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VIM SHORTCUTS

VIM KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

MOVEMENT

h        -   Move left
j        -   Move down
k        -   Move up
l        -   Move right
$        -   Move to end of line
0        -   Move to beginning of line (including whitespace)
^        -   Move to first character on line
gg       -   Move to first line of file
G        -   Move to last line of file

w        -   Move forward to next word, with cursor on first character (use W to jump by whitespace only)
b        -   Move backward to next word, with cursor on first character (use B to jump by whitespace only)
e        -   Move forward to next word, with cursor on last character (use E to jump by whitespace only)
ge       -   Move backwards to next word, with cursor on last character (use gE to jump by whitespace only)
(        -   Move to beginning of previous sentence. Use ) to go to next sentence
{        -   Move to beginning of previous paragraph. Use } to go to next paragraph
+        -   Move forward to the first character on the next line
-        -   Move backwards to the first character on the previous line

CTRL+u   -   Move up by half a page
CTRL+d   -   Move down by half a page
CTRL+b   -   Move up by a page
CTRL+f   -   Move down by a page

H        -   Move cursor to header (top) line of current visible window
M        -   Move cursor to middle line of current visible window
L        -   Move cursor to last line of current visible window

fc       -   Move cursor to next occurrence of character c on the current line. Use Fc to move backwards
tc       -   Move cursor till next character c on the current line. Use Tc to move backwards
%        -   Move cursor to next brace, bracket or comment paired to the current cursor location

*        -   Search forward for word under cursor
#        -   Search backwards for word under cursor
/word    -   Search forward for word. Accepts regular expressions to search
?word    -   Search backwards for word. Accepts regular expressions to search
n        -   Repeat the last / or ? command
N        -   Repeat the last / or ? command in the opposite direction

NORMAL MODE -> INSERT MODE

i        -   Enter insert mode to the left of the cursor
a        -   Enter insert mode to the right of the cursor
I        -   Enter insert mode at first character of current line
A        -   Enter insert mode at last character of current line

o        -   Insert line below current line and enter insert mode
O        -   Insert line above current line and enter insert mode

cm       -   Delete (change) the character or word (w) in motion m, then enter insert mode
cc       -   Delete current line and enter insert mode (unlike dd which leaves you in normal mode)
C        -   Delete (change) from cursor to end of line, and enter insert mode

DELETION

x        -   Delete character forward (under cursor). use x do delete backwards (before cursor)
r        -   Replace single character under cursor, and remain in normal mode
s        -   Delete character under cursor, then switch to insert mode

dm       -   Delete in direction of movement m. For m, you can also use w, b, or any other variation
dd       -   Delete entire current line
D        -   Delete until end of line

YANK & PUT

y        -   Yank (copy) highlighted text
yy       -   Yank current linepPut (paste) yanked text below current line
yw       -   Yank a word from the cursor
ynw      -   Yank n words from the cursor
y$       -   Yank till the end of the line
P        -   Put yanked text above current line
J        -   Join current line with the next line. Use gJ to exclude join-position space
xp       -   Transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)

VISUAL MODE

v        -   Enter visual mode and highlight characters
V        -   Enter visual mode and highlight lines
CTRL+v   -   Enter visual block mode and highlight exactly where the cursor moves
o        -   Switch cursor from first & last character of highlighted block while in visual mode
~        -   Swap case under selection
<<       -   Shift lines to left
>>       -   Shift lines to right

vat      -   Highlight all text up to and including the parent element
vit      -   Highlight all text up to the parent element, excluding the element
vac      -   Highlight all text including the pair marked with c (like va<, va' or va")
vic      -   Highlight all text inside the pair marked with c

MARKING

ma        -   Set a marker a at cursor position to come back to later. a can be any character you choose
mb        -   Set a marker b at current position
`a        -   Move cursor to exact position of the marker you set with ma
'a        -   Move cursor to the first character of the line marked with ma

d'a       -   Delete from current line to line of mark a
d`a       -   Delete from current cursor position to position of mark a
c'a       -   Change text from current line to line of mark a
y`a       -   Yank text to unnamed buffer from cursor to position of mark a

:marks 	  -   List all the current marks
:marks ab -   List marks a, b

'a,'bs/test/foo/g - Search and replace test with foo between markers a and b

VIM FOLDING

zf#j      -   creates a fold from the cursor down # lines.
zf/string -   creates a fold from the cursor to string .
v{move}zf -   creates a visual select fold
zf'a      -   creates a fold from cursor to mark a

zo        -   opens a fold at the cursor.
zO        -   opens all folds at the cursor.
za        -   Toggles a fold at the cursor.
zc        -   closes a fold at the cursor.
zM        -   closes all open folds.
zd        -   deletes the fold at the cursor.
zE        -   deletes all folds.

zj        -   moves the cursor to the next fold.
zk        -   moves the cursor to the previous fold.
zm        -   increases the foldlevel by one.
zr        -   decreases the foldlevel by one.
zR        -   decreases the foldlevel to zero -- all folds will be open.
[z        -   move to start of open fold.
]z        -   move to end of open fold.

:set foldmethod=manual         -  default method v{select block}zf to fold
:set foldmethod=marker         -  use marker fold method {{{
:set foldemethod=marker/*,*/   -  user custom marker fold method
:set foldmethod=indent         -  automatically fold programms per its indentation

MISCELLANEOUS

u        -   Undo
U        -   Undo all changes on current line
CTRL+R   -   Redo
.        -   Redo

g~       -   switch case under cursor
g~$      -   Toggle case of all characters to end of line.
g~~      -   Toggle case of the current line (same as V~).
gUU      -   switch the current line to upper case
guu      -   switch the current line to lower case

CTRL+A   -   Increment the number at cursor
CTRL+X   -   Decrement the number at cursor

.        -   Repeat last change or delete
;        -   Repeat last f, t, F, or T command
,        -   Repeat last f, t, F, or T command in opposite direction

vim +10 <file_name>            - opens the file at line 10
vim +/bash cronjob-lab.yml     - opens the file cronjob-lab.yml on the first occurence of bash

vim scp://balasundaramm@mgmt-bst:22/~/automation/test-file.txt - Edit a remote file via scp

HISTORY/COMMAND BUFFER

q:              -   list history in command buffer
q/              -   search history in command buffer
CTRL+c CTRL+c   -   close the command buffer

:set list       -   show hidden characters

gg=G            -   Format HTML. Make sure FileType is set to html with :setf html
CTRL+n          -   Press after typing part of a word. It scrolls down the list of all previously used words
CTRL+p          -   Press after typing part of a word. It scrolls up the list of all previously used words

BUFFERS

:ls (or :buffers)   -   list / show available buffers
:e filename         -   Edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext (or :bn)     -   go to next buffer
:bprev (of :bp)     -   go to previous buffer
:bdelete (or :bd)   -   unload a buffer (close a file)
:bwipeout (or :bw)  -   unload a buffer and deletes it
:b [N]              -   The number of the buffer you are interested to open
:ball               -   opens up all available buffers in horizontal split window
:vertical ball      -   opens up all available buffero in vertical split window
:q                  -   close the buffer window
:help buffers       -   help for buffers
:r <file_path>      -   reads a file from the path to the buffer
:r !<command>       -   reads the output of the command into buffer
:.! cat <file_path> -   reads the output of the command (eg: cat) into buffer or !! in ex-mode

TAB VIEWS

:tabe filename      -   opens the file in newtab
:tabe new           -   open an empty tab
:tabs               -   list opened tabs
:tabc               -   close the active tab
:tabn and tabp      -   Go to next tab or previous tab
:tabfirst           -   Go to the first available tab
:tablast            -   Go to the last available tab
:help tabpage       -   help for tabs

vim -p *.txt        -   open all txt files in tabs

TAB NAVIGATION

gt                  -   go to next tab
gT                  -   go to previous tab
{i}gt               -   go to tab in position i

TAB SHORTCUTS

CTRL+W T            -   Break out current window into a new tabview
CTRL+W o            -   Close every window in the current tabview but the current one
CTRL+W n            -   create a new window in the current tabview
CTRL+W c            -   Close current window in the current tabview

WINDOW MANAGEMENT

#split screen horizontal
:split filename
vim -o file1 file2

#split screen vertical
:vs filename
or
:vsplit filename
vim -O file1 file2

#close current window
:hide

#Horizontal resize in active window
:resize 20

#vertical resize
:vertical resize 20

#diff
:windo diffthis -  diff between 2 vsplit windows
:diffs, diffsplit {filename} - diffs the current window with the file given
:diffoff  - turns off diff selection


CTRL+w s       -   Split current window horizontally
CTRL+w v       -   Split current window vertically
CTRL+w c       -   Close current window
CTRL+w m       -   Move to window according to motion m
CTRL+w o       -   Maxmize current window (note: this overwrites your current window configuration)

# EX Mode
:Vex           - Open Vertical Split in ex mode with file browser
:Sex           - Open Vertical Split in ex mode with file browser

MOVING WINDOWS

CTRL+W r       -   Swap bottom/top if split horizontally
CTRL+W R       -   Swap top/bottom if split horizontally

CTRL+w r       -   Rotates the windows from left to right - only if the windows are split vertically
CTRL+w R       -   Rotates the windows from right to left - only if the windows are split vertically

CTRL+w H       -   Move current window the far left and use the full height of the screen
CTRL+w J       -   Move current window the far bottom and use the full width of the screen
CTRL+w K       -   Move current window the far top and full width of the screen
CTRL+w L       -   Move current window the far right and full height of the screen

NAVIGATE BETWEEN WINDOWS

CTRL+w CTRL+w  -   switch between windows
CTRL+w UP      -   Move to the top window from current window
CTRL+w DOWN    -   Move to the bottom window from current window
CTRL+w LEFT    -   Move to the left window from current window
CTRL+w RIGHT   -   Move to the right window from current window

RESIZING WINDOWS

#Sometimes windows open up funny or are rendered incorrectly after separating from an external monitor. Or maybe you want to make more room for an important file.

CTRL+w _       -   Max out the height of the current split
CTRL+w |       -   Max out the width of the current split
CTRL+w =       -   Normalize all split sizes, which is very handy when resizing terminal

CTRL+w >       -   Incrementally increase the window to the right. Takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 20 >
CTRL+w <       -   Incrementally increase the window to the left. Takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 20 <
CTRL+w -       -   Incrementally decrease the window's height. Takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 10 -
CTRL+w +       -   Incrementally increase the window's height. Takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 10 +

COMMENT LINES (TCOMMENT PLUGIN)

CTRL+_ CTRL+_   -   Comment a line using tcomment
CTRL+V          -   #{Select the block before commenting a block,
CTRL+_ CTRL+_   -   Comment a block of line using tcomment}

MODELINE MAGIC

:set modeline  -    Enable modeline magic or add this option to your .vimrc
\ml            -    write the modeline based on your settings to the file

NERDTree Plugin

CTRL-n              -   Toggle

m                   -   opens the  menu
?                   -   help
i                   -   horizontal split
s                   -   vertical split
CTRL-w + <-|->      -  (left or right) to navigate

PERMISSION OVERRIDE

:w !sudo tee %            -    Allows to override the permission of the written file
:w !sudo sh -c "cat > %"  -             "                            "

More details: https://www.cs.oberlin.edu/~kuperman/help/vim/markers.html

Good Tutorial: http://danielmiessler.com/study/vim/

@cberez
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cberez commented Jul 31, 2020

Hey, in DELETION group, it's X to go backward:

x        -   Delete character forward (under cursor). use -->x<-- do delete backwards (before cursor)

And in YANK & PUT it might be worth adding p to put after current line

Nice cheatsheet otherwise ;)

@sgoranson
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The web is strangely devoid of a complete vim keybind list. I think yours is the best as of 4/2023.

But I still had to RTFM for CTRL-t 😥

@Beinmann
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Beinmann commented Dec 27, 2023

Really great list. There are so many combinations and single keys I didn't know.

Something I didn't see in the list are "a" and "i" as motions for around and inside. Like when you do "diw" to delete everything in the current word or "yap" to yank everything in the current paragraph and the empty lines around it.

edit: now that I look at it again it seems this list doesn't contain motions and is just for keyboard shortcuts

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