Master Vim: Essential Commands and Tips for Efficient Editing

Command History

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

Starting Vim

Run vim to start Vim.

Run vim filename to open or create filename.

File Commands

Open a single file: vim file Open multiple files: vim file1 file2 file3 … Open a new file in the current window: :open file Open a file in a new split window: :split file Switch to the next buffer: :bn Switch to the previous buffer: :bp List open buffers: :args Open remote files, e.g., :e ftp://192.168.10.76/abc.txt or

:e \\qadrive\test\1.txt

Vim Modes

Normal mode (press Esc or Ctrl+[) – shows filename at the bottom.

Insert mode (press i) – shows --INSERT--.

Visual mode – shows --VISUAL--.

Navigation Commands

%

– jump to matching parenthesis.

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; n next, N previous. ?text – backward search; n next, N previous.

Special characters need escaping:

.*[]^%/?~$

:set ignorecase

– case‑insensitive search; :set noignorecase – case‑sensitive. * or # on a word searches forward or backward respectively. :set hlsearch – highlight matches; :set nohlsearch – turn off highlighting. :set incsearch – incremental search. :set wrapscan – continue search at start/end of file.

Replace Commands

ra

– replace current character with

a

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 :10,20 s/^/ /g – indent lines 10‑20 with four spaces ddp – swap current line with the line below

Movement Commands

h

– left j – down k – up l – right (rarely used)

Numbers can prefix motions, e.g., 20j moves down 20 lines. w – forward a word; b – backward a word; e – to end of word ^ – first non‑blank character of line 0 – beginning of line $ – end of line; 3$ – end of line three lines down gg – top of file; G – bottom of file f{x} – find next x on the line; F{x} – backward find

Jump to line: :123 or 123G Scrolling: Ctrl+e / Ctrl+y (one line), Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u (half‑screen), Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b (full screen)

Undo and Redo

u

– undo; U – undo whole line; Ctrl+r – redo.

Delete Commands

x

– delete character under cursor 3x – delete three characters X – delete character before cursor dd – delete current line 10d – delete 10 lines starting at cursor D – delete to end of line :1,10d – delete lines 1‑10; :11,$d – delete from line 11 to end J – join lines (removes blank line)

Copy and Paste

yy

– yank (copy) current line nyy – yank n lines p – paste after cursor Shift+p – paste before cursor :1,10 co 20 – copy lines 1‑10 after line 20

Visual mode ( v or V) + y to copy selection ddp – swap current line with the line below xp – swap current character with the next one

Cut Commands

Visual mode + d to cut selection ndd – cut n lines starting at cursor :1,10d – cut lines 1‑10 :1,10 m 20 – move lines 1‑10 after line 20

Quit Commands

:wq

– write and quit ZZ – write and quit :q! – quit without saving :e! – reload file, discarding changes

Window Commands

:split

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

Recording Macros

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

Executing Shell Commands

:!command

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

fg

Comment Commands (for Perl files)

Prefix lines with # to comment 3,5 s/^/#/g – comment lines 3‑5 3,5 s/^#//g – uncomment lines 3‑5 1,$ s/^/#/g or :%s/^/#/g – comment entire file

Help Commands

:help

or F1 – open help :help i, :help CTRL-[, etc. – topic‑specific help

Use Ctrl+] to follow a tag, Ctrl+o to return

Other Non‑Editing Commands

.

– repeat last change :set ruler? – show if ruler is set :scriptnames – list sourced script files :set list – show invisible characters

Vim Tutorial

On Unix: vimtutor On Windows: :help tutor Syntax commands: :syntax, :syntax clear, :syntax case match,

:syntax case ignore