Commonly used Vim commands

Basics commands

Advanced commands

Essentials

Cursor movement (Normal/Visual Mode)

h j k l - Arrow keys
w / b - Next/previous word
W / B - Next/previous word (space seperated)
e / ge - Next/previous end of word
0 / $ - Start/End of line
^ - First non-blank character of line (same as 0w)

Editing text

i / a - Start insert mode at/after cursor
I / A - Start insert mode at the beginning/end of the line
o / O - Add blank line below/above current line
Esc or Ctrl+[ - Exit insert mode
d - Delete
dd - Delete line
c - Delete, then start insert mode
cc - Delete line, then start insert mode

Operators

Operators also work in Visual Mode
d - Deletes from the cursor to the movement location
c - Deletes from the cursor to the movement location, then starts insert mode
y - Copy from the cursor to the movement location
> - Indent one level
< - Unindent one level
You can also combine operators with motions. Ex: d$ deletes from the cursor to the end of the line.

Marking text (visual mode)

v - Start visual mode
V - Start linewise visual mode
Ctrl+v - Start visual block mode
Esc or Ctrl+[ - Exit visual mode

Clipboard

yy - Yank (copy) a line
p - Paste after cursor
P - Paste before cursor
dd - Delete (cut) a line
x - Delete (cut) current character
X - Delete (cut) previous character
d / c - By default, these copy the deleted text

Exiting

:w - Write (save) the file, but don’t quit
:wq - Write (save) and quit
:q - Quit (fails if anything has changed)
:q! - Quit and throw away changes

Search/Replace

/pattern - Search for pattern
?pattern - Search backward for pattern
n - Repeat search in same direction
N - Repeat search in opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g - Replace all old with new throughout file (gn is better though)
:%s/old/new/gc - Replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations

General

u - Undo
Ctrl+r - Redo

Advanced

Cursor movement

Ctrl+d - Move down half a page
Ctrl+u - Move up half a page
} - Go forward by paragraph (the next blank line)
{ - Go backward by paragraph (the next blank line)
gg - Go to the top of the page
G- Go the bottom of the page
: [num] [enter] - Go to that line in the document
ctrl+e / ctrl+y - Scroll down/up one line

Character search

f [char] - Move forward to the given char
F [char] - Move backward to the given char
t [char] - Move forward to before the given char
T [char] - Move backward to before the given char
; / , - Repeat search forwards/backwards

Editing text

J - Join line below to the current one
r [char] - Replace a single character with the specified char (does not use Insert mode)

Visual mode

O - Move to other corner of block
o - Move to other end of marked area

File Tabs

:e filename - Edit a file
:tabe - Make a new tab
gt - Go to the next tab
gT - Go to the previous tab
:vsp - Vertically split windows
ctrl+ws - Split windows horizontally
ctrl+wv- Split windows vertically
ctrl+ww- Switch between windows
ctrl+wq- Quit a window

Marks

Marks allow you to jump to designated points in your code.
m{a-z} - Set mark {a-z} at cursor position
A capital mark {A-Z} sets a global mark and will work between files
'{a-z} - Move the cursor to the start of the line where the mark was set
'' - Go back to the previous jump location

Text Objects

Say you have def (arg1, arg2, arg3), where your cursor is somewhere in the middle of the parenthesis.
di( deletes everything between the parenthesis. That says “change everything inside the nearest parenthesis”. Without text objects, you would need to do T(dt).
Learn more

General

. - Repeat last command
Ctrl+r + 0 in insert mode inserts the last yanked text (or in command mode)
gv - reselect (select last selected block of text, from visual mode)
% - jumps between matching () or {}

Reference

Vim cheatsheet

--- title: "Commonly used Vim commands " date: 2023-08-11 date-modified: last-modified categories: - vim - linux image: vim.jpg description: a list of essential Vim commands that could be used every day --- ```{r} #| label: setup #| include: false knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE) ``` Basics commands ![](vim1.png) Advanced commands ![](vim2.png) ## Essentials Cursor movement (Normal/Visual Mode) - `h` `j` `k` `l` - Arrow keys - `w` / `b` - Next/previous word - `W` / `B` - Next/previous word (space seperated) - `e` / `ge` - Next/previous end of word - `0` / `$` - Start/End of line - `^` - First non-blank character of line (same as 0w) Editing text - `i` / `a` - Start insert mode at/after cursor - `I` / `A` - Start insert mode at the beginning/end of the line - `o` / `O` - Add blank line below/above current line - `Esc` or `Ctrl+[` - Exit insert mode - `d` - Delete - `dd` - Delete line - `c` - Delete, then start insert mode - `cc` - Delete line, then start insert mode Operators - Operators also work in Visual Mode - `d` - Deletes from the cursor to the movement location - `c` - Deletes from the cursor to the movement location, then starts insert mode - `y` - Copy from the cursor to the movement location - `>` - Indent one level - `<` - Unindent one level - You can also combine operators with motions. Ex: d$ deletes from the cursor to the end of the line. Marking text (visual mode) - `v` - Start visual mode - `V` - Start linewise visual mode - `Ctrl+v` - Start visual block mode - `Esc` or `Ctrl+[` - Exit visual mode Clipboard - `yy` - Yank (copy) a line - `p` - Paste after cursor - `P` - Paste before cursor - `dd` - Delete (cut) a line - `x` - Delete (cut) current character - `X` - Delete (cut) previous character - `d` / `c` - By default, these copy the deleted text Exiting - `:w` - Write (save) the file, but don’t quit - `:wq` - Write (save) and quit - `:q` - Quit (fails if anything has changed) - `:q!` - Quit and throw away changes Search/Replace - `/pattern` - Search for pattern - `?pattern` - Search backward for pattern - `n` - Repeat search in same direction - `N` - Repeat search in opposite direction - `:%s/old/new/g` - Replace all old with new throughout file (gn is better though) - `:%s/old/new/gc` - Replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations General - `u` - Undo - `Ctrl+r` - Redo ## Advanced Cursor movement - `Ctrl+d` - Move down half a page - `Ctrl+u` - Move up half a page - `}` - Go forward by paragraph (the next blank line) - `{` - Go backward by paragraph (the next blank line) - `gg` - Go to the top of the page - `G `- Go the bottom of the page - `: [num] [enter]` - Go to that line in the document - `ctrl+e / ctrl+y` - Scroll down/up one line Character search - `f [char]` - Move forward to the given char - `F [char]` - Move backward to the given char - `t [char]` - Move forward to before the given char - `T [char]` - Move backward to before the given char - `; / , ` - Repeat search forwards/backwards Editing text - `J` - Join line below to the current one - `r` [char] - Replace a single character with the specified char (does not use Insert mode) Visual mode - `O` - Move to other corner of block - `o` - Move to other end of marked area File Tabs - `:e` filename - Edit a file - `:tabe` - Make a new tab - `gt` - Go to the next tab - `gT` - Go to the previous tab - `:vsp` - Vertically split windows - `ctrl+ws` - Split windows horizontally - `ctrl+wv`- Split windows vertically - `ctrl+ww`- Switch between windows - `ctrl+wq`- Quit a window Marks - Marks allow you to jump to designated points in your code. - `m{a-z}` - Set mark {a-z} at cursor position - A capital mark {A-Z} sets a global mark and will work between files - `'{a-z}` - Move the cursor to the start of the line where the mark was set - `''` - Go back to the previous jump location Text Objects - Say you have `def (arg1, arg2, arg3)`, where your cursor is somewhere in the middle of the parenthesis. - `di(` deletes everything between the parenthesis. That says “change everything inside the nearest parenthesis”. Without text objects, you would need to do `T(dt)`. - Learn more General - `.` - Repeat last command - `Ctrl+r + 0` in insert mode inserts the last yanked text (or in command mode) - `gv` - reselect (select last selected block of text, from visual mode) - `%` - jumps between matching () or {} ## Reference - [Vim cheatsheet](https://quickref.me/vim.html)