Escape key Gets out of the current mode into the “command mode”. All keys are bound of commands.
- i “Insert mode” for inserting text. Keys behave as expected.
- : “Last-line mode” where Vim expects you to enter a command such as to save the document.
- h moves the cursor one character to the left.
- j or Ctrl + J moves the cursor down one line.
- k or Ctrl + P moves the cursor up one line.
- l moves the cursor one character to the right.
- 0 moves the cursor to the beginning of the line.
- $ moves the cursor to the end of the line.
- ^ moves the cursor to the first non-empty character of the line
- w move forward one word (next alphanumeric word)
- W move forward one word (delimited by a white space)
- 5w move forward five words
- b move backward one word (previous alphanumeric word)
- B move backward one word (delimited by a white space)
- 5b move backward five words
- G move to the end of the file
- gg move to the beginning of the file.
- ( jumps to the previous sentence
- ) jumps to the next sentence
- { jumps to the previous paragraph
- } jumps to the next paragraph
- [[ jumps to the previous section
- ]] jumps to the next section
- [] jump to the end of the previous section
- ][ jump to the end of the next section
- a Insert text after the cursor
- A Insert text at the end of the line
- i Insert text before the cursor
- o Begin a new line below the cursor
- O Begin a new line above the cursor
- :r [filename] Insert the file [filename] below the cursor
- :r ![command] Execute [command] and insert its output below the cursor
- x delete character at cursor
- dw delete a word.
- d0 delete to the beginning of a line.
- d$ delete to the end of a line.
- d) delete to the end of sentence.
- dgg delete to the beginning of the file.
- dG delete to the end of the file.
- dd delete line
- 3dd delete three lines
- r{text} Replace the character under the cursor with {text}
- R Replace characters instead of inserting them
- yy copy current line into storage buffer
- ["x]yy Copy the current lines into register x
- p paste storage buffer after current line
- P paste storage buffer before current line
- ["x]p paste from register x after current line
- ["x]P paste from register x before current line
- u undo the last operation.
- Ctrl+r redo the last undo.
-
/search_text search document for search_text going forward
-
?search_text search document for search_text going backward
-
n move to the next instance of the result from the search
-
N move to the previous instance of the result
-
:%s/original/replacement Search for the first occurrence of the string“original” and replace it with “replacement”
-
:%s/original/replacement/g Search and replace all occurrences of the string “original” with “replacement”
-
:%s/original/replacement/gc Search for all occurrences of the string “original” but ask for confirmation before replacing them with “replacement”
- m {a-z A-Z} Set bookmark {a-z A-Z} at the current cursor position :marks List all bookmarks `{a-z A-Z} Jumps to the bookmark {a-z A-Z}
- v Enter visual mode per character
- V Enter visual mode per line
- Esc Exit visual mode
- ~ Switch case
- d delete a word.
- c change
- y yank
-
shift right
- < shift left
- ! filter through an external command
- :q Quits Vim but fails when file has been changed
- :w Save the file
- :w new_name Save the file with the new_name filename
- :wq Save the file and quit Vim.
- :q! Quit Vim without saving the changes to the file.
- ZZ Write file, if modified, and quit Vim
- ZQ Same as :q! Quits Vim without writing changes
First, bring up NERDTree and navigate to the directory where you want to create the new file. Press m to bring up the NERDTree Filesystem Menu. This menu allows you to create, rename, and delete files and directories. Type a to add a child node and then simply enter the filename. You’re done! To create a directory follow the same steps but append a / to the filename.