Vim Cheat Sheet

A simple cheat sheet to help you use Vim for more than i, esc and :wq.

A lightweight Vim configuration file .vimrc is included.

Commands

Navigation

Key(s)	Action
h	left
l	right
j	down
k	up
0	go to start of line
^	go to first non-blank character of line
$	go to end of line
gg	go to first line
G	go to last line
:5	go to 5th line
5G	go to 5th line

Insert & Replace

Key(s)	Action
i	insert before the cursor
I	insert at the beginning of the line
a	append after the cursor
A	append at the end of the line
o	open a new line below the current line
O	open a new line above the current line
r	replace a character
cw	change a word
cc	change a line
esc	exit from insert mode

Cut, Copy & Paste

Key(s)	Action
yy	yank (copy) a line
5yy	yank 5 lines
yw	yank a word from the cursor position
yiw	yank inner word (no spaces)
x	delete (cut) a character
dd	delete a line
5dd	delete 5 lines
dw	delete a word
p	paste after cursor
P	paste before cursor

Search, Find & Replace

Key(s)	Action
/pattern	forward search for pattern
n	repeat last serach
N	repeat last search in opposite direction
:noh	shut off highlighted search results until next search
:%s/old/new/	replace on the current line
:%s/old/new/g	replace globally throughout the document

Save & Close

Key(s)	Actions
:w	write (save)
:wq	write and quit (close)
:wq!	force write and quit
:q	quit
:q!	force quit without saving changes

Global

Key(s)	Action
:help keyword	get help on command or topic
:set keyword	toggle editor option
"edit filename	open file to edit
:saveas filename	save file as

References

• The best Vim cheat sheet: https://vim.rtorr.com/