Vim Commands Cheat Sheet

• OS: Windows 11
• Vim: VIM - Vi IMproved 9.1
• Neovim: NVIM v0.11.0-dev-1533+g1a8a48d7e5

Starting from Shell

• nvim open the dash board
• nvim . open the cwd

Exiting

Command	Description
:w	Write (save) file without exiting
:wa	Write (save) all open files without exiting
:q	Quit but fail if unsaved changes exist
:qa	Quit All but fail if unsaved changes exist
:q! / ZQ	Quit and discard unsaved changes
:wq / :x	Write (save) and quit
ZZ	Write (save) and quit
:wqa	Write (save) and quit on all open files

Changing Vim Modes

Command	Description
i	Enter INSERT mode
a	Enter INSERT mode after the cursor (think: append)
A	Enter INSERT mode at the end of the line (think: Append)
o	Open new line below the cursor and enter INSERT mode
O	Open new line above the cursor and enter INSERT mode
v	Enter character-wise VISUAL mode
V	Enter line-wise VISUAL mode
<C-q>	Enter block-wise VISUAL mode (Windows)
<C-v>	Enter block-wise VISUAL mode (MacOS)
:	Enter COMMAND-LINE mode
R	Enter REPLACE mode
ESC	Go back to NORMAL mode from other modes
u	Undo changes
<C-r>	Redo changes

::: Tip Note

In Windows, the command for entering block-wise VISUAL mode is <C-q>, instead of <C-v> as in Linux/MacOS.

:::

Moving Around Within Vim

Basic Movements

Command	Description
h	Move cursor left
j	Move cursor down
k	Move cursor up
l	Move cursor right

Same-Line Navigation

Command	Description
0 and $	Move cursor to the beginning/end of the line
^ and g_	Move cursor to the first/last non-blank character in line
fx and Fx	Find next/previous occurrence of character ‘x’
tx and Tx	Go towards next/previous occurrence of character ‘x’
; and ,	Repeat previous f, F, t, or T movement forwards / backwards

Word Movements

Command	Description
w	Move cursor forwards to start of word
W	Move cursor forwards to start of WORD
b	Move cursor backwards to start of word
B	Move cursor backwards to start of WORD
e	Move cursor forwards to end of word
E	Move cursor forwards to end of WORD
ge	Move cursor backwards to end of word
gE	Move cursor backwards to end of WORD

Sentence Movements

Command	Description
)	Move cursor to next sentence
(	Move cursor to previous sentence

Paragraph Movements

Command	Description
}	Move cursor to next paragraph
{	Move cursor to previous paragraph

Moving To Specific Lines

Command	Description
gg	Move cursor to first line of document
G	Move cursor to last line of document
{number}G	Move cursor to line {number}
{number}j	Go {number} lines down
{number}k	Go {number} lines up
{number}%	Go to {number}% of the file
H	Move cursor to line at the top of the window
M	Move cursor to the line at the middle of the window
L	Move cursor to the line at the bottom of the window

Screen Related Cursor Movements

Command	Description
<C-f>	Move cursor forwards (down) one full screen
<C-b>	Move cursor backwards (up) one full screen
<C-d>	Move cursor down half a screen
<C-u>	Move cursor up half a screen

Scrolling While Leaving Cursor In Place

Command	Description
zz	Place current cursor line in the middle of the window
zt	Place current cursor line at the top of the window
zb	Place current cursor line at the bottom of the window
<C-e>	Scroll down a single line, leaving cursor in place
<C-y>	Scroll up a single line, leaving cursor in place

Search Movements

Command	Description
/pattern	Search forward for pattern
?pattern	Search backward for pattern
*	Search forward for the word under or in front of the cursor
#	Search backward for the word under or in front of the cursor
n	Repeat last search in same direction
N	Repeat last search in opposite direction

Search/Replace

• :s%/old/new search and replace the first occurrence
• :s%/old/new/g search and replace all occurrences, without confirmation
• :s%/old/new/gc search and replace all occurrences, one by one confirmation
• :s%/old/new/gi search and replace all occurrences, ignoring case

Navigating The Jump List

Command	Description
<C-o>	Go to the previous cursor position in the jump list
<C-i>	Go to the next cursor position in the jump list

Editing Text

Command	Description
63i"<Esc>	Insert " 63 times in the current line

Deletion

Command	Description
d{motion}	Delete the text that the {motion} command moves over and copy into register.
dd	Delete whole current line and copy into register.
D	Delete from under the cursor to the end of the line and copy into register.

Changing Text

Command	Description
c{motion}	Delete the text that the {motion} command moves over, copy into register and enter insert mode.
cc	Delete whole current line, copy into register and enter insert mode.
C	Delete from under the cursor to the end of the line, copy into register and enter insert mode.

Replacing & Deleting Characters

• x delete the current character under the cursor and copy into register
• r replace a single character (and then return to Normal mode)
• R Enter replace mode and start replacing characters by typing until Esc is pressed
• s delete a character and move into Insert mode
• S delete current line and move into Insert mode
• J merge with line below, separated with a single space
• gJ merge with line below, with no space between
• . repeat last command

Yank and Put

Switching Case

Command	Description
~	Switch case of character under cursor and move cursor to the right
~{motion}	Switch the case of the text that the {motion} command moves over
gu{motion}	Change the text that the {motion} command moves over to lowercase
guu	Make whole current line lower case
gU{motion}	Change the text that the {motion} command moves over to uppercase
gUU	Make whole current line upper case

Visual select the text, then U for uppercase or u for lowercase. To swap all casing in a visual selection, press ~ (tilde).

Without using a visual selection, gU<motion> will make the characters in motion uppercase, or use gu<motion> for lowercase.

• ~ : Changes the case of current character
• g~~ : Invert case to entire line
• g~w : Invert case to current WORD
• guw : Change to end of current WORD from upper to lower
• guaw : Change all of current WORD to lower
• guu : Change current line from upper to lower
• gUw : Change to end of current WORD from lower to upper
• gUaw : Change all of current WORD to upper
• gUU : Change current LINE from lower to upper
• guG : Change to lowercase until the end of document
• gU) : Change until end of sentence to upper case
• gu} : Change to end of paragraph to lower case
• gU5j : Change 5 lines below to upper case
• gu3k : Change 3 lines above to lower case

Undoing / Redoing

Copying

• "*y copy to the clipboard register
• "*p paste from the clipboard register

Cutting

Pasting

Marking

Visual Commands

Color Schemes

Marks and Jumps

Macros

Multiple Files

• :e file_name open a file in a new buffer
• :bn move to next buffer
• :bp go back to previous buffer