How to exit (quit) Linux vi editor with or without saving changes Step-by-Step

Incredibly simple; if you know how….

First how to launch vim

From the command prompt:

change to path where file is located with “cd”

vi filename

This will edit filename starting at line 1.

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**To exit without saving changes made:**

1. Press <**Escape>**.

(You must be in insert or append mode if not, just start typing on a blank line to enter that mode)

1. Press **:** .

The cursor should reappear at the lower left corner of the screen beside a colon prompt. The colon indicates that what follows is a Vim command.

1. Enter the following:

                 q!

1. Then press .

This will quit the editor, and abandon all changes you have made; all changes to the document will be lost.

**To exit with saving changes made:**

1. Press <**Escape>**.

(You must be in insert or append mode if not, just start typing on a blank line to enter that mode)

1. Press **:** .

The cursor should reappear at the lower left corner of the screen beside a colon prompt. The colon indicates that what follows is a Vim command

1. Enter the following:

                 wq

Type “wq” , the “w” indicates that the file should be written, or saved which will overwrite existing file and the “q” indicates that vim should quit, or exit

1. Then press <Enter>.

This will quit the editor, and write all changes you have made; all changes to the document will be saved.

After exiting you can display the contents of the file with

cat filename