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Commands and actions are extended with modifiers and repeated using counts
<action><modifier>
<count><modifier>
Modifiers can be combined with counts to duplicate the modified action
<action><count><modifier>
Example: Delete three words (d delete action, 3 count, w word modifier)
d3w
Example: Move forward three words (3 count, w word modifier)
3w
Move cursor Up / Down, Left / Right
j = Up
k = Down
h = Left
l = Right
h (Left) j (Up) k (Down) l (Right)
Move by a number of lines or characters (eg. up 4 lines)
<count>j
4j
Move cursor to top / middle / bottom (High / Middle / Bottom) of page
H
M
L
Go to start of file
gg
Go to end of file
G
Page down / up (f = forward, b = back) and half page (d = down, u = up)
CTRL + f
CTRL + b
CTRL + d
CTRL + u
Go to line number
<line> SHIFT + G
<line> gg
:<line> ENTER
Move to start, start (whitespace) and end of line
^
0
$
Move by word boundary to start of word forward / backward (delimiter / whole word)
w
W
b
B
Move by word boundary to end of word (delimiter / whole word)
e
E
Insert text under / after the cursor
i
a
Insert text at the beginning / end of the current line
I
A
Insert a line above / below and insert text
o
O
Insert text at the end of the word
ea
Repeat the last action or edit
.
Join line below to the current one
J
Transpose two letters (performs forward delete/cut then paste)
xp
Complete current partial word based on existing word list (cycle through next / previous entries)
CTRL + N
CTRL + P
Delete text in front / behind cursor
x
X
Delete current line (also cuts text to clipboard)
dd
Delete to beginning / end of current word or start of next word
db
de
dw
Delete to start / end of line
d^
d$
Apply modifier to delete command (eg. Delete three words)
d<modifier><command>
d3w
Change entire line (combines delete and insert)
cc
Change a word to beginning / end or start of next work
cb
ce
cw
Delete to start / end of line
c^
c$
Change from the cursor to the end of the line
C
Delete character / line at cursor and substitute text
s
S
Replace a single character (without triggering insert mode)
r<character>
Replace multiple characters in replace mode
R<type>
Search forward / backwards for text
/<search-string>
?<search-string>
Next / previous search result
n
N
Next / previous word under cursor
*
#
Replace all instances of string old with string new in current file
:%s/old/new/g
Replace all instances with per item confirmation
:%s/old/new/gc
Cut current line
dd
Copy the current line
yy
Copy to beginning / end of current word or start of next word
ye
yw
yb
Copy to start / end of line
y^
y$
Paste buffer after / before cursor
p
P
Paste multiple instances of the copied text
<num>p
5p
Visual selection mode by character / line (to apply commands to)
v
V
Exit visual selection mode
ESC
Move visual marker to opposite end of selection
o
Visual section with block select
CTRL + v
Cut text visually marked
d
Copy text visually marked (yank)
y
Replace selected text
c
Undo edits and changes
u
Redo edits and changes
CTRL+R
Revert last change to original state
U
Save file
:w
Quit vim (normal, without saving / no prompt)
:q
:q!
Write and quit
:wq
Edit a file in a new view/buffer (Tab key to display filenames in current directory)
:e <file-name>
Go to next file (buffer next)
:bnext
:bn
Go to previous file (buffer previous)
:bprev
:bp
Remove file from editor view/buffer (buffer delete)
:bd
Open file in a new split view of the current window
:sp <file-name>
Enable / disable line numbers
:set number
:set nu
:set nonumber
:set number!
:set nonu
:set nu!
Set editor to paste mode (to retain pasted formatting)
:set paste
Set highlight search results or disable highligh
:set hlsearch
:set nohlsearch
Split window horizontally
ctrl + ws
Split window vertically
ctrl + wv
Switch between windows
ctrl + ww
Quit active window
ctrl + wq