Editing text, in a precise, specific, and efficient manner is the hallmark of a good system administrator, developer or anyone who works with text on a daily basis. Being able to get done what needs doing in the most direct and time-saving way is a wonderful skill to possess.
In this hands-on lab, you will gain valuable practice in inserting, copying, pasting, selecting, deleting, changing, and altering text. You also be using undo and redo to bring your text-editing skills up the next level.
Learning Objectives
Successfully complete this lab by achieving the following learning objectives:
- Insert and Append Text and Lines, Yank and Paste Text and Lines, Then Delete Text and Lines
- Open the Vim editor:
vim - Create a working file (and open it for editing) with:
:help :w ~/vimhelp.txt :q :e ~/vimhelp.txt - Go to the top of the file with
ggand then navigate to the line that starts with this text:Get out of Vim - Press
oto add a line under the current line. - On that line, add the following text, taking care to line up the
:with the other instances of:on other lines:ATTENTION: Do NOT Use killall -9 vim to Exit Vim! - When added, hit the
ESCkey to return to Command Mode. Use^to go back to the front of the wordATTENTION, then0(zero) to go to the very beginning of the line. - Next, place the cursor on the empty line between your current line and the one that reads
Jump to a subject, and delete the empty line by pressingdd. - Now copy the
ATTENTIONline by moving to it and pressingyy. - Go to line that starts with
Jump Backand usepto paste the copied line below it. - Then place your cursor on the blank line, in between the current line and the one that begins with
Get specific help, and press theyykeys to copy the blank line. - Then create a blank line by pressing
P. - Now insert a range of numbers automatically using:
:put =range(1,10)
- Open the Vim editor:
- Visually Select Text and Lines, Change, Replace and Alter Text, and Use Undo and Redo
Note: You must have completed the steps in Task 1 in order to do Task 2.
- Position your cursor on the
4in the list of newly added numbers, and copy and paste that line with:yy p - With your cursor on the bottom-most
4, select from there to the number10using:Ctrl-v Down Arrow (Make sure to select the 0 in 10 too) - Now increment those numbers with
Ctrl-aso that the4your cursor is on increments to5, and the list now ends with11. - Move your cursor to the numeral
1on the first line of the eleven numbered lines. - Select lines numbered 1-9 by pressing:
Ctrl-v 8j - Add a leading zero to the lines numbered
1through9with:Shift-i (aka I) 0 ESC - Re-select the nine lines by pressing
gv. - Extend the selected area to include all eleven numbered lines, all numbers. (The cursor should be blinking on the last 1 in 11.)
- With all eleven lines and all numerals selected, add the same text to all eleven lines with:
Shift-a (aka A) Space This will be 11 numbered lines followed by this text. ESC - Now navigate to the line that begins with:
Get Specific Help... - Position your cursor on the
sofspecificand change the word to beparticularusing:ESC cw particular ESC - Now join that line and the line below it into a long paragraph with by pressing
J. - Move your cursor to the end of the line, with the
$character. Your cursor should be on the.aftercommand. - Now that you have done a number of changes, use the
ukey to undo several of your changes, the use3uto undo 3 more changes. Continue to useuuntil you receive the message:Already at oldest change - Then use
Ctrl-rto redo your changes until you receive the message:Already at newest change - Quit your
vimhelp.txtfile, saving your changes by pressing:ESC ESC :x
- Position your cursor on the
