Command |
Action |
Notes |
vim file +54 |
open file and go to line 54 |
any : command can be run using + on command line |
vim -O file1 file2 |
open file1 and file2 side by side |
|
Insert |
enter insert mode |
so you can start typing. Alternatively one can use i ora. |
Esc |
leave insert mode |
so you can issue commands. Note in VIM the cursor keys & {Home, End, Page{up,down}} and Delete and Backspace work as expected in any mode, so you don‘t need to go back to command mode nearly as much as the origonal vi. Note even Ctrl+{left,right} jumps words like most other editors. Note also Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+c are equivalent to Esc and may be easier to type. Also Ctrl+o in insert mode will switch to normal mode for one command only and automatically switch back. |
:command |
runs named command |
|
:help word |
shows help on word |
Typing Ctrl+d after word shows all entries containing word |
:echo &word |
shows value of word |
|
windows |
:e |
set buffer for current window |
you can optionally specify a new file or existing buffer number (#3 for e.g.). Note if you specify a directory a file browser is started. E.g. :e . will start the browser in the current directory (which can be changed with the :cd command). |
:sp |
new window above |
ditto |
:vs |
new window to left |
ditto |
:q |
close current window |
|
:qa |
close all windows |
add trailing ! to force |
Ctrl+w {left,right,up,down} |
move to window |
|
Ctrl+w Ctrl+w |
toggle window focus |
|
Ctrl+w = |
autosize windows |
to new terminal size for e.g. |
:ba |
new window for all buffers |
":vert ba" tiles windows vertically |
buffers |
:ls |
list buffers |
|
gf |
open file under cursor |
|
:bd |
delete buffer |
and any associated windows |
:w |
save file |
Note :up[date] only writes file if changes made, but it‘s more awkward to type |
:sav filename |
save file as filename |
Note :w filename doesn‘t switch to new file. Subsequent edits/saves happen to existing file |
undo/redo |
u |
undo |
|
Ctrl+r |
redo |
|
. |
repeat |
|
navigation |
gg |
Goto start of file |
|
G |
Goto end of file |
|
:54 |
Goto line 54 |
|
80| |
Goto column 80 |
|
Ctrl+g |
Show file info |
including your position in the file |
ga |
Show character info |
g8 shows UTF8 encoding |
Ctrl+e |
scroll up |
Ctrl+x needed first for insert mode |
Ctrl+y |
scroll down |
Ctrl+x needed first for insert mode |
zt |
scroll current line to top of window |
|
w |
Goto next word |
Note Ctrl+{right} in newer vims (which work also in insert mode) |
b |
Goto previous word |
Note Ctrl+{left} in newer vims |
[{ |
Goto previous { of current scope |
|
% |
Goto matching #if #else,{},(),[],/* */ |
must be one on line |
zi |
toggle folds on/off |
|
bookmarks |
m {a-z} |
mark position as {a-z} |
E.g. m a |
‘ {a-z} |
move to position {a-z} |
E.g. ‘ a |
‘ ‘ |
move to previous position |
|
‘0 |
open previous file |
handy after starting vim |
selection/whitespace |
v |
select visually |
use cursor keys, home, end etc. |
Shift+v |
line select |
CTRL+v = column select |
Delete |
cut selection |
|
"_x |
delete selection |
without updating the clipboard or yank buffer. I remap x to this in my .vimrc |
y |
copy selection |
|
p |
paste (after cursor) |
P is paste before cursor |
"Ay |
append selected lines to register a |
use lowercase a to initialise register |
"ap |
paste contents of a |
|
gq |
reformat selection |
justifies text and is useful with :set textwidth=70 (80 is default) |
= |
reindent selection |
very useful to fix indentation for c code |
> |
indent section |
useful with Shift+v% |
< |
unindent section |
remember . to repeat and u to undo |
:set list! |
toggle visible whitespace |
See also listchars in my .vimrc |
clipboard shortcuts |
dd |
cut current line |
|
yy |
copy current line |
|
D |
cut to end of line |
|
y$ |
copy to end of line |
|
search/replace |
/regexp |
searches forwards for regexp |
? reverses direction |
n |
repeat previous search |
N reverses direction |
* |
searches forward for word under cursor |
# reverses direction |
:%s/1/2/gc |
search for regexp 1 and replace with 2 in file |
c = confirm change |
:s/1/2/g |
search for regexp 1 and replace with 2 in (visual) selection |
|
programming |
K |
lookup word under cursor in man pages |
2K means lookup in section 2 |
:make |
run make in current directory |
|
Ctrl+] |
jump to tag |
Ctrl+t to jump back levels. I map these to Alt+?? in my .vimrc |
vim -t name |
Start editing where name is defined |
|
Ctrl+{n,p} |
scroll forward,back through autocompletions for word before cursor |
uses words in current file (and included files) by default. You can change to a dictionary for e.g: set complete=k/usr/share/dicts/words Note only works in insert mode |
Ctrl+x Ctrl+o |
scroll through language specific completions for text before cursor |
"Intellisense" for vim (7 & later). :help compl-omni for more info. Useful for python, css, javascript, ctags, ... Note only works in insert mode |
external filters |
:%!filter |
put whole file through filter |
|
:!filter |
put (visual) selection through filter |
|
:,!command |
replace current line with command output |
|
map <f9> :w<CR>:!python %<CR> |
run current file with external program |
|