
in order to do so we will press the
Escape key to enter the command mode
once done we will then press the shift +
Z Z key combination and we would return
to the terminal the other method to save
and exit the file is by typing in : WQ
when you are in the command mode
we'll see of time - 10 press ENTER and
he would return to the command prompt
now in order to view the file that we
created we need to type in cat space
file name and here is the file that we
made this is how you can use the VI
editor to create a new file or edit
existing one let us quickly recap what
we learned in this tutorial the VI
editor is the most popular and commonly
used Linux text editor
it is usually available in all Linux
distributions it works in two modes
command and insert command mode takes
the user commands and the insert mode is
for editing text you should know the
commands in order to work on your file
easily learning to use this editor can
benefit you in creating scripts and
editing files thank you for watching
this tutorial I'll see you in the next
one