VIM QUICK REFERENCE CARD

Basic movement
character left, right; line up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . .h l k j
word/token left, right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b w
end of word/token left, right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ge e
beginning of previous, next section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . { }
beginning of previous, next sentence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( )
beginning, middle of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 gm
first, last character of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^ $
line n, default the last, first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nG ngg
percentage n of the file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .n%
column n of current line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n|
match of next brace, bracket, comment, #define . . . . . . %
line n from start, bottom of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . nH nL
middle line of window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M

Insertion & replace insert mode

insert before, after cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i a
insert at beginning, end of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I A
insert text in first column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . gI
open a new line below, above the current line . . . . . . o O
replace character under cursor with c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rc
like r, but without affecting layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . grc
replace characters starting at the cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R
like R, but without affecting layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . gR
change text of movement command m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cm
change current line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cc or S
change to the end of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C
change one character and insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s
switch case and advance cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~
switch case of movement command m . . . . . . . . . . . . . g~m
lowercase, uppercase text of movement m . . . . gum gUm
shift left, right text of movement m . . . . . . . . . . . . <m >m
shift n lines left, right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n<< n>>

Deletion
delete character under, before cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x X
delete text of movement command m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dm
delete current line, to the end of line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dd D
join current line with next, without space . . . . . . . . . J gJ
delete range r lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rd
delete range r lines into register x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rdx

Insert mode

Undoing, repeating & registers

insert char c literally, decimal value n . . . . . . . . . . ^Vc ^Vn

insert previously inserted text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^A
same as ^A & command mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^@
insert content of register x, literally . . . . . . . . . ^Rx ^R^Rx
text completion before, after cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^N ^P
delete word before cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .^W
delete all inserted characters in current line . . . . . . . . . ^U
shift left, right one shift width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^D ^T
enter digraph c1 c2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Kc1 c2 or c1 c2
execute c in temporary command mode . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Oc
scroll up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^X^E ^X^Y
abandon editing & command mode . . . . . . . <esc> or ^[

undo last command, restore last changed line . . . . . . u U

repeat last changes, redo last undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ^R
repeat last changes with count replaced by n . . . . . . . . n.
record, append typed characters in register c . . . . .qc qC
stop recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . q
execute the content of register c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . @c
repeat previous @ command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . @@
execute register c as an ex command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :@c
execute ex command c on range r where pattern p
matches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rg/p/c

Copying

line up, down on first non-blank character . . . . . . . . . .- +

space-separated word left, right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B W
end of space-separated word left, right . . . . . . . . . . . . gE E
down n 1 lines on first non-blank character . . . . . . . .n_
beginning of screen line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . g0
first, last character of screen line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .g^ g$
screen line up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . gk gj
next, previous occurence of character c . . . . . . . . . . . fc Fc
before next, previous occurence of c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tc Tc
repeat last fFtT, in opposite direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . .; ,
start of section backward, forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [[ ]]
end of section backward, forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [] ][
unclosed (, ) backward, forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [( ])
unclosed {, } backward, forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [{ ]}
start of backward, forward Java method . . . . . . . . [m ]m
unclosed #if, #else etc backward, forward . . . . . . [# ]#
start, end of /* */ backward, forward . . . . . . . . . . . [* ]*

use register x for next delete, yank, put . . . . . . . . . . . . . "x

show the content of all registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :reg
show the content of registers x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :reg x
yank the text of movement command m . . . . . . . . . . . . ym
yank current line into register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . yy or Y
put register after, before cursor position . . . . . . . . . . . .p P
like p, P with indent adjusted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]p [p
like p, P leaving cursor after new text . . . . . . . . . . . gp gP

Advanced insertion
perform rot13 encoding on movement m . . . . . . . . . . .g?m
+n, n to number under cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n^A n^X
format lines of movement m to fixed width . . . . . . . . gqm
centre lines in range r to width w . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rce w
left align lines in range r with indent i . . . . . . . . . . :rle i
right align lines in range r to width w . . . . . . . . . . :rri w
filter lines of movement m through command c . . . . !mc
filter n lines through command c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .n!!c
filter range r lines through command c . . . . . . . . . . . . :r!c

Visual mode
start/stop highlighting characters, lines, block . . v V ^V
exchange cursor position with start of highlighting . . . .o
start highlighting on previous visual area . . . . . . . . . . . . gv
select a word, a sentence, a section . . . . . . . . . . . aw as ap
select a block ( ), a block { } . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ab aB

Complex movement

Search & substitution

search forward, backward for s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /s ?s
search fwd, bwd for s with offset o . . . . . . . . . . . /s/o ?s?o
repeat forward last search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n or /
repeat backward last search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N or ?
search backward, forward for word under cursor . . . . # *
same, but also find partial matches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . g# g*
local, global definition of symbol under cursor . . . gd gD
substitute f by t in range r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rs/f /t/x
x : gall occurrences, cconfirm changes
repeat substitution with new r & x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rs x

Special characters in search patterns

any single character, start, end of line . . . . . . . . . . . . ^ $
start, end of word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \< \>
a single character in range c1 ..c2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [c1 -c2 ]
a single character not in range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [^c1 -c2 ]
an identifier, keyword; excl. digits . . . . . . . . \i \k \I \K
a file name, printable char.; excl. digits . . . \f \p \F \P
a white space, a non-white space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \s \S
<esc>, <tab>, <cr>, <bksp> . . . . . . . . . . \e \t \r \b
match 0..1, 0.., 1.. of preceding atoms . . . . .\? * \+
separate two branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \|
group patterns into an atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \( \)
the whole matched pattern, n-th () group . . . . . . . \& \n
next character made upper, lowercase . . . . . . . . . . . .\u \l

Offsets in search commands

n line downward in column 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n or +n
n line upward in column 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .n
n characters right, left to end of match . . . . . . . . e+n e-n
n characters right, left to start of match . . . . . . . s+n s-n
execute search command sc next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;sc

Marks and motions

mark current position with mark c [a..Z] . . . . . . . . . . mc
go to mark c in current, C in any file . . . . . . . . . . . . c C
go to last exit position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 9
go to position before jump, at last edit . . . . . . . . . . "
go to start, end of previously operated text . . . . . . [ ]
print the active marks list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :marks
print the jump list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :jumps
go to n-th older position in jump list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .n^O
go to n-th newer position in jump list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n^I

Key mapping & abbreviations

map c 7 e in normal & visual mode . . . . . . . . . . :map c e
map c 7 e in insert & cmd-line mode . . . . . . . . :map! c e
remove mapping c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :unmap c :unmap! c
write current mappings, settings. . . to file f . . . . . . :mk f
add abbreviation for c 7 e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :ab c e
show abbreviations starting with c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :ab c
remove abbreviation c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :una c

Tags

ex ranges

jump to tag t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :tat

jump to n-th newer tag in list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :nta
jump to the tag under cursor, return from tag . . . ^] ^T
list matching tags and select one for jump . . . . . . . :ts t
jump to tag or select one if multiple matches . . . . :tj t
print tag list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :tags
jump back from, to n-th older tag . . . . . . . . . . :npo :n^T
jump to last matching tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :tl
preview tag under cursor, tag t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^W} :pt t
split window and show tag under cursor . . . . . . . . . . . .^W]
close tag preview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Wz or :pc

separates two lines numbers, set to first line . . . . . . . . , ;

an absolute line number n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .n
the current line, the last line in file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $
entire file, visual area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . % *
position of mark t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t
the next, previous line where p matches . . . . . . . . /p/ ?p?
+n, n to the preceding line number . . . . . . . . . . . +n n

Scrolling & multi-windowing

scroll line up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .^E ^Y
scroll half a page up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^D ^U
scroll page up, down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .^F ^B
set current line at top of window . . . . . . . . . zt or z<cr>
set current line at centre of window . . . . . . . . . . . zz or z.
set current line at bottom of window . . . . . . . . . . zb or zscroll one character to the right, left . . . . . . . . . . . . . zh zl
scroll half a screen to the right, left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zH zL
split window in two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Ws or :split
create new empty window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Wn or :new
make current window one on screen . . . . . . . . . ^Wo or :on
move to window below, above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^Wj ^Wk
move to window below, above (wrap) . . . . . . . . ^Ww ^W^W

ex commands
edit file f , unless changes have been made . . . . . . . . :e f
edit file f always (by default reload current) . . . . . :e! f
write file and edit next, previous one . . . . . . . . . . :wn :wN
edit next, previous file in list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :n :N
write range r to current file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rw
write range r to file f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rw f
append range r to file f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rw>>f
quit and confirm, quit and discard changes . . . . . :q :q!
write to current file and exit . . . . . . . . . . . :wq or :x or ZZ
recall commands starting with current . . . . . . . <> <>
insert content of file f below cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :r f
insert output of command c below cursor . . . . . . . . . :r! c
open a window for each file in the argument list . . .:all
display the argument list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :args
copy, move range r below line a . . . . . . . . . . :rc a :rm a

Folding
create fold of movement m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zfm
create fold for range r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :rfo
delete fold at cursor, all in window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zd zE
open, close one fold; recursively . . . . . . . . . . zo zc zO zC
move to start, end of current open fold . . . . . . . . . . [z ]z
move down, up to start, end of next fold . . . . . . . . . zj zk

Miscellaneous
start shell, execute command c in shell . . . . . . . . :sh :!c
lookup keyword under cursor with man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K
start make, read errors and jump to first . . . . . . . . :make
display the next, previous error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :cn :cp
list all errors, read errors from file . . . . . . . . . . . . . :cl :cf
redraw screen, show filename and position . . . . . . . ^L ^G
show cursor column, line, and character position . . . g^G
show ASCII value of character under cursor . . . . . . . . . ga
open file which filename is under cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . gf
redirect output to file f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :redir>f
save view configuration [to file f ] . . . . . . . . . . :mkview [f ]
load view configuration [from file f ] . . . . . :loadview [f ]
unmapped keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ^@ ^K ^_ \ Fn ^Fn

This reference card may be freely distributed under the terms

of the GNU general public license. The card is a (2008)
much corrected and improved version from the LATEX source
of Sebastian Menge, which is a slight redoing of the original
(http://tnerual.eriogerg.free.fr/vim.html) card of Laurent Gregoire.
For corrections or improvements to this version, e-mail me at
boykobb@gmail.com (Boyko Bantchev).