Getting started

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Exiting

{: .-prime}

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
{: .-shortcuts}

Navigating

Shortcut	Description
h j k l	Arrow keys
<C-U> / <C-D>	Half-page up/down
<C-B> / <C-F>	Page up/down
{: .-shortcuts}

Words

Shortcut	Description
b / w	Previous/next word
ge / e	Previous/next end of word
{: .-shortcuts}

Line

Shortcut	Description
0 (zero)	Start of line
^	Start of line (after whitespace)
$	End of line
{: .-shortcuts}

Character

| fc | Go forward to character c |
| Fc | Go backward to character c |
{: .-shortcuts}

Document

Shortcut	Description
gg	First line
G	Last line
:n	Go to line n
nG	Go to line n
{: .-shortcuts}

Window

Shortcut	Description
zz	Center this line
zt	Top this line
zb	Bottom this line
H	Move to top of screen
M	Move to middle of screen
L	Move to bottom of screen
{: .-shortcuts}

Search

Shortcut	Description
n	Next matching search pattern
N	Previous match
*	Next whole word under cursor
#	Previous whole word under cursor
{: .-shortcuts}

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
A	Append from end of line
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
{: .-shortcuts}

Exiting insert mode

Shortcut	Description
Esc / <C-[>	Exit insert mode
<C-C>	Exit insert mode, and abort current command
{: .-shortcuts}

Clipboard

Shortcut	Description
x	Delete character
—	—
dd	Delete line (Cut)
yy	Yank line (Copy)
—	—
p	Paste
P	Paste before
—	—
"*p / "+p	Paste from system clipboard
"*y / "+y	Paste to system clipboard
{: .-shortcuts}

Visual mode

Shortcut	Description
v	Enter visual mode
V	Enter visual line mode
<C-V>	Enter visual block mode
{: .-shortcuts}

In visual mode

Shortcut	Description
d / x	Delete selection
s	Replace selection
y	Yank selection (Copy)
{: .-shortcuts}

See Operators for other things you can do.

Operators

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Usage

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Operators let you operate in a range of text (defined by motion). These are performed in normal mode.
{: .-setup}

| d | w |
| Operator | Motion |
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Operators list

Shortcut	Description
d	Delete
y	Yank (copy)
c	Change (delete then insert)
—	—
>	Indent right
<	Indent left
=	Autoindent
—	—
g~	Swap case
gU	Uppercase
gu	Lowercase
—	—
!	Filter through external program
{: .-shortcuts}

See :help operator

Examples

Combine operators with motions to use them.
{: .-setup}

Shortcut	Description
dd	(repeat the letter) Delete current line
dw	Delete to next word
db	Delete to beginning of word
2dd	Delete 2 lines
dip	Delete a text object (inside paragraph)
(in visual mode) d	Delete selection

See: :help motion.txt

Text objects

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Usage

{: .-prime}

Text objects let you operate (with an operator) in or around text blocks (objects).
{: .-setup}

| v | i | p |
| Operator | [i]nside or [a]round | Text object |
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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
{: .-shortcuts}

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
{: .-shortcuts}

See Operators for other things you can do.

Diff

Shortcut	Description
gvimdiff file1 file2 [file3]	See differences 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	Fold more (foldlevel += 1)
zr	Fold less (foldlevel -= 1)
—	—
zx	Update folds
{: .-shortcuts}

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

Navigation

Shortcut	Description
%	Nearest/matching {[()]}
[( [{ [<	Previous ( or { or <
])	Next
—	—
[m	Previous method start
[M	Previous method end
{: .-shortcuts}

Jumping

Shortcut	Description
<C-O>	Go back to previous location
<C-I>	Go forward
—	—
gf	Go to file in cursor
{: .-shortcuts}

Counters

Shortcut	Description
<C-A>	Increment number
<C-X>	Decrement
{: .-shortcuts}

Windows

| z{height}<Cr> | Resize pane to {height} lines tall |

Tags

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)
{: .-shortcuts}

Case

Shortcut	Description
~	Toggle case (Case => cASE)
gU	Uppercase
gu	Lowercase
—	—
gUU	Uppercase current line (also gUgU)
guu	Lowercase current line (also gugu)
{: .-shortcuts}

Do these in visual or normal mode.

Marks

Shortcut	Description
`^	Last position of cursor in insert mode
`.	Last change in current buffer
`"	Last exited current buffer
`0	In last file edited
‘’	Back to line in current buffer where jumped from
``	Back to position in current buffer where jumped from
`[	To beginning of previously changed or yanked text
`]	To end of previously changed or yanked text
`<	To beginning of last visual selection
`>	To end of last visual selection
—	—
ma	Mark this cursor position as a
`a	Jump to the cursor position a
'a	Jump to the beginning of the line with position a
d’a	Delete from current line to line of mark a
d`a	Delete from current position to position of mark a
c’a	Change text from current line to line of a
y`a	Yank text from current position to position of a
—	—
:marks	List all current marks
:delm a	Delete mark a
:delm a-d	Delete marks a, b, c, d
:delm abc	Delete marks a, b, c
{: .-shortcuts}

Misc

Shortcut	Description
.	Repeat last command
]p	Paste under the current indentation level
—	—
:set ff=unix	Convert Windows line endings to Unix line endings
{: .-shortcuts}

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
{: .-shortcuts}

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
zu / C-X (Insert Mode)	Suggest words for bad word under cursor from spellfile
{: .-shortcuts}

See :help spell

Also see

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