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 the cursor

Tip

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 cursor down (multi-line text)
gk	Move cursor 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 the screen
zb	Position cursor on bottom of the screen
Ctrl + e	Move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + y	Move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + b	Move screen up one page (cursor to last line)
Ctrl + f	Move screen down one page (cursor to first line)
Ctrl + d	Move cursor and screen down 1/2 page
Ctrl + u	Move cursor and screen up 1/2 page

Word Movement

Command	Description
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)
ge	Jump backwards to the end of a word
gE	Jump backwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)

Line & Document Movement

Command	Description
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
5gg or 5G	Go to line 5
}	Jump to next paragraph (or function/block)
{	Jump to previous paragraph (or function/block)
%	Move to matching character (default: '()', '{}', '[]')
gd	Move to local declaration
gD	Move to global declaration

Search Character

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

Tip

Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

Insert Mode

Command	Description
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
Ctrl + h	Delete the character before the cursor
Ctrl + w	Delete word before the cursor
Ctrl + j	Add a line break at the cursor position
Ctrl + t	Indent (move right) line one shiftwidth
Ctrl + d	De-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth
Ctrl + n	Insert (auto-complete) next match
Ctrl + p	Insert (auto-complete) previous match
Ctrl + r x	Insert contents of register x
Ctrl + o x	Temporarily enter normal mode to issue one command x
Esc or Ctrl + c	Exit insert mode

Editing

Command	Description
r	Replace a single character
R	Replace more than one character, until Esc is pressed
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$ or C	Change (replace) to the end of the line
ciw	Change (replace) entire word
cw or ce	Change (replace) to the end of the word
s	Delete character and substitute text
S	Delete line and substitute text
xp	Transpose two letters (delete and paste)
u	Undo
U	Restore (undo) last changed line
Ctrl + r	Redo
.	Repeat last command

Case Changing

Command	Description
g~	Switch case up to motion
gu	Change to lowercase up to motion
gU	Change to uppercase up to motion

Visual Mode

Command	Description
v	Start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command
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 (copy) marked text
d	Delete marked text
~	Switch case

Tip

Instead of b or B one can also use ( or { respectively.

Registers

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

Special Registers:

• 0 - Last yank

• " - Unnamed register, last delete or yank

• % - Current file name

• # - Alternate file name

• * - Clipboard contents (X11 primary)

• + - Clipboard contents (X11 clipboard)

• / - Last search pattern

• : - Last command-line

• . - Last inserted text

• - - Last small (less than a line) delete

• _ - Black hole register

Marks, Jumps, and Macros

Command	Description
: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
`0	Go to position where Vim was last exited
`.`	Go to position of last change
``	Go to position before last jump
:ju[mps]	List of jumps
:changes	List of changes
Ctrl + i	Go to newer position in jump list
Ctrl + o	Go to older position in jump list
g,	Go to newer position in change list
g;	Go to older position in change list
Ctrl + ]	Jump to the tag under cursor
qa	Record macro a
q	Stop recording macro
@a	Run macro a
@@	Rerun last run macro

Cut and Paste

Command	Description
yy	Yank (copy) a line
2yy	Yank (copy) 2 lines
yw	Yank (copy) characters to start of next word
yiw	Yank (copy) word under the cursor
yaw	Yank (copy) word under the cursor and space
y$ or Y	Yank (copy) to end of line
p	Put (paste) after cursor
P	Put (paste) before cursor
gp	Put (paste) after cursor and leave cursor after new text
gP	Put (paste) before cursor and leave cursor after new text
dd	Delete (cut) a line
dw	Delete (cut) characters to start of next word
diw	Delete (cut) word under the cursor
daw	Delete (cut) word and space
x	Delete (cut) character

Delete Ranges

Command	Description
:3,5d	Delete lines starting from 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 (move right) line one shiftwidth
<<	De-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth
>%	Indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
<%	De-indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
>ib	Indent inner block with ()
>at	Indent a block with <> tags
3==	Re-indent 3 lines
=%	Re-indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
=iB	Re-indent inner block with {}
gg=G	Re-indent entire buffer
]p	Paste and adjust indent to current line

Exiting

Command	Description
: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

Command	Description
/pattern	Search for pattern
?pattern	Search backward for pattern
\vpattern	'Very magic' pattern (regex symbols don't need escaping)
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[lsearch]	Remove highlighting of search matches

Search in Multiple Files

Command	Description
:vim[grep] /pattern/ {file}	Search for pattern in multiple files
:vim /foo/ **/*	Example: Search for "foo" in all files recursively
:cn[ext]	Jump to the next match
:cp[revious]	Jump to the previous match
:cope[n]	Open a window containing the list of matches (Quickfix)
:ccl[ose]	Close the quickfix window

Tabs, Buffers, and Windows

Tabs

Command	Description
:tabnew	Open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + wT	Move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabn	Move to the next tab
gT or :tabp	Move to the previous tab
#gt	Move to tab number #
:tabm[ove] #	Move current tab to the #th position
:tabc[lose]	Close the current tab
:tabo[nly]	Close all tabs except the current one

Buffers

Command	Description
:e[dit] file	Edit a file in a new buffer
:bn[ext]	Go to the next buffer
:bp[revious]	Go to the previous buffer
:bd[elete]	Delete a buffer (close a file)
:ls	List all open buffers

Windows

Command	Description
:sp[lit] file	Open a file in a new buffer and split window
:vs[plit] file	Open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
Ctrl + ws	Split window horizontally
Ctrl + wv	Split window vertically
Ctrl + ww	Switch windows
Ctrl + wq	Quit a window
Ctrl + wh/j/k/l	Move cursor to the left/down/up/right window
Ctrl + wH	Move window to far left
Ctrl + wL	Move window to far right
Ctrl + wJ	Move window to very bottom
Ctrl + wK	Move window to very top
Ctrl + w=	Make all windows equal height & width

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 (Make Inner Word Uppercase)