vim-cheet-sheet

Vim Cheat Sheet
Global

    :help keyword - open help for keyword
    :saveas file - save file as
    :close - close current pane
    K - open man page for word under the cursor

Cursor movement

    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
    Fx - jump to previous occurence of character x
    Tx - jump to after previous occurence of character x
    ; - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
    , - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backwards
    } - 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 + e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
    Ctrl + y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
    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.
Insert mode - inserting/appending text

    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

    r - replace a single character
    J - join line below to the current one with one space in between
    gJ - join line below to the current one without space in between
    gwip - reflow paragraph
    cc - change (replace) entire line
    c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
    ciw - change (replace) entire word
    cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
    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

Marking text (visual mode)

    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

Visual commands

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

Registers

    :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.
Marks

    :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

Macros

    qa - record macro a
    q - stop recording macro
    @a - run macro a
    @@ - rerun last run macro

Cut and paste

    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
    x - delete (cut) character

Exiting

    :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
    :wqa - write (save) and quit on all tabs

Search and replace

    /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

Search in multiple files

    :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

Working with multiple files

    :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

    :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)