Vim Cheatsheet#

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)
• 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 (replace 5 with any line number)
• f<x> – jump to next occurrence of character <x>
• t<x> – jump to before next occurrence of character <x>
• } – jump to next paragraph (or function/block in code)
• { – jump to previous paragraph (or function/block in code)
• zz – center cursor on screen
• Ctrl+b – move back one full screen
• Ctrl+f – move forward one full screen
• Ctrl+d – move forward half a screen
• Ctrl+u – move back half a screen

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

Tip: Instead of b or B you can also use ( or { respectively to jump between words.

Insert Mode – inserting/appending text#

• i – insert before the cursor
• I – insert at 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
• Ctrl+h – delete the character before the cursor during insert mode
• Ctrl+w – delete the word before the cursor during insert mode
• Ctrl+j – begin new line during insert mode
• Ctrl+t – indent (move right) one shiftwidth during insert mode
• Ctrl+d – de-indent (move left) one shiftwidth during insert mode
• Ctrl+n – insert (auto-complete) next match before the cursor
• Ctrl+p – insert (auto-complete) previous match before the cursor
• Ctrl+rx – insert the contents of register x
• Ctrl+ox – temporarily enter normal mode to issue one normal-mode command x
• Esc – exit insert mode

Editing#

• r – replace a single character
• R – replace more than one character until Esc is pressed
• J – join the line below to the current one with a space
• gJ – join the line below without a space
• gwip – reflow (format) paragraph
• g~ + motion – switch case up to motion
• gu + motion – change to lowercase up to motion
• gU + motion – 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 start insert (substitute)
• S – delete line and start insert (same as cc)
• xp – transpose two letters (delete then paste)
• u – undo
• U – restore (undo) last change on line
• Ctrl+r – redo
• . – repeat last command

Visual Mode (marking text)#

• v – start visual mode (character-wise)
• 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 – mark a block with ()
• aB – mark a block with {}
• at – mark a block with <> tags
• ib – inner block with ()
• iB – inner block with {}
• it – inner block with <> tags
• Esc – exit visual mode

Registers#

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

Tip: Registers are stored in ~/.viminfo and reloaded next time vim starts.

Marks and Positions#

• :marks – list of marks
• ma – set mark a at current position
• `a – jump to position of mark a
• y\'a – yank text to position of mark a
• `0 – go to position where Vim was previously exited
• `" – go to position when last editing this file
• `.` – go to position of last edit in this file
• “ – go to 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 tag under cursor

Tip: To jump to a mark use a backtick (') or an apostrophe ('). Apostrophe jumps to the first non-blank of the line holding the mark.

Macros#

• qa – record macro into register a
• q – stop recording
• @a – run macro a
• @@ – rerun last executed macro

Cut and Paste#

• yy – yank (copy) a line
• 2y – yank two lines
• yw – yank to start of next word
• yiw – yank inner word
• yaw – yank word and surrounding space
• y$ or Y – yank to end of line
• p – put (paste) after cursor
• P – put before cursor
• gp – put after cursor and leave cursor after text
• gP – put before cursor and leave cursor after text
• dd – delete (cut) a line
• 2dd – delete two lines
• diw – delete inner word
• daw – delete word and surrounding space
• d$ or D – delete to end of line
• x – delete character

Indent Text#

• >> – indent line one shiftwidth right
• << – de-indent line one shiftwidth left
• >% – indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
• >ib – indent inner block with ()
• >at – indent a block with <> tags
• 3== – re-indent three lines
• =% – re-indent a block with () or {}
• =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 without exiting
• :w !sudo tee % – save file with sudo
• :wq, :x or ZZ – write and quit
• :q – quit (fails if unsaved changes)
• :q! or ZQ – quit without saving
• :wqa – write and quit all tabs

Search and Replace#

• /pattern – search forward
• ?pattern – search backward
• \vpattern – very magic pattern (regex shorthand)
• n – repeat search in same direction
• N – repeat search in opposite direction
• :%s/old/new/g – replace all occurrences in file
• :%s/old/new/gc – replace with confirmation
• :nohlsearch – clear search highlighting

Folding and Diff#

• za – toggle fold under cursor
• zo – open fold under cursor
• zc – close fold under cursor
• zr – reduce (open) all folds one level
• zm – fold more (close) all folds one level
• zi – toggle folding functionality
• ]c – go to start of next change
• [c – go to start of previous change

Tip: Folding commands operate on one level; use uppercase (e.g. zA) to affect all levels.