Vim cheatsheet

Getting started

Exiting

Shortcut	Description
`:qa`	Close all files
`:qa!`	Close all files, abandon changes

`:w`	Save
`:wq`/`:x`	Save and close file

`:q`	Close file
`:q!`	Close file, abandon changes

`ZZ`	Save and quit
`ZQ`	Quit without checking changes

Navigating

Shortcut	Description
`hjkl`	Arrow keys
`<C-U>`/`<C-D>`	Page up/page down

Words

Shortcut	Description
`b`/`w`	Previous/next word
`e`/`ge`	Previous/next end of word

Line

Shortcut	Description
`0`(zero)	Start of line
`^`	(after whitespace)
`$`	End of line

Character

Shortcut	Description
`fc`	`c`
`Fc`	`c`

Document

Shortcut	Description
`gg`	First line
`G`	Last line
`:n`	`n`
`nG`	`n`

Window

Shortcut	Description
`zz`	Center this line
`H`	Move to top of screen
`M`	Move to middle of screen
`L`	Move to bottom of screen

Tab pages

Shortcut	Description
`:tabedit [file]`	Edit file in a new tab
`:tabfind [file]`	Open file if exists in new tab
`:tabclose`	Close current tab
`:tabs`	List all tabs
`:tabfirst`	Go to first tab
`:tablast`	Go to last tab
`:tabn`	Go to next tab
`:tabp`	Go to previous tab

Editing

Shortcut	Description
`a`	Append
`i`	Insert
`o`	Next line
`O`	Previous line

`s`	Delete char and insert
`S`	Delete line and insert
`C`	Delete until end of line and insert

`r`	Replace one character
`R`	Enter Replace mode

`u`	Undo changes
`<C-R>`	Redo changes

Exiting insert mode

Shortcut	Description
`Esc`/`<C-[>`	Exit insert mode
`<C-C>`	Exit insert mode, and abort current command

Exiting insert mode

Shortcut	Description
`Esc`/`<C-[>`	Exit insert mode
`<C-C>`	Exit insert mode, and abort current command

Clipboard

Shortcut	Description
`x`	Delete character

`dd`	(Cut)
`yy`	(Copy)

`p`	Paste
`P`	Paste before

Visual mode

Shortcut	Description
`v`	Enter visual mode
`V`	Enter visual line mode
`<C-V>`	Enter visual block mode

In visual mode

Shortcut	Description
`d`/`x`	Delete selection
`s`	Replace selection
`y`	(Copy)

See Operators for other things you can do.

Operators

Usage

Operators let you operate in a range of text (defined by motion). These are preformed in normal mode.

Shortcut	Description
`d`	`w`
Operator	Motion

Operators list

Shortcut	Description
`d`	Delete
`y`	(copy)
`c`	(delete then insert)

`>`	Indent right
`<`	Indent left

`g~`	Swap case
`gU`	Uppercase
`gu`	Lowercase

`!`	Filter through external program

See :help operator

Examples

Combine operators with motions to use them.

Shortcut	Description
`d`d	(repeat the letter)
`d`w	Delete to next word
`d`b	Delete to beginning of word
2`dd`	Delete 2 lines
`d`ip	(inside paragraph)
(in visual mode)`d`	Delete selection

See: :help motion.txt

Text objects

Usage

Text objects let you operate (with an operator) in or around text blocks (objects).

Operator	Inside	Object
`v`	`i`	`p`
Operator	[i]nside or [a]round	Text object

Text objects

Shortcut	Description
`p`	Paragraph
`w`	Word
`s`	Sentence

`[({<`	A [], (), or {} block
`'"``	A quoted string

`b`	A block [(
`B`	A block in [{
`t`	A XML tag block

Examples

Shortcut	Description
`vip`	Select paragraph
`vipipipip`	Select more

`yip`	Yank inner paragraph
`yap`	Yank paragraph (including newline)

`dip`	Delete inner paragraph
`cip`	Change inner paragraph

See Operators for other things you can do.

Diff

Shortcut	Description
`gvimdiff file1 file2 [file3]`	See differencies between files, in HMI

Misc

Folds

Shortcut	Description
`zo`/`zO`	Open
`zc`/`zC`	Close
`za`/`zA`	Toggle

`zv`	Open folds for this line

`zM`	Close all
`zR`	Open all

`zm`	(foldlevel += 1)
`zr`	(foldlevel -= 1)

`zx`	Update folds

Uppercase ones are recursive (eg, zO is open recursively).

Navigation

Shortcut	Description
`[([{[<`	`({<`
`])`	Next

`[m`	Previous method start
`[M`	Previous method end

Jumping

Shortcut	Description
`<C-O>`	Go back to previous location
`<C-I>`	Go forward

`gf`	Go to file in cursor

Counters

Shortcut	Description
`<C-A>`	Increment number
`<C-X>`	Decrement

Windows

Shortcut	Description
`z{height}<Cr>`	`{height}`

Shortcut	Description
`:tag Classname`	Jump to first definition of Classname

`<C-]>`	Jump to definition
`g]`	See all definitions
`<C-T>`	Go back to last tag
`<C-O> <C-I>`	Back/forward

`:tselect Classname`	Find definitions of Classname
`:tjump Classname`	Find definitions of Classname (auto-select 1st)

Case

Shortcut	Description
`~`	Toggle case (Case => cASE)
`gU`	Uppercase
`gu`	Lowercase

`gUU`	`gUgU`
`guu`	`gugu`

Do these in visual or normal mode.

Marks

Shortcut	Description
`^	Last position of cursor in insert mode
`.	Last change
``

`ma`	`a`
`a	`a`
`'a`	`a`

Misc

Shortcut	Description
`.`	Repeat last command
`]p`	paste under the current indentation level

Command line

Shortcut	Description
`<C-R><C-W>`	Insert current word into the command line
`<C-R>"`	Paste from " register
`<C-X><C-F>`	Auto-completion of path in insert mode

Text alignment

:center [width]
:right [width]
:left

See :help formatting

Calculator

Shortcut	Description
`<C-R>=128/2`	Shows the result of the division: '64'

Do this in insert mode.

Exiting with an error

:cq
:cquit

Works like :qa, but throws an error. Great for aborting Git commands.

Spell checking

Shortcut	Description
`:set spell spelllang=en_us`	Turn on US English spell checking
`]s`	Move to next misspelled word after the cursor
`[s`	Move to previous misspelled word before the cursor
`z=`	Suggest spellings for the word under/after the cursor
`zg`	Add word to spell list
`zw`	Mark word as bad/mispelling
`zuC-X (Insert Mode)`	Suggest words for bad word under cursor from spellfile

See :help spell

Also see

Vim cheatsheet (vim.rotrr.com)
Vim documentation (vimdoc.sourceforge.net)
Interactive Vim tutorial (openvim.com)

Getting started

Exiting

Navigating

Words

Line

Character

Document

Window

Tab pages

Editing

Exiting insert mode

Exiting insert mode

Clipboard

Visual mode

In visual mode

Operators

Usage

Operators list

Examples

Text objects

Usage

Text objects

Examples

Diff

Misc

Folds

Navigation

Jumping

Counters

Windows

Tags

Case

Marks

Misc

Command line

Text alignment

Calculator

Exiting with an error

Spell checking

Also see