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)
2. Press : <colon>.
   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.
3. Enter the following:
                    q!
4. Then press <Enter>.
   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)
2. Press : <colon>.
   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
3. 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
4. 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