This is timely - I wrote an ed guide today and this post is a good opportunity to share it. I've been working on a remote server via ILO-in-a-browser with broken console definitions and a screen that's too small for the interface. It's a gift - I've wanted to be fluent in ed for a long time and spent the time to get there today.

If anyone has something similar for console-mode sam usage I'd love to know that too.

Anyway - the guide:

    Ed doesn't push any of the fancy cruft that modern
    editors do - full screen views of the text in question
    or fiddly mouse interfaces.
    
    It is line based, scriptable, it works *everywhere*
    that unix runs, and the default configuration is
    predictable. A true power tool from the days of yore
    when men were men and each tool did one simple thing
    extremely well.
    
    How to get into ed and create some text:
    <pre>
    $ touch my_filename
    $ ed my_filename
    0
    a
    Here is some text
    next line
    more
    yet more
    The dot on the next line indicates I'm done inserting text. Then save and exit.
    .
    w
    q
    $ 
    </pre>
    
    Basic commands:
    * a: append to the first line
    * p: print the current line
    * n: print the current line with a line number (handy)
    * %n: list all lines
    * 1n: list line one
    * 1,5n: line lines one to five
    * 5,$n: list lines five until the end
    * 2d: delete line two
    * 3,4j: merge lines 3 and 4
    * 2i: insert text to a new line before the current line 2
    * P: enable prompt
    * %l: - that's a lower-case letter after 'k' not the
      number one. Print all lines, including end-of-line
      markers (useful in dos2unix settings among others).
    
    Regular expressions (this is where it gets exciting):
    * 2s/next/another/: change the word 'next' on line
      two do 'another' (don't forget that trailing slash)
    * g/e/: find all the lines containing the letter 'e'
    * g/e/n: find all the lines containing the letter 'e'
      and then print them out with their line number next
      to them.
    * %s/e/q/: change the first instance of the letter 'e'
      to 'q' on all lines
    * %s/e/q/g: change all instances of the letter 'e' to
      'q' on all lines
    * 1,5s/e/q/3: change the third instance of the letter
      'e' to 'q' on all lines
    * %v/for/n: print out the lines that do NOT contain
      the word 'for'
    
    Other magic:
    * 1,4y: cut ('yank') lines 1 to 4
    * 5x: paste to after line 5
    * 1,3t6: Transfers lines one to three to a position
      after line 6.

Is there something special about this? I imagine you'd find equivalent content on dozens of pages by searching for "vi commands".

Poor.

No real mention of modality or ranges, only a selection of commands. To call VI commands "keyboard shortcuts" is a bit of a misnomer - they're not shortcuts, they are its interface.

I prefer the PDF format "Reference Cards" you can print and pin up next to your desk.

* http://www.digilife.be/quickreferences/QRC/Vi%20Reference%20...

* http://www.digilife.be/quickreferences/QRC/vi%20Quick%20Refe...

* http://www.digilife.be/quickreferences/QRC/VIM%20Quick%20Ref...

I am of course from the Emacs camp, so here are some emacs ref cards to complement.

* http://dept-info.labri.fr/~idurand/enseignement/Rebondir/ema...

  d	Delete text. (see explanation above)

Most of that I am pretty automatic on. But one thing that I notice when I'm coding is that I don't really know many commands to make it easier to handle everything in between two brackets or parenthesis or what have you. Sure, there is the '%' key. But are there other useful commands as far as that goes?