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vi

  • 1976: vi by Bill Joy
  • 1991: vim by Bram Moolenaar
  • 2014: neovim

Modes

  • Normal Mode
  • Insert Mode
  • Visual Mode
  • Command Mode
  • Replace Mode

Movement

  • h: left
  • l: right
  • k: up

  • j: down

  • 0 or ^: beginning of line

  • $: end of line

  • w: next word (first char)

  • ge: previous word (last char)
  • e: current word (last char) or next word (last char)

  • b: current word (first char) or last word (first char)

  • f[char]: next occurrence of a character. E.g., fz (next z)

  • F[char]: previous occurrence of a character. E.g., fz (previous z)

  • *: next occurrence of the word under cursor

  • #: previous occurrence of the word under cursor

  • %: alternate between opening and closing characters. E.g., ( and ), [ and ], { and }

  • gg: go to first line

  • 25%: go to the line at 25% of the file
  • 50%: go to the line at 50% of the file
  • G: go to last line

  • 8G: go to line number 8

  • {: previous empty line

  • }: next empty line

  • '': return to the previous position

  • Ctrl + g: shows current position

  • Ctrl + u: half page up

  • Ctrl + d: half page down

  • Movement powered

  • Commands can be added any number multiplier in front of it
  • <>[n][action/movement]

  • Examples

    • 3w (next 3 words)
    • 3igo (insert gogogo)
    • dw deletes from cursor to beginning of next word
    • d2e deletes from cursor to the end of next word

  • Movement around

  • <>aw: for word
  • <>ap: for paragraph

  • <>a(: for parenthesis

  • Movement inside

  • <>iw: for word
  • <>ip: for paragraph

  • <>i(: for parenthesis

  • Movement until

  • <>t/: until the slash
  • <>t.: until the dot

gg + 0 + v + G: selects the whole file

Visual

  • In visual model, you select text using movement keys before you decide what to do with it

  • v stands for visual selection

  • V: selects the whole line

  • Ctrl+v: block selection

Insert

  • i: Insert mode at left of current selection

  • a: Insert mode at right of current selection

  • I: Insert mode at the beginning of line

  • A: Insert mode at the end of line

  • o: Insert mode at a new line (after)

  • O: Insert mode at a new line (before)

  • S: clear the current line and enter insert mode

Delete

  • Deleted text is registered in VIM (copied) so that it can be pasted afterwards

  • x: delete character under cursor

  • X: delete character to the left of cursor

  • D: delete until end of line

  • dd: delete the whole line

Change

  • Same as delete, but additionally starts insert mode
  • c

Replace

  • r[char]: replace one character
  • R: replace mode (overwrite the text that's already there)

Yank (Copy)

  • y copies from a command or visual selection
  • yy: yank the whole line
  • yap: copies the whole paragraph

Put (Paste)

  • Paste text in the current selection
  • Text to be pasted must in vim's register

  • vim does not have the ability from paste from you system clipboard

  • p: paste below the current line

  • P: paste above the current line

Period

  • .: executes the last command

Undo / Redo

  • u: undo last operation

  • U: undo whole line

  • ctrl + r: Redo

Focus

  • z + z: Focus the current line (middle)
  • z + t: Focus the current line (top)

Macro

  • q + q: record a macro. q again to stop macro recording
  • @ + q: use the recorded macro

Quit

  • Shift + Z + Z: Save and Quit
  • Shift + Z + Q: Quit without saving
  • /keyword: search forwards

  • ?keyword: search backwards

  • n: next occurrence

  • N: previous occurrence

Splitting

  • <C-w>v: Split window vertically
  • <C-w>s: Split window horizontally
  • <C-w>=: Make splits equal size

Commands

q

  • q: quit

w

  • :w: save file
  • :w!: save file (force)
  • :w !sudo tee %: save file with sudo
  • :x: save and quit

s

  • :s/old/new: replace first occurrence (only applicable for the current line)
  • :s/old/new/c: prompts the substitute or not
  • :s/old/new/g: replace all occurrences within the line
  • :%s/old/new/g: replace all occurrences throughout the document

r

  • :r !command" paste output from a command

e

  • :e ~/.vimrc: start editing config file
  • :e ~/file.txt: open a file

\

  • :!: execute any shell command
  • :!ls: execute any shell command
  • :!ps -ef: execute any shell command

sort

  • :sort: sort the text selected

earlier

  • :earlier 5m: go to the state 5 minutes before

later

  • :later 5m: go to the state 5 minutes after

norm

  • :norm .: executes period (last command) for all lines selected

set

  • :set hls: set a variable called "hls" (highlight search)
  • :set ic: set a variable called "ic" (ignore case)
  • :set paste: allow paste from clipboard

source

  • Useful for loading new config right after changing it

  • :source %

healthcheck

  • :healthcheck

help

  • :help
  • :help nvim
  • :help news
  • :help rtp: runtimepath help

close

# closes the current window
close
  • <cmd>close<CR>: for keybindings

Netrw

  • Netrw is the default filetree explorer
Explore # open netrw in the directory of the currently opened file
  • %: create new file
  • d: create new directory
# tree-style explorer
let g:netrw_liststyle = 3