| Command | Action | Notes |
| vim file +54 | open file and go to line 54 | any : command can be run using + on command line |
| vim -O file1 file2 | open file1 and file2 side by side | |
| Insert | enter insert mode | so you can start typing. Alternatively one can use i ora. |
| Esc | leave insert mode | so you can issue commands. Note in VIM the cursor keys & {Home, End, Page{up,down}} and Delete and Backspace work as expected in any mode, so you don't need to go back to command mode nearly as much as the origonal vi. Note even Ctrl+{left,right} jumps words like most other editors. Note also Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+c are equivalent to Esc and may be easier to type. Also Ctrl+o in insert mode will switch to normal mode for one command only and automatically switch back. |
| :command | runs named command | |
| :help word | shows help on word | Typing Ctrl+d after word shows all entries containing word |
| :echo &word | shows value of word | |
| windows | ||
| :e | set buffer for current window | you can optionally specify a new file or existing buffer number (#3 for e.g.). Note if you specify a directory a file browser is started. E.g. :e . will start the browser in the current directory (which can be changed with the :cd command). |
| :sp | new window above | ditto |
| :vs | new window to left | ditto |
| :q | close current window | |
| :qa | close all windows | add trailing ! to force |
| Ctrl+w {left,right,up,down} | move to window | |
| Ctrl+w Ctrl+w | toggle window focus | |
| Ctrl+w = | autosize windows | to new terminal size for e.g. |
| :ba | new window for all buffers | ":vert ba" tiles windows vertically |
| buffers | ||
| :ls | list buffers | |
| gf | open file under cursor | |
| :bd | delete buffer | and any associated windows |
| :w | save file | Note :up[date] only writes file if changes made, but it's more awkward to type |
| :sav filename | save file as filename | Note :w filename doesn't switch to new file. Subsequent edits/saves happen to existing file |
| undo/redo | ||
| u | undo | |
| Ctrl+r | redo | |
| . | repeat | |
| navigation | ||
| gg | Goto start of file | |
| G | Goto end of file | |
| :54 | Goto line 54 | |
| 80| | Goto column 80 | |
| Ctrl+g | Show file info | including your position in the file |
| ga | Show character info | g8 shows UTF8 encoding |
| Ctrl+e | scroll up | Ctrl+x needed first for insert mode |
| Ctrl+y | scroll down | Ctrl+x needed first for insert mode |
| zt | scroll current line to top of window | |
| w | Goto next word | Note Ctrl+{right} in newer vims (which work also in insert mode) |
| b | Goto previous word | Note Ctrl+{left} in newer vims |
| [{ | Goto previous { of current scope | |
| % | Goto matching #if #else,{},(),[],/* */ | must be one on line |
| zi | toggle folds on/off | |
| bookmarks | ||
| m {a-z} | mark position as {a-z} | E.g. m a |
| ' {a-z} | move to position {a-z} | E.g. ' a |
| ' ' | move to previous position | |
| '0 | open previous file | handy after starting vim |
| selection/whitespace | ||
| v | select visually | use cursor keys, home, end etc. |
| Shift+v | line select | CTRL+v = column select |
| Delete | cut selection | |
| "_x | delete selection | without updating the clipboard or yank buffer. I remap x to this in my .vimrc |
| y | copy selection | |
| p | paste (after cursor) | P is paste before cursor |
| "Ay | append selected lines to register a | use lowercase a to initialise register |
| "ap | paste contents of a | |
| gq | reformat selection | justifies text and is useful with :set textwidth=70 (80 is default) |
| = | reindent selection | very useful to fix indentation for c code |
| > | indent section | useful with Shift+v% |
| < | unindent section | remember . to repeat and u to undo |
| :set list! | toggle visible whitespace | See also listchars in my .vimrc |
| clipboard shortcuts | ||
| dd | cut current line | |
| yy | copy current line | |
| D | cut to end of line | |
| y$ | copy to end of line | |
| search/replace | ||
| /regexp | searches forwards for regexp | ? reverses direction |
| n | repeat previous search | N reverses direction |
| * | searches forward for word under cursor | # reverses direction |
| :%s/1/2/gc | search for regexp 1 and replace with 2 in file | c = confirm change |
| :s/1/2/g | search for regexp 1 and replace with 2 in (visual) selection | |
| programming | ||
| K | lookup word under cursor in man pages | 2K means lookup in section 2 |
| :make | run make in current directory | |
| Ctrl+] | jump to tag | Ctrl+t to jump back levels. I map these to Alt+⇦⇨ in my .vimrc |
| vim -t name | Start editing where name is defined | |
| Ctrl+{n,p} | scroll forward,back through autocompletions for word before cursor | uses words in current file (and included files) by default. You can change to a dictionary for e.g: set complete=k/usr/share/dicts/words Note only works in insert mode |
| Ctrl+x Ctrl+o | scroll through language specific completions for text before cursor | "Intellisense" for vim (7 & later). :help compl-omni for more info. Useful for python, css, javascript, ctags, ... Note only works in insert mode |
| external filters | ||
| :%!filter | put whole file through filter | |
| :!filter | put (visual) selection through filter | |
| :,!command | replace current line with command output | |
| map <f9> :w<CR>:!python %<CR> | run current file with external program | |