Numeric arguments may prefix any operator; the command is repeated the given number of times or until it fails. Numeric arguments prefixing an operand execute the operand the given number of times, effectively just moving the cursor. (Some versions of vi, such as that provided with AIX 5L, don't respond properly to numeric prefixes in front of some operands such as the / string search operand.)

In the following commands, file may be either a filename, or a shell command if prefixed with <b>!</b>. Filenames are globbed by the shell before <b>vi</b> uses them (shell wildcards are processed before the filenames are used). Address ranges may be used immediately after the colon in the commands below. Example address ranges are: