vim-cheatsheet.md

Vim Cheat Sheet

• Global

• Cursor movement

• Insert mode, inserting/appending text

• Editing

• Marking text (visual mode)

• Visual commands

• Registers

• Marks

• Macros

• Cut and paste

• Exiting

• Search and replace

• Search in multiple files

• Vim for programmers

• Working with multiple files

• Split window

• Tabs

• Extra

• Open vim specially

• Vim sessions

• Command line history

• Folding

• Tips and tricks

• multiple sources, like this, and this great cheatsheets.

Global

• :help keyword, :h keyword - open help for keyword
• :saveas file - save file as
• :close - close current pane
• K - open man page for word under the cursor
• gf - open file under cursor (goto file)

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)
• ge - jump backward to the end of a word
• gE - jump backward to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
• b - jump backward to the start of a word
• B - jump backward 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). It jumps to the one it finds in the current line
• 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
• :5 - go to line 5 with command
• fx - jump to next occurrence of character x in this line
• tx - jump to before next occurrence of character x in this line
• Fx - jump to previous occurence of character x in this line
• Tx - jump to after previous occurence of character x in this line
• ; - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
• , - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backward
• } - jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• { - jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• ( - jump to the previous sentence
• ) - jump to the next sentence
• zz - cursor on screen to the center
• zt - cursor on screen to top
• zb - cursor on screen to bottom
• ctrl-e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor), same as + symbol
• ctrl-y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor), same as - symbol
• ctrl-b - move back one full screen (back full page)
• ctrl-f - move forward one full screen (forward full page)
• ctrl-d - move forward 1/2 a screen (down half page)
• ctrl-u - move back 1/2 a screen (up half page)
• ctrl-o - retrace previous cursor position
• ctrl-i - retrace next cursor position

Tip: 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 (so they can be chained with moves)
• Esc - exit insert mode
• gi - go to the last place where insert mode was finished
• ctrl-r REG - insert the contents of REG register in insert mode.

Editing

• r - replace a single character
• R - start replace mode, similar to insert, but overwrites the characters underneath
• 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, c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
• ciw - change (replace) entire word
• cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
• c/hello - change (replace) until next occurrance of "hello"
• s - delete character and substitute text
• xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
• u - undo
• :u - undo in command mode
• U - undo all latest changes on one line
• ctrl-r - redo
• :red - redo in command mode
• . - repeat last command
• ctrl-a - increase a number
• ctrl-x - decrease a number (practice: 4)
• gu + movement - make movement lowercase
• gU + movement - make movement uppercase
• g~ + movement - toggle case of movement
• g+ - undo branch forward
• g- - undo branch backward
• ea 4h - undo changes in the last 4 hours
• ea 2f - undo last 2 file states (last 2 buffer writes)
• lat 8m - redo changes in last 8 minutes

Marking text (visual mode)

• v - start visual mode. (you can mark text, 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
• as - mark a sentence
• ap - mark a paragraph
• ab - mark a block with ()
• aB - mark a block with {}
• ib - mark inner block with ()
• iB - mark inner block with {}
• Esc - exit visual mode

Practice here to select inner block (like this) Or {an inner block} of this.

Visual commands

• > - shift text right
• < - shift text left
• y - yank (copy) marked text
• d - delete marked text
• ~ - switch case

Registers

• :reg - show registers content (can append selectors of which registers to show)
• "xy - yank into register x
• "xp - paste contents of register x
• "Xp - append contents to register x

Tip: Registers are being stored in ~/.viminfo, and will be loaded again on next restart of vim. Tip: Register 0 always contains the value of the last yank command.

Marks

• :marks - list of marks
• ma - set current position for mark a
• `a - jump to position of mark a
• 'a - jump to the first non-blank character in the line of mark a
• y`a - yank text to position of mark a
• :delm <pattern> - delete marks. <pattern> can be 1 lowercase letter, any number of characters, range of letters or numbers

Macros

• qa - record macro a (it empties that register and appends the keystrokes to it)
• q - stop recording macro
• @a - run macro a
• @@ - rerun last run macro

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
• y$ - yank (copy) to end of line
• p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
• P - put (paste) before cursor
• dd - delete (cut) a line
• 2dd - delete (cut) 2 lines
• diw - delete (cut) the characters of the whole word
• dw - delete (cut) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
• D, d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line
• x - delete (cut) character
• viwp - replace (paste) content of the last used register with the word under the cursor
• "/p - paste the last search
• `":p" - paste the last command

Exiting

• :w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
• :w !sudo tee % - write out the current file using sudo
• :wq, :x, ZZ - write (save) and quit
• :q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
• :q!, ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved changes
• :wqa - write (save) and quit on all tabs
• ctrl-z, :st, :stop - suspend vim, start up again with fg command (optionally fg %jobnumber if multiple jobs are selected). Check running suspended jobs with jobs command

Search and replace

• /pattern - search for pattern
• ?pattern - search backward for pattern
• /\vpattern - 'very 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
• ggn - go to first match (assuming forward search)
• GN - go to last match (assuming forward search)
• :%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 - remove highlighting of search matches
• * - start a search forward with the whole current word under the cursor
• # - start a search backward with the current word under the cursor
• g* - start a search with the word under the cursor but find occurrences that has more content in it. e.g: rain finds rainbow
• g# - start a search backward with the word under the cursor but find occurrences that has more content in it. e.g: rain finds rainbow

Search in multiple files

• :vimgrep /pattern/ {file} - search for /pattern/ in multiple {file}s

e.g.: vimgrep /foo/ **/*

• :cn - jump to the next match
• :cp - jump to the previous match
• :copen - open a window containing the list of matches

Vim for programmers

• gd - go to local declaration
• gD - go to global declaration

Working with multiple files

• :e - reload current file
• :e file - edit a file in a new buffer
• :r file, :read file - insert a file into the current location
• :0r file, :0read file - insert a file before the first line
• :r !{cmd} - execute {cmd} and insert its standard output below the cursor
• :bnext, :bn - go to the next buffer
• :bprev, :bp - go to the previous buffer
• :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
• :ls - list all open buffers
• :sp file - open a file in a new buffer and split window
• :vsp file - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
• :sv file, :sview file - open a file in a new buffer, but readonly
• :vert sv file - vertically open a file as readonly as a split

Split window

• ctrl-ws - split window horizontally
• ctrl-wv - split window vertically
• ctrl-ww - switch windows (cycle)
• ctrl-wq - quit a window
• ctrl-wr - rotate two windows (can not do it if the other one is splitted)
• 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-w_ - maximize current window vertically
• ctrl-w| - maximize current window horizontally
• ctrl-w= - make all equal size vertically
• :res +/-num, numctrl-w+/- - horizontally resize by +/-num of lines or columns
• :vert res +/-num, numctrl-w</> - vertically resize by +/-num of lines or columns

Tabs

Tabs should be imagined as layouts. They can show different window arrangements of any buffers.

• :tabe file, :tabnew, :tabnew file - open a file in a new tab
• ctrl-wT - move the current split window into its own tab
• gt, :tabnext, :tabn - move to the next tab
• gT, :tabprev, :tabp - move to the previous tab
• NUMgt - move to tab number NUM
• :tabm NUM, :tabmove NUM - move current tab to the NUMth position (indexed from 0)
• :tabc, :tabclose - close the current tab and all its windows
• :tabo, :tabonly - close all tabs except for the current one
• :tabdo command - run the command on all tabs (e.g. command = q - closes all opened tabs)

Extra

• ctrl-n - in insert mode opens up autocomplete
• ctrl-g - show line info
• ctrl-o - in insert mode after this key combo, you can use a command from normal mode, and immediately switch back to the starting mode
• :term - open terminal as a horizontal split buffer.

Open vim specially

• vim file1 file2 - open multiple files (file1 file2) as buffer
• vim -p file1 file2 - open multiple files (file1 file2) as tabs
• vim -o file1 file2 - open multiple files (file1 file2) as horizontal split
• vim -O file1 file2 - open multiple files (file1 file2) as vertical split
• vim file +number - open file at linenumber number

Vim sessions

• :mks workproject.vim, :mksession workproject.vim- Your current session of open tabs will be stored in a file workproject.vim
• vim -S workproject.vim - load up vim with a session called workproject.vim
• :source workproject.vim - load vim session to an opened vim called workproject.vim
• :mks! workproject.vim - save changed session tabs while you are in the session called workproject.vim

If the filename is omitted then Session.vim name will be used

Command line history

• q: - show prev commands. Close with Ctrl+c
• q/ - show prev searches. Close with Ctrl+c
• : - type in any word and press up. It will look for the prev command that started like that

Folding

• za - toggle folding
• :set foldcolumn=NUM - visualize folds. show NUM lines of nested folds per line
• zfip - fold the current paragraph
• zf/string - fold until next occurrance of string
• zd - delete fold
• zE - delete all folds
• zf20j - fold the next 20 lines
• zf`a - fold until wherever mark a is in the document
• zR - open all folds
• zM - close all folds
• :mkview - save folding state
• :loadview - load prev folding state

Tips and tricks

• select text in visual mode then xi()<esc>P Wrap brackets around visually selected text
• select text in visual mode then y/ctrl-r" starts to search for visually selected text
• :w !diff % - - show the diffs with diff command since last save. (It saves the output to stdin and loads the differences between the current filename and standard input)
• :g/pattern/norm @o - run the previously recorded o macro on all lines that match pattern