LFCA Question #21: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

The correct answer is A: :q!. The vi/vim editor uses specific commands to perform actions like exiting, saving, or quitting without saving. To exit the editor without saving any changes, the correct command is :q!.

Submitted by fatima_kr· May 4, 2026Linux Fundamentals

Question

When using vi or vim to edit a file, how do you exit without saving?

Options

A:q!
BZZ
C:wq!
D:exit

Explanation

The vi/vim editor uses specific commands to perform actions like exiting, saving, or quitting without saving. To exit the editor without saving any changes, the correct command is :q!.

Common mistakes.

B. The ZZ command is used to save the file and then quit the vi/vim editor.
C. The :wq! command is used to write (save) the file and then quit the vi/vim editor, forcing the write if the file is read-only.
D. The :exit command is not a standard vi/vim command for quitting; it might be recognized as an alias in some shell environments but not directly within vi/vim for this purpose.

Concept tested. vi/vim editor commands

Reference. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/reference-group-commands-bash-quick-reference#file-management-commands

Topics

#vi/vim#Text Editing#Command Mode#File Operations

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