vim movements

vim-movements.vim

Cursor movement

h - move left
j - move down
k - move up
l - move right
w - jump by start of words (punctuation considered words)
W - jump by words (spaces separate words)
e - jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)
E - jump to end of words (no punctuation)
b - jump backward by words (punctuation considered words)
B - jump backward by words (no punctuation)
0 - (zero) start of line
^ - first non-blank character of line
$ - end of line
G - Go To command (prefix with number - 5G goes to line 5)
Note: Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

Insert Mode - Inserting/Appending text

i - start insert mode at cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
a - append after the cursor
A - append at the end of the line
o - open (append) blank line below current line (no need to press return)
O - open blank line above current line
ea - append at end of word
Esc - exit insert mode
Editing

r - replace a single character (does not use insert mode)
J - join line below to the current one
cc - change (replace) an entire line
cw - change (replace) to the end of word
c$ - change (replace) to the end of line
s - delete character at cursor and subsitute text
S - delete line at cursor and substitute text (same as cc)
xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)
u - undo
. - repeat last command
Marking text (visual mode)

v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as 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 braces)
aB - a {} block (with brackets)
ib - inner () block
iB - inner {} block
Esc - exit visual mode
Visual commands

> - shift right
< - shift left
y - yank (copy) marked text
d - delete marked text
~ - switch case
Cut and Paste

yy - yank (copy) a line
2yy - yank 2 lines
yw - yank word
y$ - yank to end of line
p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P - put (paste) before cursor
dd - delete (cut) a line
dw - delete (cut) the current word
x - delete (cut) current character
Exiting

:w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
:wq - write (save) and quit
:q - quit (fails if anything has changed)
:q! - quit and throw away changes
Search/Replace

/pattern - search for pattern
?pattern - search backward for pattern
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
Working with multiple files

:e filename - Edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext (or :bn) - go to next buffer
:bprev (of :bp) - go to previous buffer
:bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
:sp filename - Open a file in a new buffer and split window
ctrl+ws - Split windows
ctrl+ww - switch between windows
ctrl+wq - Quit a window
ctrl+wv - Split windows vertically
Another good vim commands cheatsheet and a vi introduction using the "cheat sheet" method





e 
Move to the end of a word.
w 
Move forward to the beginning of a word.
3w 
Move forward three words.
W 
Move forward a WORD (any non-whitespace characters).
b 
Move backward to the beginning of a word.
3b 
Move backward three words.
$ 
Move to the end of the line.
0 
Move to the beginning of the line.
^ 
Move to the first non-blank character of the line.
) 
Jump forward one sentence.
( 
Jump backward one sentence.
} 
Jump forward one paragraph.
{ 
Jump backward one paragraph.:
j

Jump forward one line.
k 
Jump backward one line.
H 
Jump to the top of the screen.
M 
Jump to the middle of the screen.
L 
Jump to the bottom of the screen.
10<PageUp> or 10<CTRL-B>
Move 10 pages up.
5<PageDown> or 5<CTRL-F>
Move 5 pages down.
G 
Jump to end of file.
1G 
Jump to beginning of file (same as gg).
50G 
Jump to line 50.
mx 
Set mark x at the current cursor position.
'x 
Jump to the beginning of the line of mark x.
`x 
Jump to the cursor position of mark x.
''
Return to the line where the cursor was before the latest jump.
(Two single quotes.)
``
Return to the cursor position before the latest jump (undo the jump).
(Two back ticks. This is above the Tab key on some keyboards.)
'. 
Jump to the last-changed line.
 % 
Jump to corresponding item, e.g. from an open brace to its matching closing brace. See Moving to matching braces for more.