Vim Cheatsheet

Vim is an editor with a steep learning curve. This is a list of shortcuts that I have learnt and use regularly. It is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list and will continue to grow as I learn more.

File Navigation

• h/j/k/l - left, down, up, right

• gg - to start of file

• G - to end of file

• 0 - to start of line

• $ - to end of line

• b - to beginning of word

• w - to beginning of next word

• e - to end of current or next word

• ctrl-n - go down in list, turns out this works on various other software e.g. Chrome + Sublime autocomplete

• ctrl-p - go down in list, turns out this works on various other software like Chrome + Sublime autocomplete

• ctrl-d - move down half a screen

• ctrl-u - move up half a screen

• HML - high, middle, low, move cursor to this position of the screen to prevent hitting kkkkkkkk.

• :Ex - enter netrw

Buffers

• :ls - list all listed buffers
• :bn - next buffer
• :bd - delete buffer
• :b - switch to certain buffer, can tab for autocompletion, can search too. Or use a number from :ls.

Windows

• ctrl-w s - split horizontally.
• ctrl-w v - split vertically.
• ctrl-w h/j/k/l - move focus between windows
• ctrl-w r - switch windows around (left <-> right)
• ctrl-w = - Normalize all split sizes
• :Vex - visual split create a new vertical window in netrw mode :Vex! adds to RHS

Searching

• / - to search. My vimrc settings allow for case-insenstive unless a capital letter is used
• * - on a current word to use that as the search term
• N/n - Go back and forward between the matches.

Tabs

I don’t use tabs a whole lot, but sometimes I keep a reference file open in a seperate one.

• :tabe - open new tab
• :tabc - close tab
• gt/gT - next/prev tab

Editing

• u - undo
• ctrl-r - redo
• p - paste
• y - yank (copy)
• cib - change in brackets
• yy - yank line
• dd - delete line

Selecting

• vib - select in brackets
• V - select by whole lines
• v - select text
• ctrl v - visual block, when wanting to operate on multiple lines at once (adding tabs, commenting out etc)

Vim Go

• gd - Go to definition
• ctrl t - Go back a defintion (pop the ‘go to’ off the stack)

FZF

• :FZF - search for file. Select a file in the list to open in new buffer

Resources

• Graphical cheat sheet - 2006 so dated but looks comprehensive and is often referenced.
• Devhints cheat sheet - this website has a bunch of great software engineering cheatsheets and cuts throught the rubbish.

Settings

You may find my .vimrc settings file here: https://github.com/oliverbenns/dotfiles/blob/master/.vimrc.

Plugins are installed in the setup script of that dotfiles repository.