Delete Lines in Vim and Vi

Install Vim

On Debian and Ubuntu:

sudo apt install vim -y

On Red Hat based systems:

sudo yum install vim -y

or:

sudo dnf install vim -y

Check the installation:

vi --version

Delete one line

Press Esc to make sure you are in normal mode. Move the cursor to the line and type:

dd

d means delete and the second d means the whole line.

Delete several lines

Type a number before dd. This deletes three lines, starting from the current one:

3dd

Delete a range of lines

Go to command mode with : and give the range. This deletes lines 5 to 10:

:5,10d

Delete to the end of the file

dG

G moves to the last line, and d deletes from the cursor to there.

Delete to the beginning of the file

dgg

Delete lines that contain a word

:g/pattern/d

Replace pattern with the word. For example, delete all lines that contain "Linux":

:g/Linux/d

g means global. It checks the whole file.

Delete lines that do not contain a word

:v/Linux/d

Good habits

• Press Esc first. Commands act differently in insert and visual mode.
• Preview before you delete. Run :g/pattern/ first (without d). Vim then lists all the matching lines.
• Use u to undo and Ctrl + r to redo.
• Save with :w, or leave without saving with :q!.

Quick recap

• dd deletes a line, 3dd deletes three.
• :5,10d deletes a range.
• :g/word/d deletes all lines with a word.