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Vim Cheatsheet ​

Overview ​

Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to make creating and changing any kind of text very efficient. It's an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems.

Basic Navigation ​

Movement Commands ​

vim
h, j, k, l    # Left, down, up, right
w             # Next word
b             # Previous word
e             # End of word
0             # Beginning of line
^             # First non-blank character
$             # End of line
gg            # Go to first line
G             # Go to last line
:n            # Go to line n
Ctrl+f        # Page down
Ctrl+b        # Page up
Ctrl+d        # Half page down
Ctrl+u        # Half page up

Jumping ​

vim
%             # Jump to matching bracket
*             # Find next occurrence of word under cursor
#             # Find previous occurrence of word under cursor
n             # Next search result
N             # Previous search result
``            # Jump back to previous position
'.            # Jump to last edit

Modes ​

Mode Switching ​

vim
i             # Insert mode (before cursor)
a             # Insert mode (after cursor)
I             # Insert at beginning of line
A             # Insert at end of line
o             # Open new line below
O             # Open new line above
v             # Visual mode
V             # Visual line mode
Ctrl+v        # Visual block mode
:             # Command mode
Esc           # Return to normal mode

Editing Commands ​

Basic Editing ​

vim
x             # Delete character under cursor
X             # Delete character before cursor
dd            # Delete line
D             # Delete from cursor to end of line
dw            # Delete word
d$            # Delete to end of line
d0            # Delete to beginning of line
yy            # Copy (yank) line
yw            # Copy word
y$            # Copy to end of line
p             # Paste after cursor
P             # Paste before cursor
u             # Undo
Ctrl+r        # Redo
.             # Repeat last command

Advanced Editing ​

vim
cc            # Change entire line
cw            # Change word
c$            # Change to end of line
r             # Replace single character
R             # Replace mode
s             # Substitute character
S             # Substitute line
~             # Toggle case
>>            # Indent line
<<            # Unindent line
J             # Join lines

Search and Replace ​

vim
/pattern      # Search forward
?pattern      # Search backward
n             # Next match
N             # Previous match
*             # Search for word under cursor (forward)
#             # Search for word under cursor (backward)
:noh          # Clear search highlighting

Replace ​

vim
:s/old/new/           # Replace first occurrence in line
:s/old/new/g          # Replace all occurrences in line
:%s/old/new/g         # Replace all occurrences in file
:%s/old/new/gc        # Replace with confirmation
:5,10s/old/new/g      # Replace in lines 5-10

File Operations ​

File Management ​

vim
:w            # Save file
:w filename   # Save as filename
:q            # Quit
:q!           # Quit without saving
:wq           # Save and quit
:x            # Save and quit (same as :wq)
ZZ            # Save and quit (normal mode)
ZQ            # Quit without saving (normal mode)
:e filename   # Edit file
:r filename   # Read file into current buffer

Buffer Management ​

vim
:ls           # List buffers
:b n          # Switch to buffer n
:bn           # Next buffer
:bp           # Previous buffer
:bd           # Delete buffer
:split        # Horizontal split
:vsplit       # Vertical split
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l # Navigate between splits
Ctrl+w w      # Switch between splits

Visual Mode ​

Visual Selection ​

vim
v             # Character-wise visual mode
V             # Line-wise visual mode
Ctrl+v        # Block-wise visual mode
o             # Move to other end of selection
gv            # Reselect last visual selection

Visual Operations ​

vim
d             # Delete selection
y             # Yank (copy) selection
c             # Change selection
>             # Indent selection
<             # Unindent selection
=             # Auto-indent selection
u             # Lowercase selection
U             # Uppercase selection

Text Objects ​

Text Object Selection ​

vim
iw            # Inner word
aw            # A word (including spaces)
is            # Inner sentence
as            # A sentence
ip            # Inner paragraph
ap            # A paragraph
i"            # Inner quotes
a"            # A quotes (including quotes)
i(            # Inner parentheses
a(            # A parentheses (including parens)
it            # Inner tag (HTML/XML)
at            # A tag (HTML/XML)

Usage Examples ​

vim
diw           # Delete inner word
ciw           # Change inner word
yi"           # Yank text inside quotes
da(           # Delete text including parentheses

Macros ​

Recording and Playing Macros ​

vim
qa            # Start recording macro in register 'a'
q             # Stop recording
@a            # Play macro from register 'a'
@@            # Repeat last macro
5@a           # Play macro 5 times

Macro Examples ​

vim
# Record a macro to add semicolon at end of line
qa            # Start recording
A;            # Go to end of line and add semicolon
Esc           # Return to normal mode
q             # Stop recording
@a            # Play macro

Registers ​

Using Registers ​

vim
"ay           # Yank into register 'a'
"ap           # Paste from register 'a'
:reg          # Show all registers
:reg a        # Show register 'a'
"0p           # Paste from yank register (register 0)
"+y           # Yank to system clipboard
"+p           # Paste from system clipboard

Marks ​

Setting and Using Marks ​

vim
ma            # Set mark 'a' at current position
'a            # Jump to mark 'a'
`a            # Jump to exact position of mark 'a'
:marks        # Show all marks
''            # Jump to previous position
'.            # Jump to last edit position

Folding ​

Fold Commands ​

vim
zf            # Create fold
zo            # Open fold
zc            # Close fold
za            # Toggle fold
zR            # Open all folds
zM            # Close all folds
zd            # Delete fold

Configuration ​

Basic .vimrc Settings ​

vim
" Enable syntax highlighting
syntax on

" Show line numbers
set number

" Enable mouse support
set mouse=a

" Set tab width
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

" Enable auto-indentation
set autoindent
set smartindent

" Show matching brackets
set showmatch

" Highlight search results
set hlsearch

" Incremental search
set incsearch

" Case insensitive search
set ignorecase
set smartcase

" Enable file type detection
filetype on
filetype plugin on
filetype indent on

" Set color scheme
colorscheme desert

" Show status line
set laststatus=2

" Enable clipboard
set clipboard=unnamedplus

Advanced Configuration ​

vim
" Leader key
let mapleader = ","

" Custom key mappings
nnoremap <leader>w :w<CR>
nnoremap <leader>q :q<CR>
nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>h
nnoremap <C-j> <C-w>j
nnoremap <C-k> <C-w>k
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>l

" Auto-completion
set wildmenu
set wildmode=list:longest

" Backup and swap files
set backup
set backupdir=~/.vim/backup
set directory=~/.vim/swap

" Persistent undo
set undofile
set undodir=~/.vim/undo

Plugins ​

Plugin Managers ​

vim
" Vim-Plug (add to .vimrc)
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree'
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'
Plug 'tpope/vim-fugitive'
call plug#end()

" Install plugins: :PlugInstall
" Update plugins: :PlugUpdate
vim
" File explorer
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree'
:NERDTree

" Status line
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'

" Git integration
Plug 'tpope/vim-fugitive'
:Git status

" Fuzzy finder
Plug 'ctrlpvim/ctrlp.vim'
Ctrl+p

" Auto-completion
Plug 'ycm-core/YouCompleteMe'

" Syntax checking
Plug 'vim-syntastic/syntastic'

Command Line ​

Ex Commands ​

vim
:help         # Open help
:help topic   # Help on specific topic
:version      # Show version
:set          # Show all options
:set option   # Show specific option
:set option=value # Set option value
:!command     # Execute shell command
:r !command   # Read command output into buffer

Useful Commands ​

vim
:retab        # Convert tabs to spaces
:sort         # Sort lines
:sort u       # Sort and remove duplicates
:%!xxd        # Hex dump
:%!xxd -r     # Reverse hex dump
:g/pattern/d  # Delete lines matching pattern
:v/pattern/d  # Delete lines not matching pattern

Advanced Features ​

Multiple Files ​

vim
:args *.txt   # Open multiple files
:next         # Next file
:prev         # Previous file
:first        # First file
:last         # Last file
:argdo %s/old/new/g # Execute command on all files

Sessions ​

vim
:mksession session.vim  # Save session
:source session.vim     # Load session
vim -S session.vim      # Start with session

Diff Mode ​

vim
vimdiff file1 file2     # Start diff mode
:diffthis               # Make current window part of diff
:diffoff                # Turn off diff mode
]c                      # Next difference
[c                      # Previous difference
do                      # Diff obtain (get change)
dp                      # Diff put (put change)

Tips and Tricks ​

Productivity Tips ​

vim
# Quick file switching
Ctrl+^        # Switch to alternate file

# Quick line duplication
yyp           # Duplicate current line

# Quick word completion
Ctrl+n        # Next completion
Ctrl+p        # Previous completion

# Quick bracket matching
%             # Jump to matching bracket

# Quick indentation
=G            # Auto-indent from cursor to end
gg=G          # Auto-indent entire file

Time-Saving Commands ​

vim
# Change case
guu           # Lowercase line
gUU           # Uppercase line
g~~           # Toggle case of line

# Join lines with space
J             # Join current line with next

# Increment/decrement numbers
Ctrl+a        # Increment number under cursor
Ctrl+x        # Decrement number under cursor

# Quick substitution
&             # Repeat last substitution

Troubleshooting ​

Common Issues ​

vim
# Stuck in insert mode
Esc           # Return to normal mode

# Can't save file
:w!           # Force write
:w filename   # Save with different name

# Accidental recording
q             # Stop recording macro

# Clear search highlighting
:noh          # No highlight

# Reset to defaults
:set all&     # Reset all options

Resources ​

  • Official Documentation: :help within Vim
  • Vim Wiki: vim.fandom.com
  • Interactive Tutorial: vimtutor command
  • Online Resources: vim.org