Commonly Used Vim Commands/Shortcuts Quick Reference Guide

This article lists the most commonly used commands and shortcuts in Vim (not all), please make good use of the search.

Vim Keymap

Vim Keymap

Global Commands#

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
elp keyword	Display help for the specified keyword
eas filename	Save as...
se	Close the current window
minal	Open a new terminal window
:! command	Temporarily leave Vim to execute `command` in the command line and display the result
K	Open the `man` page for the word under the cursor

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
h	Move cursor left
j	Move cursor down
k	Move cursor up
l	Move cursor right
H	Move to the top of the current page
M	Move to the middle of the current page
L	Move to the bottom of the current page
w	Move to the beginning of the next word
W	Move to the beginning of the next word (including punctuation)
e	Move to the end of the next word
E	Move to the end of the next word (including punctuation)
b	Move to the beginning of the previous word
B	Move to the beginning of the previous word (including punctuation)
%	Jump to the matching symbol
0	Move to the beginning of the line
^	Move to the first non-blank character of the line
$	Move to the end of the line
}	Move to the next paragraph (or function/code block when editing code)
{	Move to the previous paragraph (or function/code block when editing code)
zz	Center the cursor on the screen
Ctrl + e	Scroll down one line (keeping the cursor in place)
Ctrl + y	Scroll up one line (keeping the cursor in place)
Ctrl + b	Scroll up one screen
Ctrl + f	Scroll down one screen
Ctrl + d	Scroll down half a screen
Ctrl + u	Scroll up half a screen

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
i	Start inserting characters from before the cursor
I	Start inserting characters from the beginning of the line
a	Start inserting characters from after the cursor
A	Start inserting characters from the end of the line
o	Start a new line below the current line and begin inserting characters
O	Start a new line above the current line and begin inserting characters
ea	Start inserting from the end of the current word
Ctrl + h	Delete the character before the cursor in insert mode
Ctrl + w	Delete the word before the cursor in insert mode
Ctrl + j	Start a new line in insert mode
Ctrl + t	Indent right in insert mode, width controlled by shiftwidth
Ctrl + d	Indent left in insert mode, width controlled by shiftwidth
Ctrl + n	Insert the next match of auto-completion before the cursor in insert mode
Ctrl + p	Insert the previous match of auto-completion before the cursor in insert mode
Ctrl + rx	Insert the contents of register x at the current cursor position
Esc	Exit insert mode

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
u	undo - Undo the last operation
U	Restore/undo the last modified line
Ctrl + r	redo - Redo (opposite of u)
.	Repeat the last command

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
v	Enter visual mode, move the cursor to highlight selection, then execute commands on the selected text
V	Enter visual mode, select by line
o	In visual mode, toggle the cursor between the start and end of the selection
O	In visual mode, toggle the cursor to the corners of the selection
Ctrl + v	Enter visual mode, block selection (i.e., column mode)
aw	In visual mode, select the current word
ab	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in () (including parentheses)
aB	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in {} (including braces)
at	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in <> (including <> tags)
ib	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in () (excluding parentheses)
iB	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in {} (excluding braces)
it	In visual mode, select the content wrapped in <> (excluding <> tags)
Esc	Exit visual mode
>	Indent right
<	Indent left
y	Copy the selected text
d	Cut the selected text
~	Toggle the case of the selected text
u	Convert the selected text to lowercase
U	Convert the selected text to uppercase

Command / Shortcut	Function Description
	Write the edited data to disk (save)
!	Force write the file if it is read-only
!sudo tee %	Save the current file using sudo
or or ZZ	Save and exit
	Exit (Vim will warn if the file has been modified and not saved)
! or ZQ	Force exit (even if the file is not saved, equivalent to force exit)
	Save all tabs and exit

Mode	Entering Method
Normal Mode	Enter by pressing `Esc` or `Ctrl+[`; filename or empty at the bottom left
Insert Mode	Enter by pressing i; `--INSERT--` at the bottom left
Visual Mode	Enter by pressing v; `--VISUAL--` at the bottom left
Replace Mode	Start by pressing r or R; `--REPLACE--` at the bottom left
Command Line Mode	Start by pressing : or / or ?