DEV Community

Guilherme L. Leite Marques
Guilherme L. Leite Marques

Posted on • Originally published at guinuxbr.com

Vim Cheat Sheet

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 have 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.

vim-logo

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 in the begin 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 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 begin 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 "delete" 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 to select a text fragment
  • V = visual mode that allows to select an entire line
  • CTRL+v = visual block that allows select 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

Top comments (0)