VIM cheat sheet

Translations

• Russian version

ToDo

• add more info about:
  • search
  • replace
  • go to line
  • go to char in line
  • replace current symbol
• add Screencast GIFs with show-cases
• create github.io page with copyable by click commands
• add best about VIM (vim ide, plugins and other awesome-vim)

Exit, saving, edit

Command	Description
:q	exit from file
:w	save file/write file content
:e	reload file content
!	run command anyway (force run)
:wq	you can combine commands (in this example, the file will be saved and closed)
:x	same as :wq
ZZ	same as :wq
:q!	you can combine commands (force quit anyway, for example, after the changes made, without saving them)

Common usage

Command	Description
i	insert / enter mode
a	insert / enter mode
ESC (Ctrl+[)	usual mode
hjkl	moving cursor in different directions
o	add a line after the current
Shift+o	add a line before the current
u	undo the last command
Ctrl+r	undo the undo the last command(redo) / repeat the last command
gg	move cursor to the top of the file
Shift+g	move cursor to the end of the file
Shift+a	move cursor to the end of the line and go into edit mode
Shift+v	switch to visual mode
dd	delete current (selected) line/lines (cut)
yy	copy current (selected) line/lines
p	paste from clipboard (internal vim clipboard)
/	start typing search phrase
n	next search result
Shift+n	previous search result
^	move cursor to beginning of line
$	move cursor to end of line
Ctrl+b	move one screen back
Ctrl+f	move one screen forward
mа	create new bookmark with name 'a'
'a	move to bookmark 'a'

Windows

Command	Description
ctrl+w s	split window horizontally
ctrl+w v	split window vertically
ctrl+w <movement_key>	move to window
ctrl+w K	move current window to top
ctrl+w _	maximize size of current window
ctrl+w =	align all windows

Tabs

Command	Description
:tabnew [filename]	open new tab
:tabf pat*ern	open new tab by pattern
:tabs	list opened tabs
gt или :tabn	next tab
g Shift+t или :tabp	previous tab
:tabfirst или :tabfir	first tab
:tablast	last tab
:tabm n	move tab to n (from 0)
:tabdo command	apply command to all tabs

Useful links

• To learn vim you can use built-in tutorial: vimtutor
• Vimium
• VIM awesome

Config for .vimrc

Use 4 spaces instead of tab

Add to file ~/.vimrc:

set tabstop=4
" when indenting with '>', use 4 spaces width
set shiftwidth=4
" On pressing tab, insert 4 spaces
set expandtab

Use arrows to move through document

Add to file ~/.vimrc:

:set nocompatible

I warn you that using arrows to navigate in VIM is a bad manner, because of ten-finger print (you have to remove your right hand from its usual position), speed slows down etc. (google it yourself)

Other

• Show line numbers: set number
• Highlight search: set hlsearch
• Ignore case match in search: set ignorecase
• Dynamically highlight search on typing: set incsearch
• Always show status row: set laststatus=2
• Always show file title: set title

Indent settings

It could be a little bit annoying while editing some files (e.g. yaml) vim will autoindent your file.

Add this to your .vimrc file to disable auto-indent when typing # (hash) in Yaml files and set Tab and auto-indent to 2 spaces for yaml files

autocmd Filetype yaml setlocal indentkeys-=0# tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2

To debug your current indent settings use this command:

:verbose set autoindent? smartindent? cindent? cinkeys? indentexpr?

read more about this here and here

Enable .vimrc for sudo

Best practice is to use sudoedit instead of sudo vim. You should be doing that anyway. Make sure your EDITOR environment variable is set to vim (probably already is, or vim is the default; you can set it in your .profile analog if need be).

• You can check current EDITOR value by this command: echo $EDITOR
• To set EDITOR value: export EDITOR='vim'

Set Vim as default editor

To set vim as editor by default - add the following line to the ~/.bashrc file: export EDITOR='vim'

License

• MIT 2022
• based on zualex repo