If you are using Vi/Vim editor to read a text file and want to move your cursor to the first character of the line i.e. at the start of the line, you can make use of the ^ (caret) symbol on your keyboard,
Example:- Open your file in vi editor - vi myFile.txt
- Now be on the line you want to move to the start of.
- Press ^ character on your keyboard (mostly should Shift + 6 key)
- You would see your cursor move at the first char of the line.
⚠️ Make sure that you are not in Insert Mode, or else you will see that the character ^ will get added to the text and this shortcut won't work, press the Esc (Escape) key to come out of Insert Mode and then try the command.
⚡️ On the Windows Operating system keyboard you can make use of the Home and End keys as well to get this behavior.
Usecase: Imagine someone is working a terminal on a file that does not have a line break (\r \n) then it would be very difficult to get to the start of the line using the right and left arrow keys!
This is not an AI-generated article but is demonstrated by a human.
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