Secrets of the Vim Ninja

Normal mode

Insert mode

Command mode

Visual mode

Shell mode

Help

:help
Load help.
:help j
Get help on the 'j' command.
:help :split
Get help on the ':split' command.
:help z*
Get help for all commands that start with 'z'.
<C-]>
Open link under cursor in help system.
<C-o>
Go back one page in help system.

Undo and redo

u
Undo.
U
Undo all latest changes on one line.
<C-r>
Redo. (<C-r> means Ctrl+r, by the way. It's a Vim convention.)
:redo
Redo (alternate form).

Movement: Lines

0
Jump to beginning of the current line.
^
Jump to first non-space character on the current line.
$
Jump to end of the current line.
gg
Jump to the first line in the file.
G
Jump to the last line in the file.
47G
Jump to line 47.
:47
Jump to line 47 (alternate form).

Movement: Characters

f [char]
Jump to next occurrence of [char].
3f [char]
Jump to third occurrence of [char].
F [char]
Jump to previous occurrence of [char].
t [char]
Jump to one character before the next occurrence of [char].
T [char]
Jump to one character after the previous occurrence of [char].
;
Repeat last f/F/t/T movement.
,
Repeat last f/F/t/T movement in opposite directory.

Movement: Words and text

w
Jump to beginning of next word.
e
Jump to next end of word.
b
Jump back to beginning of previous word.
(
Jump back to beginning of previous sentence.
)
Jump to beginning of next sentence.
{
Jump back to beginning of previous paragraph.
}
Jump to beginning of next paragraph.

Movement: Code

%
Jump between opening/closing braces, brackets, parentheses, etc.
[[
Jump to previous function.
]]
Jump to next function.
[{
Jump to beginning of current block.
]}
Jump to end of current block.

Search

/
Search.
?
Search backwards.
n
Jump to next match.
N
Jump to next match, moving in the opposite direction.
*
Search for current word under the cursor.
#
Search for current word under the cursor, moving backwards.

Repetition

.
Repeat last command.
23dd
Delete 23 lines.
5j
Jump down 5 lines.
qa
Start recording keystrokes to the @a macro.
q
Stop recording.
@a
Play back the @a macro.
4@a
Play back the @a macro 4 times.

Replace

:%s/search/replace/g
Replace all instances of 'search' with 'replace' throughout the whole file.
:5,10s/search/replace/g
Replace all instances of 'search' with 'replace' from line 5 to line 10.
:%s/$\d\+$-$\d\+$\+/\1\–\2/g
Find all [number]-[number] text and replace with [number]–[number]
:%s/\v(\d+)-(\d+)+/\1\–\2/g
Same as last, but using magic regex.
:g/foo/ s/bar/BAR/g
On lines that match the regex /foo/, replace 'bar' with 'BAR'.
:vimgrep /^<h5/ *.html
Find lines that start with '<h5' in all HTML files in the current directory.
:cn
In vimgrep mode, move to next match.
:cp
In vimgrep mode, move to previous match.

Insert mode

i
Go into insert mode before the character under the cursor.
I
Jump to beginning of the current line and enter insert mode.
a
Go into insert mode after the character under the cursor.
A
Jump to end of the current line and enter insert mode.
o
Add a blank line after current line and enter insert mode on that line.
O
Add a blank line before current line and enter insert mode on that line.

Deleting text

x
Delete the character under the cursor.
dw
Delete a word.
dd
Delete the current line.
D
Delete from cursor position to the end of the current line.
dt [char]
Delete from cursor position to [char]. (Also works with f.)
d)
Delete from cursor position to the beginning of the next sentence.
d}
Delete from cursor position to the end of the paragraph.
di(
Delete inside parentheses. (You can be anywhere inside them.)
da<
Delete around angle brackets.
dit
Delete inside tag. (Meaning, delete what's between the opening and closing tags.)

Changing text

J
Join line (pull the next line up after the end of the current line).
~
Toggle the case (upper/lower) of the character under the cursor.
u
In visual mode: change selected text to lowercase.
U
In visual mode: change selected text to uppercase.
r [char]
Replace character under cursor with [char].
R
Enter overtype mode.
cw
Change word (delete word and enter insert mode).
c)
Change from cursor position to the beginning of the next sentence.
c}
Change from cursor position to the end of the paragraph.
ci"
Change inside quotes (not including quotes).
ca"
Change around quotes (including quotes).
cit
Change inside tag contents (between opening and closing tags).
cat
Change a tag's contents (includes opening/closing tags).
cis
Change inside sentence (doesn’t include space after period).
cas
Change a sentence (includes space after period).
cip
Change inside paragraph (doesn’t include blank line).
cap
Change a paragraph (includes blank line).
ci<
Change inside tag name (between opening and closing angle brackets).
ca<
Change a tag name (includes brackets).
ci(
Change inside parentheses.
ci{
Change inside curly braces.
ci[
Change inside square brackets.
C
Delete the rest of the line and enter insert mode.
ct [char]
Change from cursor position to [char].

Indenting text

>>
Indent current line.
<<
Dedent current line.
>
In visual mode: Indent selected lines.
<
In visual mode: Dedent selected lines.
>aB
Indent current block (defined by curly braces).
>ap
Indent current paragraph.
>i{
Indent inside current set of curly braces.
=
In visual mode: Reformat selected text.

Selecting text and cut/copy/paste

v
Enter visual select (by character).
V
Enter visual select (by line).
<C-v>
Enter visual select (by column).
gv
Re-select last selected area.
y
In visual mode: Yank selected text to Vim clipboard.
"+y
In visual mode: Yank selected text to system clipboard.
yy
Yank current line to clipboard.
yw
Yank word.
yip
Yank inside paragraph.
yas
Yank a sentence.
yi<
Yank inside angle brackets.
p
Paste from clipboard.
P
Paste from clipboard before cursor.
<C-r>"
In insert mode: Paste from clipboard.
"ayy
Yank current line to the 'a' register. (You can use 'a' through 'z'.)
"ap
Paste from the 'a' register.

Files and directories

:e!
Reload current file, abandoning any changes.
:r [file]
Insert the contents of [file].
:r !date
Insert the results from the Unix date command.
:pwd
Echo current working directory to status line.
:cd [dir]
Change current working directory to [dir].

Buffers

:ls
List open buffers.
:buf 2
Switch to buffer #2.
:bn
Go to [N]th next buffer in buffer list.
:bp
Go to [N]th previous buffer in buffer list.
:b#
Jump to previously (edited) buffer.
:bd
Close current buffer.

Windows

:split
Split window (one window on top of the other).
:vsplit
Split window (one window next to the other).
:split [file]
Split window and open [file] in the new window.
:close
Close current window.
:only
Close every window except for the current one.
<C-w> h
Move focus to the window to the left.
<C-w> j
Move focus to the window underneath.
<C-w> k
Move focus to the window above.
<C-w> l
Move focus to the window to the right.
<C-w> w
Move focus to the next window.

Tabs

:tabe
Open a new tab.
:tabe [file]
Open a new tab with [file].
:tabc
Close current tab.
gt
Move to next tab.
gT
Move to previous tab.

Scrolling

H
Jump to the high part of the screen.
M
Jump to the middle part of the screen.
L
Jump to the low part of the screen.
zt
Scroll so the current line is at the top of the screen.
zz
Scroll so the current line is in the middle of the screen.
zb
Scroll so the current line is at the bottom of the screen.
<C-u>
Scroll half page up.
<C-d>
Scroll half page down.
<C-b>
Scroll full page up.
<C-f>
Scroll full page down.

Folding

:fold
In visual mode: Fold selected lines.
3zF
Fold 3 lines.
zo
Open current fold under the cursor.
zc
Close current fold under the cursor.
zR
Open all folds.
zd
Delete fold under the cursor. (Leaves text intact, just removes fold.)

Autocompletion

<C-n>
Autocomplete current word. Also moves forward through autocomplete list.
<C-p>
Move backward through autocomplete list.
<C-x> <C-o>
Omnicomplete. See :help omnifunc

Bookmarks and history

ma
Set current position as mark 'a' (any lowercase letter will do).
`a
Jump to mark 'a'. (The first character is a backtick, left of the '1' on your keyboard.)
g;
Go back to the last place you edited. (You can do it multiple times in a row.)

Mapping keys

:map
List all mapped keys.
:imap
List all mapped keys for insert mode.
:nmap
List all mapped keys for normal mode.
:imap jj <Esc>
Map 'jj' in insert mode to do the same as the escape key.
:map ,c >>
Map ',c' to indent the current line.

Useful options

:syntax on
Turn on syntax highlighting.
:set number
Turn on line numbers.
:set wrap
Wraps lines. (:set nowrap turns it off.)
:set incsearch
Show matches as you search rather than waiting for you to hit Enter.
:set ignorecase smartcase
When searching, ignore case unless you type a capital, in which case it’ll match case (smartcase).
:set pastetoggle=<F5>
Sets paste toggle to the F5 key, so you can paste text without the indentation going berserk.
:abbr teh the
Add an abbreviation, so when you type 'teh', it changes it to 'the'.
:abbr em@ my.email@gmail.com
Another type of abbreviation, to save keystrokes (like TextExpander).

Miscellaneous

:sort
Sort selected text.
:%sort
Sort the whole file.
:1,10sort
Sort the first ten lines of the file.
:!sort -n
Sort selected text using the external Unix sort command with the -n option.
:%!uniq
Run the whole file through the external uniq command.
vimdiff [file1] [file2]
Diff [file1] and [file2] using synchronized split windows.
]c
In vimdiff mode, move to next line with differences.
[c
In vimdiff mode, move to previous line with differences.
vim + [file]
Open [file] in Vim and jump to the end of the file.
vim +21 [file]
Open [file] in Vim and jump to line 21.
[i
Show (in the status line) the first line containing the word under the cursor.
[I
Show (in the status line) all lines containing the word under the cursor.
:g/pattern/
Show (in the status line) all lines that match the regex /pattern/.
:e scp://username@server//path/to/file
Open a remote file over SSH.
:au! BufNewFile,BufRead *.php set filetype=php.html.javascript.css
When you open or create a .php file, set the filetype to include HTML, JS, and CSS (for good syntax highlighting).
:iab <expr> dts strftime("%-d %b %Y (%a)")
Make it so typing 'dts' followed by a space will insert the current date.

CONTENTS

Secrets of the Vim Ninja

Help

Undo and redo

Movement: Lines

Movement: Characters

Movement: Words and text

Movement: Code

Search

Repetition

Replace

Insert mode

Deleting text

Changing text

Indenting text

Selecting text and cut/copy/paste

Files and directories

Buffers

Windows

Tabs

Scrolling

Folding

Autocompletion

Bookmarks and history

Mapping keys

Useful options

Miscellaneous

Sample .vimrc files

More reading