VIM summary -- List of commands

List of commands

This is a list of commands that I often use. It's just a small fraction of the vim commands. But I'll add new things when I have time.

Please note that a command starting with a colon or a slash or a question mark must be ended by the Enter key -- that is not indicated in my list, while other command doesn't need the Enter key.

File and window commands

:e filename		open a new file
:e! filename		open a new file without saving the current one
:w filename		write buffer to file
:w! filename		write buffer to an existing file
:r filename		read file to buffer
:new		split window and load an empty file
:split		split window
:new filename		open file in a sub window
Ctrlww		Jump to next window
:n		Edit the next file

Moving by text objects

h		move the cursor one position left
j		move the cursor one position down
k		move the cursor one position up
l		move the cursor one position right

w		move cursor forward to first character of next word
e		move cursor forward to last character of next word
b		move cursor backward to first character of previous word
W		same as w; ignore punctuation
E		same as e; ignore punctuation
B		same as b; ignore punctuation

)		move forward to next sentence beginning
(		move backward to previous sentence beginning
}		move forward to next paragraph beginning
{		move backward to previous paragraph beginning

Move to absolute position in a line

0		move cursor to beginning of current line
$		move cursor to end of current line
^		move cursor to first non-space/tab in current line

Move to absolute position in the file

G		jump to the end of the file
gg		jump to the beginning of the file
1G		jump to the beginning of the file
nG		jump to nth line
:n		jump to nth line

Move by screen

Ctrlf		move cursor forward by one screen
Ctrlb		move cursor backward by one screen

Move to absolute position on the screen

H		move cursor to top line
M		move cursor to middle line
L		move cursor to last line

Other

''		move cursor to previous position
'x		mover cursor to marker x, where x is a letter from a to z
%		move cursor to the match of a parethesis, bracket or brace

SPACE		move cursor one position right
ENTER		move cursor to beginning of next line

Summary of inserting commands

i		change to insert mode; begin insertion at the cursor
a		change to insert mode; begin insertion after the cursor

I		change to insert mode; begin insertion at the beginning of the current line (=^i)
A		change to insert mode; begin insertion at the end of the current line (=$a)
o		change to insert mode; open a new line below the current line
O		change to insert mode; open a new line above the current line

Summary of deleting commands

x		delete one character at cursor
X		delete character in the left

D		delete from cursor to end of line
dd		delete the entire current line
dmove		delete from cursor to the location specified by the cursor motion command move. Eg: dw d2w dG dgg d0 d$ ... Try them

Summary of copying commands

Y		Copy current line to unnamed buffer
yy		Copy current line to unnamed buffer

"cyy		copy the current line to buffer named or numbered c
nyy		copy n lines below current line
"cnyy		copy n lines to buffer named or numbered c

Summary of pasting commands

p		put the contents of the unnamed buffer below the current line or after the cursor position
P		put the contents of the unnamed buffer above the current line or before the cursor position
"cp		put the contents of the buffer named or numbered c below the current line or after the cursor position c
"cP		put the contents of the buffer named or numbered c above the current line or below the cursor position c

Summary of vim replacing commands

rx		replace the character at cursor with the new character x
R		replacing by typing over (enter replace mode)
s		replace one character by insertion (enter insert mode)
C		replace from cursor to end of line (enter insert mode)
cc		replace entire current line (enter insert mode)
S		=cc
cmove		replace from cursor to move (a cursor-moving command) (enter insert mode)

Search commands

/pattern		search forward for a pattern
?pattern		search backward for a pattern
n		jump to the next occurrence of the last searched pattern
N		jump to the next occurrence of the last searched pattern in the opposite direction of the search
*		jump to the next occurrence of the word at the current cursor position
#		jump to the previous occurrence of the word at the current cursor position

Inline character search

fc		search for a character in the current line
Fc		search for a character in the current line in backward direction
;		repeat the last f or F search in the same direction
,		repeat the last f or F search in the opposite direction

Substitute command esamples

:s/old/new/		substitute the first old in current line with new
:s/old/new/g		substitute all olds in current line with new
:s/old/new/gc		substitute all olds in current line with new, with your confirm
:n1,n2s/old/new/g		substitute all olds between the two lines with new
:n1,$s/old/new/g		substitute all olds from line n1 to the end with new
:%s/old/new/g		substitute all olds with new
:%s/old/new/gc		substitute all olds with new, with your confirm

Miscellaneous commands

mc		mark current line with an letter c
'c		move cursor to the line marked with the letter c
qc...q		record a sequence of key strokes to the register c
@c		play back the key strokes recorded in register c
n@c		play back the key strokes recorded in register c n times
:rangeg/pattern/cmd		execute the cmd for each line in range matching the pattern
:rangev/pattern/cmd		execute the cmd for each line in range not matching the pattern
v		enter visual mode
V		enter visual lines mode
Ctrlv		enter visual block mode
:f		display information of the file
Ctrl-g		=:f
u		undo the most recent change
CtrlR		redo the last undone change
.		repeat the most recent command that made a change.
:!command		execute a shell command
:r!command		insert the output of a shell command after the cursor
:sh		start a shell (type exit to return to vim)

Cool commands

rENTER		break a line
J		join the current line and the next line.
~		toggle the case of the letter.
ga		show ASCII value of a character.
:as		show ASCII value of a character.
%		move cursor to match a parenthesis, bracket or brace
xp		exchanging two characters
ddp		exchanging two lines