Vim¶

My cheatsheet for Vim

Logic¶

A|a - Append / Around
- append text after the cursor
- Append text after the line
B|b - Back / Beginning
- move backwards one word
- move Backwards "big" word
C|c - Change
- change in
- Change from here
D|d - Delete
- delete code enclosed in
- Delete from here | DD delete line
E|e - End
- end of a word
- End of a "big" word | End of line2
F|f - Find
- find a character
- Find backwards
G|g - Find
- go to || gg go to end of document
- Go to | GG Go to beginning
I|i - Insert
- insert text before cursor
- Insert text before line
m - Mark
- mark position to register
N|n - Next
- next result forward
- Next result backward
O|o - Open Line
- open line before
- Open line abOve
P|p - Past / Paragraph
- paste after cursor | in paragraph
- Paste before cursor
q - Re'q'ord Ma'q'ros
- reqord a macro to
R|e - Replace | Redo
- replace under the cursor
- Replace until stopped
- Redo (CTRL+R)
S|s - Switch
- switch character (and keep on)
- Switch line
T|t - To
- (do something) to character
- To character (backwards)
U|u -

Moving Inside a File¶

You can move the cursor within a file by single characters, words, tokens, or lines.

According to Vim, a word can be a group of letters, numbers, and underscores. On the other hand, a token is anything separated by whitespace and can include punctuation.

Additionally, you can move to different parts of a text by screen view.

Moving by Characters, Words and Tokens¶

The basic keys for moving the cursor by one character are:

h – move the cursor left
j – move the cursor down
k – move the cursor up
l – move the cursor right

You can also use these keys with a number as a prefix to move in a specified direction multiple times. For example, if you run 5j the cursor moves down 5 lines.

b – move to the start of a word
B – move to the start of a token
w – move to the start of the next word
W – move to the start of the next token
e – move to the end of a word
E – move to the end of a token

For instance, you have the noun phrase “step-by-step” as part of a text and the cursor is placed at the end of it. The first time you press b, the cursor moves back to “step-by-step”. However, if you use B, the cursor moves all the way back to: “step-by-step” since there is no whitespace between these characters.

Moving by Lines¶

0 (zero) – jump to the beginning of the line
$ – jump to the end of the line
^ – jump to the first (non-blank) character of the line
G / #gg / :# – move to a specified line number (replace # with the line number)¶

Moving by Screens¶

The following commands are used as a quick way to move within the text without scrolling.

Ctrl + b – move back one full screen
Ctrl + f – move forward one full screen
Ctrl + d – move forward ½ a screen
Ctrl + u – move back ½ a screen
Ctrl + e – move screen down one line (without moving the cursor)
Ctrl + y – move screen up one line (without moving the cursor)
Ctrl + o – move backward through the jump history
Ctrl + i – move forward through the jump history
H – move to the top of the screen (H=high)
M – move to the middle of the screen (M=middle)
L – move to the bottom of the screen (L=low)

Inserting Text¶

i – switch to insert mode before the cursor
I – insert text at the beginning of the line
a – switch to insert mode after the cursor
A – insert text at the end of the line
o – open a new line below the current one
O – open a new line above the current one
ea – insert text at the end of the word
Esc – exit insert mode; switch to command mode

Some of these commands switch between command and insert mode. By default, Vim launches in command mode, allowing you to move around and edit the file. To switch to command mode, use the Esc key.

Editing Text¶

r – replace a single character (and return to command mode)
cc – replace an entire line (deletes the line and moves into insert mode)
C / c$ – replace from the cursor to the end of a line
cw – replace from the cursor to the end of a word
s – delete a character (and move into insert mode)
J – merge the line below to the current one with a space in between them
gJ – merge the line below to the current one with no space in between them
u – undo
Ctrl + r – redo
. – repeat last command

Cutting, Copying And Pasting¶

yy – copy (yank) entire line
#yy – copy the specified number of lines
dd – cut (delete) entire line
#dd – cut the specified number of lines
p – paste after the cursor
P – paste before the cursor

Marking Text (Visual Mode)¶

Apart from command mode and insert mode, Vim also includes visual mode. This mode is mainly used for marking text.

Based on the chunk of text you want to select, you can choose between three versions of visual mode: character mode, line mode, and block mode.

v – select text using character mode
V – select lines using line mode
Ctrl+v – select text using block mode
o – move from one end of the selected text to the other
aw – select a word
ab – select a block with ()
aB – select a block with {}
at – select a block with <>
ib – select inner block with ()
iB – select inner block with {}
it – select inner block with <>

Visual Commands¶

Once you have selected the desired text in visual mode, you can use one of the visual commands to manipulate it. Some of them include:

y – yank (copy) the marked text
d – delete (cut) the marked text
p – paste the text after the cursor
u – change the market text to lowercase
U – change the market text to uppercase

Search in File¶

* – jump to the next instance of the current word
# – jump to previous instance of the current word
/pattern – search forward for the specified pattern
?pattern – search backward for the specified pattern
n – repeat the search in the same direction
N – repeat the search in the opposite direction

Saving and Exiting File¶

:w – save the file
:wq / :x / ZZ – save and close the file
:q – quit
:q!/ ZQ – quit without saving changes
:w new_file_name – save the file under a new name and continue editing the original
:sav – save the file under a new name and continue editing the new copy
:w !sudo tee % – write out the file using sudo and tee command

Working with Multiple Files¶

:e file_name – open a file in a new buffer
:bn – move to the next buffer
:bp – go back to previous buffer
:bd – close buffer
:b# – move to the specified buffer (by number)
:b file_name – move to a buffer (by name)
:ls – list all open buffers
:sp file_name – open a file in a new buffer and split viewport horizontally
:vs file_name – open a file in a new buffer and split viewport vertically
:vert ba – edit all files as vertical viewports
:tab ba – edit all buffers as tabs
gt – move to next tab
gT – move to previous tab
Ctrl+ws – split viewport
Ctrl+wv – split viewport vertically
Ctrl+ww – switch viewports
Ctrl+wq – quit a viewport
Ctrl+wx – exchange current viewport with next one
Ctrl+= – make all viewports equal in height and width

Marks and Jumps¶

m[a-z] – mark text using character mode (from a to z)
M[a-z] – mark lines using line mode (from a to z)
`a - jump to position marked a
ya – yank text to position marked >a>
`. – jump to last change in file
`0 – jump to position where Vim was last exited
`` – jump to last jump
:marks – list all marks
:jumps – list all jumps
:changes – list all changes
Ctrl+i – move to next instance in jump list
Ctrl+o – move to previous instance in jump list
g, – move to next instance in change list
g; – move to previous instance in change list