Master Vim: Essential Commands, Shortcuts, and Tips to Boost Your Coding Efficiency

Essential Vim Commands

Editing

i

, a, r – insert before cursor, append after cursor, or replace the character under the cursor. O, o – open a new empty line above ( O) or below ( o) the current line and enter Insert mode. cw, dw – change ( c) or delete ( d) the word under the cursor. x, d$, dd – delete a single character ( x), delete from cursor to end of line ( d$), or delete the whole line ( dd).

Cursor Movement

h

, j, k, l – move left, down, up, right. Ctrl+f, Ctrl+b – page forward and backward. nG – jump to line number n. w, b – move forward or backward by a word. ma, mb, mc – set marks a, b, c for later jumps with `a, etc. 0 and $ – move to the beginning or end of the current line. H, M, L – move to the top, middle, or bottom of the screen.

Deletion

ndw

or ndW – delete n words starting at the cursor. do – delete to the beginning of the line. d$ – delete to the end of the line. ndd – delete n consecutive lines. x / X – delete the character after or before the cursor. Ctrl+u – clear text entered in Insert mode. n1,n2d – delete lines n1 through n2. %d or 1,$d – delete the entire file.

Search

/pattern

– search forward for pattern. ?pattern – search backward for pattern. /\/pattern – search for a literal slash‑containing pattern (escape the slash). n – repeat the last search in the same direction. N – repeat the last search in the opposite direction.

Replace

s/old/new/

– replace the first occurrence of old on the current line with new. s/old/new/g – replace all occurrences on the current line. n,$s/old/new/ – replace the first old from line n to the end of the file. n,$s/old/new/g – replace all old from line n to the end. %s/old/new/g – replace every old in the whole file. s#old#new# – use # as delimiter to avoid escaping slashes. n1,n2s/p1/p2/g – replace p1 with p2 in the line range n1 ‑ n2. g/p1/s//p2/g – replace all p1 with p2 in the entire file.

Copy & Paste

yy

– yank (copy) the current line. nyy – yank n lines starting from the current line.

Press v, move the cursor to select a visual region, then press y to yank. dd – cut (delete) the current line. p – paste below the cursor; P – paste above. n1,n2co n3 – copy lines n1 ‑ n2 to after line n3. n1,n2m n3 – move lines n1 ‑ n2 to after line n3.

Common Options

Editor Settings

set number

– display line numbers. set number! – toggle line numbers off. set all – list all option values. set ignorecase – ignore case in searches. set list – show tabs (as ^I) and end‑of‑line markers. set warn – warn when switching files with unsaved changes. set nowrapscan – stop search at file boundaries instead of wrapping. set mesg – allow messages from other users (e.g., write notifications).

Saving Files

:wq

– write (save) and quit. :q! – quit without saving. :w – write changes without quitting. U – undo all changes on the current line (or use u for incremental undo). Ctrl+r – redo changes undone by u.