The main UNIX editor is VI, visual editor. If you are more familiar with another editor, then use the one you know. To edit a file using vi type:

      cl> edit [filename]    or      cl> vi [filename]

If you are forced to use vi without knowing anything about it, here are a few basic commands which should allow you to do most things. The commands will not be echoed, and in any of the insert modes (where an <ESC> is used to terminate it), a "delete" will backspace but will not erase even though it has deleted the letters. Remember also that vi is very case sensitive.

      j     - cursor down
      k     - cursor up
      h     - cursor left
      l     - cursor right
      #G    - move cursor to line #
      G     - move cursor to last line
      0     - move cursors to beginning of current line
      $     - move cursor to end of current line
      dd    - delete current line
      dw    - delete from cursor to next word
      d)    - delete to the end of the sentence
      d}    - delete to the end of the paragraph
      #dd   - delete # of lines starting at current line
      u     - undelete last command
      U     - undelete all changes to current line
      x     - delete character under the cursor
      r     - replace character under the cursor with the next
              letter typed
      /word - search forward for the first occurance of the word
      ?word - search backwards from cursor for word
      n     - next occurance of word searched for using / or ?
      ^L    - rewrite the screen

The following commands are terminated by <ESC>:

      i     - insert before the cursor
      a     - insert after the cursor
      R     - write over text beginning at the cursor
      o     - open a line following the current line
      O     - open a line before the current line

The following commands are viewed at the bottom of the screen after a :

      :w    - write the text to the file
      :q    - quit the editor, without saving changes
      :q!   - emphatic quit, use when :q fails
      :wq   - write the text to the file and quit
      :1,$s/old/new    - substitute new for first occurance of old
              in lines 1-$, where 1,$ is all lines
      :1,10s/old/new/g - globally substitute new for old in lines
              1-10
      :10,20w file2    - write lines 10-20 to filename file2
      :1,5w >> file2   - append lines 1-5 to file2

To do more substantial cut and paste work, use the following commands:

      yy    - yank a copy of the current line (coppied into buffer)
      #yy   - yank a copy of the next # lines from cursor position
      p     - put the last item yanked or deleted after the cursor
      P     - put the last item yanked or deleted before the cursor

If you get lost using this editor, just type <esc> several times to get out of insert modes you might be in and type :q!. This will get you out of the editor and will not save the file you are working on. If you need help, just ask someone on the staff.