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Carlos Leonel Ramirez
Carlos Leonel Ramirez

Posted on • Originally published at carloslramirez.com on

My Linux Upskill Challenge: Day 6

#linux #learninpublic #devjournal

Introduction

This is my journal note following the Linux Upskill Challenge: Day 6.

Editing Text Files with Vi

  • Part of being a Linux system administrator is being skilled at editing text files.
  • nano and pico are for beginners! (noobs 🙂)…
  • Grown-ups usually use vi❗ — a text editor developed in the 70s by Bill Joy.
  • Vim is the modern version (it’s been around for 20+ years), and it’s the de facto text editor on servers. Knowing how to use it — or at least how to exit it — is a must for any sysadmin.
  • Vim stands for Vi IMproved.
  • In 2014, NeoVim appeared — a fork of Vim that is more customizable and backed by a large community of users (also, kind of a hype!).
  • Having said that, the words Vi and Vim are used interchangeably in this document, but the difference between each has already been clarified.

Vim 101

Check the version of viinstalled

You normally run vicommand, however probably what you have installed is vim, to check the version run:

vi --version
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You should obtain something like this:

carlos@ubuntu:~$ vi --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 9.1 (2024 Jan 02, compiled Apr 01 2025 20:12:31)
Included patches: 1-16, 647, 678, 697
Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
...
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Normally vimis installed by default on every modern Linux distribution, in case you need to installed it you can use in Ubuntu using

sudo apt install vim
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For non-Debian based Linux distribution you will need to use another packet manager.

Vi modes

  • There are two “modes” when working with Vim:
    • “normal mode”
    • “insert mode”
  • Sometimes, it’s very hard to know which mode you’re currently in, because there’s very little — or no — information on screen that could give you a clue.
  • When in doubt, just remember this:

TIP

“Press ESC twice or more to return to normal mode”

  • The “normal mode”, also called “command mode”, is used to enter commands.
  • The “insert mode” is used for writing text.

Open and exit without saving

  • Make a copy of an existing text file to your home, so you can edit it. Open it with Vim: 
cd
pwd
cp -v /etc/services testfile
vim testfile
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  • You will see the content of the file open in the editor. However, there is no “on-screen menu” like what you’re used to with nano.
  • By default, Vim opens the file in “normal mode”, so if you enter a key, it will be interpreted as a command , not as a character you want to insert.
  • The next key you press in “normal mode” will determine the behavior of Vim.
  • To be 100% sure you’re in normal mode, press ESC twice.
  • To exit the file without saving any changes, while in “normal mode”, type :q! and press Enter.

Believe me! This will be a vital skill when you’re taking your first steps.

Vim Joke|450

Navigating in the file

  • You can navigate in the file using the keys: h, j, k, and l. This is the traditional method since vi.
  • The arrow keys may work as well; however, it’s important to get familiar with the traditional keys, because you may encounter systems where the arrow keys don’t work.
    • h → moves cursor left
    • j → moves cursor down
    • k → moves cursor up
    • l → moves cursor right
  • Other useful commands in “normal mode” to navigate through the file:
    • G — moves to the bottom of the file
    • gg — moves to the top of the file

Delete a single character or word

  • Navigate througt the file and press x to delete the character under the cursos.
  • Press X to delete the character before cursor
  • To delete the whole word use dw

Delete a line

  • To delete a single line, put the cursor in the line you want to delete an press dd in normal mode. 
dd
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Delete multiple lines in one stroke

  • I moved down a few lines in the file and pressed 3, then 3 again, then d, and d again — and 33 lines were deleted all at once 🙀
  • To delete multiple lines at once in “normal mode”, use: 
<num-of-lines>dd
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  • Where <num-of-lines> is the number of lines you want to delete.

Undo the last change (undo)

  • Fortunately, I was able to undo the deletion by entering the following command in “normal mode”. This command will undo the last change: 
u
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Finding things

  • To search for the word “sun”, type /sun in “normal mode” and Vim will find the first instance in the file.
  • Hit Enter, then press n repeatedly to go through all the occurrences.

Cut and Paste

  • To cut a line, place the cursor anywhere on the line and press dd (in normal mode). This deletes the entire line and stores it in Vim’s clipboard (called the “unnamed register”).
  • To paste , press P (uppercase). The cut line will be inserted above the current line — everything below will move down.
  • To cut multiple lines at once, enter <number-of-lines>dd in normal mode. For example, 5dd will delete 5 lines starting from the current one, and store them in Vim’s clipboard.
  • To paste all those lines, do the same as before: press P (uppercase), and all the lines will be inserted above the current line — everything else will shift downward.
  • Pasting with p (undercasse) also works, the difference is the text will be pasted below the current line, meaning that everything else will shift upwards.

Inserting Text

  • You can place the cursor anywhere in the file and press i in Normal mode. This will allow you to insert any text you want.

Finally, it’s behaving like a normal text editor!!

  • This puts you in “Insert Mode”, and you’ll notice an -- INSERT -- message in the status bar of Vim.

  • To return to Normal mode, just press ESC twice.

Copy (Yank) and Paste

  • There is a third mode in Vim, called “Visual Mode”, which lets you move the cursor while selecting text.
  • To enter Visual Mode, press v, then move the cursor to select the desired text. Press y to copy the selection to the clipboard.
  • Use P to paste before the cursor or p to paste after the cursor.
  • To yank (copy) the current line, use yy.
  • To yank 3 lines, use 3yy.
  • To yank the word under the cursor, use yaw.

“Yank” is the term in Vim for “Copy”

Saving Changes

  • Once you’re done and want to save your changes without exiting, you “write” the file using this command in Normal mode:

  • If you want to save and exit Vim:

Next Steps

  • There’s a built-in interactive tutorial to help you learn Vim basics, called vimtutor. To try it, just run:

  • It typically takes about 30 minutes to complete.

  • It’s recommended to do it regularly over a couple of weeks to build solid Vim skills.

  • Also, it’s a good idea to start using vim (or vi) every time you need to edit a file from now on.

  • Everything described here also works with NeoVim, so I’ll start using it and exploring it. There’s also a built-in tutorial in NeoVim called :Tutor — I’ll try it when I get the chance.

  • I currently use Obsidian to edit my notes, but I might explore NeoVim as an alternative note editor. Although… I’ve seen that many who go down that path never come back the same. Hopefully, I won’t regret it 🙂

Related Notes

External Resources

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