Note - read Marks & Registers before reading this post.
There are some other ways of copy or delete text in vi.
Working with paragraphs:
If you are in paragraph text you can use } and { to move cursor to the beginning or ending of the paragraph respectively. so if you want to move a paragraph you can use { and d} .
and p to paste the content. if you are already in beginning or ending of a paragraph you can use d} and d{ respectively to cut the paragraph.
If you want to delete 3 continuous paragraphs you can use d3} (From current to next 3 paragraphs will be cut)
And if you want to move multiple paragraphs from multiple locations to other locations we can make use of registers ( Marks & Registers ).
Ex:
I am at para 1: hit "ad3} to cut 3 paragraphs to the register 'a'
I am at para 9: hit "by} to copy next paragraph to the register 'b'
At EOF: hit "ap and "bp to paste the paragraphs.
Copy/Cut by Search:
Search using / or ? is most notable technique in vi. But if you want to copy the content from current line to the next line containing a specific word ??.
for example one can use y/foo to copy the text from current line to next line containing the word 'foo'. similarly 'd' can be used to cut ( d/foo).
y?foo to copy from the current line to the most recent (previous) line containing 'bar'.
Similarly as above we can use registers to copy/cut these content.
Thus if you use "ay/foo then you are yanking a copy of the text from here to the next line containing "foo" into the 'a' register. and can use "ap to paste the content.
Marks:
vi has 26 "marks". A mark is set to any cursor location using the m command.
Each mark is designated by a letter.
Thusma sets the 'a' mark to the current location, andms sets the 's' mark.
You can move to the line containing a mark using the ' (single quote) command.
Thus 'a moves to the beginning of the line containing the 'a' mark.
You can move to the precise location of any mark using the ` (backquote) command.
Thus `s will move directly to the exact location of the 's' mark.
copy/cut/paste :
One can use d,y,p to delete,yank,paste respectively.
step 1 : set the mark by using m
step 2 : y'a to copy from current position to line where mark a is set.
y`a to copy from current position to exact location of mark a.
[ 'd' can be used similarly ]
step 3 : use p to paste the content.
To access all currently defined markers hit :makrs
some other interesting features are there in vi where we can use marks.
# for example if you want to sort a set of lines in vi what you do ?? There is a simple solution for it.
place two marks on two lines. and then you you hit :'a,'b!sort ( ! will execute shell commands on vi)
# if you want to redirect a part of file to another file
place two marks on two lines and then :'a,'b w temp_file. this will copy the content from mark a to b to the new temp_file. if file already exist use :'a,'b w>>temp_file to append.
Note: a-z can be used to mark only in same file. use A-Z to mark across the files.. So now copy a line from one file to other file is much more easier !!
Registers:
vi has 26 "registers". we can use these registers by prefixing " (double quote)Each register is designated by a letter.
Thus"a starts the register. now its up to you to use this register to copy the content to it or cut the content to it or paste the content from it.
This is more useful when you want to copy lines from multiple locations and paste it in different places.
copy/cut/paste :
Ex:
I am at line 2: "ayy will copy the current line to register to a
I go to line 30: "bdd will cut the current line to register b.
I am at the end of file : "ap and "bp will paste line 2 and line 30 at end of file.
"ap pastes a copy of the 'a' register's contents into the text after the cursor and "aP pastes a copy from 'a' to before the current line.
capital letters can be used to append the content to a register.
"Ayy will append the current line to the register A.
To access all currently defined registers hit :reg
We can do some interesting things with registers.
for example if you want to execute a command which is at current line in vi what you do ?? There is a simple solution for it.
Copy the line you want to execute to a register - "ayy
Execute the content of register using '@' - :@a