Master Vim: Essential Commands for Efficient Text Editing

Introduction

Vim is a text‑based editor that operates entirely through commands, without graphical menus.

Command‑line mode commands

Cursor movement : h (left), j (down), k (up), l (right), gg (file start), G (file end), 0 (line start), $ (line end), 123G (go to line 123).

Deletion : x (delete character after cursor), X (delete character before cursor), dw (delete word), d0 (delete to line start), D or d$ (delete to line end), dd (delete whole line), ndd (delete n lines). Deletions are actually cuts.

Undo/redo : u (undo), Ctrl‑r (redo).

Copy & paste : yy (yank current line), nyy (yank n lines), p (paste below cursor), P (paste above cursor).

Visual mode : v (characterwise visual), combine with h/j/k/l to select, y to yank selection.

Search : /pattern (forward), ?pattern (backward), n (next), N (previous), # (search word under cursor).

Replace : r (replace single character).

Line shifting : >> (indent right), << (indent left).

Man page lookup : Place cursor on a function name and press Shift‑k to view its manual entry; 3Shift‑k shows the third section.

Text (Insert) mode commands

i

: insert before cursor. I: insert at line start. a: insert after cursor. A: insert at line end. o: open a new line below and enter insert mode. O: open a new line above and enter insert mode. s: delete character under cursor and enter insert mode. S: delete current line and enter insert mode.

Ex (Command) mode commands

Line jump: :123 moves to line 123.

Substitution examples:

Replace first occurrence on the current line: :s/abc/123 Replace all occurrences on the current line: :s/abc/123/g Replace first occurrence in the whole file: :%s/abc/123 Replace all occurrences in the whole file: :%s/abc/123/g Replace in a range (lines 10‑30): :10,30s/abc/123/g Execute a shell command: type ! followed by the command in Ex mode.

Split‑window operations

Horizontal split: sp Vertical split: vsp Split with a file: sp filename or vsp filename Close all windows and save: wqall Save and close current window: wq Toggle between windows:

Ctrl‑ww

Turning Vim into an IDE

System‑wide configuration file: /etc/vim/vimrc. User‑specific configuration file: ~/.vim/vimrc (or ~/.vimrc). Edit these files to customize key mappings, plugins, and other IDE‑like features.