Vim Cheat Sheet

Global

:help keyword - open help for keyword
:saveas file - save file as
:close - close current pane
K - open man page for word under the cursor

Exiting

: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

Macros

qa - record macro a
q - stop recording macro
@a - run macro a
@@ - rerun last run macro

Cursor movement

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)
% - move to matching character (default supported pairs: '()', '{}', '[]' - use :h matchpairs in vim for more info)
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
5G - go to line 5
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
Ctrl + e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
Ctrl + b - move back one full screen
Ctrl + f - move forward one full screen
Ctrl + d - move forward 1/2 a screen
Ctrl + u - move back 1/2 a screen

Note: Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

Insert mode - inserting/appending text

i - insert before the cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
a - insert (append) after the cursor
A - insert (append) at the end of the line
o - append (open) a new line below the current line
O - append (open) a new line above the current line
ea - insert (append) at the end of the word
Ctrl + h - delete the character before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + w - delete word before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + j - begin new line during insert mode
Ctrl + t - indent (move right) line one shiftwidth during insert mode
Ctrl + d - de-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth during insert mode
Ctrl + n - insert (auto-complete) next match before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + p - insert (auto-complete) previous match before the cursor during insert mode
Ctrl + rx - insert the contents of register x
Ctrl + ox - Temporarily enter normal mode to issue one normal-mode command x.
Esc - exit insert mode

Editing

r - replace a single character
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
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 - 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
Ctrl + r - redo
. - repeat last command

Marking text (visual mode)

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
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block
aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
it - inner block with <> tags
Esc - exit visual mode

Note Instead of b or B you can also use ( or { respectively.

Visual commands

> - 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

Marks and positions

: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
Ctrl + i - go to newer position in jump list
Ctrl + 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
Ctrl + ] - jump to the tag under cursor

Note: To jump to a mark you can either use a backtick (`) or an apostrophe ('). Using an apostrophe jumps to the beginning (first non-blank) of the line holding the mark.

Cut and paste

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$ or 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
:3,5d - delete lines starting from 3 to 5

Note: You can also use the following characters to specify the range:

:.,$d - From the current line to the end of the file :.,1d - From the current line to the beginning of the file :10,$d - From the 10th line to the beginning of the file
:g/{pattern}/d - delete all lines containing pattern
:g!/{pattern}/d - delete all lines not containing pattern
d$ or D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
x - delete (cut) character

Indent text

>> - indent (move right) line one shiftwidth
<< - de-indent (move left) line one shiftwidth
>% - indent a block with () or {} (cursor on brace)
<% - de-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

Search and replace

/pattern - search for pattern
?pattern - search backward for pattern
vpattern - '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

: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

:tabnew or :tabnew {page.words.file} - open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + 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 - closes all opened tabs)

Working with multiple files

: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
Ctrl + ws - split window
Ctrl + wv - split window vertically
Ctrl + ww - switch windows
Ctrl + wq - quit a window
Ctrl + wx - exchange current window with next one
Ctrl + w= - make all windows equal height & width
Ctrl + wh - move cursor to the left window (vertical split)
Ctrl + wl - move cursor to the right window (vertical split)
Ctrl + wj - move cursor to the window below (horizontal split)
Ctrl + wk - move cursor to the window above (horizontal split)
Ctrl + wH - make current window full height at far left (leftmost vertical window)
Ctrl + wL - make current window full height at far right (rightmost vertical window)
Ctrl + wJ - make current window full width at the very bottom (bottommost horizontal window)
Ctrl + wK - make current window full width at the very top (topmost horizontal window)

Folding

zR - Unfold all folded lines in file.
za - Open/close (toggle) a folded group of lines.
zA - Open a closed fold or close an open fold recursively.
zc - Close a folded group of lines.
zC - Close all folded lines recursively.
zd - Delete a folded line.
zD - Delete all folded lines recursively.
zE - Eliminate all folded lines in file.
zF - Create "N" folded lines.

Registers

:reg - 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

Note Registers are being stored in ~/.viminfo, and will be loaded again on next restart of vim.

Special registers:

0 - last yank
" - unnamed register, last delete or yank
% - current file name
# - alternate file name
* - clipboard contents (X11 primary)
+ - clipboard contents (X11 clipboard)
/ - last search pattern
: - last command-line
. - last inserted text
- - last small (less than a line) delete
= - expression register
_ - black hole register

petergi/Vim Cheatsheet.md

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