Vim Shortcut Keys

Shortcut Keys	Function
Content Cell	Content Cell
Content Cell	Content Cell

Main

| | Escape key | Gets out of the current mode into the “command mode”. All keys are bound of commands. | | i | “Insert mode” for inserting text. Keys behave as expected. | | : | “Last-line mode” where Vim expects you to enter a command such as to save the document. |

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Navigation keys

| | h | moves the cursor one character to the left. | | j or Ctrl + J | moves the cursor down one line. | | k or Ctrl + P | moves the cursor up one line. | | l | moves the cursor one character to the right. | | 0 | moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. | | $ | moves the cursor to the end of the line. | | ^ | moves the cursor to the first non-empty character of the line | | w | move forward one word (next alphanumeric word) | | W | move forward one word (delimited by a white space) | | 5w | move forward five words | | b | move backward one word (previous alphanumeric word) | | B | move backward one word (delimited by a white space) | | 5b | move backward five words | | G | move to the end of the file | | gg | move to the beginning of the file. |

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Navigate around the document

| | ( | jumps to the previous sentence | | ) | jumps to the next sentence | | { | jumps to the previous paragraph | | } | jumps to the next paragraph | | [[ | jumps to the previous section | | ]] | jumps to the next section | | [] | jump to the end of the previous section | | ][ | jump to the end of the next section |

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Insert text

| | a | Insert text after the cursor | | A | Insert text at the end of the line | | i | Insert text before the cursor | | o | Begin a new line below the cursor | | O | Begin a new line above the cursor |

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Special inserts

| | :r [filename] | Insert the file [filename] below the cursor | | :r ![command] | Execute [command] and insert its output below the cursor |

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Delete text

| | x | delete character at cursor | | dw | delete a word. | | d0 | delete to the beginning of a line. | | d$ | delete to the end of a line. | | d) | delete to the end of sentence. | | dgg | delete to the beginning of the file. | | dG | delete to the end of the file. | | dd | delete line | | 3dd | delete three lines |

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Simple replace text

| | r{text} | Replace the character under the cursor with {text} | | R | Replace characters instead of inserting them |

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Copy/Paste text

| | yy | copy current line into storage buffer | | ["x]yy | Copy the current lines into register x | | p | paste storage buffer after current line | | P | paste storage buffer before current line | | ["x]p | paste from register x after current line | | ["x]P | paste from register x before current line |

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Undo/Redo operation

| | u | undo the last operation. | | Ctrl+r | redo the last undo. |

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Search and Replace keys

| | /search_text | search document for search_text going forward | | ?search_text | search document for search_text going backward | | n | move to the next instance of the result from the search | | N | move to the previous instance of the result | | :%s/original/replacement | Search for the first occurrence of the string “original” and replace it with “replacement” | | :%s/original/replacement/g | Search and replace all occurrences of the string “original” with “replacement” | | :%s/original/replacement/gc | Search for all occurrences of the string “original” but ask for confirmation before replacing them with “replacement” |

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Bookmarks

| | m {a-z A-Z} | Set bookmark {a-z A-Z} at the current cursor position | | :marks | List all bookmarks | | `{a-z A-Z} | Jumps to the bookmark {a-z A-Z} |

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Select text

| | v | Enter visual mode per character | | V | Enter visual mode per line | | Esc | Exit visual mode |

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Modify selected text

| | ~ | Switch case | | d | delete a word. | | c | change | | y | yank | | > | shift right | | < | shift left | | ! | filter through an external command |

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Save and quit

| | :q | Quits Vim but fails when file has been changed | | :w | Save the file | | :w new_name | Save the file with the new_name filename | | :wq | Save the file and quit Vim. | | :q! | Quit Vim without saving the changes to the file. | | ZZ | Write file, if modified, and quit Vim | | ZQ | Same as :q! Quits Vim without writing changes |