vim cheat sheet
Quitting #
:x Exit, saving changes
:q Exit as long as there have been no changes
ZZ Exit and save changes if any have been made
:q! Exit and ignore any changes
Inserting Text #
i Insert before cursor
I Insert before line
a Append after cursor
A Append after line
o Open a new line after current line
O Open a new line before current line
r Replace one character
R Replace many characters
Motion #
h Move left
j Move down
k Move up
l Move right
w Move to next word
W Move to next blank delimited word
b Move to the beginning of the word
B Move to the beginning of blank delimted word
e Move to the end of the word
E Move to the end of Blank delimited word
( Move a sentence back
) Move a sentence forward
{ Move a paragraph back
} Move a paragraph forward
0 Move to the begining of the line
$ Move to the end of the line
1G Move to the first line of the file
G Move to the last line of the file
nG Move to nth line of the file
:n Move to nth line of the file
fc Move forward to c
Fc Move back to c
H Move to top of screen
M Move to middle of screen
L Move to botton of screen
% Move to associated ( ), { }, [ ]
:0 Move to the beginning of the file
:$ Move to the end of the file
[ctrl] + d go down half a screen
[ctrl] + u go up half a screen
[ctrl] + f go forward a screen
[ctrl] + b go back a screen
Modes #
Vi has two modes insertion mode and command mode. The editor begins in command mode, where the cursor movement and text deletion and pasting occur. Insertion mode begins upon entering an insertion or change command. [ESC] returns the editor to command mode (where you can quit, for example by typing :q!). Most commands execute as soon as you type them except for “colon” commands which execute when you press the ruturn key.
Deleting Text #
x Delete character to the right of cursor
X Delete character to the left of cursor
D Delete to the end of the line
dd Delete current line
:d Delete current line
Yanking Text #
yy Yank the current line
:y Yank the current line
Changing text #
C Change to the end of the line
cc Change the whole line
guu lowercase line
gUU uppercase line
~ Toggle upp and lower case
Putting text #
p Put after the position or after the line
P Put before the poition or before the line
Markers #
mc Set marker c on this line
`c Go to beginning of marker c line.
‘c Go to first non-blank character of marker c line.
Search for strings #
/string Search forward for string
?string Search back for string
n Search for next instance of string
N Search for previous instance of string
Replace #
:s/pattern/string/flags Replace pattern with string according to flags.
g Flag - Replace all occurences of pattern
c Flag - Confirm replaces.
& Repeat last :s command
Ranges #
:n,m Range - Lines n-m
:. Range - Current line
:$ Range - Last line
:‘c Range - Marker c
:% Range - All lines in file
:g/pattern/ Range - All lines that contain pattern
Files #
:w file Write to file
:r file Read file in after line
:n Go to next file
:p Go to previous file
:e file Edit file
!!program Replace line with output from program
Other #
J Join lines
. Repeat last text-changing command
u Undo last change
U Undo all changes to line