vim commands

3 minute read

Cursor movement

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

    h - move left
    j - move down
    k - move up
    l - move right
    w - jump by start of words (punctuation considered words)
    W - jump by words (spaces separate words)
    e - jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)
    E - jump to end of words (no punctuation)
    b - jump backward by words (punctuation considered words)
    B - jump backward by words (no punctuation)
    0 - (zero) start of line
    ^ - first non-blank character of line
    $ - end of line
    G - Go To command (prefix with number - 5G goes to line 5)
Note: Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.
Insert Mode - Inserting/Appending text
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

    i - start insert mode at cursor
    I - insert at the beginning of the line
    a - append after the cursor
    A - append at the end of the line
    o - open (append) blank line below current line (no need to press return)
    O - open blank line above current line
    ea - append at end of word
    Esc - exit insert mode
Editing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

    r - replace a single character (does not use insert mode)
    J - join line below to the current one
    cc - change (replace) an entire line
    cw - change (replace) to the end of word
    c$ - change (replace) to the end of line
    s - delete character at cursor and subsitute text
    S - delete line at cursor and substitute text (same as cc)
    xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)
    u - undo
    . - repeat last command
Marking text (visual mode)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

    v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as 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
    aw - mark a word
    ab - a () block (with braces)
    aB - a {} block (with brackets)
    ib - inner () block
    iB - inner {} block
    Esc - exit visual mode
Visual commands
1
2
3
4
5

    > - shift right
    < - shift left
    y - yank (copy) marked text
    d - delete marked text
    ~ - switch case
Cut and Paste
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

    yy - yank (copy) a line
    2yy - yank 2 lines
    yw - yank word
    y$ - yank to end of line
    p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
    P - put (paste) before cursor
    dd - delete (cut) a line
    dw - delete (cut) the current word
    x - delete (cut) current character
Exiting
1
2
3
4

    :w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
    :wq - write (save) and quit
    :q - quit (fails if anything has changed)
    :q! - quit and throw away changes
Search/Replace
1
2
3
4
5
6

    /pattern - search for pattern
    ?pattern - search backward for pattern
    n - repeat search in same direction
    N - repeat search in opposite direction
    :%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
    :%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
Working with multiple files
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

    :e filename - Edit a file in a new buffer
    :bnext (or :bn) - go to next buffer
    :bprev (of :bp) - go to previous buffer
    :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
    :sp filename - Open a file in a new buffer and split window
    ctrl+ws - Split windows
    ctrl+ww - switch between windows
    ctrl+wq - Quit a window
    ctrl+wv - Split windows vertically

You may also enjoy