vimtutor

To move the cursor, press the h, j, k, l keys as indicated.

:q! exits the editor, DISCARDING any changes you have made.

Press x to delete the character under the cursor.

Use :wq to save a file and exit.

Press i to insert text.

Type a to insert text AFTER the cursor.

Press A to append text.

Type o to open a line below the cursor and place you in Insert mode.

Type O to open a line above the cursor and place you in Insert mode.

Press <ESC> will place you in normal mode.

Type dw to delete a word.

Type d$ to delete to the end of the line.

Type de to delete to the end of the current word.

Typing a number before a motion repeats it that many times.

  • Type 2w to move the cursor two words forward.
  • Type 3e to move the cursor to the end of the third word forward.
  • Type 0 (zero) to move to the start of the line.
  • Type $ to move to the end of the line.

Typing a number with an operator repeats it that many times. (such as d number motion):

  • Type d2w to delete the two UPPER CASE words

Type dd to delete a whole line. Type 2dd to delete two lines.

Press u to undo the last commands, U to fix a whole line.

Type CTRL-R to redo the commands (undo the undo’s)

Type p to put previously deleted text after the cursor.

Type r <x> to replace the character at the cursor with the character you want to have such as x.

To change until the end of the current word, type ce .

To change until the end of a word, type cw .

To change until the end of line type c$ .

Type CTRL-G to show your location in the file and the file status.

Type G to move to a the bottom of the file.

Type gg to move you to the start of the file.

Type <number> G moves to that line number.

Type / followed by a phrase to search for the phrase.

  • To search for the same phrase again, simply type n .
  • To search for the same phrase in the opposite direction, type N .
  • To search for a phrase in the backward direction, use ? instead of / .
  • To go back to where you came from press CTRL-O . Repeat to go back further. CTRL-I goes forward.

Type % to find a matching ),], or } .

Type :s/old/new to substitute ’new’ for ‘old’:

  • type :#,#s/old/new/g where #,# are the line numbers of the range of lines where the substitution is to be done.
  • Type :%s/old/new/g to change every occurrence in the whole file.
  • Type :%s/old/new/gc to find every occurrence in the whole file, with a prompt whether to substitute or not.

Type :! followed by an external command to execute that command.

To save the changes made to the text, type :w <FILENAME>.

Start Visual mode with v.

To save part of the file, type v motion :w FILENAME

Type a capital R to replace more than one character.

Use the y operator to copy text and p to paste it.

Set the ‘ic’ (Ignore case) option by entering: :set ic so a search or substitute ignores case. Prepend “no” to switch an option off: :set noic

  • :set ic ‘ignorecase’ ignore upper/lower case when searching
  • :set is incsearch’ show partial matches for a search phrase
  • :set hls ‘hlsearch’ highlight all matching phrases

Use the on-line help system with <F1> or :help

  • Type CTRL-W CTRL-W to jump from one window to another.
  • Type :q <ENTER> to close the help window.

Enable Vim features by editing the “vimrc” file. :help vimrc-intro

When typing a : command, press CTRL-D to see possible completions. Press <TAB> to use one completion.