Previous | Home | Terminology | Next
Chapter 12 - Gentle Introduction To VIM
I have been using VIM for many years and I love this arcane text editor for its power. However, the beginnings are quite difficult. If you decide that even though it is arduous to learn VIM you want it to do it, keep on reading chapter 12 of "The Linux Command Line". Once you have done it, here is the basic list of commands you can use in VIM (more options to configure VIM in Day 3 post).
VIM Most Commonly Used Options:
Insert mode - inserting/appending text
i - insert before the cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
a - insert (append) after the cursor
A - insert (append) at the end of the line
o - append (open) a new line below the current line
O - append (open) a new line above the current line
ea - insert (append) at the end of the word
Esc - exit insert mode
Cursor movement
h - move cursor left
j - move cursor down
k - move cursor up
l - move cursor right
w - jump forwards to the start of a word
W - jump forwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
e - jump forwards to the end of a word
E - jump forwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
b - jump backwards to the start of a word
B - jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
0 - jump to the start of the line
^ - jump to the first non-blank character of the line
$ - jump to the end of the line
G - go to the last line of the document
5G - go to line 5
Editing
r - replace a single character
J - join line below to the current one
cc - change (replace) entire line
cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
s - delete character and substitute text
S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
u - undo
Ctrl + r - redo
. - repeat last command
Marking text (visual mode)
v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V - start linewise visual mode
o - move to other end of marked area
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block
aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
Esc - exit visual mode
Cut and paste
yy - yank (copy) a line
2yy - yank (copy) 2 lines
yw - yank (copy) word
y$ - yank (copy) to end of line
p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P - put (paste) before cursor
dd - delete (cut) a line
2dd - delete (cut) 2 lines
dw - delete (cut) word
D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line
x - delete (cut) character
Exiting
:w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
:wq or :x or ZZ - write (save) and quit
:q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:q! or ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved changes
:xa - save and quit all split windows (buffers)
Marking text (visual mode)
v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V - start linewise visual mode
o - move to other end of marked area
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block
aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
Esc - exit visual mode
Visual commands
> - shift text right
< - shift text left
y - yank (copy) marked text
d - delete marked text
~ - switch case
Search and replace
/pattern - search for pattern
?pattern - search backward for pattern
n - repeat search in same direction
N - repeat search in opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
:%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
Working with multiple files
:e filename - edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext or :bn - go to the next buffer
:bprev or :bp - go to the previous buffer
:bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
:sp filename - open a file in a new buffer and split window
:vsp filename - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
Ctrl + ws - split window
Ctrl + ww - switch windows
Ctrl + wq - quit a window
Ctrl + wv - split window vertically
Ctrl + wh - move cursor to next buffer (right)
Ctrl + wl - move cursor to previous buffer (left)
Tabs
:tabnew filename or :tabn filename - open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + wt - move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabnext or :tabn - move to the next tab
gT or :tabprev or :tabp - move to the previous tab
#gt - move to tab number #
:tabmove # - move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0)
:tabclose or :tabc - close the current tab and all its windows
:tabonly or :tabo - close all tabs except for the current one
I have been using VIM for many years and I love this arcane text editor for its power. However, the beginnings are quite difficult. If you decide that even though it is arduous to learn VIM you want it to do it, keep on reading chapter 12 of "The Linux Command Line". Once you have done it, here is the basic list of commands you can use in VIM (more options to configure VIM in Day 3 post).
VIM Most Commonly Used Options:
Insert mode - inserting/appending text
i - insert before the cursor
I - insert at the beginning of the line
a - insert (append) after the cursor
A - insert (append) at the end of the line
o - append (open) a new line below the current line
O - append (open) a new line above the current line
ea - insert (append) at the end of the word
Esc - exit insert mode
Cursor movement
h - move cursor left
j - move cursor down
k - move cursor up
l - move cursor right
w - jump forwards to the start of a word
W - jump forwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
e - jump forwards to the end of a word
E - jump forwards to the end of a word (words can contain punctuation)
b - jump backwards to the start of a word
B - jump backwards to the start of a word (words can contain punctuation)
0 - jump to the start of the line
^ - jump to the first non-blank character of the line
$ - jump to the end of the line
G - go to the last line of the document
5G - go to line 5
Editing
r - replace a single character
J - join line below to the current one
cc - change (replace) entire line
cw - change (replace) to the end of the word
c$ - change (replace) to the end of the line
s - delete character and substitute text
S - delete line and substitute text (same as cc)
xp - transpose two letters (delete and paste)
u - undo
Ctrl + r - redo
. - repeat last command
Marking text (visual mode)
v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V - start linewise visual mode
o - move to other end of marked area
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block
aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
Esc - exit visual mode
Cut and paste
yy - yank (copy) a line
2yy - yank (copy) 2 lines
yw - yank (copy) word
y$ - yank (copy) to end of line
p - put (paste) the clipboard after cursor
P - put (paste) before cursor
dd - delete (cut) a line
2dd - delete (cut) 2 lines
dw - delete (cut) word
D - delete (cut) to the end of the line
d$ - delete (cut) to the end of the line
x - delete (cut) character
Exiting
:w - write (save) the file, but don't exit
:wq or :x or ZZ - write (save) and quit
:q - quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:q! or ZQ - quit and throw away unsaved changes
:xa - save and quit all split windows (buffers)
Marking text (visual mode)
v - start visual mode, mark lines, then do a command (like y-yank)
V - start linewise visual mode
o - move to other end of marked area
Ctrl + v - start visual block mode
O - move to other corner of block
aw - mark a word
ab - a block with ()
aB - a block with {}
ib - inner block with ()
iB - inner block with {}
Esc - exit visual mode
Visual commands
> - shift text right
< - shift text left
y - yank (copy) marked text
d - delete marked text
~ - switch case
Search and replace
/pattern - search for pattern
?pattern - search backward for pattern
n - repeat search in same direction
N - repeat search in opposite direction
:%s/old/new/g - replace all old with new throughout file
:%s/old/new/gc - replace all old with new throughout file with confirmations
Working with multiple files
:e filename - edit a file in a new buffer
:bnext or :bn - go to the next buffer
:bprev or :bp - go to the previous buffer
:bd - delete a buffer (close a file)
:sp filename - open a file in a new buffer and split window
:vsp filename - open a file in a new buffer and vertically split window
Ctrl + ws - split window
Ctrl + ww - switch windows
Ctrl + wq - quit a window
Ctrl + wv - split window vertically
Ctrl + wh - move cursor to next buffer (right)
Ctrl + wl - move cursor to previous buffer (left)
Tabs
:tabnew filename or :tabn filename - open a file in a new tab
Ctrl + wt - move the current split window into its own tab
gt or :tabnext or :tabn - move to the next tab
gT or :tabprev or :tabp - move to the previous tab
#gt - move to tab number #
:tabmove # - move current tab to the #th position (indexed from 0)
:tabclose or :tabc - close the current tab and all its windows
:tabonly or :tabo - close all tabs except for the current one
Previous | Home | Terminology | Next
