VIM CHEAT SHEET

Introduction

For a long time, I ran away from Vim because it seemed very tricky and because there is a lot of simpler editors out there to work with. However, as it comes installed in most Linux distributions, I made this cheat sheet to help me understand how things work. I have discovered that is possible to be very productive with Vim 😃.

I’ll try to go straight to the point. This cheat sheet is not intended to be a complete guide but it helps to get started.

Vim has different operation modes, and I will not cover all of them in this cheat sheet. I’ll stick with the basic functionality needed to open, edit and save a file.

Let’s begin! To open a file with Vim just type vim filename.
ESC = enter “command mode”

Move the cursor

You can use the arrow keys to move the cursor around. There is also special keys to do this:

• h = Move one character left
• j = Move one row down
• k = Move one row up
• l = Move one character right

Edition Mode

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• i = Insert text in the cursor position
• I = Insert text at the beginning of the line
• o = Insert text in the next line
• O = Insert text in the previous line
• a = Insert a character after the current
• A = Insert text at the end of the line
• r = Replace the character at the current cursor position
• R = Enter replace mode to replace characters from the current cursor position
• u = Undo the last action
• CTRL + r = redo

Saving & Exiting

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• :w = Save
• :q = Exit
• :q! = Force exit (exit without saving)
• :qa = Exit from all opened files
• :wq = Save and exit
• :x = Save and exit
• ZZ = Save and exit
• ZQ = Force exit (exit without saving)

Copy, paste & cut

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• yy = Copy line
• p = Paste content to the below line
• P = Paste content to the above line
• yNy = Copy N lines
• cw = Cut the word starting from the current cursor position
• dd = Cut or delete a line
• D = Delete the line starting from the current cursor position
• dG = Delete the lines starting from the current cursor position to the end of the file
• dGG = Delete the lines starting from the current cursor position to the beginning of the file
• dw = Delete the word starting from the current cursor position
• dNd = Cut or delete N lines
• x = Delete a character at the current cursor position (similar to “D” key behaviour)
• X = Delete a character before the current cursor position (similar to “backspace” key behaviour)
• yw = Copy the word starting from the current cursor position

Visual Mode

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• v = Visual mode that allows selecting a text fragment
• V = Visual mode that allows selecting an entire line
• CTRL+v = Visual block that allows selecting a block of text

Navigation

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• /pattern = Search forward for a patter
• ?pattern = Search backward for a pattern
• n = Pattern forward search
• N = Pattern backward search
• gg = Goes to the first line of the file
• G = Goes to the last line of the file
• H = Goes to the top of the current screen
• M = Goes to the middle of the current screen
• L = Goes to the end of the current screen

Commands

The following keys have to be typed in “Command Mode”.

• :set hlsearch = Enable search highlight
• :set number = Show line numbers
• :set tabstop=N = Set the size of TAB to N
• :set expandtab = Convert TAB in spaces
• :set bg=dark/light = Change the color scheme
• :set ignorecase = Makes the search case insensitive
• :syntax on/off = Enable/disable syntax highlighting
• :LNs/<tobereplaced>/<replacer>/g = Replaces(s) all(g) <tobereplaced> with <replacer> in the line LN
• :%s/<tobereplaced>/<replacer>/g = Replaces(s) all(g) <tobereplaced> with <replacer> in the entire file
• :e filename = Opens “filename”
• :r filename = Copy the contents of the “filename” to the current file
• :split filename = Split screen horizontally to show the current file and “filename”
• :vsplit filename = Split screen vertically to show the current file and “filename”
• :! command = Runs “command” in shell and show the STDOUT
• !! command = Runs “command” in shell and paste the STDOUT in the file