✏️ Vim Cheat Sheet

Quick reference for Vim commands from the Vim Guide.

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🔄 Modes

Mode	Purpose	Enter	Exit
Command	Navigate, delete, copy	Esc	—
Insert	Edit text	i, a, o	Esc
Last-Line	Save, quit, settings	:	Esc

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✍️ Entering Insert Mode

Key	Action
i	Insert before cursor
I	Insert at beginning of line
a	Append after cursor
A	Append at end of line
o	New line below
O	New line above

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💾 Save & Quit

Command	Action
:w	Save
:q	Quit
:q!	Quit without saving
:wq	Save and quit
ZZ	Save and quit (command mode)
:x	Save (if changed) and quit

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🧭 Navigation

Basic Movement

Key	Action
h	Left
j	Down
k	Up
l	Right

Word Movement

Key	Action
w	Next word
b	Previous word
e	End of word

Line Movement

Key	Action
0	Beginning of line
$	End of line
^	First non-blank character

File Movement

Key	Action
gg	Beginning of file
G	End of file
:100	Go to line 100
Ctrl + f	Page down
Ctrl + b	Page up

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✂️ Editing

Delete

Command	Action
x	Delete character
dw	Delete word
dd	Delete line
5dd	Delete 5 lines
d$	Delete to end of line
d0	Delete to beginning of line

Copy (Yank)

Command	Action
yy	Copy line
5yy	Copy 5 lines
yw	Copy word
y$	Copy to end of line

Paste

Command	Action
p	Paste below/after
P	Paste above/before

Change

Command	Action
r	Replace character
cw	Change word
cc	Change entire line
c$	Change to end of line

Undo/Redo

Command	Action
u	Undo
Ctrl + r	Redo
:e!	Revert to saved

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🔍 Search & Replace

Search

Command	Action
/pattern	Search forward
?pattern	Search backward
n	Next match
N	Previous match
*	Search word under cursor

Replace

:s/old/new/         " Replace first on line
:s/old/new/g        " Replace all on line
:%s/old/new/g       " Replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc      " Replace all with confirm

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👁️ Visual Mode (Selection)

Command	Action
v	Character selection
V	Line selection
Ctrl + v	Block selection

After selecting:

• y — Copy
• d — Cut
• > — Indent
• < — Unindent

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📂 Multiple Files

Opening

vim file1 file2      # Sequential
vim -o file1 file2   # Horizontal split
vim -O file1 file2   # Vertical split
vim -d file1 file2   # Diff mode

Navigation

Command	Action
:n	Next file
:N	Previous file
:ls	List buffers

Splits

Command	Action
:sp file	Horizontal split
:vsp file	Vertical split
Ctrl + w w	Switch window
Ctrl + w q	Close window

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⚙️ Settings

Command	Action
:set nu	Show line numbers
:set nonu	Hide line numbers
:syntax on	Syntax highlighting on
:syntax off	Syntax highlighting off
:set paste	Paste mode (no auto-indent)

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🔧 Useful Commands

Command	Action
:!cmd	Run shell command
.	Repeat last command
>>	Indent line
<<	Unindent line
~	Toggle case
J	Join lines

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📋 Common Workflows

Delete line and start typing

cc

Delete word and replace

cw

Copy 5 lines and paste

5yy → move → p

Search and replace all

:%s/old/new/g

Save as new file

:w newfile.txt

Compare two files

vimdiff file1 file2

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💡 Tip: Run vimtutor for interactive practice!