The wonderous colon mode (aka ex commands)

Most file level operations start with a :

:efilename

Edit another file - :e! forces discard of current edits, :e! with no name reloads current file

Edit the next file (vi file1 file2 file3 etc)

Edit the previous file (vi file1 file2 file3 etc)

Write the current file (can give a name for save as)

Quit - :q! to quit with unsaved data

Insert a file at the current cursor position

:!Shell command

Just start a shell command, when it exits return to vi.

:set

Set options - More in a few slides time

:addresss/regexp/replace term/options

Very powerful search facility. Address is area to search over - e.g.

:%s/hello/goodbye/g	Search entire file (the %), replacing hello by goodbye. The 'g' option gives multiple replaces per line
:'a,'b/hello/goodbye/g	As above but only between marks a and b
:%s/hello/goodbye/gc	Entire file, ask for each replacement
:%s/$/;/	Tack a ; on the end of each line
:%s/(.*)/{&}/	Tack a {} pair round each ()'d thing - note line based

:address operator

Most vi operators can be used in colon mode; e.g. :'a,'b> to indent an area

:addressg/search pattern/colon command

Execute a colon command for every matching line