Vim Cheat Sheet

Global

Command	Description
:h[elp] keyword	Open help for keyword
:sav[eas] file	Save file as
:clo[se]	Close current pane
:ter[minal]	Open a terminal window
K	Open man page for word under cursor

Run vimtutor in a terminal to learn the first Vim commands.

Cursor movement

Basic movement

Command	Description
h	Move cursor left
j	Move cursor down
k	Move cursor up
l	Move cursor right
gj	Move down (multi-line text)
gk	Move up (multi-line text)

Screen positioning

Command	Description
H	Move to top of screen
M	Move to middle of screen
L	Move to bottom of screen
zz	Center cursor on screen
zt	Position cursor on top of screen
zb	Position cursor on bottom of screen
Ctrl+e	Scroll down one line (cursor stays)
Ctrl+y	Scroll up one line (cursor stays)
Ctrl+b	Move screen up one page
Ctrl+f	Move screen down one page
Ctrl+d	Move cursor and screen down half a page
Ctrl+u	Move cursor and screen up half a page

Word movement

Command	Description
w	Jump to start of next word
W	Jump to start of next word (WORD, punctuation-inclusive)
e	Jump to end of word
E	Jump to end of WORD
b	Jump backwards to start of word
B	Jump backwards to start of WORD
ge	Jump backwards to end of word
gE	Jump backwards to end of WORD

Line & document movement

Command	Description
0	Jump to start of line
^	Jump to first non-blank character of line
$	Jump to end of line
g_	Jump to last non-blank character of line
gg	Go to first line of document
G	Go to last line of document
5gg / 5G	Go to line 5
}	Jump to next paragraph / block
{	Jump to previous paragraph / block
%	Move to matching bracket
gd	Move to local declaration
gD	Move to global declaration

Character search

Command	Description
fx	Jump to next occurrence of character x
tx	Jump to before next occurrence of x
Fx	Jump to previous occurrence of x
Tx	Jump to after previous occurrence of x
;	Repeat previous f/t/F/T movement
,	Repeat previous f/t/F/T movement, backwards

Prefix a movement with a number to repeat it — 4j moves down 4 lines.

Insert mode

Command	Description
i	Insert before cursor
I	Insert at beginning of line
a	Insert (append) after cursor
A	Insert (append) at end of line
o	Open a new line below
O	Open a new line above
ea	Insert at end of word
Ctrl+h	Delete character before cursor
Ctrl+w	Delete word before cursor
Ctrl+j	Add a line break at cursor
Ctrl+t	Indent line one shiftwidth
Ctrl+d	De-indent line one shiftwidth
Ctrl+n	Insert next autocomplete match
Ctrl+p	Insert previous autocomplete match
Ctrl+r x	Insert contents of register x
Ctrl+o x	Temporarily enter normal mode for one command
Esc	Exit insert mode

Editing

Command	Description
r	Replace a single character
R	Replace until Esc is pressed
J	Join line below with a space
gJ	Join line below without a space
gwip	Reflow paragraph
cc	Change entire line
c$ / C	Change to end of line
ciw	Change entire word
cw / ce	Change to end of word
s	Delete character and substitute text
S	Delete line and substitute text
xp	Transpose two letters
u	Undo
U	Restore last changed line
Ctrl+r	Redo
.	Repeat last command

Case changing

Command	Description
g~	Switch case up to motion
gu	Lowercase up to motion
gU	Uppercase up to motion

Visual mode

Command	Description
v	Start visual mode
V	Start linewise visual mode
Ctrl+v	Start visual block mode
o	Move to other end of marked area
O	Move to other corner of block
aw	Mark a word
ab	A block with ()
aB	A block with {}
at	A block with <> tags
ib	Inner block with ()
iB	Inner block with {}
it	Inner block with <> tags
>	Shift text right
<	Shift text left
y	Yank marked text
d	Delete marked text
~	Switch case

Registers

Command	Description
:reg[isters]	Show register contents
"xy	Yank into register x
"xp	Paste from register x
"+y	Yank into the system clipboard
"+p	Paste from the system clipboard

Special registers: 0 last yank, " unnamed (last delete/yank), % current filename, # alternate filename, */+ clipboard contents, / last search pattern, : last command-line, . last inserted text, - last small delete, _ black hole register.

Marks, jumps, and macros

Command	Description
:marks	List of marks
ma	Set mark A at current position
`a	Jump to mark A
`0	Go to position where Vim last exited
:ju[mps]	List of jumps
:changes	List of changes
Ctrl+i	Newer position in jump list
Ctrl+o	Older position in jump list
qa	Record macro a
q	Stop recording macro
@a	Run macro a
@@	Rerun last run macro

Cut and paste

Command	Description
yy	Yank a line
2yy	Yank 2 lines
yw	Yank to start of next word
yiw	Yank word under cursor
y$ / Y	Yank to end of line
p	Paste after cursor
P	Paste before cursor
dd	Delete (cut) a line
dw	Delete to start of next word
diw	Delete word under cursor
x	Delete character

Delete ranges

Command	Description
:3,5d	Delete lines 3 to 5
:.,$d	Delete from current line to end of file
:g/{pattern}/d	Delete all lines containing pattern
:g!/{pattern}/d	Delete all lines NOT containing pattern

Indent text

Command	Description
>>	Indent line one shiftwidth
<<	De-indent line one shiftwidth
3==	Re-indent 3 lines
gg=G	Re-indent entire buffer
]p	Paste and adjust indent to current line

Exiting

Command	Description
:w	Save without exiting
:w !sudo tee %	Save using sudo
:wq / :x / ZZ	Save and quit
:q	Quit (fails on unsaved changes)
:q! / ZQ	Quit and discard unsaved changes
:wqa	Save and quit on all tabs

Search and replace

Command	Description
/pattern	Search forward for pattern
?pattern	Search backward for pattern
n / N	Repeat search, same / opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g	Replace all old with new
:%s/old/new/gc	Replace all with confirmation
:noh[lsearch]	Clear search highlighting

Tabs, buffers, and windows

Command	Description
:tabnew	Open a file in a new tab
gt / gT	Next / previous tab
:e[dit] file	Edit a file in a new buffer
:bn / :bp	Next / previous buffer
:ls	List all open buffers
:sp[lit]	Split window horizontally
:vs[plit]	Split window vertically
Ctrl+ww	Switch windows
Ctrl+w=	Make all windows equal size

Pro tip

Vim mastery comes from composing commands: Operator + Motion = Power. Examples: daw (delete around word), ci( (change inside parentheses), yap (yank around paragraph), gUiw (uppercase inner word).