Question

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?

Answer 1

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