Cheatsheet for the editor VIM

Vim Modes

• esc - Normal Modes
• i - Insert Mode
• v - Visual Mode
• R - Replace Mode

Colon commands

• :w - write/save file
• w <filename> - white to provided filename
• :q - quit vim
• :q! - force quit vim (changes will be discarded)
• :set number - shows line numbers
• :set nonumber - hides line numbers

Moving Around

• h or arrow left - move the cursor one character to the left
• l or arrow right - move the cursor one character to the right
• j or arrow down - move the cursor one line down
• k or arrow up - move the cursor one line up
• 0 - move the cursor to the beginning of the line
• $ - move the cursor to the end of the line
• w - move the cursor one word forward
• b - move the cursor one word back
• gg - move to the beginning of the file (line 1)
• G - move to the end of the line (last line)
• o - adds an empty line below the cursor, moves the cursor to that line, enters edit mode
• O - adds an empty line above the cursor, moves the cursor to that line, enters edit mode

Deleting things

• de - delete from where the cursor is until the end of the current word
• dw - delete to next word
• d2w - delete two words from cursor
• d$ or D - delete to the end of the line from where the cursor is
• dd - delete the whole line (cut)
• x - delete character
• s - delete character and insert
• S - delete line and insert
• C - delete until the end of line and insert

Editing things

• a - append enter insert mode one char right of cursor
• A - append from end of line
• r - replace one character on cursor
• R - enter replace mode
• u - undo changes
• gU<direction> - uppercase character in chosen direction
• gu<direction - lowercase character in chosen direction

Copy and pasting

• dd - cut the whole line
• d<direction> - cut character in chosen direction
• yy - copy the whole line
• y<direction> - copy the character in chosen direction
• p - paste content
• P - paste before cursor
• "*p - paste from system clipboard
• "*y - copy to system clipboard

Search for things

• :?<term> - searches for that term from the cursor down
• :/<term> - searches for that term from the cursor up
• * - search whole word from the cursor down
• # - search whole word from the cursor up
• n - go to the next searched term
• N - go to the previous searched term

Replacing things

• :s/<search term>/<replace term> - search for and replace term in the current line and replace
• :%s/<search term>/<replace term> - search for and replace term in the whole file
• :{from, to}s/<search term>/<replace term> - search for and replace term from line from to line to

Flags that you can use

• g - search and replace globaly in the file
• i - ignore case when searching
• c - ask confirmation before replacing

Useful search/replace commands

• :2,10s/^/#/ - comments lines from 2 to 10
• :2,10/^#/ - uncomment lines from 2 to 10
• :%s/\s\+$//e - remove trailing white space at the end of each line

Tabs

• vim -p <filename> <filename> open file in a separate tab
• :tabnew - opens a new tab page with an empty window
• :tabc - close current tab
• :tabc! - force close current tab discarding changes
• tabn - move to next tab
• tabN - move to previous tab