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Cheat sheet for vim
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vim-cheatsheet.md

Vim Cheat Sheet

Movement

By "Word"

  • w forward to beginning of the next word
  • W forward to beginning of the next word (whitespace separates)
  • e forward to end of next word
  • E forward to end of next word (whitespace separates)
  • b back to beginning of the previous word
  • B back to beginning of the previous word (whitespace separates)
  • ge back to end of the next word
  • gE back to end of the next word (whitespace separates)

Searching

On current line

  • fn find and move to the next occurrence of n. You can follow this with a ; to repeat the find/move. You can also use , to go back one match.
  • tn find and move to (until) the character preceding the next occurrence of n. As above, ; repeats, and , goes back one match.
  • Fn find and move to the previous occurrence of n. ; repeats, , goes back one match.
  • Tn find and move to (unTil) the character following the next occurence of n. ; repeats, , goes back one match.

In document

  • /term search forwards for term
  • ?term search backwards for term

Combining with other commands

  • cfn - change the text up to where you find the next occurrence of n
  • cFn - change the text back to where you Find the previous occurrence of n

By page/screen

  • ^f forward a page/screen
  • ^b back a page/screen
  • ^u up half a page/screen
  • ^d down half a page/screen

Positioning within a page/screen

  • H go to Head (top) or "High point" of screen
  • M go to Middle of screen
  • L go to Last line or "Low point" of screen

Positioning within a document/file

  • gg first line of document
  • G last line of document
  • 500G line 500
  • * search forwards for word currently under cursor (use with n and N)
  • # search backward for word currently under cursor (use with N and n - note that direction is reversed)
  • % matching bracket, brace, square bracket - see matchit.vim for extended behavior

Marks

  • ma set position of (book)mark a
  • :marks list currently defined marks
  • 'a jump to rot for mark a
  • ```ajump to row/column for marka`

Editing

  • i insert at cursor
  • I insert at beginning of line
  • a append after cursor
  • A append at end of line
  • r replace a single character
  • R replace any number of characters
  • c<motion> change, e.g. cw is change word
  • x delete character under cursor
  • X delete character before cursor
  • d<motion> delete, e.g. dw is delete word, dd is delete line

Copy/Cut & Paste

See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/VimTip386 for more detailed info.

  1. press v (for visual mode) to start the selection (or V to select whole lines, or Ctrl-v for a vertical block)
  2. move the cursor to where you want the selection to end
  3. press d for delete (cut) or y for yank (copy)
  4. position the cursor where you want to paste
  5. press P or p for paste before or after cursor, respectively

Buffers

For an excellent tutorial, see http://reefpoints.dockyard.com/2013/10/22/vim-buffers.html

  • add a buffer: :badd
  • list open buffers: :ls
  • switch to alternate (#) buffer: CTRL+6
  • switch to previous buffer: :bp
  • switch to next buffer: :bn
  • switch to buffer x (where x is an integer): :bx
  • delete (close) current buffer: :bd
  • delete (close) buffers x and y: :bd x y

Windows

For another excellent tutorial, see http://reefpoints.dockyard.com/2013/11/27/vim-windows.html

  • split current window: CTRL+w s
  • split current window vertically: CTRL+w v
  • switch to window to left: CTRL+w h
  • switch to window to right: CTRL+w l
  • switch to window above: CTRL+w k
  • switch to window below: CTRL+w j
  • rotate windows: CTRL+w r
  • rotate windows (opposite direction): CTRL+w R
  • move current window the far left and use the full height of the screen: CTRL-w H
  • move current window the far bottom and use the full width of the screen: CTRL-w J
  • move current window the far top and full width of the screen: CTRL-w K
  • move current window the far right and full height of the screen: CTRL-w L
  • resize the windows equally : CTRL-w =
  • incrementally increase the window to the right: CTRL-w >
  • takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 20 >
  • incrementally increase the window to the left: CTRL-w <
  • takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 20 <
  • incrementally decrease the window's height: CTRL-w -
  • takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 10 -
  • incrementally increase the window's height: CTRL-w +
  • takes a parameter, e.g. CTRL-w 10 +
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