How to delete selected text in the vi editor

I am using PuTTY and the vi editor. If I select five lines using my mouse and I want to delete those lines, how can I do that?

Also, how can I select the lines using my keyboard as I can in Windows where I press Shift and move the arrows to select the text? How can I do that in vi?

> I am using PuTTY and the vi editor. If I select five lines using my mouse and I want to delete those lines, how can I do that?

Forget the mouse. To remove 5 lines, either:

• Go to the first line and type d5d (dd deletes one line, d5d deletes 5 lines) or
• Type Shift-v to enter linewise selection mode, then move the cursor down using j (yes, use h, j, k and l to move left, down, up, right respectively, that's much more efficient than using the arrows) and type d to delete the selection.

> Also, how can I select the lines using my keyboard as I can in Windows where I press Shift and move the arrows to select the text? How can I do that in vi?

As I said, either use Shift-v to enter linewise selection mode or v to enter characterwise selection mode or Ctrl-v to enter blockwise selection mode. Then move with h, j, k and l.

I suggest spending some time with the Vim Tutor (run vimtutor) to get more familiar with Vim in a very didactic way.

See also

• This answer to What is your most productive shortcut with Vim? (one of my favorite answers on SO).

• Efficient Editing With vim

Do it the vi way.

To delete 5 lines press: 5dd ( 5 delete )

To select ( actually copy them to the clipboard ) you type: 10yy

It is a bit hard to grasp, but very handy to learn when using those remote terminals

Be aware of the learning curves for some editors:

_{(source: calver at unix.rulez.org)}

If you want to delete using line numbers you can use:

:startingline, last line d

Example:

:7,20 d

This example will delete line 7 to 20.

Highlighting with your mouse only highlights characters on the terminal. VI doesn't really get this information, so you have to highlight differently.

Press 'v' to enter a select mode, and use arrow keys to move that around. To delete, press x. To select lines at a time, press shift+v. To select blocks, try ctrl+v. That's good for, say, inserting lots of comment lines in front of your code :).

I'm OK with VI, but it took me a while to improve. My work mates recommended me this cheat sheet. I keep a printout on the wall for those odd moments when I forget something.

Happy hacking!

When using a terminal like PuTTY, usually mouse clicks and selections are not transmitted to the remote system. So, vi has no idea that you just selected some text. (There are exceptions to this, but in general mouse actions aren't transmitted.)

To delete multiple lines in vi, use something like 5dd to delete 5 lines.

If you're not using Vim, I would strongly recommend doing so. You can use visual selection, where you press V to start a visual block, move the cursor to the other end, and press d to delete (or any other editing command, such as y to copy).

If you want to remove all lines in a file from your current line number, use dG, it will delete all lines (shift g) mean end of file