Master Vim: Essential Commands for Efficient Editing

Command History

Commands that start with : or / are saved in history; type : or / followed by the up/down arrows to recall previous commands.

Starting Vim

Enter Vim from the command line: vim – launch Vim. vim filename – open Vim and create or edit filename.

File Commands

Open a single file: vim file Open multiple files: vim file1 file2 file3 ... Open a new file in the current Vim 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 all open buffers (current file is shown in brackets): :args Open a remote file (e.g., FTP): :e ftp://192.168.10.76/abc.txt Open a Windows share file:

:e \qadrive\test\1.txt

Vim Modes

Normal mode – press Esc or Ctrl+[; file name shown at the bottom left.

Insert mode – press i; --INSERT-- displayed.

Visual mode – enter with v or V; --VISUAL-- displayed.

Navigation Commands

Bracket matching:

%

Insert Commands

i

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

Search Commands

Forward search: /text – find text; n for next, N for previous.

Backward search: ?text – reverse search; n and N work similarly.

Ignore case: :set ignorecase Do not ignore case: :set noignorecase Highlight matches: :set hlsearch Turn off highlighting: :set nohlsearch or :nohlsearch Incremental search: :set incsearch Wrap around search:

:set wrapscan

Replace Commands

Replace a character under cursor: ra – replace current character with a.

Replace in the current line: s/old/new/ – first occurrence. s/old/new/g – all occurrences.

Replace in the whole file: %s/old/new/ – first occurrence per line. %s/old/new/g – all occurrences.

Indent lines 10‑20 by four spaces:

:10,20 s/^/    /g

Movement Commands

Basic cursor moves: h – left, j – down, k – up, l – right.

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

Line start/end: ^ – first non‑blank character, 0 – column 0, $ – end of line.

File start/end: gg – top of file, G – bottom of file.

Find character in line: fx – forward to x, Fx – backward.

Jump to a specific line: :240 – go to line 240, or 240G.

Scrolling: Ctrl+e – scroll down one line, Ctrl+y – scroll up one line, Ctrl+d – half‑page down, Ctrl+u – half‑page up, Ctrl+f – full page down, Ctrl+b – full page up.

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, 10dd – delete ten lines. D – delete to end of line, d$ – same effect.

Range delete: :1,10d – delete lines 1‑10, :11,$d – delete from line 11 to end, :1,$d – delete entire file.

Join lines (remove blank line): J – join current line with next.

Copy and Paste

yy

– yank (copy) current line, nyy – yank n lines. p – paste after cursor, P – paste before cursor.

Copy a range of lines: :1,10 co 20 – copy lines 1‑10 after line 20.

Copy whole file to end:

:1,$ co $

Cut Commands

Visual mode ( v or V) then d cuts the selection. ndd – cut n lines starting from current line.

Move lines: :1,10 m 20 – move lines 1‑10 after line 20.

Exit Commands

:wq

or 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 – move to window below, Ctrl+wk – move to window above.

Close window: :close – close 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; replay with @a (if recorded as qa).

Executing Shell Commands

Prefix with :!: :!ls – list directory, :!perl -c script.pl – check Perl syntax, :!perl script.pl – run Perl script.

Suspend Vim: :suspend or Ctrl+Z, then fg to resume.

Comment Commands

In Perl, # starts a comment. To comment lines in Vim: 3,5 s/^/#/g – comment lines 3‑5. 3,5 s/^#//g – uncomment lines 3‑5. 1,$ s/^/#/g or :%s/^/#/g – comment the whole file.

Help Commands

:help

or F1 – open help, :help i – help for insert mode, :help <Esc> – help for the Escape key.

Other Non‑Editing Commands

.

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