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Vim Cheatsheet

A quick reference guide for essential Vim commands and shortcuts.

Modes

  • Normal Mode: Default mode for commands
  • Insert Mode: For typing text
  • Visual Mode: For selecting text
  • Command Mode: For entering commands

Global

  • :h[elp] keyword - open help for keyword
  • :sav[eas] file - save file as
  • :clo[se] - close current pane
  • :ter[minal] - open a terminal window
  • K - open man page for word under the cursor

Cursor Movement

h - move cursor left
j - move cursor down
k - move cursor up
l - move cursor right
gj - move cursor down (multi-line text)
gk - move cursor up (multi-line text)
H - move to top of screen
M - move to middle of screen
L - move to bottom of screen

Word Movement

w - jump forwards to the start of a word
W - jump forwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
e - jump forwards to the end of a word
E - jump forwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
b - jump backwards to the start of a word
B - jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
ge - jump backwards to the end of a word
gE - jump backwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)

Line Movement

0 - jump to the start of the line
^ - jump to the first non-blank character of the line
$ - jump to the end of the line
g_ - jump to the last non-blank character of the line
gg - go to the first line of the document
G - go to the last line of the document
5gg or 5G - go to line 5

Screen Movement

zz - center cursor on screen
zt - position cursor on top of the screen
zb - position cursor on bottom of the screen
Ctrl + e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + b - move screen up one page (cursor to last line)
Ctrl + f - move screen down one page (cursor to first line)
Ctrl + d - move cursor and screen down 1/2 page
Ctrl + u - move cursor and screen up 1/2 page

Advanced Movement

% - move cursor to matching character (default supported pairs: '()', '{}', '[]')
gd - move to local declaration
gD - move to global declaration
fx - jump to next occurrence of character x
tx - jump to before next occurrence of character x
Fx - jump to the previous occurrence of character x
Tx - jump to after previous occurrence of character x
; - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
, - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backwards
} - jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
{ - jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)

Tip: Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

Insert Mode

Entering Insert Mode

i - insert before the cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
a - insert (append) after the cursor
A - insert (append) at the end of the line
o - append (open) a new line below the current line
O - append (open) a new line above the current line
ea - insert (append) at the end of the word

Insert Mode Commands

Ctrl + h - delete the character before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + w - delete word before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + j - add a line break at the cursor position during insert mode
Ctrl + t - indent (move right) line one shiftwidth during insert mode
Ctrl + d - de-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth during insert mode
Ctrl + n - insert (auto-complete) next match before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + p - insert (auto-complete) previous match before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + rx - insert the contents of register x
Ctrl + ox - Temporarily enter normal mode to issue one normal-mode command x.
Esc or Ctrl + c - exit insert mode

Editing

Basic Operations

r - replace a single character
R - replace more than one character, until ESC is pressed
J - join line below to the current one with one space in between
gJ - join line below to the current one without space in between
gwip - reflow paragraph
g~ - switch case up to motion
gu - change to lowercase up to motion
gU - change to uppercase up to motion
cc - change (replace) entire line
c$ or C - change (replace) to the end of the line
ciw - change (replace) entire word
cw or ce - change (replace) to the end of the word
s - delete character and substitute text (same as cl)
S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
u - undo
U - restore (undo) last changed line
Ctrl + r - redo
. - repeat last command

Visual Mode

Entering Visual Mode

v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V - start linewise visual mode
o - move to other end of marked area
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block

Text Objects in Visual Mode

aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
at - a block with <> tags
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
it - inner block with <> tags
Esc or Ctrl + c - exit visual mode

Tip: Instead of b or B one can also use ( or { respectively.

Visual Commands

> - shift text right
< - shift text left
y - yank (copy) marked text
d - delete marked text
~ - switch case
u - change marked text to lowercase
U - change marked text to uppercase

Registers

:reg[isters] - show registers content
"xy - yank into register x
"xp - paste contents of register x
"+y - yank into the system clipboard register
"+p - paste from the system clipboard register

Tip: Registers are being stored in ~/.viminfo, and will be loaded again on next restart of vim.

Tip: Special registers:

  • 0 - last yank
  • " - unnamed register, last delete or yank
  • % - current file name
  • # - alternate file name
  • * - clipboard contents (X11 primary)
  • + - clipboard contents (X11 clipboard)
  • / - last search pattern
  • : - last command-line
  • . - last inserted text
  • - - last small (less than a line) delete
  • = - expression register
  • _ - black hole register

Marks and Positions

:marks - list of marks
ma - set current position for mark A
`a - jump to position of mark A
y`a - yank text to position of mark A
`0 - go to the position where Vim was previously exited
`" - go to the position when last editing this file
`. - go to the position of the last change in this file
`` - go to the position before the last jump
:ju[mps] - list of jumps
Ctrl + i - go to newer position in jump list
Ctrl + o - go to older position in jump list
:changes - list of changes
g, - go to newer position in change list
g; - go to older position in change list
Ctrl + ] - jump to the tag under cursor

Tip: To jump to a mark you can either use a backtick (`) or an apostrophe (’). Using an apostrophe jumps to the beginning (first non-blank) of the line holding the mark.

Macros

qa - record macro a
q - stop recording macro
@a - run macro a
@@ - rerun last run macro

Cut and Paste

Yanking (Copying)

yy - yank (copy) a line
2yy - yank (copy) 2 lines
yw - yank (copy) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
yiw - yank (copy) word under the cursor
yaw - yank (copy) word under the cursor and the space after or before it
y$ or Y - yank (copy) to end of line

Pasting

p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P - put (paste) before cursor
gp - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor and leave cursor after the new text
gP - put (paste) before cursor and leave cursor after the new text

Deleting

dd - delete (cut) a line
2dd - delete (cut) 2 lines
dw - delete (cut) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
diw - delete (cut) word under the cursor
daw - delete (cut) word under the cursor and the space after or before it
:3,5d - delete lines starting from 3 to 5

Tip: You can also use the following characters to specify the range:

  • :.,$d - From the current line to the end of the file
  • :.,1d - From the current line to the beginning of the file
  • :10,1d - From the 10th line to the beginning of the file
:g/{pattern}/d - delete all lines containing pattern
:g!/{pattern}/d - delete all lines not containing pattern
d$ or D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
x - delete (cut) character

Indent Text

>> - indent (move right) line one shiftwidth
<< - de-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth
>% - indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
<% - de-indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
>ib - indent inner block with ()
>at - indent a block with <> tags
3== - re-indent 3 lines
=% - re-indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
=iB - re-indent inner block with {}
gg=G - re-indent entire buffer
]p - paste and adjust indent to current line

Exiting

:w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
:w !sudo tee % - write out the current file using sudo
:wq or :x or ZZ - write (save) and quit
:q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:q! or ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved changes
:wqa - write (save) and quit on all tabs

Search and Replace

/pattern - search for pattern
?pattern - search backward for pattern
\vpattern - 'very magic' pattern: non-alphanumeric characters are interpreted as special regex symbols (no escaping needed)
n - repeat search in same direction
N - repeat search in opposite direction

Replace

:%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
:%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
:noh[lsearch] - remove highlighting of search matches

Search in Multiple Files

:vim[grep] /pattern/ {`{file}`} - search for pattern in multiple files
:cn[ext] - jump to the next match
:cp[revious] - jump to the previous match
:cope[n] - open a window containing the list of matches
:ccl[ose] - close the quickfix window

Tabs

:tabnew or :tabnew {page.words.file} - open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + wT - move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabn[ext] - move to the next tab
gT or :tabp[revious] - move to the previous tab
#gt - move to tab number #
:tabm[ove] # - move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0)
:tabc[lose] - close the current tab and all its windows
:tabo[nly] - close all tabs except for the current one
:tabdo command - run the `command` on all tabs (e.g. `:tabdo q` - closes all opened tabs)

Working with Multiple Files

Buffer Management

:e[dit] file - edit a file in a new buffer
:bn[ext] - go to the next buffer
:bp[revious] - go to the previous buffer
:bd[elete] - delete a buffer (close a file)
:b[uffer]# - go to a buffer by index #
:b[uffer] file - go to a buffer by file
:ls or :buffers - list all open buffers

Window Management

:sp[lit] file - open a file in a new buffer and split window
:vs[plit] file - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
:vert[ical] ba[ll] - edit all buffers as vertical windows
:tab ba[ll] - edit all buffers as tabs
Ctrl + ws - split window
Ctrl + wv - split window vertically
Ctrl + ww - switch windows
Ctrl + wq - quit a window
Ctrl + wx - exchange current window with next one
Ctrl + w= - make all windows equal height & width
Ctrl + wh - move cursor to the left window (vertical split)
Ctrl + wl - move cursor to the right window (vertical split)
Ctrl + wj - move cursor to the window below (horizontal split)
Ctrl + wk - move cursor to the window above (horizontal split)
Ctrl + wH - make current window full height at far left (leftmost vertical window)
Ctrl + wL - make current window full height at far right (rightmost vertical window)
Ctrl + wJ - make current window full width at the very bottom (bottommost horizontal window)
Ctrl + wK - make current window full width at the very top (topmost horizontal window)

Folds

zf - manually define a fold up to motion
zd - delete fold under the cursor
za - toggle fold under the cursor
zo - open fold under the cursor
zc - close fold under the cursor
zr - reduce (open) all folds by one level
zm - fold more (close) all folds by one level
zi - toggle folding functionality
]c - jump to start of next change
[c - jump to start of previous change
do or :diffg[et] - obtain (get) difference (from other buffer)
dp or :diffpu[t] - put difference (to other buffer)
:diffthis - make current window part of diff
:dif[fupdate] - update differences
:diffo[ff] - switch off diff mode for current window

Tip: The commands for folding (e.g. za) operate on one level. To operate on all levels, use uppercase letters (e.g. zA).