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Vim- Key combinations and Usage

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Global

  • :help keyword - open help for keyword
  • :saveas file - save file as
  • :close- close current pane
  • 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
  • H - move to top of screen
  • M - move to middle of screen
  • L - move to bottom of screen
  • 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)
  • % - move to matching character (default supported pairs: '()', '', '[]' - use :h matchpairs in vim for more info)
  • 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
  • 5G - go to line 5
  • fx - jump to next occurrence of character
  • tx - jump to before next occurrence of character
  • Fx - jump to previous occurence of character
  • Tx - jump to after previous occurence of character
  • ; - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
  • , - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backwards
  • zz - center cursor on screen
  • Ctrl + e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
  • Ctrl + y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
  • Ctrl + b - move back one full screen
  • Ctrl + f - move forward one full screen
  • Ctrl + d - move forward 1/2 a screen
  • Ctrl + u - move back 1/2 a screen

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

Insert mode - inserting/appending text

  • 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
  • Esc - exit insert mode

Editing

  • r - replace a single character
  • 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
  • cc - change (replace) entire line
  • C - change (replace) to the end of the line
  • c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
  • ciw - change (replace) entire word
  • cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
  • s - delete character and substitute text
  • S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
  • xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
  • u - undo
  • Ctrl + r - redo
  • . - repeat last command

Marking text (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
  • aw - mark a word
  • ab - a block with ()
  • aB - a block with
  • ib - inner block with ()
  • iB - inner block with
  • Esc - exit visual mode

Visual commands

  • > - shift text right
  • y - yank (copy) marked text
  • d - delete marked text
  • ~ - switch case

Registers

  • :reg - show registers content
  • "xy - yank into register
  • "xp - paste contents of register

Tip: Registers are being stored in ~/.viminfo, and will be loaded again on next restart of vim. Tip Register 0 contains always the value of the last yank command.

Marks

  • :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

Macros

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

Cut and paste

  • 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
  • y$ - yank (copy) to end of line
  • p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
  • P - put (paste) before cursor
  • 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
  • D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
  • d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line
  • x - delete (cut) character

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
  • :%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 - remove highlighting of search matches

Search in multiple files

  • :vimgrep /pattern/ {file} - search for pattern in multiple files

    e.g. : vimgrep /foo/ */

  • :cn - jump to the next match

  • :cp - jump to the previous match

  • :copen - open a window containing the list of matches

Working with multiple files

  • :e file - edit a file in a new buffer
  • :bnext or :bn - go to the next buffer
  • :bprev or :bp - go to the previous buffer
  • :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
  • :ls - list all open buffers
  • :sp file - open a file in a new buffer and split window
  • :vsp file - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
  • Ctrl + ws - split window
  • Ctrl + ww - switch windows
  • Ctrl + wq - quit a window
  • Ctrl + wv - split window vertically
  • 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)