Vim Cheatsheet

A fast, practical reference. Commands are case-sensitive. <Leader> defaults to \ (or , if you set it so).

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Start & Quit

vim file          " open file
:n                " go to line n
:w                " write (save)
:w filename       " save as
:q                " quit
:q!               " quit without saving
:wq / :x          " write and quit
:wa               " write all buffers
:qa               " quit all

Modes & Inserts

i        " insert before cursor
I        " insert at line start
a        " append after cursor
A        " append at line end
o / O    " open new line below/above
s / S    " substitute char / whole line
cc / C   " change line / to EOL
R        " replace (overwrite) mode
Esc      " back to Normal mode

Movement (Normal Mode)

h j k l      " left, down, up, right
w / b / e    " next word / prev word / word end
W / B / E    " WORD by spaces
0 / ^ / $    " start / first nonblank / end of line
gg / G       " top / bottom of file
nG           " go to line n
{ / }        " previous / next blank-line block
( / )        " prev / next sentence
%            " matching bracket/paren
H / M / L    " top/middle/bottom of screen
zt / zz / zb " scroll line to top/center/bottom
Ctrl-u / d   " half-page up/down
Ctrl-b / f   " page up/down

Find Characters (on line)

f{char} / F{char}    " find next/prev char
t{char} / T{char}    " till before/after char
; / ,                 " repeat / reverse repeat

Select (Visual)

v          " visual (chars)
V          " visual line
Ctrl-v     " visual block
o          " swap anchor/cursor in visual

Edit: Delete / Change / Yank (Copy) / Put (Paste)

d{motion}      " delete
c{motion}      " change (delete + insert)
y{motion}      " yank (copy)
p / P          " put after/before
x / X          " delete char under/left
dd / cc / yy   " operate on whole line
D / C / Y      " to end of line (Y = yank line)
~              " toggle case (char or selection)
gu{motion}     " make lowercase
gU{motion}     " make uppercase
J / gJ         " join with/without space
xp             " swap two letters

Counts & Repeats

3w         " move 3 words
5dd        " delete 5 lines
.          " repeat last change
u          " undo
Ctrl-r     " redo

Indent & Format

>> / <<         " indent / outdent line
=               " auto-indent selection/motion
=gq{motion}     " reflow text (format)
:retab          " fix tabs/spaces

Search & Replace

/word            " forward search
?word            " backward search
n / N            " next / previous
* / #            " search word under cursor (fwd/back)
:noh             " remove highlight

:%s/old/new/g            " replace in file
:%s/old/new/gc           " confirm each
:.,$s/old/new/g          " from here to end
:'<,'>s/old/new/g        " in visual selection
\vpattern               " very-magic (fewer escapes)

Buffers, Tabs & Windows

" Buffers (open files in memory)
:ls              " list buffers
:bn / :bp        " next / previous buffer
:b #             " alternate buffer
:bd              " delete (close) buffer

" Tabs (tab pages)
:tabnew file     " open in new tab
:tabn / :tabp    " next / previous tab
:tabclose        " close tab
:tabonly         " close others

" Windows (splits)
:sp file         " split horizontally
:vsp file        " split vertically
Ctrl-w s / v     " split current buffer
Ctrl-w h/j/k/l   " move between windows
Ctrl-w =         " equalize sizes
Ctrl-w _ |       " max height / width
:q               " closes current window

Marks & Jumps

m{a-z}       " set mark (file-local)
'{a-z}       " jump to line of mark
`{a-z}       " jump to exact position
``          " jump back to previous position
''          " jump back to previous line
Ctrl-o / i  " older / newer jumps

Registers & System Clipboard

""            " unnamed register (default)
"0            " yanked text
"1..9         " delete history registers
"a..z         " named registers
"+ / "*       " system clipboard (GUI/with clipboard)

" Examples:
"+y           " yank to system clipboard
"+p           " paste from system clipboard
"ayy          " yank current line to register a
"ap           " paste from register a

Macros

q{reg}       " start recording into register
q            " stop recording
@{reg}       " play macro
@@           " repeat last macro
3@a          " run macro a 3 times

Files, Explore, and Info

:e file          " open/reload file
:edit!           " reload discarding changes
:Ex / :Sex       " file explorer (netrw)
:pwd             " print working dir
:echo expand('%:p')  " full path of current file

Folding (built-in)

zf{motion}   " create fold
za           " toggle fold
zc / zo      " close / open fold
zM / zR      " close all / open all
set foldmethod=indent | marker | syntax

Useful Settings (put in vimrc)

set number            " line numbers
set relativenumber    " relative numbers
set ignorecase smartcase  " smarter searching
set incsearch         " live search
set hlsearch          " highlight matches
set tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab  " spaces for tabs
set clipboard=unnamedplus  " use system clipboard
set mouse=a           " enable mouse (if desired)
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

Command-Line Fu

:!cmd           " run shell command (read-only)
:r !cmd         " read command output into buffer
:r file         " read file into current buffer below cursor
:w !sudo tee %  " write current file with sudo
:help {topic}   " open help (:h motion, :h visual, :h gq)

Quick Reference Table

Task	Normal Mode Command
Save / Quit	:w / :q / :wq / :q!
Move by word	w / b / e
Line start / end	^ / $
Insert / Append	i / a
New line	o / O
Delete word / to EOL	dw / D
Yank line / Paste	yy / p
Undo / Redo	u / Ctrl-r
Search next	n
Visual modes	v / V / Ctrl-v
Split / Vsplit	:sp / :vsp
Next buffer / tab	:bn / :tabn

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Tip: Nearly every action is operator + {motion}. Learn a few motions (w, $, fX, }) and operators (d, c, y, gU, gu) to compose powerful edits quickly.