- h Move cursor left
- l Move cursor right
- k Move cursor up
- j Move cursor down
- nG Move cursor to line n
- $ Move cursor to end of current line
- 0 Move cursor to beginning of current line
- w Move cursor forward one word
- b Move cursor backward one ward
- fc Move forward to c
- Fc Move back to c
- H Move to top of screen
- M Move to middle of screen
- L Move to bottom of screen
- % Move to associated ( ), { }, [ ]
- ( Move a sentence back
- ) Move a sentence forward
- { Move a paragraph back
- } Move a paragraph forward
Save & Exit
- :q Quit Vim (fails when changes have been made)
- :q! Quit without saving
- :cq Quit always, without saving
- :w Save current file
- :w [filename] Save current file as [filename]
- :wq Save current file and exit
- :wq! Save current file and exit always
- :wq [filename] Save to [filename], exit if not editing the last
- :wq! [filename] Save to [filename] and exit always
- :[range] wqSave only lines in [range] and exit
- ZZ Save current file, if modified, and exit
- ZQ Quit current file and exit
Editing a File
- :e Edit the current file
- :e! Edit the current file always, discard any changes to current buffer
- :e [filename] Edit [filename]
- :e! [filename] Edit [filename] always, discard any changes to current buffer
- gf Edit the file whose name is under or after the cursor
Working with multiple files
- :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
- :bd delete a buffer (close a file)
- :sp [filename] open a file in a new buffer and split window
- :vsp [filename] open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
- Ctrl + ws split window
- Ctrl + ww switch windows
- Ctrl + wq quit a window
- Ctrl + wv split window vertically
- Ctrl + wh move cursor to next buffer (right)
- Ctrl + wl move cursor to previous buffer (left)
- :tabnew [filename] or :tabn [filename] open a file in a new tab
- Ctrl + wt move the current split window into its own tab
- gt or :tabnext or :tabn move to the next tab
- gT or :tabprev or :tabp move to the previous tab
- #gt move to tab number #
- :tabmove # move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0)
- :tabclose or :tabc close the current tab and all its windows
- :tabonly or :tabo close all tabs except for the current one
- a Append text after the cursor
- A Append text at the end of the line
- i Insert text before the cursor
- I Insert text before the first non-blank in the line
- o Begin a new line below the cursor and insert text
- O Begin a new line above the cursor and insert text
Inserting a File
- :r [name] Insert the file [name] below the cursor
- :r ![cmd] Execute [cmd] and insert its standard output below the cursor
- x Delete characters under and after the cursor
- X Delete characters before the cursor
- d Delete text that [motion] moves over
- dw Delete word from cursor on
- db Delete word backward
- d$ Delete to end of line
- dd Delete lines
- D Delete the characters under the cursor until the end of the line
- yy Yank current line
- y$ Yank to end of line from cursor
- yw Yank from cursor to end of current word
- nyy Yank n lines
Put (or paste)
- p Paste below cursor
- P Paste above cursor
- u Undo last change
- U Restore line
- J Join next line down to current line
Substitute (Replace)
- :s/pattern/string/flags Replace pattern with string according to flags in current line only.
- :%s/pattern/string/flags Replace pattern with string according to flags in all lines.
- g Flag - Replace all occurrences of pattern
- :%s/\<pattern\>/string/g Change only whole words exactly matching 'pattern' to 'string'
- c Flag - Confirm replaces.
- :%s/pattern/string/gc Change each pattern to string, but ask for confirmation first.
- & Repeat last :s command
- > shift text right
- < shift text left
- y yank (copy) marked text
- d delete marked text
- ~ switch case
- . Repeat last command
- cw Change current word to new word
- r Replace one character at the cursor position
- R Begin overstrike or replace mode
- :/ [pattern] Search forward for [pattern]
- :? [pattern] Search backward for [pattern]
- . Any single character except newline
- * zero or more occurances of any character
- [...] Any single character specified in the set
- [^...] Any single character not specified in the set
- ^ Anchor - beginning of the line
- $ Anchor - end of line
- \< Anchor - begining of word
- \> Anchor - end of word
- \(...\) Grouping - usually used to group conditions
