Vim

A guide to using Vim, a powerful and configurable text editor. This documentation covers essential commands, navigation, and customization to enhance your productivity with Vim. Vim has total 12 modes.

1. Normal mode: For navigation and manipulation of text.
2. Insert mode: For inserting and editing text.
3. Visual mode: For selecting blocks of text.
4. Select mode: Similar to Visual mode but behaves like selecting text in a typical text editor.
5. Command-line mode: For executing commands.
6. Ex mode: For executing Ex commands.
7. Replace mode: For replacing existing text.
8. Operator-pending mode: For waiting for an operator command to complete.
9. Insert Normal mode: A temporary mode within Insert mode to execute Normal mode commands.
10. Visual Select mode: A combination of Visual and Select modes.
11. Visual Replace mode: A combination of Visual and Replace modes.
12. Normal Operator-pending mode: A combination of Normal and Operator-pending modes.

LazyVim is an "incredibly speedy" Neovim setup packed with an overwhelming number of features you'll never use.

Most used vim modes

1. Normal Mode: The default mode for navigation and text manipulation.'
   • Enter Normal Mode: Press Esc from any other mode
2. Insert Mode: For inserting and editing text
   • Enter Insert Mode:
     • i insert before cursor
     • I insert at the beginning of the line
     • a append after cursor
     • A append at the end of the line
     • o open a new line below
     • O open a new line above from Normal mode
   • Exit Insert Mode: Press Esc
3. Visual Mode: For selecting blocks of text
   • Enter Visual Mode:
     • v character-wise selection
     • V line-wise selection
     • Ctrl+v block-wise selection from Normal mode
   • Exit Visual Mode: Press Esc
4. Command-line Mode: For executing commands.
   • Enter Command-line Mode:
     • : for commands
     • / for search
     • ? for reverse search from Normal mode.
   • Exit Command-line Mode: Press Esc or Enter after typing the command.

📝Cheat Sheet

<C... : Control button

Basics

Key	Description	Mode
:q	Close file	Command-Line
:qa	Close all files	Command-Line
:w	Save	Command-Line
:wq/:x	Save and close file	Command-Line
ZZ	Save and quit	Command-Line
:q!/ZQ	Quite without checking changes	Command-Line

Editing

Editing

Key	Description	Mode
a	Append	Normal
A	Append from end of line	Normal
i	Insert	Normal
o	Next line	Normal
O	Previous line	Normal
s	Delete char and insert	Normal
S	Delete line and insert	Normal
C	Delete until end of line and insert	Normal
r	Replace one character	Normal
R	Enter Replace mode	Normal
u	Undo changes	Normal
<C-R>	Redo changes	Normal

Clipboard

x	Delete character	Normal
dd	Delete line (Cut)	Normal
yy	Yank line (Copy)	Normal
p	Paste	Normal
P	Paste before	Normal
"*p / "+p	Paste from system clipboard	Normal
"*y / "+y	Paste to system clipboard	Normal

Visual mode

v	Enter visual mode	Normal
V	Enter visual line mode	Normal
<C-V>	Enter visual block mode	Normal
d / x	Delete selection	Visual
s	Replace selection	Visual
y	Yank selection (Copy)	Visual

Navigation

Directions

Key	Description	Mode
h, j, k, l	Arrow keys	Normal
<C-u> / <C-d>	Half-page up/down	Normal
<C-B> / <C-F>	Page up/down	Normal

Words

b / w	Previous/next word	Normal
ge / e	Previous/next end of word	Normal

Line

0	Start of line	Normal
^	Start of line (after whitespace)	Normal
$	End of line	Normal

Character

fj	To highlight all occurrences of the character j forward and move the cursor to the first upcoming j, press f. Press f again to jump to the next occurrence of j	Normal
Fj	To highlight all occurrences of the character j backward and move the cursor to the last j, press f. Press f again to jump to the previous occurrence of j	Normal

Document

gg	First line	Normal
G	Last line	Normal
:{number}	Go to line	Normal
{number}G	Go to line	Normal
{number}j	Go down {number} lines	Normal
{number}k	Go down {number} lines	Normal

Search

n	Next matching search pattern	Normal
N	Previous match	Normal
*	Next whole word under cursor	Normal
#	Previous whole word under cursor	Normal

Operators

Operators list

Key	Description	Mode
d	Delete	Normal, Visual
y	Yank (copy)	Normal, Visual
c	Change (delete then insert)	Normal
>	Indent right	Normal, Visual
<	Indent left	Normal, Visual
=	Autoindent	Normal, Visual
g~	Swap case	Normal, Visual
gU	Uppercase	Normal, Visual
gu	Lowercase	Normal, Visual
!	Filter through external program	Normal, Visual

Examples

Combine operators with motion to use them See: :help motion.txt

Key	Description
dd	(repeat the letter) Delete current line
dw	Delete to next word
db	Delete to beginning of word
2dd	Delete 2 lines
dip	Delete a text object (inside paragraph)
(in visual mode) d	Delete selection