Learning the vi Editor/Vim/Basic navigation

Basic navigation
Basic navigation in vim is covered below.

VIM Help system
vim is a very feature rich application. Unlike the 'vi' editor it includes a help system. Because the help system will allow you to teach yourself much more than any book on vim possibly could, you will benefit from the power of the vim editor much more if you learn to use it. On a normal vim installation you should be able to start the online help by pressing the key. If your keyboard does not feature a key then you can try  instead. (Some system administrators may have changed how vim behaves. If you cannot get into vim's help system with these commands, perhaps your administrator can help.)

Start vim and enter command mode by pressing escape. To get help on any command simply type  command.

For example, if you would like to learn all the different ways the command can be used you could type  x. To move around in the help files the same keys work,, , ,. To leave the help files type. If you know you want to do something, but you aren't sure what the command might be you can type partial commands like this  cut. To learn to switch text from upper case to lower case you could type 

When you search for help on any subject, vim will (normally by default) create a window (buffer) which you can navigate just like any window in vim. You can close the help window by typing or  and pressing enter.

The default help file (shown when you type "") explains basic navigation for vim and for vim's help files.