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 commands.

Starting Vim

Run Vim from the command line: vim – start Vim. vim filename – 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 file: :bn Switch to the previous file: :bp List opened files (current file is shown in brackets): :args Open remote files (e.g., FTP):

:e ftp://192.168.10.76/abc.txt

:e \\qadrive\test\1.txt

Vim Modes

Normal mode – press Esc or Ctrl+[.

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

Visual mode – shows --VISUAL--.

Navigation Commands

Basic cursor moves: h – left j – down k – up l – right (rarely used; w is preferred).

Word moves: w – forward to the start of the next word. b – backward to the start of the previous word. e – forward to the end of the current word. ge – backward to the end of the previous word.

Line moves: 0 – first character of the line. ^ – first non‑blank character. $ – end of the line. gg – top of the file. G – bottom of the file. :<em>line</em> – jump to a specific line.

Screen scrolls: Ctrl+e / Ctrl+y – scroll one line down/up. Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u – scroll half a screen down/up. Ctrl+f / Ctrl+b – scroll a full screen down/up.

Insert Commands

i

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

Search Commands

/text

– forward search for text. ?text – backward search. n / N – repeat search forward/backward. :set ignorecase – case‑insensitive search. :set noignorecase – case‑sensitive search. * / # – search word under cursor forward/backward. :set hlsearch – highlight all matches. :set nohlsearch or :nohlsearch – turn off highlighting. :set incsearch – incremental search. :set wrapscan – continue search at file start/end.

Replace Commands

ra

– replace the character under the cursor with a. s/old/new/ – replace first old with new on the current line. s/old/new/g – replace all occurrences on the 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 the character under the cursor. 3x – delete three characters. X – delete the character before the cursor. dl – delete the character under the cursor (same as x). dh – delete the character before the cursor. dd – delete the current line. 10d – delete ten lines starting from the current line. D – delete from the cursor to the end of the line. d$ – same as D. :1,10d – delete lines 1‑10. :11,$d – delete from line 11 to the end. :1,$d – delete the entire file. J – join the current line with the next (removes the blank line).

Copy and Paste

yy

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

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

Cut Commands

Visual mode + d – cut selection. ndd – cut n lines starting from the current line. :1,10d – cut lines 1‑10. :1,10m20 – move lines 1‑10 after line 20.

Exit 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 new vertical window. Ctrl+ww – cycle to the next window. Ctrl+wj / Ctrl+wk – move to the window below/above. :close – close the current window (cannot close the last one). :q – quit Vim if it is the last window. :only – keep only the current window. q{letter} – start recording a macro; @{letter} – execute it.

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 and return to the shell.

Comment Commands

Prefix a line with # to comment it. 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 system. :help i, :help CTRL-[, etc. – get help for a specific topic.

Use Ctrl+] on a tag to follow a hyperlink, Ctrl+o to go back.

Other Non‑Editing Commands

.

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

Vim Tutorial

Unix: vimtutor Windows:

:help tutor

:syntax

– list defined syntax items. :syntax clear – clear syntax rules. :syntax case match – case‑sensitive matching. :syntax case ignore – case‑insensitive matching.