Vim Cheat Sheet

Modes:

Vi has two basic working modes: Insert and Normal (command) mode. It starts in Normal mode, where you move the cursor, delete and copy text. Insert and change commands enter Insert mode. Escape returns to Normal mode, where you can quit, for example with :q!. Most commands run as soon as you type them; commands beginning with a colon run after Enter.

Quitting:

Inserting text:

Movement:

Deleting text:

Most deletion commands consist of d followed by a motion. For example, dw deletes a word. Other deletion commands include:

Yanking text:

Like deletion commands, most yank commands consist of y followed by a motion. For example, y$ copies text to the end of the line into a register. Two other yank commands are:

Changing text:

Change commands delete text and enter Insert mode. They consist of c followed by a motion. For example, cw changes a word. Other change commands include:

Putting text:

Registers:

You can specify a named register before any delete, change, yank or put command. The prefix is "c, where c is a lowercase letter. For example, "adw deletes a word into register a. The command "ap puts it back into the text.

Marks:

You can set named marks at positions in the file. Lowercase letters name local marks. Marks can also define the boundaries of a range.

Searching:

Substitution:

Search and replacement use :s, usually with a range or with :g (see below).

Regular expressions:

[...] examples of character sets:

Regular expression examples:

Notes:

1. Regular expressions are case-sensitive by default. 2. Regular expressions are used wherever a pattern is required: pattern.

Counts:

A number before a command specifies how many times to repeat it. For example, 5dw deletes five words, and 3fe moves forward to the third occurrence of e. Even an insertion can be repeated this way, for example to insert the same text 100 times.

Ranges:

A range before many colon commands specifies the lines to process. For example, :3,7d deletes lines 3 through 7. Combine ranges with :s to replace text on multiple lines; :.,$s/pattern/string/g replaces from the current line to the end of the file.

Files

Other commands

Introduction

The reference above gives a first look at modes. Let's examine how they work and what you can do in each one.

Types of mode

Vim has three main editing modes:

• Normal mode runs commands. This is the mode Vim starts in.
• Insert mode lets you type text.
• Visual mode selects a region of text for a command or operation.

Normal mode and help

You start in Normal mode. Type :echo "hello world" and press Enter. Vim displays the familiar words “hello world”: you ran the :echo command and supplied the text to display. Now type /hello and press Enter. Vim searches for that text and moves to the next match.

Those are just two of the commands available in Normal mode; there are many more to explore. Knowing how to use :help is almost as important as understanding Normal mode itself. You do not have to memorise every Vim command, only know where to find it when you need it.

:help usr_toc opens the user manual's table of contents. :help index opens the command index, where you can search for a topic, for example with /insert mode. If you forget both names, press F1 or enter :help.

Entering and inserting text

Vim starts in Normal mode, and i switches to Insert mode. Let's try this and the other ways to enter text:

1. Run :e dapping.txt.
2. Press i.
3. Type the following text, including its omissions; we will fix them shortly: means being determined about being determined and being passionate about being passionate.
4. Press Escape to return to Normal mode.
5. Run :w.

We have missed a word at the beginning, while the cursor is at the end. How should we get back and insert it? We could use the mouse, press the arrow keys repeatedly, or press Home and then i. A more direct way is I, uppercase i:

1. Press I.
2. Type Dappin.
3. Press Escape.

This Insert command first moves to the first nonblank character of the line. Get into the habit of returning to Normal mode as soon as you finish typing. After the initial writing, much of your work consists of rewriting, editing and polishing, which is where Normal mode is useful.

The command i inserts before the character under the cursor. To insert after it, use a, for “after”:

1. Press a.
2. Type g, including the space, to finish “Dapping” and separate it from “means”.
3. Press Escape.

Just as I extends i, A extends a by moving to the end of the line:

1. Press A.
2. Type . to finish the sentence.
3. Press Escape.

The uppercase commands act on a larger part of the line. We can now move around a line efficiently; next, let's open new lines. Press o, for “open”, to create a line below the current one and start typing:

1. Press o.
2. Type I'm a rapper.
3. Press Escape.

It would be better to put this new sentence in a separate paragraph. Press O, uppercase o, then Escape to open an empty line above it.

Here the uppercase and lowercase forms open lines in opposite directions.

Changing and replacing text

There is another mistake: we wanted “dapper”, not “rapper”. How can we change that one character efficiently? We could position the cursor on r, press i, press Delete, type d, then press Escape. The command s, for “substitute”, saves a step:

1. Move the cursor onto r; from the end of that word, b moves back to its beginning.
2. Press s.
3. Type d.
4. Press Escape.

One saved keystroke may seem unimportant, but these operations repeat throughout the day. Making them quick leaves more attention for the creative and interesting parts of the work. As Linus Torvalds puts it, speed does not merely let you finish sooner; it changes the way you work.

The uppercase command S replaces the entire line:

1. Press S.
2. Type Be a sinner.
3. Press Escape.

Could a single-character replacement be even simpler? Yes: r, for “replace”. Move to the first letter of sinner, press r, then d. The word becomes dinner. You are still in Normal mode, so there is no need to press Escape.

Its uppercase counterpart, R, replaces successive characters:

1. Move to the i in dinner.
2. Press R.
3. Type app; the word becomes dapper.
4. Press Escape.

The resulting text is:

Dapping means being determined about being determined and being passionate about being passionate.

Be a dapper.

That is a lot to take in, but learning the modes is the hardest first step. Once their behaviour becomes familiar, the other Vim features are easier to understand. If switching between modes still feels awkward, work through the examples again whenever you need to. For more detail, read :help inserting and :help replacing.

Visual mode

Suppose you want to select several words and replace them with new text. You could click at the start, hold the mouse button and drag to the end. You could also delete the characters one at a time with Delete or Backspace, though that would take even more work.

A more efficient method is to place the cursor at the start, press v to enter Visual mode, then move to the end with arrow keys or a motion command. For example, 5e moves to the end of the fifth word from the cursor. Press c, for “change”, to replace the selection. This command enters Insert mode; press Escape after entering the new text.

Lowercase v selects characters. Use uppercase V to select whole lines.

Switching modes

Normal -- i,I,a,A,o,O,s,S,R --> Insert
Normal <------ Escape ------- Insert
  |  ^
 v,V | Escape
  v  |
 Visual
(r replaces one character without leaving Normal mode.)

The diagram was drawn in Vim with Dr. Chip's DrawIt plugin. Read :help vim-modes-intro for the modes and :help mode-switching for transitions between them. If you are still unconvinced that modes account for Vim's power and simplicity, the articles “Why Vi” and “The Vi Input Model” explain the editing approach in more detail.

• DrawIt
• Why Vi
• The Vi Input Model

Additional cheat sheet

Syntax highlighting

Line wrapping

Printing

Folding

Marks

Registers

Selection

Indentation

Search and replace

Line numbers

Tabs

Windows

Spell checking

mkdir -p ~/.vim/spell
cd ~/.vim/spell
wget https://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/ru.koi8-r.sug
wget https://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/ru.koi8-r.spl
wget https://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/en.ascii.sug
wget https://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/en.ascii.spl

Encodings

Other commands

That is all for now. I expect to update this cheat sheet from time to time, so watch for a PS at the end of later posts.