Vim Cheatsheet for Beginners

These commands are tested in VSCode with Vim plugin.

💠 Mode

ESC / Ctrl + [ - Normal Mode
a - Insert Mode (After Current Char)
i - Insert Mode (Before Current Char)
v - Visual Mode / Selection Mode
R - Replace Mode
: - Command Mode

💠 Arrow

h - Left arrow
l - Right arrow
j - Down arrow
k - Up arrow

💠 Search

/pattern - Search forward
?pattern - Search backward
n - Repeat search forward
N - Repeat search backward

💠 Jump

🔹 Char (Inside Current Line)

fc - Go forward to character c
Fc - Go backward to character c
tc - Go forward before character c
Tc - Go backward before character c
; - Go forward next
, - Go backward next

🔹 Word

e - Last char before space
w - Next word (first char)
b - Previous word (first char)
ge - Previous Word (last char)
* - Next same word
# - Previous same word

🔹 Current Line

0 - Start of the line
^ - Start of the line (after whitespace)
I - Start of the line and insert (after whitespace)
$ - End of the line
A - End of the line and insert

🔹 Line

o - Next line and insert
O - Previous line and insert
gg - First line
G - Last line
:n - Goto n line
nG - Goto n line

🔹 Block / Paragraph

{ - Move up
} - Move down
% - Jump between braces (( ), { }, [ ])

🔹 Window / Page

zz - Center this line
zt - Top this line
zb - Bottom this line
H - Top of screen
M - Middle of screen
L - Bottom of screen
Ctrl + u - Page up (Half page)
Ctrl + d - Page down (Half page)

🔹 Tab

:tabclose - Close current tab
:tabfirst - First tab
:tablast - Last tab
:tabn - Next tab
tabp - Previous tab

💠 Select

ve - Select until next space
vw - Select until next word (Highlight word)
V - Select current line
v - Select current char (Highlight char)

💠 Copy

y - Copy selected (Only in visual mode)
yy - Copy current line
yw - Copy current word
yj - Copy current and previous line
yk - Copy current and next line

💠 Editing

🔹 Paste

p - Paste next
P - Paste Previous

🔹 Delete

x - Delete current char
s - Delete current char and insert
cw - Delete all char before space and insert (from cursor)
dw - Delete until next word
diw - Delete current word
X - Delete current word and insert (Custom bdwi)
dd - Delete current line
S - Delete current line and insert
D - Delete the rest of the line
C - Delete the rest of the line and insert

🔹 Replace

r - Replace one character
R - Replace multiple character (Replace Mode)

🔹 Undo/Redo

u - Undo changes
Ctrl + r - Redo

💠 Exit

:q - Close file
:q! - Close file, abandon changes
:qa - Close all files
:qa! - Close all files, abandon changes
:w - Save changes
:wq / :x - Save and close file
ZZ - Save and quit
ZQ - Quit without checking changes

💠 Notes & Combos

All keys mentioned above can be combined with one another.
- Example: ct) can delete everything until ). That means it can be used for clear function parameter or something like that. Here c means cut and t) means forward until char ).
di{ - Delete everything inside {}
d2i{ - Delete everything inside {} and its surround {}.
ct} - Delete everything until } and insert.
d5$ - Delete next 5 lines after cursor.
0d5$ - Delete next 5 lines including current.
cip - Delete paragraph and insert
di( - Delete everything inside ()
yi( - Copy everything inside ()
vi( - Highlight everything inside ()
diw - Delete current word

💠 Important VSCode Configurations for New Users

🔹 Disable Vim ctrl+c ctrl+v ctrl+x commands

"vim.useCtrlKeys": true,
"vim.handleKeys": {
		"<C-c>": false,
		"<C-x>": false,
		"<C-v>": false
	}

🔹 Disable Vim arrow controls

"vim.handleKeys": {
		"<": false,
		">": false
    }

🔹 Enable jj to Normal Mode

"vim.insertModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": ["j", "j"],
            "after": ["<esc>"]
        }
    ]

🔹 Enable X to Delete Current Word and Insert

"vim.normalModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": ["X"],
            "after": ["b","d","w","i"]
        }
    ]

🔹 Enable vim to use System Clipboard

"vim.useSystemClipboard": true

🔹 Fix buggy undo redo and make it like vscode

"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        { 
            "before": ["u"], 
            "after": [],
            "commands": [
                {
                    "command": "undo", 
                    "args": []
                }
            ] 
        }, 
        { 
            "before": ["<C-r>"],
            "after": [],
            "commands": [
                {
                    "command": "redo", 
                    "args": []
                }
            ] 
        } 
    ]

🔹 Enable move cursor to each wrapped line (if wrap line enable)

    {
        "before": ["j"],
        "after": ["g", "j"]
    },
    {
        "before": ["k"],
        "after": ["g", "k"]
    }

ehsan18t/vim-vscode.md