Modes

Mode Switching

i	Insert mode (before cursor)
a	Insert mode (after cursor)
o	Insert line below and enter insert mode
O	Insert line above and enter insert mode
v	Visual mode (character)
V	Visual mode (line)
Ctrl+v	Visual block mode
:	Command-line mode
R	Replace mode
Esc	Return to normal mode

Navigation

Character & Line Motion

h j k l	Left, down, up, right
0 / ^	Start of line / first non-blank
$	End of line
w / W	Next word / WORD
b / B	Previous word / WORD
e / E	End of word / WORD
f{c} / F{c}	Find char forward / backward
t{c} / T{c}	Till char forward / backward

Screen & File Motion

gg / G	Go to first / last line
:{n}	Go to line n
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u	Half-page down / up
Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b	Full page down / up
H / M / L	Top / middle / bottom of screen
%	Jump to matching bracket

Editing

Insert & Append

I	Insert at beginning of line
A	Append at end of line
ea	Append at end of word
gi	Insert at last insert position

Delete & Change

x / X	Delete char under / before cursor
dd	Delete line
dw	Delete word
d$ / D	Delete to end of line
cc / S	Change entire line
cw	Change word
c$ / C	Change to end of line
ci" / ci(	Change inside quotes / parens

Copy & Paste

yy	Yank (copy) line
yw	Yank word
y$	Yank to end of line
p / P	Paste after / before cursor
J	Join line below to current line

Undo & Repeat

u	Undo
Ctrl+r	Redo
.	Repeat last command

Search & Replace

/pattern	Search forward
?pattern	Search backward
n / N	Next / previous match
*	Search word under cursor (forward)
#	Search word under cursor (backward)

Substitute

:s/old/new/       " replace first on line
:s/old/new/g      " replace all on line
:%s/old/new/g     " replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc    " replace all, confirm each

Visual Mode

Selection

v	Start character selection
V	Start line selection
Ctrl+v	Start block selection
o	Move to other end of selection
gv	Reselect last visual selection

Actions on Selection

d	Delete selection
y	Yank selection
c	Change selection
>	Indent selection
<	Unindent selection
~	Toggle case
U / u	Uppercase / lowercase selection

Buffers & Windows

Buffers

:ls	List open buffers
:bn / :bp	Next / previous buffer
:b{n}	Go to buffer n
:bd	Close current buffer
:e file	Open file in new buffer

Windows

:sp file	Horizontal split
:vsp file	Vertical split
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l	Navigate to window
Ctrl+w =	Equalize window sizes
Ctrl+w q	Close window

Tabs

:tabnew file	Open file in new tab
gt / gT	Next / previous tab
:tabclose	Close current tab

Registers

Using Registers

"ay	Yank into register a
"ap	Paste from register a
"Ay	Append yank to register a
:reg	Show all registers

Special Registers

""	Unnamed (last delete/yank)
"0	Last yank
"+	System clipboard
"/"	Last search pattern
".	Last inserted text
"_	Black hole (discard)

Macros

Recording & Playing

q{a}	Start recording macro into register a
q	Stop recording
@{a}	Play macro from register a
@@	Replay last macro
5@a	Play macro a 5 times

Macro Example

qa        " start recording into a
I//       " insert // at line start
Esc j     " return to normal, move down
q         " stop recording
10@a      " comment next 10 lines

Settings

Common Options

:set number         " show line numbers
:set relativenumber  " relative line numbers
:set tabstop=4      " tab width
:set expandtab      " spaces instead of tabs
:set ignorecase     " case-insensitive search

Display & Behavior

:set wrap / nowrap   " toggle line wrapping
:set hlsearch        " highlight search matches
:set incsearch       " incremental search
:set cursorline      " highlight current line
:syntax on           " enable syntax highlighting

File Operations

Save & Quit

:w	Save
:w file	Save as file
:q	Quit (fails if unsaved)
:q!	Quit without saving
:wq / :x / ZZ	Save and quit
:wa	Save all buffers
:qa	Quit all buffers

File Info & External

Ctrl+g	Show file info
:!cmd	Run shell command
:r !cmd	Insert command output
:r file	Insert file contents

Text Objects

Inner & Around Objects

iw / aw	Inner / around word
is / as	Inner / around sentence
ip / ap	Inner / around paragraph
i" / a"	Inner / around double quotes
i' / a'	Inner / around single quotes
i( / a(	Inner / around parentheses
i{ / a{	Inner / around braces
it / at	Inner / around HTML tag

Common Combos

ciw     " change inner word
di"     " delete inside quotes
ya{     " yank around braces
vip     " select inner paragraph

Marks & Jumps

Marks

m{a}	Set mark a at cursor position
'a	Jump to line of mark a
`a	Jump to exact position of mark a
:marks	List all marks

Jump List

Ctrl+o	Jump to previous position
Ctrl+i	Jump to next position
:jumps	Show jump list
''	Jump to last jump position

VIM QUICK REFERENCE