Modes

Mode Enter Exit to Normal
Normal Esc or Ctrl-[ —
Insert i, I, a, A, o, O Esc
Visual v Esc
Visual Line V Esc
Visual Block Ctrl-v Esc
Command-line :, /, ? Esc or Enter (execute)
Replace R Esc

Character & Word Movement

Key Action
h Left
j Down
k Up
l Right
w Next word start
W Next WORD start (whitespace-delimited)
b Previous word start
B Previous WORD start
e Next word end
E Next WORD end

Line Movement

Key Action
0 Beginning of line
^ First non-blank character
$ End of line
f{x} Jump forward to character x
F{x} Jump backward to character x
t{x} Jump forward to before character x
T{x} Jump backward to after character x
; Repeat last f/F/t/T forward
, Repeat last f/F/t/T backward

File & Screen Movement

Key Action
gg First line of file
G Last line of file
nG or :n Go to line n
{ Previous blank-line-separated block
} Next blank-line-separated block
% Jump to matching bracket (), {}, []
H Top of screen
M Middle of screen
L Bottom of screen

Scrolling

Key Action
Ctrl-d Scroll half-page down
Ctrl-u Scroll half-page up
Ctrl-f Scroll full page forward
Ctrl-b Scroll full page backward

Editing

Entering Insert Mode

Key Action
i Insert before cursor
I Insert at beginning of line
a Append after cursor
A Append at end of line
o Open new line below
O Open new line above

Modifying Text

Key Action
x Delete character under cursor
X Delete character before cursor
r{x} Replace character under cursor with x
R Enter Replace mode (overwrite)
d{motion} Delete over motion
dd Delete entire line
D Delete to end of line (d$)
c{motion} Change over motion (delete + insert)
cc Change entire line
C Change to end of line (c$)
y{motion} Yank (copy) over motion
yy Yank entire line
Y Yank entire line (same as yy)
p Paste after cursor
P Paste before cursor
J Join current line with next
u Undo
Ctrl-r Redo
. Repeat last change
~ Toggle case of character

Operators + Motions

Vim follows the grammar: operator [count] motion/text-object

Operator Action
d Delete
c Change (delete + insert)
y Yank (copy)
> Indent right
< Indent left
= Auto-indent
gU Uppercase
gu Lowercase

Examples

Command Action
dw Delete from cursor to next word start
d$ Delete to end of line
diw Delete inner word
di" Delete inside double quotes
ci( Change inside parentheses
yap Yank around paragraph
>ip Indent inner paragraph
gUiw Uppercase inner word
3dw Delete next 3 words
d2j Delete current line and 2 lines below

Text Objects

Used with operators: {operator}{a|i}{object}

  • i = inner (contents only)
  • a = around (contents + delimiters/whitespace)
Text Object Inner (i) Around (a)
Word iw — word aw — word + surrounding space
WORD iW — WORD aW — WORD + surrounding space
Sentence is — sentence as — sentence + trailing space
Paragraph ip — paragraph ap — paragraph + trailing blank line
" double quotes i" — inside quotes a" — includes quotes
' single quotes i' — inside quotes a' — includes quotes
` backticks i` — inside backticks a` — includes backticks
( or ) parens i( — inside parens a( — includes parens
{ or } braces i{ — inside braces a{ — includes braces
[ or ] brackets i[ — inside brackets a[ — includes brackets
< or > angle i< — inside angle brackets a< — includes angle brackets
Tag (HTML/XML) it — inside tag at — includes tag

Visual Mode

Key Action
v Character-wise visual
V Line-wise visual
Ctrl-v Block-wise visual
o Move to other end of selection
gv Reselect last visual selection

Operations on Selection

Key Action
d / x Delete selection
c Change selection
y Yank selection
> / < Indent / unindent
~ Toggle case
U Uppercase
u Lowercase
: Enter command for selection

Visual Block Tricks

Key Action
Ctrl-v → select → I Insert text at start of each block line
Ctrl-v → select → A Append text at end of each block line
Ctrl-v → select → c Change each block line
Ctrl-v → select → r{x} Replace every selected character with x

Search & Replace

Searching

Key Action
/pattern Search forward
?pattern Search backward
n Next match (same direction)
N Next match (opposite direction)
* Search forward for word under cursor
# Search backward for word under cursor

Substitution

Command Action
:s/old/new/ Replace first occurrence on current line
:s/old/new/g Replace all on current line
:%s/old/new/g Replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc Replace all in file with confirmation
:'<,'>s/old/new/g Replace all in visual selection

Supports full regex: :%s/\v(\w+)/\1_suffix/g

Registers

Register Description
"" Default (unnamed) register — last delete/yank
"0 Yank register — last yank only
"a – "z Named registers
"A – "Z Append to named register
"+ System clipboard
"* Primary selection (X11) / clipboard (macOS)
"_ Black hole register (discard)
"/ Last search pattern
": Last command-line command
". Last inserted text
"% Current filename
Command Action
"ay Yank into register a
"ap Paste from register a
"+y Yank to system clipboard
"+p Paste from system clipboard
:reg Show all register contents
:reg a Show contents of register a

Marks

Command Action
m{a-z} Set local mark
m{A-Z} Set global mark (across files)
'{a} Jump to line of mark a
`{a} Jump to exact position of mark a
:marks List all marks

Special Marks

| Mark | Position | |——|———-| | '' | Line before last jump | | ` ` | Exact position before last jump | | . | Position of last change | | ^ | Position of last insert | | [ / ] | Start / end of last yank or change | | < / > `` | Start / end of last visual selection |

Buffers, Windows & Tabs

Buffers

Command Action
:e {file} Open file in new buffer
:ls List buffers
:bn Next buffer
:bp Previous buffer
:bd Delete (close) buffer
:b {n} Go to buffer number n
:b {name} Go to buffer by partial name

Windows (Splits)

Command Action
Ctrl-w s Horizontal split
Ctrl-w v Vertical split
Ctrl-w h/j/k/l Move to left/down/up/right window
Ctrl-w w Cycle through windows
Ctrl-w q Close current window
Ctrl-w = Equalize window sizes
Ctrl-w o Close all other windows
Ctrl-w +/- Increase / decrease height
Ctrl-w >/< Increase / decrease width

Tabs

Command Action
:tabnew {file} Open file in new tab
:tabn or gt Next tab
:tabp or gT Previous tab
:tabclose Close current tab
:tabmove {n} Move tab to position n

Macros

Command Action
q{a} Start recording macro into register a
q Stop recording
@{a} Play macro from register a
@@ Replay last played macro
5@a Play macro a five times
:5,10normal @a Run macro a on lines 5–10

Command-line

Command Action
:w Save
:w {file} Save as
:q Quit
:q! Quit without saving
:wq or :x or ZZ Save and quit
:e {file} Open file
:e! Reload file (discard changes)
:!{cmd} Run shell command
:r {file} Insert file contents below cursor
:r !{cmd} Insert command output below cursor
:set {option} Set an option
:noh Clear search highlighting
:earlier {n} Undo to n changes ago (or 1m, 5s)
:later {n} Redo forward n changes

Configuration (.vimrc)

set number              " Show line numbers
set relativenumber      " Relative line numbers
set expandtab           " Spaces instead of tabs
set tabstop=4           " Tab width
set shiftwidth=4        " Indent width
set autoindent          " Auto-indent new lines
set smartindent         " Smart auto-indent
set hlsearch            " Highlight search results
set incsearch           " Incremental search
set ignorecase          " Case-insensitive search
set smartcase           " Case-sensitive if uppercase present
set clipboard=unnamedplus  " Use system clipboard
set scrolloff=8         " Keep 8 lines above/below cursor
set nowrap              " Don't wrap lines
set cursorline          " Highlight current line
syntax on               " Syntax highlighting
filetype plugin indent on

Useful Combos

Command Action
ciw Change inner word
caw Change around word (includes space)
dap Delete around paragraph
yi" Yank inside double quotes
va{ Visual select around braces
ggVG Select entire file
gg=G Auto-indent entire file
ggyG Yank entire file
xp Swap two characters
ddp Swap current line with next
Ctrl-v → I → type → Esc Block insert on multiple lines
:%s/\v(\w+)/\U\1/g Uppercase all words in file
:%s/\s\+$//e Remove trailing whitespace
:%s/^/ / Indent every line by 2 spaces
da( Delete function arguments including parens
dit Delete inner HTML tag content
vip:sort Sort lines in paragraph