The original can be found here: https://devhints.io/vim

vim Essentials Cheatsheet.md

For shortcut notation, see :help key-notation.

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

Key(s)	Navigating
h j k l	Arrow keys
<C-U> / <C-D>	Half-page up/down
<C-B> / <C-F>	Page up/down

Key(s)	Words
b / w	Previous/next word
ge / e	Previous/next end of word

Line

| | | | | | | 0 (zero) | Start of line | | ^ | Start of line (after whitespace) | | $ | End of line |

Character

| | | | | | | fc | Go forward to character c | | Fc | Go backward to character c |

Document

| | Document | | | | | gg | First line | | G | Last line | | :n | Go to line n | | nG | Go to line n |

Window

| | | | | | | zz | Center this line | | zt | Top this line | | zb | Bottom this line | | H | Move to top of screen | | M | Move to middle of screen | | L | Move to bottom of screen |

Search

| | | | | | | n | Next matching search pattern | | N | Previous match | | * | Next whole word under cursor | | # | Previous whole word under cursor |

Tab pages

:tabedit [file]	Edit file in a new tab
:tabfind [file]	Open file if exists in new tab
:tabclose	Close current tab
:tabs	List all tabs
:tabfirst	Go to first tab
:tablast	Go to last tab
:tabn	Go to next tab
:tabp	Go to previous tab

Editing

| | | | | | | a | Append | | A | Append from end of line | | i | Insert | | o | Next line | | O | Previous line | | s | Delete char and insert | | S | Delete line and insert | | C | Delete until end of line and insert | | r | Replace one character | | R | Enter Replace mode | | u | Undo changes | | <C-R> | Redo changes |

Exiting insert mode

Esc / <C-[>	Exit insert mode
<C-C>	Exit insert mode, and abort current command

Clipboard

x	Delete character
dd	Delete line (Cut)
yy	Yank line (Copy)
p	Paste
P	Paste before
"*p / "+p	Paste from system clipboard
"*y / "+y	Paste to system clipboard

Visual mode

v	Enter visual mode
V	Enter visual line mode
<C-V>	Enter visual block mode

In visual mode

d / x	Delete selection
s	Replace selection
y	Yank selection (Copy)

Operators

Usage

Operators let you operate in a range of text (defined by motion). These are performed in normal mode.

d	w
Operator	Motion

Operators list

d	Delete
y	Yank (copy)
c	Change (delete then insert)
>	Indent right
<	Indent left
=	Autoindent
g~	Swap case
gU	Uppercase
gu	Lowercase
!	Filter through external program

See :help operator

Examples

Combine operators with motions to use them.

dd	(repeat the letter) Delete current line
dw	Delete to next word
db	Delete to beginning of word
2dd	Delete 2 lines
dip	Delete a text object (inside paragraph)
(in visual mode) d	Delete selection

See: :help motion.txt

Text objects

Usage

Text objects let you operate (with an operator) in or around text blocks (objects).

v	i	p
Operator	[i]nside or [a]round	Text object

Text objects

p	Paragraph
w	Word
s	Sentence
[ ( { <	A [], (), or {} block
' " ```	A quoted string
b	A block [(
B	A block in [{
t	A XML tag block

Examples

vip	Select paragraph
vipipipip	Select more
yip	Yank inner paragraph
yap	Yank paragraph (including newline)
dip	Delete inner paragraph
cip	Change inner paragraph

Diff

gvimdiff file1 file2 [file3]	See differences between files, in HMI

Misc

Folds

zo / zO	Open
zc / zC	Close
za / zA	Toggle
zv	Open folds for this line
zM	Close all
zR	Open all
zm	Fold more (foldlevel += 1)
zr	Fold less (foldlevel -= 1)
zx	Update folds

Uppercase ones are recursive (eg, zO is open recursively).

Navigation

%	Nearest/matching {[()]}
[( [{ [<	Previous ( or { or <
])	Next
[m	Previous method start
[M	Previous method end

Jumping

<C-O>	Go back to previous location
<C-I>	Go forward
gf	Go to file in cursor

Counters

<C-A>	Increment number
<C-X>	Decrement

Windows

z{height}<Cr>	Resize pane to {height} lines tall

Tags

:tag Classname	Jump to first definition of Classname
<C-]>	Jump to definition
g]	See all definitions
<C-T>	Go back to last tag
<C-O> <C-I>	Back/forward
:tselect Classname	Find definitions of Classname
:tjump Classname	Find definitions of Classname (auto-select 1st)

Case

~	Toggle case (Case => cASE)
gU	Uppercase
gu	Lowercase
gUU	Uppercase current line (also gUgU)
guu	Lowercase current line (also gugu)

Do these in visual or normal mode.

Marks

``^`	Last position of cursor in insert mode
``.`	Last change in current buffer
``"`	Last exited current buffer
``0`	In last file edited
''	Back to line in current buffer where jumped from
````	Back to position in current buffer where jumped from
``[`	To beginning of previously changed or yanked text
``]`	To end of previously changed or yanked text
``<`	To beginning of last visual selection
``>`	To end of last visual selection
ma	Mark this cursor position as a
``a`	Jump to the cursor position a
'a	Jump to the beginning of the line with position a
d'a	Delete from current line to line of mark a
da`	Delete from current position to position of mark a
c'a	Change text from current line to line of a
ya`	Yank text from current position to position of a
:marks	List all current marks
:delm a	Delete mark a
:delm a-d	Delete marks a, b, c, d
:delm abc	Delete marks a, b, c

Misc

.	Repeat last command
]p	Paste under the current indentation level
:set ff=unix	Convert Windows line endings to Unix line endings

Command line

<C-R><C-W>	Insert current word into the command line
<C-R>"	Paste from “ register
<C-X><C-F>	Auto-completion of path in insert mode

Text alignment

:center [width]
:right [width]
:left

See :help formatting

Calculator

<C-R>=128/2	Shows the result of the division : ‘64’

Do this in insert mode.

Exiting with an error

:cq
:cquit

Works like :qa, but throws an error. Great for aborting Git commands.

Spell checking

:set spell spelllang=en_us	Turn on US English spell checking
]s	Move to next misspelled word after the cursor
[s	Move to previous misspelled word before the cursor
z=	Suggest spellings for the word under/after the cursor
zg	Add word to spell list
zw	Mark word as bad/mispelling
zu / C-X (Insert Mode)	Suggest words for bad word under cursor from spellfile

See :help spell

Also see

• Vim cheatsheet (vim.rotrr.com)
• Vim documentation (vimdoc.sourceforge.net)
• Interactive Vim tutorial (openvim.com)

With only 50% of the cheatsheet, I am able to do 100% of what I need with VIM (in my case neovim).