Master Vim: Essential Commands and Tips for Efficient Editing

Command History

Commands that start with : or / are stored in history; press the up/down arrows after typing : or / to browse previous entries.

Starting Vim

Run Vim from the terminal: vim – start Vim. vim filename – open or create filename.

File Commands

Open a single file: vim file. Open multiple files: vim file1 file2 file3 …. In Vim: :open file – open a new file in the current window. :split file – open a file in a new split window. :bn – go to the next buffer. :bp – go to the previous buffer. :args – list all opened files (current file is shown in brackets). :e ftp://192.168.10.76/abc.txt – edit a remote file via FTP. :e \\qadrive\test\1.txt – edit a network share.

Vim Modes

Normal mode (press Esc or Ctrl+[), Insert mode (press i), Visual mode (enter with v or V).

Navigation Commands

%

– jump to matching parenthesis. h, j, k, l – move left, down, up, right (repeatable with a count, e.g., 20j). w, b, e, ge – move by words. ^ – first non‑blank character of the line. 0 or Home – beginning of the line. $ – end of the line (e.g., 3$ moves to the end of the line three lines down). gg – go to the start of the file; G – go to the end. f<char> / F<char> – find next/previous occurrence of char on the line. : line Enter – jump to a specific line (e.g., :240). Ctrl+e / Ctrl+y – scroll down/up one line; Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u – scroll half‑screen; Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b – scroll full screen.

Insert Commands

i

– insert before cursor. I – insert at line start. a – append after cursor. A – append at line end. o – open a new line below. O – open a new line above.

Search Commands

/text

– forward search; ?text – backward search.

Press n for next match, N for previous. :set ignorecase / :set noignorecase – toggle case‑insensitive search. :set hlsearch / :set nohlsearch – highlight / clear matches. :set incsearch – incremental search. :set wrapscan – continue searching at file start/end.

Use * or # on a word under the cursor to search for it forward or backward.

Replace Commands

s/old/new/

– replace first occurrence in current line. s/old/new/g – replace all occurrences in current line. %s/old/new/ – replace first occurrence in each line. %s/old/new/g – replace all occurrences in the whole file. :10,20s/^/ /g – indent lines 10‑20 with four spaces. ddp – swap the current line with the line below.

Undo and Redo

u

– undo. U – undo all changes on the current line. Ctrl+r – redo.

Delete Commands

x

– delete character under cursor. 3x – delete three characters. X – delete character before cursor. dh – delete character to the left. dd – delete current line. 10d – delete ten lines starting from the cursor. D – delete to end of line. :1,10d – delete lines 1‑10; :1,$d – delete all lines. J – join the current line with the next (removes blank line).

Copy and Paste

yy

– yank (copy) current line. nyy – yank n lines. p – paste after cursor; P – paste before cursor. :1,10co20 – copy lines 1‑10 after line 20. :1,$co$ – duplicate the whole file at the end.

Enter Visual mode with v (characterwise) or V (linewise), move to select, then press y to copy. ddp – swap current line with the one below; xp – swap current character with the next.

Cut Commands

Enter Visual mode, select text, then press d to cut. ndd – cut n lines starting from the cursor. :1,10d – cut lines 1‑10. :1,10m20 – move lines 1‑10 after line 20.

Quit Commands

:wq

– write (save) and quit. ZZ – write and quit. :q! – quit without saving. :e! – reload the file, discarding changes.

Window Commands

:split

or :new – open a new horizontal window. :vsplit – open a vertical split. Ctrl+ww – cycle to the next window. Ctrl+wj / Ctrl+wk – move cursor to the window below / above. :close – close the current window (cannot close the last one). :q – quit Vim if it’s the last window. :only – keep only the current window.

Recording Macros

Press q followed by a letter to start recording, press q again to stop, then replay with @ letter .

Executing Shell Commands

:!command

– run an external command. :!ls – list files in the current directory. :!perl -c script.pl – check Perl syntax without leaving Vim. :!perl script.pl – execute a Perl script. :suspend or Ctrl+Z – suspend Vim, return with fg.

Comment Commands

Prefix a line with # to comment it (in Perl scripts). 3,5s/^/#/g – comment lines 3‑5. 3,5s/^#//g – uncomment lines 3‑5. 1,$s/^/#/g or :%s/^/#/g – comment the whole file.

Help Commands

:help

or F1 – open the help window. :help i, :help CTRL-[ – get help for a specific command or key.

Use Ctrl+] on a highlighted tag to follow a link, Ctrl+o to return.

Other Non‑Editing Commands

.

– repeat the last change. :set ruler? – show if the ruler option is set. :scriptnames – list sourced script files. :set list – display invisible characters such as tabs and trailing spaces.

Vim Tutorial

On Unix: vimtutor. On Windows: :help tutor. Additional commands for syntax highlighting include :syntax, :syntax clear, :syntax case match, and :syntax case ignore.