cheatsheet.md

Vim Cheatsheet

Disclaimer: This cheatsheet is summarized from personal experience and other online tutorials. It should not be considered as an official advice.

Global

command	function
:help keyword	open help for keyword
:o file	open file
:saveas file	save file as
:close	close current panel

Cursor movement

command	function
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
fx	jump to next occurrence of character x
tx	jump to before next occurrence of character x
}	jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
{	jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
zz	center cursor on screen
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

Insert mode - inserting/appending text

command	function
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

command	function
r	replace a single character
J	join line below to the current one
cc	change (replace) entire line
cw	change (replace) to the start of the next word
ce	change (replace) to the end of the next word
cb	change (replace) to the start of the previous word
c0	change (replace) to the start of the line
c$	change (replace) to the end of the line
s	delete character and substitute text
S	delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
xp	transpose two letters (delete and paste)
.	repeat last command
u	undo
Ctrl + r	redo

Marking text (visual mode)

command	function
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
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
Ctrl + v	start visual block mode

Visual commands

command	function
>	shift text right
<	shift text left
y	yank (copy) marked text
d	delete marked text
~	switch case

Cut and paste

command	function
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
d^	delete (cut) to the first non-blank character of the line
d0	delete (cut) to the begining of the line
x	delete (cut) character

Search and replace

command	function
/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

Exiting

command	function
: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

Working with multiple files

command	function
: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)

Tabs

command	function
:tabnew or :tabnew file	open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + wT	move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabnext or :tabn	move to the next tab
gT or :tabprev or :tabp	move to the previous tab
<number>gt	move to tab
:tabmove <number>	move current tab to the th position (indexed from 0)
:tabclose or :tabc	close the current tab and all its windows
:tabonly or :tabo	close all tabs except for the current one
:tabdo command	run the command on all tabs (e.g. :tabdo q - closes

Marks and Positions

command	function
:marks	list of marks
ma	set current position for mark a
`a	jump to position of mark a