Vim

Vim Essentials

Vim Cheatsheet

Neovim Cheat Sheet fro various keyboard layouts

Vim Shortcuts

Tip

Run vimtutor in a terminal to learn the first Vim commands.

Legend:

bol - begining of line
"soft" bol - first non-whitespace character of line
eol - end of line
"soft" eol - last non-whitespace character of line
buffer - content of opened in Vim file
register - Vim's clipboard

Modes

Normal Mode

Default mode Vim starts in. Key presses don’t insert text into the document.
To get back to the mode from other ones:
Esc or Ctrl+[ - back from any mode
v / vv - back from charwise / linewise visual mode

Insert Mode

Typing inserts characters just like a regular text editor.
Accessed from normal mode by pressing: i , I , a , A , o , O , c , C or s , S
Mode's specific commands:

Ctrl+h - delete the character before the cursor
Ctrl+w - delete word before the cursor
Ctrl+j - begin new line
Ctrl+t / Ctrl+d - indent(move right) / de-indent(move left) line one shiftwidth
Ctrl+p / Ctrl+n - insert(auto-complete) previous / next match before the cursor
Ctrl+r {char} - insert the contents of register {char}
Ctrl+o {command} - Temporarily enter normal mode to issue one normal-mode {command}

Replace Mode

Allows replace existing text by directly typing over it.
Accessed from normal mode by pressing: R

Visual Mode

Used to make selections of text, similar to how clicking and dragging with a mouse behaves.
Accessed from normal mode by pressing: v , V or Ctrl+q
Mode's specific commands:

u / U - change marked text to lowercase / uppercase

Command Mode

Has a wide variety of commands and can do things that normal mode can’t do as easily.
Accessed by pressing: / , ? or :

Global

Ctrl+l - clear Vim's command line
q: - show commands history list in a new horisontally-splitted window
:{command-pattern}Ctrl+d - show {command-pattern}'s available commands
:map - mapping a key in command mode to a group of commands, e.g. :map de :1,$d^M will delete all lines when using the :de command

Help

:h (or :help) - help
K - jumps to the help for the word under the cursor: neovim help, man page, etc...( qq - to get back to the editor)

:pwd - print working directory
:!{cmd} - execute a shell command named {cmd}
:ter - load an inline terminal to new buffer in normal mode; to exit use :bd! or exit command in insert mode

Options

:set / :set {options} - show / define editor options

Some of the commmon {options} are:

all - display all current vi options
[no]nu - display line numbers
[no]ruler (and optionally rulerformat) - showing line number headers; if you don't want to see the ruler all the time but want to know where you are, use g Ctrl+g
[no]wrap - text wrapping
[no]linebreak - line breaking
[no]spell - spellchecking
syntax on/off - syntax highlighting
expandtab - space-tabbing
softtabstop=4 - soft tab
shiftwidth=4 - indent sizing
:noremap x "_x - re-map x command to work with the "black hole" register, i.e. to allow deleting characters without copying

Repeating

{num}{command} - repeat command {num} times
& - repeat :s command
. - repeat previous change

Macros

q{a-z} - start recording macro named {a-z}
q - stop recording macro(after it started with the above command)
@{a-z} - replay {a-z} macro
@@ - replay the last macro played

Argument list

A list of opened files given as arguments to the vim cmd.

:ar - print the argument list, with the current file in square brackets
:[count]N[!] / :[count]n[!] - edit [count] previous / next file + discard any changes to the buffer if [!] is used

Buffers

A buffer is the in-memory text of a file.

Ctrl+^ - switch between two last buffers
:ls - list all open buffers; focused buffer named with %a
:bf(or :br) / :bl / :bp / :bn / :b# / :b{N} / :b {Name} - switch to first / last / previous / next / alternate(heretofore opened) / {N}'s(as shown by :ls) / {Name}(as shown by :ls) buffer
:bad [+{lnum}] {file} - add {file} to the buffer list, without loading it, if it wasn't listed yet(and position cursor at {lnum} line)
:bd / :%bd / :bd# / :bd{N} / :bd {Name} - unload current / all / alternate(heretofore opened) / {N}'s(as shown by :ls) / {Name}(as shown by :ls) buffer and delete it from the buffer list
1. to force unload use ! after bd; changes are lost in this case
2. in splitted layout that command will also close all windows currently showing the buffer
:tab ba - edit all buffers as tabs
:[range]bufdo[!] {command} - execute {command} in each buffer in the buffer list or only for buffers for which their buffer number is in the [range]; when the current file can't be abandoned and the [!] is not present, the command fails

Tabs

A tab page is a collection of windows.

:tabs - list all open tabs
:tabe or :tabnew - open new tab
:tabe {name} / {file} or :tabnew {name} / {file} - open new tab with name {name} / file {file}
vim -p file1 file2 - run Vim and open file1 and file2 in separate tabs
gt / gT or :tabn / :tabp - move to the next / previous tab
{num}gt or :tabm {num} - move to tab number {num}
:tabm {num} - move current tab to the {num}th position (indexed from 0)
:tabc - close the current tab and all its windows
:tabo - close all tabs except for the current one
:tabdo {command} - run the {command} on all tabs (e.g. :tabdo q - closes all opened tabs)

Windows

A window is a viewport on a buffer.

Ctrl+w n or :sp n - create a new horizontal split and start editing an empty file in it
Ctrl+w s or :sp / Ctrl+w v or :vert sp - create a horizontal / vertical split
{num}Ctrl+w ^ - create a horizontal split and edit the alternate / {num} buffer
Ctrl+w c or :clo - close focused split window, i.e. doesn't close not-splitted window
Ctrl+w q - quit a window
{num}Ctrl+w o or :{num}on[!] - close(force close if ! is used) all but the current / {num} window
{win_num}Ctrl+w x - exchange current window with next / {win_num} window
Ctrl+w r - rotate windows downwards/rightwards; this only works within the row or column of windows that the current window is in
Ctrl+w R - rotate windows upwards/leftwards; this only works within the row or column of windows that the current window is in
Ctrl+w T - move the current split window into its own tab
Ctrl+w = - make all windows equal height & width
{num}Ctrl+w - / {num}Ctrl+w + or :{win_num}res [+-]{num} - decrease / increase current(or {win_num}) window height by 1 / {num}
{num}Ctrl+w < / {num}Ctrl+w > or :vert {win_num}res [+-]{num} - decrease / increase current(or {win_num}) window width by 1 / {num}
Ctrl+w _ / Ctrl+w | - set current window height / width to highest / widest possible
{num}Ctrl+w w - move cursor to next / {num} window
Ctrl+w h / Ctrl+w l - move cursor to the left /right window (vertical split)
Ctrl+w j / Ctrl+w k - move cursor to the window below / above (horizontal split)
Ctrl+w t / Ctrl+w b - move cursor to top-left / bottom-right window
Ctrl+w p - move cursor to previous (last accessed) window
Ctrl+w P - move cursor to preview window; when there is no preview window this is an error
Ctrl+w H / Ctrl+w L - make current window full height at far left(leftmost) / right(rightmost) vertical window
Ctrl+w J / Ctrl+w K - make current window full width at the very bottom(bottommost) / top(topmost) horizontal window
:[range]windo {commad} - execute {commad} in each / [range] window(s)

Screen

Ctrl+f / b ( or Shift+Up / Down or Page Up / Page Down ) - move pages up / down
Ctrl+u / d - move up / down 1/2 a screen
Ctrl+e / y - scroll line up / down
zt , zz , zb - scroll cursor to top, center, bottom

Folding

{num}zF - create a fold for {num} lines
:{range}fo - create a fold for the lines in {range}
zo / zO - open fold(s) by one / all level(s) under the cursor
zc / zC - close fold(s) by one / all level(s) under the cursor
:{range}foldo[!] / :{range}foldc[!] - open / close folds in {range} by one or all(when [!] is used) level(s)
za / zA - toggle one / all fold(s) under the cursor
zv - view cursor line: open just enough folds to make the line in which the cursor is located not folded
zr / zR - reduce(open) all folds by one / all level(s)
zm / zM - fold more(close) all folds by one / all level(s)
zi - toggle folding functionality(inverts foldenable setting)
_{Following commands only work when foldmethod set to "manual" or "marker":}
zd / zD - delete one fold(nested folds are moved one level up) / all folds at the cursor
zE - eliminate all folds in the window

Marks and positions

:marks - list of marks
m{a/A-z/Z} - set a mark {a/A-z/Z}; {a-z} - per buffer marks, {A-Z} - global marks
:ju - list of jumps

Note

Jump - a command that normally moves the cursor several lines away.
If you make the cursor jump the position of the cursor before the jump is remembered.
Junp commands are: ` , ' , g, G , L , M , H , ( , ) , { , } , [[ , ]] , % , / , ? , n , N , :s , :tag and the commands that start editing a new file.
Ctrl+o / Ctrl+i (or Tab ) - move cursor to older(backwards) / newer(forward) position in jump list
:changes - list of changes
g; / g, - move cursor to older(backwards) / newer(forward) position in change list

Motion

Note

Motion - move the cursor, or define the range for an operator.

`{mark} / '{mark} - move the cursor to {mark} / "soft" bol of {mark}

Special marks:

` / ' - position / "soft" bol of position before the last jump
. - position of the last change in this file
" - position when last editing this file
0 - position where Vim was previously exited
( / ) - move the cursor backwards to the beginning of the current(if cursor is not at the first letter of the sentence) or next sentence / forward to the beginning of the next sentence
{ / } - move the cursor to the previous / next empty line, i.e. to previous / next paragraph(or function/block, when editing code)
[z / ]z - move cursor to the start / end of the current open fold
zj / zk - move cursor downwards / upwards to the start / end of the next / previous fold
gd / gD - move cursor to local / global variable declaration
H , M , L - move the cursor to the top, middle, bottom line on screen
gg (or [[ ) / G (or ]] ) - move the cursor first / last line of the file
:{num} or {num}gg or {num}G - move the cursor to line {num} of the file
h , j , k , l (or Left , Down , Up , Right ) - move the cursor left, down, up, right
gj / gk - move the cursor down / up in multi-line text
w ( or Shift+Right ) / W ( or Ctrl+Right ) - move cursor to begining of next word / whitespace-separated segment of text
b ( or Shift+Left ) / B ( or Ctrl+Left ) - move cursor to previous begining of word / whitespace-separated segment of text
e / E - move the cursor to end of word / whitespace-separated segment of text
ge / gE - move the cursor to end of previous word / whitespace-separated segment of text
% - move the cursor to matching parenthesis, bracket or brace
f{char} / F{char} - move the cursor to the next / previous instance of {char}
t{char} / T{char} - move the cursor till the next / previous instance of {char}
; - repeat f , F , t , T commands
, - reverse f , F , t , T commands
0 or | - bol of current line
^ or _ - "soft" bol of current line
$ - eol of current line
g_ - "soft" eol of current line
+ or Enter - "soft" bol of next line
- - "soft" bol of previous line

_{Search in all windows for current screen:}

/{pattern} / ?{pattern} - forward / reverse search for {pattern}

Note

Regular expressions:

Both Vim’s find(/, ?) and replace functions accept regular expressions.
Characters assumed by Vim as part of regular expression(must be escaped with \ to be searched for literally): (, ), *, ., ^, $
Regular expression patterns that interpreted literally(must be escaped with \ to be used as a part of a regular expression): +

{\pattern} - "very magic" pattern:

Non-alphanumeric characters are interpreted as special regex symbols (no escaping needed), e.g. /\a - search for alphabetic character: [A-Za-z]. For more info search help: :h magic

Ignoring case:

\c in searching and replacing commands - can be placed anywhere in the sequence being searched for and affects the whole sequence
1. cgn - change next match
2. /{pattern}/m$ - move first match line to the last line of the document(doesn't seem to work)
/\<{word}\> - find the next occurrence of the word {word}, where {word} is bounded by word
* / # - search forward / backwards for the next instance of the identifier(word) under the cursor
g* / g# - search forward / backwards for the next instance(including nested in other word) of the identifier(word) under the cursor
n / N - repeats the last search in the same / opposite direction specified by the last use of * , # , / , ? (the last two are command mode motion commands) boundaries (ex. space, dash)

_{Search in multiple file(wether in current screen or not):}

:vim /{pattern}/ {file 1} {file 2} ... - search for {pattern} in files {file 1}, {file 2} etc.
:cp / :cn - move cursor to the previous / next match
:cope - open a window containing the list of matches
:ccl - close the quickfix window

2 last commands are not motions!

Selecting

v - visual : marks starting selection point, then move the cursor to the desired end selection point
V - linewise-visual : always select full lines
Ctrl+q - block-visual : select any rectangular region
upon selecting one can use various operators
:noh - un-highlight search matches

Editing

i - insert at cursor
a - append after cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
A - append at the end of the line
gi - insert text in the same position as where insert mode was stopped last time in the current buffer
o - insert a line below the current line
O - insert a line above the current line
:ab - define a text abbreviation in insert node, e.g. :ab VIM Vi Improved will auto-complete "VIM" in insert mode for the phrase "Vi Improved" them to the clipboard
{abbreviation}Ctrlv - to disable auto-completion and type the {abbreviation} as is
:[range] norm A{text} - add {text} on each eol within the [range]; A is just an example, other commands could be used instead
:[range]folddoc {cmd} / :[range]foldd {cmd} - execute {cmd} on all lines(or lines in [range]) that are / are not in a closed fold. Example: :foldd s/end/loop_end/ge (note the use of the e flag to avoid getting an error message where "end" doesn't match)
:r {file} - insert {file} content at the current cursor position
~ - toggle case of character beneath the cursor
r - replace a character at the cursor position
R - replace characters starting at the cursor position using overstrike cursor, which types over existing characters
J - joins the current line with the next one, or all the lines in the current visual selection with one space in between
gJ - joins the current line with the next one, or all the lines in the current visual selection without space in between
p - put : to paste after (if charwise, to the right; if linewise, below)
P (or p[ ) - put : to paste before (if charwise, to the left; if linewise, above)
gp , gP - same as p , P + leave cursor after the new text(if charwise) or at the bigining of next line(if linewise)
Shift+Ins - paste from system PRIMARY clipboard
Ctrl+Shift+v - paste from system CLIPBOARD clipboard
u - undo the previous operation
U - restore (undo) last changed line
Ctrl+r - redo last undo change

Diff mode

Diff - showing differences between 2 to 8 versions of the same file.

nvim -d file1 file2 [file3 [file4]] - cmd command to start editing in diff mode using vertical split
The second and following arguments may also be a directory name. Vim will then append the file name of the first argument to the directory name to find. the file.
Use -o argument for horizontal split.
:diffs {file} / :vert diffs {file} - start diff mode for the current and the newly opened window for {file} in horizontal / vertical split layout

Tip

If you always prefer a vertical split include "vertical" in diffopt.
:difft - make current window part of diff windows
:diffo[!] - switch off diff mode for the current window and, when ! is used, in all windows in the current tab page where diff is set(hidden buffers are also removed from the list of diff'ed buffers in this case)
:dif[!] - update the diff highlighting and folds; if the ! is included Vim will check if the file was changed externally and needs to be reloaded
[c / ]c - move cursor to start of previous / next change
{bufspec(count)}do or :[range]diffg [bufspec] - obtain(get) difference(from other buffer)
{bufspec(count)}dp or :[range]diffpu [bufspec] - put difference(to other buffer)
Note
In 2 comands above:
bufspec argument specifies the buffer to be used and can be a buffer number, a pattern for a buffer name or a part of a buffer name.
If bufspec is omitted the other buffer which is in diff mode is used. But for the second command there should be only one such buffer(where modifiable is set), otherwise it fails.

Registers

Tip

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

"{char} - select from register the {char} register before a yank/delete/put commands, e.g. "aY - copy rest of line to register a
1. "{A-Z} before yank/delete - append-copy to register {a-z}
2. following {chars} are special registers:
  0 - last yank
  " - unnamed register, last delete or yank
  % - current file name
  # - alternate file name
  * - X11 PRIMARY(data copied upon highlighting with mouse) clipboard contents
  + - X11 CLIPBOARD(traditional windows-like) clipboard contents
  / - last search pattern
  : - last command-line
  . - last inserted text
  - - last small (less than a line) delete
  = - expression register
  _ - black hole register

Replacing

:[range]s/{old}/{new}/[flags] - replace {old} with {new} in range according to flags

Ranges:

% - the entire file
'<,'> - the current selection; the default range while in visual mode
25 - line 25
25,50 - lines 25-50
$ - last line; can be combined with other lines as in 50,$
. (or just empty sign) - current line; can be combined with other lines as in .,50 (or ,50)
,+2 or +2, - the current lines and the two lines therebelow
-2, or ,-2 - the current line and the two lines thereabove

Flags:

g - replace all occurrences on the specified line(or lines selected in visual mode); without this flag just the first occurrence is changed per line
i - ignore case
c - confirm each substitution

Operators

Note

Operator - operate on the specified range depending on current Vim mode:

normal mode - range is specified by a series of modifiers
visual mode - range is the highlighted text

y - yank : copy
d - delete : cut
c - change : cut
= - format code
> / < - un-indent / indent
![modifier] {filter} - filter text lines through the external program {filter}
Useful filter programs:
sort - e.g. !4jsort will sort the next four lines
tr - e.g. !}tr "[:lower:]" "[:upper:]" will translate the current paragraph to uppercase
uniq - e.g. !5juniq to ensure the next five lines to be unique
g~ - toggle case
gq / gw - format the lines / and put the cursor back at the same position in the text; see: :h gq, :h fo(format options), :h fp(format program), :h fo-table(an explanation of the possible options)
tip for useful command: gwip - reflow paragraph
zf - manually define a fold(not a editing command, but a view changer)

Operator's modifiers

Operator doubling

double an operator to make it operate on a whole line:

yy - copy current line(no matter where the cursor located in it), including invisible newline sign at the end
dd - cut current line(no matter where the cursor located in it), including invisible newline sign at the end
cc - cut current line(no matter where the cursor located in it), including invisible newline sign at the end
== - format line
>> / << - increase / decrease current line indentation(no matter where the cursor located in it)
!! {filter} - filter current line through the external program {filter}
gqq / gww - format current line / and put the cursor back at the same position in the text

useful shorthands:

S ( same as cc ) - substitute line

Motions

use operators and motions together by following any of these patterns:

{operator}{num}{motion}
{num}{operator}{motion}

useful shorthands:

Tip

When you capitalize a command it performs a stronger (or alternate) version of the original command.

Y ( same as y$ ) - copy from cursor position to end of line
D ( same as d$ ) - cut from cursor position to end of line
x ( same as dl ) - cut character after the cursor
X ( same as dh ) - cut character before the cursor
s ( same as cl ) - substitute character : cut character after the cursor and enter insert mode
C ( same as c$ ) - cut from cursor position to end of line and enter insert mode

Text objects

Text objects are special motions that describe structured pieces of text(the entities of a document domain model), e.g. words, sentences, quoted text, paragraphs, blocks, (HTML) tags, etc.

Specify a text object within a command by following this pattern: {operator}{a|i}{text-object}

a (think a or all) - a text object plus surrounding whitespace
i (think inner) - inner object without whitespace
text-object - one of the built-in text objects:

w - word
s - sentence
', ", ` - quotes
p - paragraph
b (or (, )) - block surrounded by ( )
B (or {, }) - block surrounded by { }
<, > - block surrounded by < >
[, ] - block surrounded by [ ]
t - tag

File Manipulation

Creating, opening

:new - new file
:e {file} - edit {file} in a new buffer
:e scp://remoteuser@server.tld//absolute/path/to/document or :e scp://remoteuser@server.tld/remoteuser/home/directory/relative/path/to/document - edit remote file via scp
:sp {file} - open a file in a new buffer and horizontally split window
:vs {file} - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
gf / gF - open file under cursor / and jump to the line number following the file name
Ctrl+w f / Ctrl+w F - split current window in two + open file under cursor / and jump to the line number following the file name
Ctrl+w gf / Ctrl+w gF - open a new tab page + open file under cursor / and jump to the line number following the file name

Exiting, saving

:q / :q! or ZQ - close / force-close a file without saving
:w - save the current file
:w !sudo tee % - write out the current file using sudo
:wq (or :x) / :wq! (or :x!) or ZZ - save and close the current file / force save and close the current file; exits Vim if no open files remain
:w {newfile} (:{x},{y}w {newfile}) - write the whole ( from line {x} to line {y} ) current buffer into {newfile}, but continue editing the original file; :w! {file} (:{x},{y}w! {file}) to overwrite content of {file} that already exists
:w >> {file} (:{x},{y}w >> {file}) - append the whole ( from line {x} to line {y} ) current buffer to {file}
:sav {newname} - save a copy of the current file as {newname} and continue editing the file {newname}

Vim Tips & Tricks

Useful configs

Neovim IDE from Scratch - Introduction (100% lua config): ,

Execute Vim's commands in a file from the command line

Use -c flag. You can separate multiple commands with a pipe |. Example:

vi -c "%s/false/true/g|:wq" file.txt

Vim Plugins

Floaterm

Commands -

Fzf

Ctrl+t , Ctrl+x , Ctrl+v - open file in a new tab, split, vertical split
Commands -

NERD Commenter

Mappings -

Replace With Register

[count] ["x] gr - replace {motion} text with the contents of register x.

[count] ["x] grr - replace [count] lines with the contents of register x.

{Visual} ["x] gr - replace the selection with the contents of register x.

Targets

Provides additional text objects.

Examples -
Cheatsheet -

Vim-argwrap

,r - wrap/unwrap arguments inside of the parenthesis, brackets or curly braces.
Configuration -

Vim-indent-object

Usage -

Vim-textobj-user

Create your own text objects.

Examples -

Vim Unimpaired

Vim Surround

Mappings -

Vim Gitgutter

[c / ]c - jump to previous / next hunk (change)
Leaderhs / Leaderhu - stage / unstage the hunk
Commands -

Vim Fugitive

Commands -

Vimagit

LeaderM - open Magit buffer
Mappings -

ALE and coc.nvim

...to be edited after installation and trying

Last update: 2023-01-26

Vim

Vim Essentials

Vim Cheatsheet

Vim Shortcuts

Modes

Global

Help

Terminal Related

Options

Repeating

Macros

Navigation

Argument list

Buffers

Tabs

Windows

Screen

Folding

Marks and positions

Motion

Selecting

Editing

Diff mode

Registers

Replacing

Operators

Operator's modifiers

Operator doubling

Motions

Text objects

File Manipulation

Creating, opening

Exiting, saving

Vim Tips & Tricks

Useful configs

Execute Vim's commands in a file from the command line

Vim Plugins

Floaterm

Fzf

NERD Commenter

Replace With Register

Targets

Vim-argwrap

Vim-indent-object

Vim-textobj-user

Vim Unimpaired

Vim Surround

Vim Gitgutter

Vim Fugitive

Vimagit

ALE and coc.nvim