Vim Guide¶

Essential Vim commands and workflows

Mode Overview¶

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Normal: vim file
    Normal --> Insert: i, a, o
    Insert --> Normal: Esc
    Normal --> Visual: v, V, Ctrl+v
    Visual --> Normal: Esc
    Normal --> Command: :
    Command --> Normal: Enter/Esc

Mode	Purpose	Enter	Exit
Normal	Navigation, commands	`Esc`	-
Insert	Text editing	`i`, `a`, `o`	`Esc`
Visual	Selection	`v`, `V`, `Ctrl+v`	`Esc`
Command	Ex commands	`:`	`Enter`

Window Management¶

Split Windows¶

Command	Action
`:split` or `:sp`	Horizontal split
`:vsplit` or `:vs`	Vertical split
`:sp filename`	Open file in horizontal split
`:vs filename`	Open file in vertical split

Navigate Between Windows¶

Key	Action
`Ctrl+w w`	Next window
`Ctrl+w W`	Previous window
`Ctrl+w h`	Move to left window
`Ctrl+w j`	Move to window below
`Ctrl+w k`	Move to window above
`Ctrl+w l`	Move to right window
`Ctrl+w <number>`	Move to window by number

Resize Windows¶

Key	Action
`Ctrl+w =`	Equal size all windows
`Ctrl+w +`	Increase height
`Ctrl+w -`	Decrease height
`Ctrl+w >`	Increase width
`Ctrl+w <`	Decrease width
`Ctrl+w _`	Maximize height
`Ctrl+w \\|`	Maximize width

Close Windows¶

Command	Action
`:q`	Close current window
`:qa`	Close all windows
`Ctrl+w c`	Close current window
`Ctrl+w o`	Close all except current

Essential Commands¶

Key	Action
`h j k l`	Left, Down, Up, Right
`w` / `b`	Next/previous word
`0` / `$`	Start/end of line
`gg` / `G`	Start/end of file
`Ctrl+d/u`	Page down/up
`:<n>`	Go to line n

Editing¶

Key	Action
`i`	Insert before cursor
`a`	Insert after cursor
`o`	New line below
`O`	New line above
`x`	Delete character
`dd`	Delete line
`yy`	Yank (copy) line
`p`	Paste after cursor
`u`	Undo
`Ctrl+r`	Redo

Search & Replace¶

Command	Action
`/pattern`	Search forward
`?pattern`	Search backward
`n` / `N`	Next/previous match
`:%s/old/new/g`	Replace all
`:%s/old/new/gc`	Replace with confirmation

Command + Object Combinations¶

Vim's power comes from combining Operators (Verbs) with Motions/Text Objects (Nouns).

Structure: [Number] + [Operator] + [Text Object]

1. Operators (Verbs)¶

Key	Action
`d`	Delete (Cut)
`c`	Change (Delete & Enter Insert Mode)
`y`	Yank (Copy)
`v`	Visual Selection

2. Text Objects (Nouns)¶

Key	Context	Description
w	Word	From cursor to start of next word
b	Back	From cursor to start of previous word
e	End	From cursor to end of current word
$	Line End	From cursor to end of line
0	Line Start	From cursor to start of line
G	File End	From cursor to end of file
gg	File Start	From cursor to start of file

3. "Inside" and "Around" Objects¶

Use these for structured text like code or paragraphs. * i (Inner): The object itself (excluding whitespace/surroundings) * a (Around): The object + surrounding whitespace/brackets

Key	Object	Example Action (`d` + key)
`iw`	Inner Word	`diw` (Delete word under cursor)
`aw`	Around Word	`daw` (Delete word + space)
`ip`	Inner Paragraph	`dip` (Delete current paragraph)
`i"`	Inside Quotes	`di"` (Delete text inside "")
`a"`	Around Quotes	`da"` (Delete "" and text inside)
`i(`	Inside Parentheses	`di(` (Delete text inside ())
`a(`	Around Parentheses	`da(` (Delete () and text inside)
`i{`	Inside Braces	`di{` (Delete text inside {})
`it`	Inside Tag	`dit` (Delete text inside HTML tag)

4. Common Examples¶

Combination	Description
`ciw`	Change inner word (most common for editing variable names)
`ci"`	Change text inside quotes
`dt"`	Delete until next quote (T for 'Till')
`ct.`	Change until next dot
`d$`	Delete to end of line
`yyp`	Duplicate line (Yank, Yank, Paste)
`yap`	Yank paragraph
`ggVG`	Select entire file

File Operations¶

Command	Action
`:w`	Save
`:q`	Quit
`:wq` or `:x`	Save and quit
`:q!`	Quit without saving
`:e filename`	Open file
`:r filename`	Insert file content

Useful Settings¶

Add to ~/.vimrc:

" Basic settings
set number          " Show line numbers
set relativenumber  " Relative line numbers
set tabstop=4       " Tab width
set shiftwidth=4    " Indent width
set expandtab       " Spaces instead of tabs
set autoindent      " Auto indentation
set smartindent     " Smart indentation

" Search
set hlsearch        " Highlight search
set incsearch       " Incremental search
set ignorecase      " Case insensitive
set smartcase       " Case sensitive if uppercase

" UI
set cursorline      " Highlight current line
set showmatch       " Show matching brackets
set wildmenu        " Command completion menu
syntax on           " Syntax highlighting