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Cursor movement


  • h - move left
  • j - move down
  • k - move up
  • l - move right
  • w - jump by start of words (punctuation considered words)
  • W - jump by words (spaces separate words)
  • e - jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)
  • E - jump to end of words (no punctuation)
  • b - jump backward by words (punctuation considered words)
  • B - jump backward by words (no punctuation)
  • 0 - (zero) start of line
  • ^ - first non-blank character of line
  • $ - end of line
  • G - Go To command (prefix with number - 5G goes to line 5)

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

Insert Mode - Inserting/Appending text


  • i - start insert mode at cursor
  • I - insert at the beginning of the line
  • a - append after the cursor
  • A - append at the end of the line
  • o - open (append) blank line below current line (no need to press return)
  • O - open blank line above current line
  • ea - append at end of word
  • Esc - exit insert mode

Editing


  • r - replace a single character (does not use insert mode)
  • J - join line below to the current one
  • cc - change (replace) an entire line
  • cw - change (replace) to the end of word
  • c$ - change (replace) to the end of line
  • s - delete character at cursor and subsitute text
  • S - delete line at cursor and substitute text (same as cc)
  • xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)
  • u - undo
  • . - repeat last command

Marking text (visual mode)


  • v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do command (such as 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 braces)
  • aB - a {} block (with brackets)
  • ib - inner () block
  • iB - inner {} block
  • Esc - exit visual mode

Visual commands


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

Cut and Paste


  • yy - yank (copy) a line
  • 2yy - yank 2 lines
  • yw - yank word
  • y$ - yank to end of line
  • p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
  • P - put (paste) before cursor
  • dd - delete (cut) a line
  • dw - delete (cut) the current word
  • x - delete (cut) current character

Exiting


  • :w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
  • :wq - write (save) and quit
  • :q - quit (fails if anything has changed)
  • :q! - quit and throw away changes

Search/Replace


  • /pattern - search for pattern
  • ?pattern - search backward for pattern
  • 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

Working with multiple files


  • :e filename - Edit a file in a new buffer
  • :bnext (or :bn) - go to next buffer
  • :bprev (of :bp) - go to previous buffer
  • :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
  • :sp filename - Open a file in a new buffer and split window
  • ctrl+ws - Split windows
  • ctrl+ww - switch between windows
  • ctrl+wq - Quit a window
  • ctrl+wv - Split windows vertically