Vim is a very efficient text editor. This reference was made for Vim 8.0.

Getting started

Exiting

Shortcut Description
: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
h j k l Arrow keys
^u / ^d Page up/page down

Words

b / w Previous/next word
e / ge Previous/next end of word

Line

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

Document

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

Editing

Shortcut Description
a Append
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

Exiting insert mode

Shortcut Description
Esc / ^[ Exit insert mode
^c Exit insert mode, and abort current command

Clipboard

Shortcut Description
x Delete character
dd Delete line (Cut)
yy Yank line (Copy)
p Paste
P Paste before

Visual mode

v Enter visual mode
V Enter visual line mode
^v Enter visual block mode

In visual mode

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

See Operators for other things you can do.

Operators

Usage

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

d w
Operator Motion

Operators list

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

See :help operator

Examples

Combine operators with motions to use them.

Shortcut Description
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

Shortcut Description
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

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

See Operators for other things you can do.

Misc

Folds

Shortcut Description
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).

Shortcut Description
[( [{ [< previous ( or { or <
]) next
[m previous method start
[M previous method end

Jumping

Shortcut Description
^O Go back to previous location
^I Go forward
gf go to file in cursor

Counters

^A increment number
^X decrement

Windows

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

Tags

Shortcut Description
:tag Classname Jump to first definition of Classname
^] Jump to definition
g] See all definitions
^t Go back to last tag
^o ^i Back/forward
:tselect Classname Find definitions of Classname
:tjump Classname Find definitions of Classname (auto-select 1st)

Case

Shortcut Description
~ toggle case (Case => cASE)
gU uppercase
gu lowercase
gUU uppercase current line (also gUgU)
guu lowercase current line (also gugu)

Do these in visual mode.

Marks

Shortcut Description
`^ Last position of cursor in insert mode
`. Last change
`` Last jump
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

Misc

Shortcut Description
. repeat last command
]p paste under the current indentation level
zz Center this line

Command line

Shortcut Description
<C-r><C-w> insert current word into the command line
<C-r>" paste from “ register

Text alignment

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

See :help formatting

Calculator

<C-r>=128/2

Do this in insert mode.

Exiting with an error

:cq
:cquit

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

Also see