Vim Cheat Sheet

By Marcus Braun
January 12, 2011

This is a list of Vim commands I use most frequently. Remember that most of these commands accept an optional quantifier which allows you to easily repeat actions (e.g. 10h moves 10 characters to the left).

Motion

Basic Movement
Action	Command
Character to the left	h
Character to the right	l
Character below	j
Character above	k

Movement within a Line
Action	Command
Beginning of the line	0
Last character	$
Word to the left	b
Word to the right	w
End of word to the right	e
Search for `x` to the right	f`x`
Search up to `x` to the right	t`x`
Search for `x` to the left	F`x`
Search up to `x` to the left	T`x`
Find the next match	;
Find the previous match	,
Move to column `x`	`x`\|

Movement amongst Lines
Action	Command
Go to first line in file	gg
Go to last line in file	G
Go to line `x`	`x`G
Go to matching brace, bracket, or parenthesis	%
Go to first visible line	H
Go to middle visible line	M
Go to last visible line	L
Mark cursor position and associate with key `a`	m`a`
Jump to mark `a`	`a
Return to the line jumped from	``

Searching
Action	Command
Search forwards for `foo`	/`foo`
Search backwards for `bar`	?`bar`
Find the next match	n
Find the previous match	N
Toggle case insensitive searches	:set ic, :set noic

Scrolling
Action	Command
Scroll one line up	Ctrl-e
Scroll one line down	Ctrl-y
Half a screen down	Ctrl-d
Half a screen up	Ctrl-u
Full screen down	Ctrl-f
Full screen up	Ctrl-b
Re-center screen on cursor	zz

Editing

Insertion
Action	Command
Insert before the cursor	i
Append after the cursor	a
Append to the end of the line	A
Open a new line below the current	o
Open a new line above the current	O
Exit insert mode	Ctrl-[ or Esc

Deletion
Action	Command
Delete character under the cursor	x
Delete character before the cursor	X
Delete current line	dd
Delete from cursor to end of line	D
Delete from cursor through next occurrence of `x`	df`x`
Delete from cursor up to next occurrence of `x`	dt`x`
Delete `motion` (use with marks, search, etc.)	d`motion`
Join current line with next (delete newline)	J

Modification
Action	Command
Replace character with `x`	r`x`
Replace multiple characters starting at the cursor	R
Replace line (delete line, enter insert mode)	cc
Replace from cursor to end of line	C
Replace from cursor through next occurrence of `x`	cf`x`
Replace from cursor up to next occurrence of `x`	ct`x`
Replace `motion` (use with marks, search, etc.)	c`motion`
Indent line right	>>
Indent line left	<<
Indent `motion` right	>`motion`

Copy & Paste, Find & Replace, Repeat
Action	Command
Yank a line	yy
Yank `motion` (use with marks, search, etc.)	y`motion`
Put yanked/deleted/overwritten text after the cursor	p
Put yanked/deleted/overwritten text before the cursor	P
Replace all occurences of `foo` with `bar`	:%s/`foo`/`bar`/g
Replace `foo` with `bar` on lines 1-5	:1,5s/`foo`/`bar`/g
Replace `foo` with `bar` on current line	:s/`foo`/`bar`/g
Repeat previous edit sequence	.

copyright © 2011 Marcus Braun