Vim Cheat Sheet

Cursor movement Editing Cut and paste

h - move cursor left r - replace a single character yy - yank (copy) a line

j - move cursor down J - join line below to the current one 2yy - yank (copy) 2 lines

k - move cursor up cc - change (replace) entire line yw - yank (copy) word

l - move cursor right cw - change (replace) to the end of the word y$ - yank (copy) to end of line

w - jump forwards to the start of a word c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor

W - jump forwards to the start of a word (words s - delete character and substitute text P - put (paste) before cursor
can contain punctuation)
S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc) dd - delete (cut) a line
e - jump forwards to the end of a word
xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste) 2dd - delete (cut) 2 lines
E - jump forwards to the end of a word (words can
u - undo dw - delete (cut) word
contain punctuation)

b - jump backwards to the start of a word Ctrl + r - redo D - delete (cut) to the end of the line

B - jump backwards to the start of a word (words . - repeat last command d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line

can contain punctuation)

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
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
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

gg - go to the first line of the document O - move to other corner of block :q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)

G - go to the last line of the document aw - mark a word :q! or ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved

5G - go to line 5 changes
ab - a block with ()

fx - jump to next occurrence of character x aB - a block with {} Search and replace

tx - jump to before next occurrence of character ib - inner block with () /pattern - search for pattern
x
iB - inner block with {} ?pattern - search backward for pattern
} - jump to next paragraph (or function/block,
when editing code) Esc - exit visual mode \vpattern - 'very magic' pattern: non-
alphanumeric characters are interpreted as special
{ - jump to previous paragraph (or
function/block, when editing code)
Visual commands regex symbols (no escaping needed)

n - repeat search in same direction

Ctrl + b - move back one full screen > - shift text right
N - repeat search in opposite direction
Ctrl + f - move forward one full screen < - shift text left
:%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new
Ctrl + d - move forward 1/2 a screen y - yank (copy) marked text
throughout file
Ctrl + u - move back 1/2 a screen d - delete marked text
:%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new
~ - switch case throughout file with confirmations
Tip Prefix a cursor movement command with
a number to repeat it. For example, 4j :noh - remove highlighting of search matches
moves down 4 lines.
Search in multiple files
Insert mode - inserting/appending
:vimgrep /pattern/ {file} - search for
text
pattern in multiple files

i - insert before the cursor

e.g. :vimgrep /foo/ **/*
I - insert at the beginning of the line

a - insert (append) after the cursor

:cn - jump to the next match
A - insert (append) at the end of the line
:cp - jump to the previous match
o - append (open) a new line below the current
:copen - open a window containing the list of
line
matches
O - append (open) a new line above the current
line

ea - insert (append) at the end of the word

Esc - exit insert mode

Working with multiple files Tabs

:e filename - edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext or :bn - go to the next buffer
:bprev or :bp - go to the previous buffer
:tabnew filename or :tabn filename - open a
file in a new tab
Ctrl + wT - move the current split window into
its own tab

:bd - delete a buffer (close a file) gt or :tabnext or :tabn - move to the next

:ls - list all open buffers tab

gT or :tabprev or :tabp - move to the

:sp filename - open a file in a new buffer and split
previous tab
window
#gt - move to tab number #
:vsp filename - open a file in a new buffer and
vertically split window :tabmove # - move current tab to the #th

Ctrl + ws - split window position (indexed from 0)

:tabclose or :tabc - close the current tab

Ctrl + ww - switch windows
and all its windows
Ctrl + wq - quit a window
:tabonly or :tabo - close all tabs except for
Ctrl + wv - split window vertically the current one

Ctrl + wh - move cursor to the left window :tabdo command - run the command on all tabs
(vertical split) (e.g. :tabdo q - closes all opened tabs)

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)

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