4. Beyond the Basics

Contents:
More Command Combinations
Options When Starting vi
Making Use of Buffers
Marking Your Place
Other Advanced Edits
Review of vi Buffer and Marking Commands

You have already been introduced to the basic vi editing commands, i , a , c , d , and y . This chapter expands on what you already know about editing. It covers:

Description of additional editing facilities, with a review of general command form
Additional ways to enter vi
Making use of buffers that store yanks and deletions
Marking your place in a file

4.1 More Command Combinations

In Chapter 2, Simple Editing , you learned the edit commands c , d , and y , as well as how to combine them with movements and numbers (such as 2cw or 4dd ). In Chapter 3, Moving Around in a Hurry , you added many more movement commands to your repertoire. Although the fact that you can combine edit commands with movement is not a new concept to you, Table 4.1 gives you a feel for the many editing options you now have.

Table 4.1: More Editing Commands
Change	Delete	Copy	from Cursor to ...
`cH`	`dH`	`yH`	top of screen
`cL`	`dL`	`yL`	bottom of screen
`c+`	`d+`	`y+`	next line
`c5\|`	`d5\|`	`y5\|`	column 5 of current line
`2c)`	`2d)`	`2y)`	second sentence following
`c{`	`d{`	`y{`	previous paragraph
`c/` `pattern`	`d/` `pattern`	`y/` `pattern`	pattern
`cn`	`dn`	`yn`	next pattern
`cG`	`dG`	`yG`	end of file
`c13G`	`d13G`	`y13G`	line number 13

Notice how all of the above sequences follow the general pattern:

(number )(command )(text object )

number is the optional numeric argument. command in this case is one of c , d , or y . text object is a movement command.

The general form of a vi command is discussed in Chapter 2 . You may wish to review Table 2.1 and Table 2.2 as well.