Vim Cheat Sheet

This is my fork of the https://vim.rtorr.com/.

Global

• :help keyword - open help for keyword
• :e file - open file
• :e dir - open file manager
• :so file - execute file in the vim
• :r filename - Insert content of the file filename below the cursor
• :r !command - Execute command and insert its output below the cursor
• :pwd - print current working directory
• :cd %:p:h - change to the directory of the currently open file (this sets the current directory for all windows in Vim)
• :cd - change current working directory
• :! command - invoke external command
• :syntax on/off - turn on/off syntax highlighting
• K - open man page for word under the cursor

Undo/redo

• u - undo the last operation
• Ctrl+r - redo the last undo

Save and Exiting

• :w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
• :wa - write (save) all files, but don't exit
• :w !sudo tee % - write out the current file using sudo
• :wq or :x or ZZ - write (save) and quit
• :saveas file - save file as
• :q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
• :q! or ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved changes
• :wqa - write (save) and quit on all tabs

Tip: Symblos to fast navigation in the Ex mode

%	The entire file (shorthand for :1,$)
0	Virtual line above first line of the file
1	First line of the file
.	Line where the cursor is placed
$	Last line of the file
'm	Line containing mark m
'<	Start of visual selection
'>	End of visual selection

Command line

• q: show commands history
• :Ctrl+r Ctrl+w - insert current word into the command line
• :Ctrl+r " - paste from “ register
• :[range]d[elete] [x] - delete specified lines [into register x]
• :[range]y[ank] [x] - yank specified lines [into register x]
• :[line]p[ut] [x] - put the text from register x after the specified line
• :[range]copy {address} - copy the specified lines to below the line specified by {address}
• :[range]m[ove] {address} - move the specified lines to below the line specified by {address}
• :[range]normal {commands} - execute Normal mode {commands} on each specified line
• :[r]s[ubstitute]/{p}/{s}/[f] - substitute command allows us to find and replace one chunk of text with another
• :[r] g[lobal][!] /{p}/ [cmd] - allows to run an Ex command on each line that matches a particular pattern

Editing

• r - replace a single character
• 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 - change (replace) to the end of the line
• c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
• ciw - change (replace) entire word
• cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
• s - delete character and substitute text
• S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
• xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
• . - repeat last command

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
• dw - delete (cut) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
• D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
• d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line
• x - delete (cut) character

Registers

• :reg - show registers content
• "xy - yank into register x
• "+y - yank into system clipboard
• "xp - paste contents of register x

Tip Registers are being stored in ~/.viminfo, and will be loaded again on next restart of vim.

Tip Register 0 contains always the value of the last yank command.

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

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
• Esc or Ctrl + [ - exit insert mode
• Ctrl + o - invoke one command in the Normal mode
• Ctrl + rx - paste contents of register x

Marking text (visual mode)

• v - start visual mode, mark lines, 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
• ab - a block with ()
• aB - a block with {}
• ib - inner block with ()
• iB - inner block with {}
• Esc - exit visual mode

Visual commands

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

Macros

• qa - record macro a
• q - stop recording macro
• @a - run macro a
• @@ - rerun last run macro

Cursor movement around the text

• 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)
• b - jump backwards to the start of a word
• B - jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
• 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
• fx - jump to next occurrence of character x
• tx - jump to before next occurrence of character x
• Fx - jump to previous occurence of character x
• Tx - jump to after previous occurence of character x
• ; - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement
• , - repeat previous f, t, F or T movement, backwards
• * - jumps to the next such word

Tip Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

• % - move to matching character (default supported pairs: '()', '{}', '[]' - use :h matchpairs in vim for more info)
• ) - jumps to the next sentence
• ( - jumps to the previous sentence
• } - jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• { - jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• ]] - jump to next section
• ][ - jump to the end of the next section
• [[ - jump to previous section
• [] - jump to the end of the previous section
• Ctrl+o - jump to the previous position
• Ctrl+i - jump to the next position

Cursor movement around the screen

• h - move cursor left
• j - move cursor down
• k - move cursor up
• l - move cursor right
• zz - center cursor on screen
• H - move to top of screen
• M - move to middle of screen
• L - move to bottom of screen
• Ctrl + e - move screen down one line (without moving cursor)
• Ctrl + y - move screen up one line (without moving cursor)
• Ctrl + b - move back one full screen
• Ctrl + f - move forward one full screen
• Ctrl + d - move forward 1/2 a screen
• Ctrl + u - move back 1/2 a screen

Marks

• :marks - list of marks
• ma - set current position for mark A
• `a - jump to position of mark A
• 'a - jump to line with mark A
• `` - position before the last jump within current file

Search and replace

• :g/TODO - show all lines with TODO
• /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
• :%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
• :%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
• :set hlsearch - highlighting of search matches
• :noh - remove highlighting of search matches

Search in multiple files

• :vimgrep /pattern/ {`{file}`} - search for pattern in multiple files
• :copen - show all found places
• :close - close window with results
• cn - go to the next result
• cp - go to the previous result

Tip

Use of "\v" means that after it, all ASCII characters except '0'-'9', 'a'-'z', 'A'-'Z' and '_' have special meaning: "very magic"
Use of "\V" means that after it, only a backslash and the terminating character (usually / or ?) have special meaning: "very nomagic"

after:	\v	\m	\M	\V	matches
		'magic'	'nomagic'
	a	a	a	a	literal 'a'
	\a	\a	\a	\a	any alphabetic character
	.	.	\.	\.	any character
	\.	\.	.	.	literal dot
	$	$	$	\$	end-of-line
	*	*	\*	\*	any number of the previous atom
	~	~	\~	\~	latest substitute string
	()	\(\)	\(\)	\(\)	group as an atom
	|	\|	\|	\|	nothing: separates alternatives
	\\	\\	\\	\\	literal backslash
	\{	{	{	{	literal curly brace

Working with multiple files

• :e file - edit a file in a new buffer
• :ls - list all open buffers
• :bnext or :bn or Ctrl + ^ - go to the next buffer
• :bprev or :bp - go to the previous buffer
• :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
• :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

Working with Tabs

• :tabnew or :tabnew {page.words.file} - open a file in a new tab
• gt or :tabnext or :tabn - move to the next tab
• gT or :tabprev or :tabp - move to the previous tab
• #gt - move to tab number #
• :tabmove # or :tabm # - move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0). Also +# or -# move current tab to forward or backward on # positions
• :tabclose or :tabc - close the current tab and all its windows
• :tabonly or :tabo - close all tabs except for the current one
• :tabdo command - run the command on all tabs (e.g. :tabdo q - closes all opened tabs)

Working with windows

• Ctrl + wT - move the current split window into its own tab
• Ctrl + ws or :sp {file} - split window (and open file)
• Ctrl + wv or :vsp {file} - split window vertically (and open file)
• Ctrl + wc - close the active window
• Ctrl + wo - keep only the active window, closing all others
• Ctrl + wq - quit a window
• Ctrl + w{hljk} - move cursor to the left/right/below/above window
• Ctrl + ww - switch windows
• Ctrl + w{HLJK} - move window to the left/right/below/above window
• Ctrl + wr - move windows clockwise (horizontal split)
• Ctrl + wr - move windows counter-clockwise (horizontal split)
• [size]Ctrl + w_ - set height to 'size' or maximize height of the active window
• [size]Ctrl + w| - set wight to 'size' or maximize width of the active window
• 20Ctrl + w+orw- - increase or decrease height of the active window on 20
• 20Ctrl + w<orw> - increase or decrease wight of the active window on 20

Tip resize current window:

:res +5 increase size

:res -5 decrease size

Folding

• zc - fold block
• zo - unfold block
• zM - fold all blocks
• zR - unfold all blocks
• za - invert folding
• zf - fold selected in manual mode
• :set foldenable - turn on folding
• :set foldmethod=syntax /indent /manual /marker /bigin,end

Spellcheck

• :set spell spelllang=ru,en - turn on spellcheck for russian & english
• :set nospell - turn off spellchecking
• ]s - next word with mistake
• [s - previous word with mistake
• z= - change word by the one from the list
• zg - mark word as good
• zw - mark word as wrong
• zG - ignore word

Tip add dictionaries from the http://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/

mkdir -p ~/.vim/spell
cd ~/.vim/spell
wget [vim.org]/ru.koi8-r.sug
wget [vim.org]/ru.koi8-r.spl
wget [vim.org]/en.ascii.sug
wget [vim.org]/en.ascii.spl