Alex Pushkarev

Posted on May 20, 2022 • Updated on Sep 20, 2023

Vim cheatsheet

#vim #vscode #webdev #ide

Words of introduction

Vim is considered an advanced editor for programmers and those who mastered Vim rarely would want to switch back.

I was avoiding Vim for some time, instead, I was relying on the IDE capabilities for text editing, but throughout my work experience, I realised one thing - IDEs come and go, while Vim remains. Often I had to switch IDEs and platforms, having to learn shortcuts again and again.

So I took time to master Vim and it turned out to be not so difficult. In fact, most of the Vim power can be unleashed with a very small subset of Vim commands.

I don't see much sense in mastering all the immense capabilities of Vim/IntelliJ/You name it. However, there's a subset that is very useful for me personally. I am using the Vim plugin in VScode and Jetbrains products and customized Vim as well. Below is the list of the commands/shortcuts I personally find useful for me.

To the best of my knowledge, those would work the same both in Vim plugins and Vim itself.

Disclaimer: this is a cheatsheet, not a tutorial, so it assumes the reader has some basic understanding of Vim.

General commands/shortcuts

Those are the very basics things, such as opening the file or escaping Vim.

Basics

Action	Command
Exit w/o saving	`:q!`
Exit from all splits	`qa`
Exit and save	`:wq!`
Go to normal mode	`ESC` or `CTRL+C`
Repeat last change	`.`
Open file	`:open {filename}`
Execute terminal command	`:!command`

Splits (tabs)

Action	Command
Open file in vertical split	`:vsp {filename}`
Navigate between splits	`CTRL+W (corresponding arrow)`

Visual mode

Visual mode is used to select different parts of texts

Action	Command
go to the character-wise visual mode	`v`
go to the line-wise visual mode	`V`
to select "block"	`CTRL+v`

Multiple cursors

Note: works in VSCode, doesn't work in GVIM

Add multiple cursors

Select lines you want to change (using visual mode)
type I

Add cursor for word

move cursor to the start of the word
type gb to add another cursor
repeat :) then use c, ESC or d or whatever

Navigating

Navigating by words

Action	Command
next word	`w`
next WORD	`W`
previous word	`b`
previous WORD	`B`
next end of word	`e`
jump to matching bracket	`%`

Navigating by paragraphs

Action	Command
next paragraph	`}`
previous paragraph	`{`
go to a specific line	`{line}gg`

Start/end of line and file

Action	Command
start of the line	`0`
first non-space symbol of the line	`^`
end of the line	`$`
go to the top of the file	`gg`
go to the end of the file	`G`

Other

Important: go to the definition (this does not work in GVIM): gd

we can always append numbers, for example:

2w #go to the second word
4(arrow down) #go 4 lines down

Searching

Action	Command
search forward	`/{pattern}`
search backward	`?{pattern}`
continue search forward	`n`
continue search backward	`N`
find symbol on the line	`f{symbol}`

Replacing

Action	Command
replace first occurrence of `foo` with `bar`	`:s/foo/bar/`
replace all occurrences of `foo` with `bar` in file	`:%s/foo/bar/g`
replace all occurrences of `foo` with `bar` in line	`:s/foo/bar/g`
replace with empty string	`:s/foo//g`
replace with confirmation	`:s/foo/bar/gc`

confirmation mode:

y replace
l replace and quit
n skip
q quit
a replace all

Note: search pattern can be regex!

:%s/^foo.*/Vim is the best/gc

Editing text

Insert mode

Action	Command
Go to insert mode	`i`
Append text at the end of line	`A`
Add line below and go to insert mode	`o`
Add line above and go to insert mode	`O`
Remove last character typed	`CTRL+H`
Remove last word typed	`CTRL+W`
Remove last line typed	`CTRL+U`

Editing commands

Action	Command
copy (yanking)	`y`
delete	`d`
replace selected (word, line, whatever)	`c`
Copy whole line	`Y`
duplicate line	`YP` or `Yp`
delete the whole line	`dd`
delete paragraph	`dp`
delete until end of line	`D`
paste	`p`
change (similar to `d` + `i`)	`c`
add indentation	`>>`
remove indentation	`<<`
format code	`==`

Registers

The unnamed register " is where you copy and cut stuff to, when you don’t explicitly specify a register. The default register if you will.
The named registers a-z are registers you can use explicitly to copy and cut text at will
The yank register 0 stores the last thing you have yanked (copied)
The cut registers 1-9 store the last 9 things you cut by using either the delete or the change command

Action	Command
To copy to register	`"{register name}y{motion}`
To cut to register	`"{register name}d{motion}`
To paste from register	`"{register name}p`

Inner/outer

change the text inside quotes: ci"

change the text inside brackets: ci)

change the text inside brackets: ci}

(you get the idea?)

Some general information

Editing commands are used in combination with navigation, just like that:

   what to do (delete, change...)
      /
     /      how many times
    /         /
   v         v
{operator}{count}{motion}
                    ^
                   /
                  /
           where to perform
             the action

For example, delete two words: d2w

Undoing stuff

Undo: u

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