So far we have seen how to enter vi and to write out our file using either ZZ or :wCR. The first exits from the editor, (writing if changes were made), the second writes and stays in the editor.
If you have changed the editor's copy of the file but do not wish to save your changes, either because you messed up the file or decided that the changes are not an improvement to the file, then you can give the command :q!CR to quit from the editor without writing the changes. You can also reedit the same file (starting over) by giving the command :e!CR. These commands should be used only rarely, and with caution, as it is not possible to recover the changes you have made after you discard them in this manner.
You can edit a different file without leaving the editor by giving the command :e nameCR. If you have not written out your file before you try to do this, then the editor will tell you this, and delay editing the other file. You can then give the command :wCR to save your work and then the :e nameCR command again, or carefully give the command :e! nameCR, which edits the other file discarding the changes you have made to the current file. To have the editor automatically save changes, include set autowrite in your EXINIT, and use :n instead of :e.
You can get to a shell to execute a single command by giving a vi command of the form :!cmdCR. The system will run the single command cmd and when the command finishes, the editor will ask you to hit a RETURN to continue. When you have finished looking at the output on the screen, you should hit RETURN and the editor will clear the screen and redraw it. You can then continue editing. You can also give another : command when it asks you for a RETURN; in this case the screen will not be redrawn.
If you wish to execute more than one command in the shell, then you can give the command :shCR. This will give you a new shell, and when you finish with the shell, ending it by typing a ^D, the editor will clear the screen and continue.
On systems which support it, ^Z will suspend the editor and return to the (top level) shell. When the editor is resumed, the screen will be redrawn.
The command `` returned to the previous place after a motion of the cursor by a command such as /, ? or G. You can also mark lines in the file with single letter tags and return to these marks later by naming the tags. Try marking the current line with the command mx, where you should pick some letter for x, say 'a'. Then move the cursor to a different line (any way you like) and hit `a. The cursor will return to the place which you marked. Marks last only until you edit another file.
When using operators such as d and referring to marked lines, it is often desirable to delete whole lines rather than deleting to the exact position in the line marked by m. In this case you can use the form 'x rather than `x. Used without an operator, 'x will move to the first non-white character of the marked line; similarly '' moves to the first non-white character of the line containing the previous context mark ``.
If the screen image is messed up because of a transmission error to your terminal, or because some program other than the editor wrote output to your terminal, you can hit a ^L, the ASCII form-feed character, to cause the screen to be refreshed.
On a dumb terminal, if there are @ lines in the middle of the screen as a result of line deletion, you may get rid of these lines by typing ^R to cause the editor to retype the screen, closing up these holes.
Finally, if you wish to place a certain line on the screen at the top middle or bottom of the screen, you can position the cursor to that line, and then give a z command. You should follow the z command with a RETURN if you want the line to appear at the top of the window, a . if you want it at the center, or a - if you want it at the bottom.
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