Vim Cheatsheet

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Introduction

This cheatsheet contains must know vim tips and tricks.

Horizontal Navigation

  • h, j, k, l : left, down, up, right
  • w : next word
  • b : prev (back) word
  • 0 : Beginning of line
  • ^ : First char of line
  • $ : End of line
  • g_: Last char on line
  • f<char> : Search for char in current line (; to repeate)
  • F<char> : Search backward for char in current line (; to repeate)
  • t<char> : Search until the char in current line (; to repeate)
  • T<char> : Search backward until the char in current line (; to repeate)

Vertical Navigation

  • gg: First Line
  • G : Last Line
  • H : Move cursor to Top
  • M : Move cursor to Middle
  • L : Move cursor to Bottom
  • zz: Move line to Middle
  • zt: Move line to Top
  • zb: Move line to Bottom
  • C-y : Scroll up by one line
  • C-e : Scroll down by one line
  • C-u : Scroll up by half page
  • C-d : Scroll down by half page
  • C-b : Scroll up by full page
  • C-f : Scroll down by full page
  • * : search forward for word under cursor
  • # : search backward for word under cursor
  • % : jump to matching parentheses

Buffers

  • :ls : List all Buffers
  • :b<num> : Goto <num> buffer
  • :bnext : Goto next buffer
  • :bprev : Goto prev buffer
  • C-^: Goto alternate buffer

Window Navigation

  • C-w: Start “window mode”
  • C-w+v: Vertical Split
  • C-w+s: Horizontal Split
  • C-w+w: Other Window
  • C-w+p: Previous Window
  • C-w+q: Close Window

Marks

  • ma : Set mark (stores it in reg a)
  • 'a : Goto the first char of line of mark a
  • `a : Goto the mark a
  • [' : Goto next mark (does not wrap)
  • ]' : Goto prev mark (does not wrap)
  • mA : Capital letter marks work even from different file
  • :marks : See all marks
  • :delmarks a,A : Delete marks a and A
  • :delmarks! : Delete all lowercase marks

Registers

Copy/Delete/Paste

  • "ayw : Copy word to a register
  • "adw : Delete/Cut word to a register
  • "ap : Paste contents of a register

Macros

  • q<reg> : Start recording macro in <reg>. q to stop recording
  • @<reg> : Run macro from <reg>
  • Made a mistake in long macro and want to re-record it?
    • Paste it in buffer, edit it and yank back in <reg>

Insert Mode

Repeating chars

C-o 10i # <ESC>

Paste

  • C-r and register to insert text from register e.g. C-r+" : Inserts last yanked test.

  • . register stores last typed text. e.g. C-r+. : Inserts last typed text. C-a : Short for C-r+.

Completion

  • Start completion with C-p. Cycle through it using C-p and C-n. Completions are taken from complete setting. :set complete: See current complete setting. set complete=.,w,b,u,t,i,kspell
  • Tag completion: C-x+C-] C-x puts you into Completion Mode. C-] will search for only in ctags file.
  • File completion: C-x+C-f It completes recursively!
  • Context-aware completion: C-x+C-p and C-x+C-n
  • Context-aware Line completion: C-x+C-l

Misc

  • C-a: Increment number under cursor
  • C-x: Decrement number under cursor
  • g+C-a: Try and find out!