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@chrisurf
Created December 12, 2021 09:17
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Vim keyboard shortcuts

Vim Cheat Sheet

Global

Keys Description
:h[elp] keyword open help for keyword
:sav[eas] file save file as
:clo[se] close current pane
:ter[minal] open a terminal window
K open man page for word under the cursor

Cursor movement

Keys Description
h move cursor left
j move cursor down
k move cursor up
l move cursor right
H move to top of screen
M move to middle of screen
L move to bottom of screen
w jump forwards to the start of a word
W jump forwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
e jump forwards to the end of a word
E jump forwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
b jump backwards to the start of a word
B jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
ge jump backwards to the end of a word
gE jump backwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
% move to matching character (default supported pairs: '()', '{}', '[]'
0 jump to the start of the line
^ jump to the first non-blank character of the line
$ jump to the end of the line
g_ jump to the last non-blank character of the line
gg go to the first line of the document
G go to the last line of the document
5gg or 5G go to line 5
gd move to local declaration
gD move to global declaration
fx jump to next occurrence of character x
tx jump to before next occurrence of character x
Fx jump to previous occurence of character x
Tx jump to after previous occurence of character x
; repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
, repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backwards
} jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
{ jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
zz center cursor on screen
⌥ + e move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
⌥ + y move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
⌥ + b move back one full screen
⌥ + f move forward one full screen
⌥ + d move forward 1/2 a screen
⌥ + u move back 1/2 a screen

Editing

Keys Description
r replace a single character.
R replace more than one character, until ESC is pressed.
J join line below to the current one with one space in between
gJ join line below to the current one without space in between
gwip reflow paragraph
g~ switch case up to motion
gu change to lowercase up to motion
gU change to uppercase up to motion
cc change (replace) entire line
C change (replace) to the end of the line
c$ change (replace) to the end of the line
ciw change (replace) entire word
cw or ce change (replace) to the end of the word
s delete character and substitute text
S delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
xp transpose two letters (delete and paste)
u undo
U restore (undo) last changed line
⌥ + r redo
. repeat last command

Marking text (visual mode)

Keys Description
v start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V start linewise visual mode
o move to other end of marked area
⌥ + v start visual block mode
O move to other corner of block
aw mark a word
ab a block with ()
aB a block with {}
at a block with <> tags
ib inner block with ()
iB inner block with {}
it inner block with <> tags
Esc exit visual mode

Visual commands

Keys Description
> shift text right
< shift text left
y yank (copy) marked text
d delete marked text
~ switch case
u change marked text to lowercase
U change marked text to uppercase

Registers

Keys Description
:reg[isters] show registers content
"xy yank into register x
"xp paste contents of register x
"+y yank into the system clipboard register
"+p paste from the system clipboard register

Marks and positions

Keys Description
:marks list of marks
ma set current position for mark A
`a jump to position of mark A
y`a yank text to position of mark A
`0 go to the position where Vim was previously exited
`" go to the position when last editing this file
`. go to the position of the last change in this file
`` go to the position before the last jump
:ju[mps] list of jumps
⌥ + i go to newer position in jump list
⌥ + o go to older position in jump list
:changes list of changes
g, go to newer position in change list
g; go to older position in change list
⌥ + ] jump to the tag under cursor

Macros

Keys Description
qa record macro a
q stop recording macro
@a run macro a
@@ rerun last run macro

Cut and paste

Keys Description
yy yank (copy) a line
2yy yank (copy) 2 lines
yw yank (copy) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
yiw yank (copy) word under the cursor
yaw yank (copy) word under the cursor and the space after or before it
y$ yank (copy) to end of line
p put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P put (paste) before cursor
gp put (paste) the clipboard after cursor and leave cursor after the new text
gP put (paste) before cursor and leave cursor after the new text
dd delete (cut) a line
2dd delete (cut) 2 lines
dw delete (cut) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
diw delete (cut) word under the cursor
daw delete (cut) word under the cursor and the space after or before it
D delete (cut) to the end of the line
d$ delete (cut) to the end of the line
x delete (cut) character

Indent text

Keys Description
>> indent (move right) line one shiftwidth
<< de-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth
>% indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
>ib indent inner block with ()
>at indent a block with <> tags
3== re-indent 3 lines
=% re-indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
=iB re-indent inner block with {}
gg=G re-indent entire buffer
]p paste and adjust indent to current line

Exiting

Keys Description
:w write (save) the file, but don't exit
:w !sudo tee % write out the current file using sudo
:wq or :x or ZZ write (save) and quit
:q quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:q! or ZQ quit and throw away unsaved changes
:wqa write (save) and quit on all tabs

Search and replace

Keys Description
/pattern search for pattern
?pattern search backward for pattern
\vpattern 'very magic' pattern: non-alphanumeric characters are interpreted as special regex symbols (no escaping needed)
n repeat search in same direction
N repeat search in opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g replace all old with new throughout file
:%s/old/new/gc replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
:noh[lsearch] remove highlighting of search matches

Search in multiple files

Keys Description
:vim[grep] /pattern/ {{file}} search for pattern in multiple files e.g. :vim[grep] /foo/ */
:cn[ext] jump to the next match
:cp[revious] jump to the previous match
:cope[n] open a window containing the list of matches
:ccl[ose] close the quickfix window

Tabs

Keys Description
:tabnew or :tabnew {page.words.file} open a file in a new tab
⌥ + wT move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabn[ext] move to the next tab
gT or :tabp[revious] move to the previous tab
#gt move to tab number #
:tabm[ove] # move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0)
:tabc[lose] close the current tab and all its windows
:tabo[nly] close all tabs except for the current one
:tabdo command run the command on all tabs (e.g. :tabdo q

Diff

Keys Description
zf manually define a fold up to motion
zd delete fold under the cursor
za toggle fold under the cursor
zo open fold under the cursor
zc close fold under the cursor
zr reduce (open) all folds by one level
zm fold more (close) all folds by one level
zi toggle folding functionality
]c jump to start of next change
[c jump to start of previous change
do or :diffg[et] obtain (get) difference (from other buffer)
dp or :diffpu[t] put difference (to other buffer)
:diffthis make current window part of diff
:dif[fupdate] update differences
:diffo[ff] switch off diff mode for current window

Working with multiple files

Keys Description
:e[dit] file edit a file in a new buffer
:bn[ext] go to the next buffer
:bp[revious] go to the previous buffer
:bd[elete] delete a buffer (close a file)
:b[uffer]# go to a buffer by index #
:b[uffer] file go to a buffer by file
:ls or :buffers list all open buffers
:sp[lit] file open a file in a new buffer and split window
:vs[plit] file open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
:vert[ical] ba[ll] edit all buffers as vertical windows
:tab ba[ll] edit all buffers as tabs
⌥ + ws split window
⌥ + wv split window vertically
⌥ + ww switch windows
⌥ + wq quit a window
⌥ + wx exchange current window with next one
⌥ + w= make all windows equal height & width
⌥ + wh move cursor to the left window (vertical split)
⌥ + wl move cursor to the right window (vertical split)
⌥ + wj move cursor to the window below (horizontal split)
⌥ + wk move cursor to the window above (horizontal split)
⌥ + wH make current window full height at far left (leftmost vertical window)
⌥ + wL make current window full height at far right (rightmost vertical window)
⌥ + wJ make current window full width at the very bottom (bottommost horizontal window)
⌥ + wK make current window full width at the very top (topmost horizontal window)
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