Global

• :help keyword – open help for keyword
• :o file – open file
• :saveas file – save file as
• :close – close current pane
• K – open man page for word under the cursor

Cursor movement

• h – move cursor left
• j – move cursor down
• k – move cursor up
• l – move cursor right
• H – move to top of screen
• M – move to middle of screen
• L – move to bottom of screen
• w – jump forwards to the start of a word
• W – jump forwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
• e – jump forwards to the end of a word
• E – jump forwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
• b – jump backwards to the start of a word
• B – jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
• % – move to matching character (default supported pairs: ‘()’, ‘{}’, ‘[]’ – use :h matchpairs in vim for more info)
• 0 – jump to the start of the line
• ^ – jump to the first non-blank character of the line
• $ – jump to the end of the line
• g_ – jump to the last non-blank character of the line
• gg – go to the first line of the document
• G – go to the last line of the document
• 5G – go to line 5
• fx – jump to next occurrence of character x
• tx – jump to before next occurrence of character x
• } – jump to next paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• { – jump to previous paragraph (or function/block, when editing code)
• zz – center cursor on screen
• Ctrl + b – move back one full screen
• Ctrl + f – move forward one full screen
• Ctrl + d – move forward 1/2 a screen
• Ctrl + u – move back 1/2 a screen

Insert mode – inserting/appending text

• i – insert before the cursor
• I – insert at the beginning of the line
• a – insert (append) after the cursor
• A – insert (append) at the end of the line
• o – append (open) a new line below the current line
• O – append (open) a new line above the current line
• ea – insert (append) at the end of the word
• Esc – exit insert mode

Editing

• r – replace a single character
• J – join line below to the current one
• cc – change (replace) entire line
• cw – change (replace) to the end of the word
• c$ – change (replace) to the end of the line
• s – delete character and substitute text
• S – delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
• xp – transpose two letters (delete and paste)
• u – undo
• Ctrl + r – redo
• . – repeat last command
• :noh – remove highlighting of search matches
• =a{ – indent the whole block of code inside { }
• gg=G – indent all code in the whole file

Marking text (visual mode)

• v – start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
• V – start linewise visual mode
• o – move to other end of marked area
• Ctrl + v – start visual block mode
• O – move to other corner of block
• aw – mark a word
• ab – a block with ()
• aB – a block with {}
• ib – inner block with ()
• iB – inner block with {}
• Esc – exit visual mode

Visual commands

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

Registers

• :reg – show registers content
• "xy – yank into register x
• "xp – paste contents of register x

Marks

• :marks – list of marks
• ma – set current position for mark A
• `a – jump to position of mark A
• y`a – yank text to position of mark A

Macros

• qa – record macro a
• q – stop recording macro
• @a – run macro a
• @@ – rerun last run macro

Cut and paste

• yy – yank (copy) a line
• 2yy – yank (copy) 2 lines
• yw – yank (copy) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
• y$ – yank (copy) to end of line
• p – put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
• P – put (paste) before cursor
• dd – delete (cut) a line
• 2dd – delete (cut) 2 lines
• dw – delete (cut) the characters of the word from the cursor position to the start of the next word
• D – delete (cut) to the end of the line
• d$ – delete (cut) to the end of the line
• x – delete (cut) character

Exiting

• :w – write (save) the file, but don’t exit
• :w !sudo tee % – write out the current file using sudo
• :wq or :x or ZZ – write (save) and quit
• :q – quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
• :q! or ZQ – quit and throw away unsaved changes
• :x – Save and quit
• :xa – Save and quit all
• :wqa or :wqall – Save and quit all

Search and replace

• /pattern – search for pattern
• ?pattern – search backward for pattern
• \vpattern – ‘very magic’ pattern: non-alphanumeric characters are interpreted as special regex symbols (no escaping needed)
• n – repeat search in same direction
• N – repeat search 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

Search in multiple files

• :vimgrep /pattern/ {file} – search for pattern in multiple files

• :cn – jump to the next match
• :cp – jump to the previous match
• :copen – open a window containing the list of matches

Working with multiple files

• vim -p [file*] – Open files using tabs
• vim -O [file*] – Open files using vertical split
• vim -o [file*] – Open files using horizontal split
• :e file – edit a file in a new buffer
• :bnext or :bn – go to the next buffer
• :bprev or :bp – go to the previous buffer
• :bd – delete a buffer (close a file)
• :ls – list all open buffers
• :sp file [TAB key] – open a file in a new buffer and split window, TAB key to choose
• :vs or :vsp or :vsplit [TAB key] file – open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
• :vert all – open all files in vertically split windows
• :all – open all files in horizontally split windows
• :tabnew [TAB key] file – Open file on a tab (only can open one file once)
• [n]gt – Move forward n tab (whole screen tab)
• [n]gT – Move backward n tab (whole screen tab)
• :tabn – Move to next tab
• :tabp – Move to prev tab
• :tabonly – Show only the current tab, close other tabs
• :tabclose – Close the current tab
• Ctrl + ws – split current file to two windows horizontally
• Ctrl + ww – switch windows for vertical split tabs
• Ctrl + wq – quit a window
• Ctrl + wv – split current file to two windows vertically
• Ctrl + wh – move cursor to the left window (vertical split)
• Ctrl + wl – move cursor to the right window (vertical split)
• Ctrl + wj – move cursor to the window below (horizontal split)
• Ctrl + wk – move cursor to the window above (horizontal split)
• :only  or :on – Show only the current file