Vim Modes
It has various modes that are used for to perform different types of action
The commonly used mode is the normal and insert mode
Command Line Mode (:): Used for running a command
Normal Mode (Esc): Used for modifying files
Insert Mode (i): Used for inserting text
Visual Mode (v): Select text
Visual Line (<S-V>): Select lines of text
Visual Block (<C-V>): Select blocks of text
Replace Mode (r): Used for replacing text
Buffers, Windows, Tabs
Vim can have multiple tabs
Each tabs can have windows which correspond to an buffer (file)
Vim does not have 1 to 1 correspondence between buffer and windows
An buffer can be opened in 0 or more windows at a time
Command Mode
:q - Exit Vim (Close current window)
:qa - Close all open windows
:q! - Force Exit
:w - Write changes to file
:help :w - Help on :w command
:sp - Split Pane
:vsp - Vertical Split Pane
Normal Mode
The commands below can be classified into movements, edit, counts and modifier
Inserting Text
i: Insert text before the cursor
a: Insert text after the cursor (Append)
o: Insert text on a new line below
I: Insert text at the start of the line
A: Insert text at the end of the line (Append)
O: Insert text on a new line above
Movement Keys
j: Down
k: Up
l:Left
h: Right
Arrows keys also work for navigation
10h: Jump “10” characters left (General: <num><nav-key>)
gg: Jump to the start of file
G: Jump to end of file
{num}G: Jump to line
Move on Word
w: Jump ahead by a word (Punctuation considered word)
W: Jump ahead by a word (Spaces separate words)
e: Jump to the end of word (Punctuation considered word)
E: Jump to the end of word (Space separates words)
b: Move back by a word
Move on Line
^: Start of line (Non-empty character)
0: Start of line
$: End of line
Move on Page
L: Lowest line on page
M: Middle line on page
H: Highest line on page
<C-d>: Move down a page
<C-u>: Move up a page
zz: Enter viewport (Cursor middle of screen)
Cut, Copy, Delete
Delete Commands
dw: Delete from cursor till start of next word
de: Delete from cursor till end of current word
dd: Delete a line
daw: Delete word (includes space after word)
diw: Delete word (doesn’t include space after word)
d$ & D: Delete from cursor till end of line
d0: Delete from cursor till start of line
dgg: Delete from cursor till start of file
dG: Delete from cursor till end of file
Copy Commands
yw: Yank from cursor till start of next word
ye: Yank from cursor till end of current word
yy & Y: Yank a Line
ygg: Yank from cursor till start of file
yG: Yank from cursor till entire of file
viw + y: Visual select word and yank
"{reg-num}y: Yank to register reg-num
+: System Clipboard Register
%: Filename Register
Paste Commands
p: Paste below
P: Paste above
"{reg-num}p: Paste value in reg-num
Undo & Redo
u: Undo
<C-r>: Redo
Change Commands
Deletes the content and puts you in Insert Mode
cw: Change from cursor till start of next word
ce: Change from cursor till end of current word
cc Change the line
c$ & C: Change from cursor till end of line
On non-space character cw & ce both change till the start of the next word
Why do `cw` and `ce` do the same thing? - Vim Stack Exchange
Text Selections
vt": Select forward till "
vT": Select backwards till "
vf": Select forward including "
vF": Select backwards including "
Character Operations
x: Delete Character
r: Replace a character
Ctrl + R (Replace a Characters in Replace Mode)
Find Character
f{char}: Jump to char forward
F{char}: Jump to char backwards
t{char}: Jump to character before char
T{char}: Jump to character after char (backwards)
Modifier Commands
ci[: Change everything inside [
di[: Delete everything inside [
da[: Delete everything inside including [
yi[: Yank everything inside [
In the above command [ can be replaced by a different symbol
%: Jump between parenthesis
d%: Delete everything including parenthesis
y%: Yank everything including parenthesis
c%: Change everything including parenthesis
INFO
Some of the commands like u, dw, e can be used along with a number as well.
So for deleting 5 words we can use 5dw. For undoing 3 operations we can use 3u
Visual Mode
Normal Mode movement commands are used to select text
d: Delete selection
y: Yank selection (Copy)
c: Change selection
~ (Changes Case)
Intermediate Concepts
Formatting
>>: Indent Right
>>: Indent Left
==: Indent Code
=G: Indent Code till end of file
In Visual mode only need to press key once
Search in File
/: Forward Search
?: Backward Search
n: Next Match
N: Previous Match
Match selected token (Cursor over token)
*: Next Match
#: Previous Match
Marker Waypoints
m{lower-char}: Marker
'{lower-char: Jump to marker
:marks: View all markers
:delmarks {lower-char}: Delete a marker
Substitutions
:%s/{word1}/{word2}/g: Replace word1 with word2
:'<,'>s/{word1}/{word2}/g: Replace word1 with word2 in selection
The symbol '<,'> is automatically added when text is selected
g: Global Search
c: Confirm Change
.: Repeat the last operation
Registers
Memory buffers into which copied and deleted text is stored
:reg: View registers
"{num}p: Paste value from register
"{num}yy: Yank line into a register
Last yanked text is stored in register 0