VI Essentials

vi(m) basically has two modes of operation:

• command mode,
• Insert mode.

Command mode is the initial mode. The commands you type are displayed in the status (bottom) line (only some of them in vi). They are executed with Enter.

Press a, A, i, I, o or 0 to enter Insert mode. Press Esc to return to command mode.

vimtutor is an interactive vim tutorial (25 to 30 minutes).