write save
change replace
copy
Cheat Sheet yank
f
is
lu
uz
put paste
delete cut
^r Ctrl + r
Cursor movement
h j k l
H - move to top of screen 0 - jump to the start of a line
M - move to middle of screen ^ - jump to the first non-blank character
of the line (same as 0w)
L - move to bottom of screen
$ - jump to the end of a line
w - jump forwards to the start of a word
gg - go to the first line of the document
W - jump forwards to the start of a word
g_ - jump to the last non-blank character
(Only whitespaces delimit words)
of the line
e - jump forwards to the end of a word gd - highlight occurrences of word under cursor
E - jump forwards to the end of a word G - go to the last line of the document
(Only whitespaces delimit words)
nG - go to line n (6G goes to line 6)
b - jump backwards to the start of a word
tx - jump before next occurrence of character x
B - jump backwards to the start of a word
(Only whitespaces delimit words) fx - jump to next occurrence of character x
; - repeat last f, t, F or T instance
Editing
r - replace single character under the cursor s - delete character and substitute text
R - replace multiple characters SS - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
J - join line below with current line xp - transpose two letters
cc - change (replace) entire line u - undo
cw - change to the end of the word ^r - redo
c$ - change to the end of the line - repeat last command
Inserting / Appending
i - insert before the cursor o - open a blank line below the cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line O - open a blank line above the cursor
a - append after the cursor Esc - exit insert mode
A - append at the end of the line
Marking text (visual mode)
v - start visual mode ap - mark a paragraph
V - start linewise visual mode ab - mark a block with ()
^v - start visual block mode aB - mark a block with {}
aw - mark a word ib - mark content of a block with ()
as - mark a sentence iB - mark content of a block with {}
Esc - exit visual mode
Visual commands
> - shift text right y - yank (copy) marked text
< - shift text left Sd - delete marked text
~ - switch text/letter case
Cut and paste
yy - yank a line dd - delete a line
yw
I - yank the characters of the word from I - delete the characters of the word from
dw
cursor position to the start of next word cursor position to the start of next word
A
y$ - yank to the end of line d$ - delete to the end of line
p - put after the cursor x - delete character under the cursor
P - put before the cursor X - delete character before the cursor
Exiting
:w - write the file but don't exit :! - execute external command (e.g. :!date)
:w !sudo tee % - write current file with sudo :wq or :x - write changes and quit
:w fname - write the file as fname but don't exit q - quit (fails if any anything has changed)
:r fname - retrieve fname and put it below cursor Sq! - quit and discard any unsaved changes
Search and replace
/pattern - search forward for pattern % - go to match of a ( , ) , [ , ] , { , or } under cursor
I?pattern - search backward for pattern :s/old/new - replace first old with new in a line
n - repeat search in the same direction :s/old/new/g - replace all 'old's with new in the
whole line
N - repeat search in the opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g - replace all 'old's with new in the
^o - go back to older positions whole file
:%s/old/new/gc - replace all 'old's with new in the
^i - go forward to newer positions whole file with confirmations
Global
:help keyword - open help for keyword :saveas file - save as file
:o file - open file K - open man page for word under the cursor
Operators Motions
c - change w - until start of next word excluding its first character
d - delete e - to the end of current word including the last character
y - yank $ - to the end of line including the last character
~ - swap case G - move cursor to the end of file
> - shift text right k - move cursor up
< - shift text left
Operators, motions and counts
operator + motion
dw - delete from cursor to next word
de - delete from cursor to end of current word
count + motion
5e - move cursor to the end of fifth word forward
2b - move cursor two words backward
2G - go to line 2
operator + count + motion
d2w - delete next two words
>3$ - indent three lines
y10G - yank line 10
These are not exhaustive lists.
