Basic File Editing vi

Navigating Files with less
Searching Inside less
Paging with more
Getting Started with Vim
Switching to Insert Mode
Essential Vim Commands
Saving Your Work
Comparing less vs more
Verifying Your Edits
Further Reading

Managing and editing text files is a core skill for any Linux user. This guide covers:

Viewing logs and files with the less and more pagers
Performing quick edits in Vim (Vi IMproved)
Verifying your changes after saving

Navigating Files with `less`

The less pager provides powerful navigation and search features:

less /var/log/dnf.log

Scroll up/down with ↑ and ↓ or PgUp/PgDn
The filename appears at the bottom left
Quit with q

Searching Inside `less`

Action	Command
Search forward (case-sensitive)	`/debug`
Jump to next match	`n`
Toggle case-insensitive matching inline	`-i`
Start `less` in case-insensitive mode	`less -i /var/log/dnf.log`
Jump to previous match	`N`

You can enable case-insensitive search at any time by typing -i inside less.

Paging with `more`

A simpler alternative, more advances one screen at a time:

more /var/log/dnf.log

Spacebar: Next page
Enter: Next line
q: Quit

For large files or complex searches, less is generally preferred over more.

Getting Started with Vim

Vim is a modal editor: it has Normal, Insert, and Command modes.

vim

On launch without a filename, you’ll see:

VIM - Vi IMproved 8.0.1763 by Bram Moolenaar et al.
Modified by <[email protected]>
type :help<Enter> or <F1> for on-line help
type :q<Enter> to exit

Switching to Insert Mode

Press i to enter Insert Mode (-- INSERT -- appears)
Type your content
Press Esc to return to Normal Mode

Essential Vim Commands

Command	Mode	Description
`i`	Normal	Switch to Insert Mode
`/pattern`	Normal	Search forward for “pattern”
`\c`	Normal	Toggle case-insensitive search
`yy`	Normal	Yank (copy) current line
`dd`	Normal	Delete (cut) current line
`p`	Normal	Paste after the cursor
`:3`	Normal	Go to line 3
`:w`	Command	Save (write) the buffer
`:wq`	Command	Save and quit
`:q!`	Command	Quit without saving changes

Unsaved changes will be lost if you use :q!. Always use :w or :wq to preserve your edits.

Saving Your Work

:w

The image shows a terminal window with text being edited in a text editor, likely Vim, with the command :w at the bottom. The text reads "This is our text for our vim demo."

Comparing `less` vs `more`

Pager	Usage	Navigation	Quit
less	`less FILE`	↑/↓, PgUp/PgDn	`q`
more	`more FILE`	Spacebar, Enter	`q`

Verifying Your Edits

After saving a file (e.g., testfile), confirm the contents:

cat testfile

Example output:

no yes no
yes
no
no
no
no
yes
new changes

Watch Video

Search Text Files Using Regular Expressions Part 1 Understand the differences between basic and extended regular expressions

Nano and Emacs

⌘I

Introduction

System Architecture

Linux Installation and Package Management

GNU and Unix Commands

Devices Linux Filesystems Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Conclusion and Mock Exam

Basic File Editing vi

Navigating Files with `less`

Searching Inside `less`

Paging with `more`

Getting Started with Vim

Switching to Insert Mode

Essential Vim Commands

Saving Your Work

Comparing `less` vs `more`

Verifying Your Edits

Further Reading

Watch Video

Introduction

System Architecture

Linux Installation and Package Management

GNU and Unix Commands

Devices Linux Filesystems Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Conclusion and Mock Exam

​Navigating Files with less

​Searching Inside less

​Paging with more

​Getting Started with Vim

​Switching to Insert Mode

​Essential Vim Commands

​Saving Your Work

​Comparing less vs more

​Verifying Your Edits

​Further Reading

Watch Video

Navigating Files with `less`

Searching Inside `less`

Paging with `more`

Getting Started with Vim

Switching to Insert Mode

Essential Vim Commands

Saving Your Work

Comparing `less` vs `more`

Verifying Your Edits

Further Reading