For a long time, I ran away from Vim because it seemed very tricky and because there is a lot of simpler editors out there to work with. However, as it comes installed in most Linux distributions, I made this cheat sheet to help me understand how things work. I have discovered that is possible to be very productive with Vim 😃.

I'll try to go straight to the point. This cheat-sheet is not intended to be a complete guide but it helps to get started.

Vim have different operation modes, and I will not cover all of them in this cheat sheet. I'll stick with the basic functionality needed to open, edit and save a file.

Let's begin! To open a file with Vim just type vim filename.

ESC = enter "command mode"

Move the cursor

You can use the arrow keys to move the cursor around. There is also special keys to do this:

• h = move one character left
• j = move one row down
• k = move one row up
• l = move one character right

Edition Mode

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• i = insert text in the cursor position
• I = insert text in the begin of the line
• o = insert text in the next line
• O = insert text in the previous line
• a = insert a character after the current
• A = insert text at the end of the line
• r = replace the character at the current cursor position
• R = enter replace mode to replace characters from the current cursor position
• u = undo last action
• CTRL + r = redo

Saving & Exiting

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• :w = Save
• :q = Exit
• :q! = Force exit (exit without saving)
• :qa = Exit from all opened files
• :wq = Save and exit
• :x = Save and exit
• ZZ = Save and exit
• ZQ = Force exit (exit without saving)

Copy, paste & cut

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• yy = copy line
• p = paste content to the below line
• P = paste content to the above line
• yNy = copy N lines
• cw = cut the word starting from the current cursor position
• dd = cut or delete a line
• D = delete the line starting from the current cursor position
• dG = delete the lines starting from the current cursor position to the end of the file
• dGG = delete the lines starting from the current cursor position to the begin of the file
• dw = delete the word starting from the current cursor position
• dNd = cut or delete N lines
• x = delete a character at the current cursor position (similar to "delete" key behaviour)
• X = delete a character before the current cursor position (similar to "backspace" key behaviour)
• yw = copy the word starting from the current cursor position

Visual Mode

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• v = visual mode that allows to select a text fragment
• V = visual mode that allows to select an entire line
• CTRL+v = visual block that allows select a block of text

Navigation

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• /pattern = search forward for a patter
• ?pattern = search backward for a pattern
• n = pattern forward search
• N = pattern backward search
• gg = goes to the first line of the file
• G = goes to the last line of the file
• H = goes to the top of the current screen
• M = goes to the middle of the current screen
• L = goes to the end of the current screen

Commands

The following keys have to be typed in "Command Mode".

• :set hlsearch = enable search highlight
• :set number = show line numbers
• :set tabstop=N = set the size of TAB to N
• :set expandtab = convert TAB in spaces
• :set bg=dark/light = change the color scheme
• :set ignorecase = makes the search case insensitive
• :syntax on/off = enable/disable syntax highlighting
• :LNs/tobereplaced/replacer/g = replaces(s) all(g) tobereplaced with replacer in the line LN
• :%s/tobereplaced/replacer/g = replaces(s) all(g) tobereplaced with replacer in the entire file
• :e filename = opens "filename"
• :r filename = copy the contents of the "filename" to the current file
• :split filename = split screen horizontally to show the current file and "filename"
• :vsplit filename = split screen vertically to show the current file and "filename"
• :! command = runs "command" in shell and show the STDOUT
• !! command = runs "command" in shell and paste the STDOUT in the file