— Written by Triangles on June 15, 2019 • updated on February 26, 2020 • ID 73 —

The humble Vim cheat sheet

Basic Vim commands I keep forgetting.

This is my own minimalistic Vim cheat sheet. It contains most of the commands I use every day. It will get updated as new useful tricks are found.

File I/O

Open files


Open existing file in a new buffer	`:e <file>`	Support wildcards, e.g. `**/<file>`
Open new file in a horizontal split window	`:new`
Open new file in a vertical split window	`:vnew`
Open new file in the current window	`:enew`
Open new file in a new tab	`:tabnew`
Read file content	`:r[ead] <file>`	Insert text content of `<file>` below the cursor

Save files


Save current file	`:w`
Save all files	`:wa`
Save current file as new file	`:saveas <file-name>`

Buffers operations


List open buffers	`:ls`
Close current buffer	`:bd[elete]`
Go to next buffer	`:bn[ext]`
Go to previous buffer	`:bp[previous]`

Copy and paste


Copy the current line	`yy`
Copy `n` lines	`<n>yy`
Paste below the current line	`p`
Paste above the current line	`P`

Screen layout

Windows


Split window horizontally	`:split`
Split window vertically	`:vsplit`
Move cursor across windows	`Ctrl-w + <direction key>`
Close current window	`Ctrl-w + q`

Tabs


Create new empty tab	`:tabn[ew]`
Create new tab with a buffer	`:tabe[dit] <file or path>`
Move tab	`:tabm[ove] <numeric value>`	e.g. `:tabm -1`, `:tabm +3` (relative), `:tabm 2` (absolute)

Text editing


Insert mode	`i`
Jump to next line and start editing	`o`
Jump to the beginning of the line and start editing	`I`
Jump to the end of the line and start editing	`A`

Indentation, tabs and spaces


Insert tabs as spaces	`:set expandtab`
Set tabs-as-spaces width	`:set shiftwidth=<x>`	Where `x` is the number of spaces to insert. Works only if `:set expandtab` is on
Insert tabs as real tabs	`:set expandtab!`	Returns to the default behavior

Deletion


Delete line	`dd`
Clear line from cursor to end	`D`
Clear whole line	`0D`	`0` moves the cursor to the beginning
Clear whole line and end up in insert mode	`S`

Text selection


Visual mode (character)	`v`
Visual block (blocks)	`Ctrl-v`
Visual line (lines)	`V`
Virtual mode	`:set virtualedit=<mode>`	Cursor can move where there is no actual character. `<mode>` can be: `block` for visual block mode, `insert` for insert mode, `all` for all modes, `onemore` allows the cursor to move just past the end of the line
Select current word under cursor	`viw`
Select everything inside parentheses	`vi[parenthesis]`	e.g. `vi(`, `vi[`, `vi{`
Select everything inside block (curly braces)	`viB`	Same as `vi{`

Text navigation


Move to beginning of line	`0`
Move to end of line	`$`
Move to first non-blank character of the line	`_`
Move to last non-blank character of the line	`g_`
Move to first line	`gg`
Move to last line	`G`
Jump between the last two positions	`''`

Marks


Set local mark	`m<lowercase-letter>`	Sets a mark in the current file, e.g. `ma`. Available letters: `a-z`
Set global mark	`m<uppercase-letter>`	Sets a unique, global mark in the current file, e.g. `mA`. Only one file can have a specific mark. Available letters: `A-Z`
Go to mark	`'<letter>`	E.g. `'a`, `'B`
Delete mark	`:delmarks <letter>`
Delete all local marks	`:delmarks!`

Text appearance


Word wrap	`:set wrap`
Break lines at words	`:set linebreak`
Highlight current line	`:set cursorline`
Show vertical line	`:set colorcolumn=<x>`	Where `<x>` is the column number
Show all whitespaces	`:set list`
Automatic word wrapping	`:set textwidth=<x>`	Text wraps automatically as you type, in order to make each line long `<x>` characters at most
Show existing tabs as `x` spaces	`:set tabstop=<x>`

File browser

Vim has a built-in file browser called netrw.


Open file browser in the current window	`:Ex[plore]`
Open file browser in a new split horizontal window	`:Sex[plore]`
Open file browser in a new split vertical window	`:Vex[plore]`
Open file browser in a new tab	`:Tex[plore]`

Inside the file browser


Change view mode	`i`	Switch between normal, compact list, tree
Create a new directory	`d`
Create a new file	`%`
Delete file or directory	`D`
Rename file or directory	`R`

Running external commands


Run external command	`:! <command> %`	E.g. `:! wc %`: runs the `wc` command on the current file (`%`) and reports the results
Re-run last command	`:!!`
Run external command and save output to current buffer	`:r[ead] ! <command> %`

Vim

comments

Daniel on July 30, 2019 at 17:24

I was looking at the cheat sheet, as it seems helpful, and I also noticed that vi{ is equivalent to viB, not vib. Also ctrl-w d is not close buffer, but it splits window and then jump to definition under cursor. Perhaps you meant ctrl-w q or ctrl-w c

Franck on August 02, 2019 at 05:22

learned a few new tricks, thanks!

Triangles on August 02, 2019 at 10:59

Thanks @Daniel, you're right! Both typos have been fixed ;)

John on September 08, 2019 at 00:03

I use these daily as well, though the parenthesis selections were new to me. Very useful indeed.

Larry on February 12, 2020 at 22:45

This is now my favorite vim cheat sheet. Good work! But...
How about copy/paste?
Copy the current line. yy
Copy lines. yy
Paste below the current line. p
Paste above the current line. P

Another one I use constantly is:
Read a file into the current buffer below the current line :r

Triangles on February 26, 2020 at 12:43

@Larry thank you! Sheet updated :)

share!