- :help keyword - open help for keyword
- :o file - open file
- :saveas file - save file as
- :close - close current pane
- 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 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
Tip Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.
- i - insert before the cursor
- I - insert at beginning of the line
- a - insert (append) after the cursor
- A - insert (append) at 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
- r - replace a single character
- J - join line below to the current one
- cc - change (replace) entire line
- cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
- 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)
- u - undo
- Ctrl + r - redo
- . - repeat last command
- 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
- > - shift text right
- < - shift text left
- y - yank (copy) marked text
- d - delete marked text
- ~ - switch case
- :reg - show registers content
- "xy - yank into register x
- "xp - paste contents of register x
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.
Tip Register + is system clipboard.
- :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
- qa - record marcro a
- q - stop recording macro
- @a - run macro a
- @@ - rerun last run macro
- yy - yank (copy) a line
- 2yy - yank (copy) a 2 lines
- yw - yank (copy) the characters fo the word from the cursor postion 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
- :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
- /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 - repeat all old with new throughout file
- :%s/old/new/gc - repeat all old with new throughout file with confirmations
- :noh - remove highlighting of search matches
- :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
- :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)
- :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
- #gt - move to tab number #
- :tabmove # - 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 all opened tabs)