Normal Mode

Note: Prefix a cursor movement command with a number to repeat it. For example, 4j moves down 4 lines.

  • h - move left
  • j - move down
  • k - move up
  • l - move right
  • w - jump to start of words (punctuation considered words)
  • e - jump to end of words (punctuation considered words)
  • b - jump backward to start of words (punctuation considered words)
  • W - jump to start of words (spaces separated words)
  • E - jump to end of words (spaces separated words)
  • B - jump backward to start of words (spaces separated words)
  • 0 - start of line
  • $ - end of line
  • ^ - first non-blank character of line
  • gg - go to start of file
  • G - go to end of file
  • 5G - go to line 5
  • % - go to matching parenthesis or bracket
  • za - fold and unfold code
  • :e - reload the opened file

Insert Mode

  • i - start insert mode at cursor
  • I - insert at the beginning of the line
  • a - append after the cursor
  • A - append at the end of the line, after the last character (useful to insert newline)
  • o - append a blank line below current line and enter Insert mode

  • O - prepend a blank line above current line and enter Insert mode

  • Esc - exit insert mode

Useful combination:

  • ea - append at end of word

Editing

  • r - replace a single character, rx replace current with x
  • ~ - toggle case
  • J - join line below to the current one
  • cc - remove (change) an entire line, 2cc to remove (change) next 2 lines
  • cw - remove (change) to the end of word
  • c$ - remove (change) to the end of line
  • s - delete (substitute) character at cursor
  • S - delete (substitute) line at cursor (same as cc)
  • u - undo
  • ctrl + r - redo
  • . - repeat last command
  • >> - shift right
  • « - shift left

Cut and Paste

  • yy - copy (yank) a line, 2yy to copy (yank) next 2 lines
  • yw - copy (yank) word
  • y$ - copy (yank) to end of line
  • p - paste after cursor
  • P - paste before cursor
  • dd - cut a line (can be used for deleting a line too)
  • dw - cut the current word
  • x - cut current character
  • xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste, technically)

Visual mode selection

  • v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do command
  • V - start Linewise visual mode
  • Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
  • o - move to other end of marked area
  • O - move to other corner of block
  • aw - mark a word
  • ab - a () block (with braces)
  • aB - a {} block (with brackets)
  • ib - content inside the () block
  • iB - inner {} block
  • Esc - exit visual mode

Visual mode operation

  • > - shift right
  • < - shift left
  • y - yank (copy) marked text
  • d - delete marked text
  • ~ - switch case

Exiting

  • :w - write (save) the file, but don’t exit
  • :wq - write (save) and quit
  • :q - quit (fails if anything has changed)
  • :q! - quit and throw away changes

Search/Replace

  • /pattern - search for pattern
  • ?pattern - search backward for pattern
  • n - next search result in same direction
  • N - next search result in opposite direction
  • :%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
  • :%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations

#Working with multiple files

  • :e filename - Edit a file in a new buffer
  • :bnext (or :bn) - go to next buffer
  • :bprev (of :bp) - go to previous buffer
  • :bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
  • :sp filename - Open a file in a new buffer and split window

ctrl + w works with windows:

  • (ctrl + w)s - split windows
  • (ctrl + w)w - switch between windows
  • (ctrl + w)q - quit a window
  • (ctrl + w)v - split windows vertically

Plugin

\t - open NERDTree tab

\b - open definition list

ctrl + n - select next occurrence