Displaying Line Numbers in Vi

To turn on the display of line numbers in the vi editor, use the following command:

:set number

To turn off the dispaly of line numbers, use the command below:

:set nonumber

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Delete Lines Containing or Not Containing a String Using Vi

To delete all lines containing a string or all lines not containing a particular string, you can use the global search options in the Vi editor.

Global Search

:g/string/command

command affects lines containing string

:v/string/command

command affects lines not containing string

To delete all lines containing "foo" you could use the following command:

:g/foo/d

To delete all lines not containing "foo" you could use the following command:

:v/foo/d

References:

1. vi Reference Card
   JILA

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