Here are some keystrokes that are helpful for basic editing:
^D deletes the character to the right of the cursor.
^K deletes the current line.
^U undeletes whatever was just deleted using ^K
Using ^K and ^U together, you can cut-and-paste or
copy-and-paste. To copy-and-paste a line, remove it using
^K then (a) put it back with ^U, and (b) move to the
location where you want to paste it and do ^U again. To
cut-and-paste, just skip (a). The text inserted by ^U is
the cumulated result of the previous consecutive ^Ks, so you
can copy or move several lines by doing repeated ^Ks
followed by a single ^U in each location where to want to
insert the text. Alternatively, you can select (highlight) the text
you want to cut or copy: first press ^6 at the beginning of
the text you want to highlight, then move the cursor to the end of the
block, then do the ^K.
Another useful editing keystroke is ^J or ``Justify''. This
command adjusts the line-lengths in the current paragraph to give a
more even appearance. (It does not ``justify'' in the sense of
creating a flush right margin, which would not be desirable in a plain
text file.)
^W (for ``Where?'') is the search command; and ^T
calls for a spell-check. Note that ^T performs a different
action immediately after ^R--see
Opening and saving