Basics
:e filename |
Open filename for edition |
:w |
Save file |
:q |
Exit Vim |
:q! |
Quit without saving |
:x |
Write file (if changes has been made) and exit |
:sav filename |
Saves file as filename |
. |
Repeats the last change made in normal mode |
5. |
Repeats 5 times the last change made in normal mode |
Moving in the file
k or Up Arrow |
move the cursor up one line |
j or Down Arrow |
move the cursor down one line |
e |
move the cursor to the end of the word |
b |
move the cursor to the begining of the word |
0 |
move the cursor to the begining of the line |
G |
move the cursor to the end of the file |
gg |
move the cursor to the begining of the file |
L |
move the cursor to the bottom of the screen |
:59 |
move cursor to line 59. Replace 59 by the desired line number. |
20| |
move cursor to column 20. |
% |
Move cursor to matching parenthesis |
[[ |
Jump to function start |
[{ |
Jump to block start |
Cut, copy & paste
y |
Copy the selected text to clipboard |
p |
Paste clipboard contents |
dd |
Cut current line |
yw |
Yank word |
yy |
Copy current line |
y$ |
Copy to end of line |
D |
Cut to end of line |
Search
/word |
Search word from top to bottom |
?word |
Search word from bottom to top |
* |
Search the word under cursor |
/\cstring |
Search STRING or string, case insensitive |
/jo[ha]n |
Search john or joan |
/\< the |
Search the, theatre or then |
/the\> |
Search the or breathe |
/\< the\> |
Search the |
/\< ¦.\> |
Search all words of 4 letters |
/\/ |
Search fred but not alfred or frederick |
/fred\|joe |
Search fred or joe |
/\<\d\d\d\d\> |
Search exactly 4 digits |
/^\n\{3} |
Find 3 empty lines |
:bufdo /searchstr/ |
Search in all open files |
bufdo %s/something/somethingelse/g |
Search something in all the open buffers and replace it with somethingelse |
Replace
:%s/old/new/g |
Replace all occurences of old by new in file |
:%s/onward/forward/gi |
Replace onward by forward, case unsensitive |
:%s/old/new/gc |
Replace all occurences with confirmation |
:2,35s/old/new/g |
Replace all occurences between lines 2 and 35 |
:5,$s/old/new/g |
Replace all occurences from line 5 to EOF |
:%s/^/hello/g |
Replace the begining of each line by hello |
:%s/$/Harry/g |
Replace the end of each line by Harry |
:%s/onward/forward/gi |
Replace onward by forward, case unsensitive |
:%s/ *$//g |
Delete all white spaces |
:g/string/d |
Delete all lines containing string |
:v/string/d |
Delete all lines containing which didn’t contain string |
:s/Bill/Steve/ |
Replace the first occurence of Bill by Steve in current line |
:s/Bill/Steve/g |
Replace Bill by Steve in current line |
:%s/Bill/Steve/g |
Replace Bill by Steve in all the file |
:%s/^M//g |
Delete DOS carriage returns (^M) |
:%s/\r/\r/g |
Transform DOS carriage returns in returns |
:%s#<[^>]\+>##g |
Delete HTML tags but keeps text |
:%s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/ |
Delete lines which appears twice |
Ctrl+a |
Increment number under the cursor |
Ctrl+x |
Decrement number under cursor |
ggVGg? |
Change text to Rot13 |
Case
Vu |
Lowercase line |
VU |
Uppercase line |
g~~ |
Invert case |
vEU |
Switch word to uppercase |
vE~ |
Modify word case |
ggguG |
Set all text to lowercase |
gggUG |
Set all text to uppercase |
:set ignorecase |
Ignore case in searches |
:set smartcase |
Ignore case in searches excepted if an uppercase letter is used |
:%s/\<./\u&/g |
Sets first letter of each word to uppercase |
:%s/\<./\l&/g |
Sets first letter of each word to lowercase |
:%s/.*/\u& |
Sets first letter of each line to uppercase |
:%s/.*/\l& |
Sets first letter of each line to lowercase |
Read/Write files
:1,10 w outfile |
Saves lines 1 to 10 in outfile |
:1,10 w >> outfile |
Appends lines 1 to 10 to outfile |
:r infile |
Insert the content of infile |
:23r infile |
Insert the content of infile under line 23 |
File explorer
:e . |
Open integrated file explorer |
:Sex |
Split window and open integrated file explorer |
:Sex! |
Same as :Sex but split window vertically |
:browse e |
Graphical file explorer |
:ls |
List buffers |
:cd .. |
Move to parent directory |
:args |
List files |
:args *.php |
Open file list |
:grep expression *.php |
Returns a list of .php files contening expression |
gf |
Open file name under cursor |
Interact with Unix
:!pwd |
Execute the pwd unix command, then returns to Vi |
!!pwd |
Execute the pwd unix command and insert output in file |
:sh |
Temporary returns to Unix |
$exit |
Retourns to Vi |
Alignment
:%!fmt |
Align all lines |
!}fmt |
Align all lines at the current position |
5!!fmt |
Align the next 5 lines |
Tabs/Windows
:tabnew |
Creates a new tab |
gt |
Show next tab |
:tabfirst |
Show first tab |
:tablast |
Show last tab |
:tabm n(position) |
Rearrange tabs |
:tabdo %s/foo/bar/g |
Execute a command in all tabs |
:tab ball |
Puts all open files in tabs |
:new abc.txt |
Edit abc.txt in new window |
Window spliting
:e filename |
Edit filename in current window |
:split filename |
Split the window and open filename |
ctrl-w up arrow |
Puts cursor in top window |
ctrl-w ctrl-w |
Puts cursor in next window |
ctrl-w_ |
Maximize current window vertically |
ctrl-w| |
Maximize current window horizontally |
ctrl-w= |
Gives the same size to all windows |
10 ctrl-w+ |
Add 10 lines to current window |
:vsplit file |
Split window vertically |
:sview file |
Same as :split in readonly mode |
:hide |
Close current window |
:nly |
Close all windows, excepted current |
:b 2 |
Open #2 in this window |
Auto-completion
Ctrl+n Ctrl+p (in insert mode) |
Complete word |
Ctrl+x Ctrl+l |
Complete line |
:set dictionary=dict |
Define dict as a dictionnary |
Ctrl+x Ctrl+k |
Complete with dictionnary |
Marks
m {a-z} |
Marks current position as {a-z} |
' {a-z} |
Move to position {a-z} |
'' |
Move to previous position |
Abbreviations
Text indent
:set autoindent |
Turn on auto-indent |
:set smartindent |
Turn on intelligent auto-indent |
:set shiftwidth=4 |
Defines 4 spaces as indent size |
ctrl-t, ctrl-d |
Indent/un-indent in insert mode |
>> |
Indent |
<< |
Un-indent |
=% |
Indent the code between parenthesis |
1GVG= |
Indent the whole file |
Syntax highlighting
:syntax on |
Turn on syntax highlighting |
:syntax off |
Turn off syntax highlighting |
:set syntax=perl |
Force syntax highlighting |