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Have you ever felt slow working with Vi/Vim?
Vim is a free and open-source, screen-based text editor program inspired by Vi. It may be difficult for newcomers and even long-term users to remember all the different commands. This one-page cheat sheet will help you get back to work quickly and improve your velocity while working in Vi/Vim:
Vi & Vim Cheat Sheet in PDF format.
This post covers the core essentials Vi & Vim cheat sheet, including brief references of Vi insert mode, edit commands, ex commands, navigation, search and substitute, etc. The cheat sheet is also available in an easy-to-print pdf and jpg format, or support this blog with the poster size Vi and Vim cheat sheet. You may also want to check my post on the Differences Between Vi and Vim.
👉 You have to use the
ESC(escape key) to get into the vi command mode. You will need to press theRETURNKey for executing a command starting with the ponctuation character:or/or?. UseCTRL+cto cancel a command. Use.to repeat your last command and:!cmdto execute a shell command (wherecmdis the command to execute).
Insert & Replace
| i | insert text before the cursor |
| a | insert text after the cursor |
| I | insert text at the beginning of the current line |
| A | insert text at the end of the current line |
| o | insert text in a new line below the cursor |
| O | insert text in a new line above the cursor |
| r | replace a character at the cursor position |
| R | replace characters starting at the cursor position |
Cursor Motion
| h or ← | move cursor left |
| l or → | move cursor right |
| k or ↑ | move cursor up |
| j or ↓ | move cursor down |
| G | goto the end of file |
| nG or :n | goto the line number n |
| 0 | move to the beginning of the line |
| $ | move to the end of the line |
| CTRL+f | move one screen view forward |
| CTRL+b | move one screen view backward |
Ex Commands
| :q | quit current open file |
| :q! | force to quit without saving changes |
| :w | save file |
| :w file | save file as file |
| :wq! | force to save file then quit |
| :x,yw file | write from line x to line y into file |
| :w » file | append buffer to file |
| :e file | edit another file |
| :e! file | edit another file without saving current changes |
| :r file | insert file content at the current cursor position |
| :n | edit next file in vi arguments file list |
| CTRL+G | display current file name and position |
Search & Substitute
| /string | search forward for string |
| ?string | search backward for string |
| n | repeat the last search |
| :,$s/str1/str2/gc | search and substitute str1 by str2 from the current line to the end of file. A line number can be specified before the comma “,”. The “c” ask for confirmation before each substitution |
| :%s/str1/str2/g | replace all str1 by str2 in all the file without prompting for confirmation |
| :%s/str1/str2/ | replace str1 by str2 on the first occurrence in each line of the file |
Undo, Delete, and Copy
| u | undo last change |
| CTRL+r | redo last undo change |
| mA | set mark A to current position. Marks can be the letter [a-z] and [A-Z] |
| y’A | yank (copy) from current line to mark A |
| d’A | delete from current line to mark A |
| P | put the buffer content before the cursor |
| p | put the buffer content after the cursor |
| x | delete character at cursor position |
| dW | delete first word after cursor position |
| d$ or D | delete from cursor position to end of line |
| dd | delete current line |
| J | join current line with following line |
Going Further
- :map for mapping a key in command mode to a group of commands. Example:
:map de :1,$d^Mwill delete all lines when using the :de command. - :set to define or show your editor options. Example:
:set numberwill make vi display line numbers, and “:set all” will display all current vi options. - :ab to define a text abbreviation in insert mode. Example:
:ab VIM Vi Improvedwill auto-complete “VIM” in insert mode for the phrase “Vi Improved”.
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