Introduction
Vim is a very efficient text editor. This reference was made for Vim 8.0.
For shortcut notation, see :help key-notation.
Exiting
| Shortcut | Description |
:q | Close file |
:qa | Close all files |
:w | Save |
:wq / :x | Save and close file |
ZZ | Save and quit |
:q! / ZQ | Quit without checking changes |
Exiting insert mode
| Shortcut | Description |
Esc / <C-[> | Exit insert mode |
<C-C> | Exit insert mode, and abort current command |
Editing
| Shortcut | Description |
a | Append |
A | Append from end of line |
i | Insert |
o | Next line |
O | Previous line |
s | Delete char and insert |
S | Delete line and insert |
C | Delete until end of line and insert |
r | Replace one character |
R | Enter Replace mode |
u | Undo changes |
<C-R> | Redo changes |
Clipboard
| Shortcut | Description |
x | Delete character |
dd | Delete line (Cut) |
yy | Yank line (Copy) |
p | Paste |
P | Paste before |
"*p / "+p | Paste from system clipboard |
"*y / "+y | Paste to system clipboard |
Visual mode
| Shortcut | Description |
v | Enter visual mode |
V | Enter visual line mode |
<C-V> | Enter visual block mode |
In visual mode
| Shortcut | Description |
d / x | Delete selection |
s | Replace selection |
y | Yank selection (Copy) |
See Operators for other things you can do.
Find & Replace
| Shortcut | Description |
| :%s/foo/bar/g | Replace foo with bar in whole document |
Navigating
Directions
| Shortcut | Description |
h j k l | Arrow keys |
<C-U> / <C-D> | Half-page up/down |
<C-B> / <C-F> | Page up/down |
Words
| Shortcut | Description |
b / w | Previous/next word |
ge / e | Previous/next end of word |
Line
| Shortcut | Description |
0 (zero) | Start of line |
^ | Start of line (after whitespace) |
$ | End of line |
Character
fc | Go forward to character c |
Fc | Go backward to character c |
Document
| Shortcut | Description |
gg | First line |
G | Last line |
:{number} | Go to line {number} |
{number}G | Go to line {number} |
{number}j | Go down {number} lines |
{number}k | Go up {number} lines |
Window
| Shortcut | Description |
zz | Center this line |
zt | Top this line |
zb | Bottom this line |
H | Move to top of screen |
M | Move to middle of screen |
L | Move to bottom of screen |
Search
| Shortcut | Description |
n | Next matching search pattern |
N | Previous match |
* | Next whole word under cursor |
# | Previous whole word under cursor |
Operators
Usage
Operators let you operate in a range of text (defined by motion). These are performed in normal mode.
Operators list
| Shortcut | Description |
d | Delete |
y | Yank (copy) |
c | Change (delete then insert) |
> | Indent right |
< | Indent left |
= | Autoindent |
g~ | Swap case |
gU | Uppercase |
gu | Lowercase |
! | Filter through external program |
See :help operator
Examples
Combine operators with motions to use them.
| Shortcut | Description |
dd | (repeat the letter) Delete current line |
dw | Delete to next word |
db | Delete to beginning of word |
2dd | Delete 2 lines |
dip | Delete a text object (inside paragraph) |
(in visual mode) d | Delete selection |
See: :help motion.txt
Text objects
Usage
Text objects let you operate (with an operator) in or around text blocks (objects).
v | i | p |
| Operator | [i]nside or [a]round | Text object |
Text objects
| Shortcut | Description |
p | Paragraph |
w | Word |
s | Sentence |
[ ( { < | A [], (), or {} block |
' " ` | A quoted string |
b | A block [( |
B | A block in [{ |
t | A XML tag block |
Examples
| Shortcut | Description |
vip | Select paragraph |
vipipipip | Select more |
yip | Yank inner paragraph |
yap | Yank paragraph (including newline) |
dip | Delete inner paragraph |
cip | Change inner paragraph |
See Operators for other things you can do.
Diff
| Shortcut | Description |
gvimdiff file1 file2 [file3] | See differences between files, in HMI |
Misc
Tab pages
| Shortcut | Description |
:tabedit [file] | Edit file in a new tab |
:tabfind [file] | Open file if exists in new tab |
:tabclose | Close current tab |
:tabs | List all tabs |
:tabfirst | Go to first tab |
:tablast | Go to last tab |
:tabn | Go to next tab |
:tabp | Go to previous tab |
Folds
| Shortcut | Description |
zo / zO | Open |
zc / zC | Close |
za / zA | Toggle |
zv | Open folds for this line |
zM | Close all |
zR | Open all |
zm | Fold more (foldlevel += 1) |
zr | Fold less (foldlevel -= 1) |
zx | Update folds |
Uppercase ones are recursive (eg, zO is open recursively).
Navigation
| Shortcut | Description |
% | Nearest/matching {[()]} |
[( [{ [< | Previous ( or { or < |
]) | Next |
[m | Previous method start |
[M | Previous method end |
Jumping
| Shortcut | Description |
<C-O> | Go back to previous location |
<C-I> | Go forward |
gf | Go to file in cursor |
Counters
| Shortcut | Description |
<C-A> | Increment number |
<C-X> | Decrement |
Windows
| z{height}<Cr> | Resize pane to {height} lines tall |
| Shortcut | Description |
:tag Classname | Jump to first definition of Classname |
<C-]> | Jump to definition |
g] | See all definitions |
<C-T> | Go back to last tag |
<C-O> <C-I> | Back/forward |
:tselect Classname | Find definitions of Classname |
:tjump Classname | Find definitions of Classname (auto-select 1st) |
Case
| Shortcut | Description |
~ | Toggle case (Case => cASE) |
gU | Uppercase |
gu | Lowercase |
gUU | Uppercase current line (also gUgU) |
guu | Lowercase current line (also gugu) |
Do these in visual or normal mode.
Marks
| Shortcut | Description |
`^ | Last position of cursor in insert mode |
`. | Last change in current buffer |
`" | Last exited current buffer |
`0 | In last file edited |
'' | Back to line in current buffer where jumped from |
`` | Back to position in current buffer where jumped from |
`[ | To beginning of previously changed or yanked text |
`] | To end of previously changed or yanked text |
`< | To beginning of last visual selection |
`> | To end of last visual selection |
ma | Mark this cursor position as a |
`a | Jump to the cursor position a |
'a | Jump to the beginning of the line with position a |
d'a | Delete from current line to line of mark a |
d`a | Delete from current position to position of mark a |
c'a | Change text from current line to line of a |
y`a | Yank text from current position to position of a |
:marks | List all current marks |
:delm a | Delete mark a |
:delm a-d | Delete marks a, b, c, d |
:delm abc | Delete marks a, b, c |
Misc
| Shortcut | Description |
. | Repeat last command |
]p | Paste under the current indentation level |
:set ff=unix | Convert Windows line endings to Unix line endings |
Command line
| Shortcut | Description |
<C-R><C-W> | Insert current word into the command line |
<C-R>" | Paste from “ register |
<C-X><C-F> | Auto-completion of path in insert mode |
Text alignment
:center [width]
:right [width]
:left
See :help formatting
Calculator
| Shortcut | Description |
<C-R>=128/2 | Shows the result of the division : ‘64’ |
Do this in insert mode.
Exiting with an error
Works like :qa, but throws an error. Great for aborting Git commands.
Spell checking
| Shortcut | Description |
:set spell spelllang=en_us | Turn on US English spell checking |
]s | Move to next misspelled word after the cursor |
[s | Move to previous misspelled word before the cursor |
z= | Suggest spellings for the word under/after the cursor |
zg | Add word to spell list |
zw | Mark word as bad/misspelling |
zu / C-X (Insert Mode) | Suggest words for bad word under cursor from spellfile |
See :help spell
Also see