Terminal Text Editors¶

nano is beginner-friendly; vim is the power-user standard found on virtually every Linux system. This entry covers essential shortcuts and commands for both editors.

Nano¶

Launch: nano filename or nano -B filename (create backup on save).

File Operations¶

Editing¶

Search¶

Navigation¶

Vim¶

Modal editor with three main modes: Normal, Insert, Visual.

Mode Switching¶

i           Insert at cursor
a           Insert after cursor
I / A       Insert at line start / end
o / O       New line below / above, enter insert
Esc         Return to Normal mode
v           Visual mode (character)
V           Visual mode (line)
Ctrl+v      Visual block mode

Cursor Movement (Normal)¶

h j k l     Left, down, up, right
w / b       Next / previous word
0 / $       Start / end of line
^           First non-blank character
gg          Top of file
G           Bottom of file
:[num]      Go to line
Ctrl+d/u    Half page down / up
{ / }       Previous / next paragraph

Editing (Normal)¶

dd          Delete (cut) line
d$          Delete to end of line
dw          Delete word
cc          Change (delete + insert) line
J           Join line below
r[char]     Replace single character
.           Repeat last command
x           Delete character under cursor

Text Objects¶

di(         Delete inside parentheses
ci"         Change inside quotes
da{         Delete around braces (including braces)
yi[         Yank inside brackets

Clipboard¶

yy          Yank (copy) line
p / P       Paste after / before cursor

Save and Exit¶

:w          Save
:wq         Save and quit
:q          Quit (fails if unsaved)
:q!         Force quit without saving

Search and Replace¶

/pattern    Search forward
?pattern    Search backward
n / N       Next / previous match
:%s/old/new/g    Replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc   Replace with confirmation

Undo / Redo¶

u           Undo
Ctrl+r      Redo

Windows and Tabs¶

:e file     Open file
:tabe       New tab
gt / gT     Next / previous tab
:vsp        Vertical split
Ctrl+ww     Switch between windows
Ctrl+wq     Close window

Marks¶

m{a-z}      Set local mark
'{a-z}      Jump to mark
''          Return to previous position

Gotchas¶

• Vim starts in Normal mode - pressing letters executes commands, not typing text
• :q! discards all changes without confirmation
• nano shows keyboard shortcuts at the bottom (^ means Ctrl)
• Vim is pre-installed on nearly all Linux systems; nano may need to be installed
• vi on many systems is actually vim (Vi IMproved)
• In vim, u undoes one change at a time; U undoes all changes on current line

See Also¶

• terminal basics - Shell and keyboard shortcuts
• file operations - File creation and viewing