Vim / Neovim Cheat Sheet

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Vim modes, navigation, editing commands, search/replace, and essential configuration

Modes

Normal Mode

Default mode for navigation and commands. Press Esc to return.

Esc or Ctrl+[  → enter Normal mode
:              → enter Command mode

Insert Mode

Type text. Enter from Normal mode.

i   → insert before cursor
a   → append after cursor
I   → insert at start of line
A   → append at end of line
o   → open new line below
O   → open new line above

Visual Mode

Select text for operations.

v   → visual (character)
V   → visual line
Ctrl+v → visual block

Command Mode

Execute Ex commands after pressing :

:w       → save
:q       → quit
:wq      → save and quit
:q!      → quit without saving
:e file  → open file

Navigation

Basic Movement

Move cursor without arrow keys (works in all modes)

h ← j ↓ k ↑ l →

0  → start of line
^  → first non-blank character
$  → end of line

Word Navigation

Jump between words efficiently

w  → next word start
b  → previous word start
e  → next word end
W/B/E → same but WORD (space-separated)

File Navigation

Jump to positions in the file

gg   → first line
G    → last line
50G  → line 50
Ctrl+d → half-page down
Ctrl+u → half-page up
Ctrl+f → full page down
Ctrl+b → full page up

Character Search

Jump to a character on the current line

f{char}  → forward to char (inclusive)
t{char}  → forward to char (exclusive)
F{char}  → backward to char
;        → repeat last f/t/F/T
,        → repeat in opposite direction

Editing

Delete

Delete text (also cuts to clipboard)

dd   → delete line
dw   → delete word
d$   → delete to end of line
d0   → delete to start of line
D    → delete to end of line

Yank (Copy) & Paste

Copy text and paste it

yy   → yank (copy) line
yw   → yank word
y$   → yank to end of line
p    → paste after cursor
P    → paste before cursor

Change

Delete and enter Insert mode

cc   → change line
cw   → change word
ci"  → change inside quotes
ca(  → change around parens
c$   → change to end of line

Undo & Redo

Undo and redo changes

u        → undo
Ctrl+r   → redo
.        → repeat last change

Visual Mode

Visual Operations

Select text then apply an operation

v then w, w, w → select 3 words
V then j, j    → select 3 lines
d              → delete selection
y              → yank selection
>              → indent selection
<              → de-indent selection
~              → toggle case

Search & Replace

Search

Search forward and backward in file

/pattern   → search forward
?pattern   → search backward
n          → next match
N          → previous match
*          → search word under cursor

Substitute

Find and replace with :s command

:s/old/new/      → replace first on line
:s/old/new/g     → replace all on line
:%s/old/new/g    → replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc   → replace all with confirm

Multiple Files

Buffers

Open files loaded into memory

:ls      → list buffers
:bn      → next buffer
:bp      → previous buffer
:b name  → switch to buffer by name

Windows & Tabs

Split the editor into panes or tabs

:sp file    → horizontal split
:vsp file   → vertical split
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l  → navigate splits
:tabnew file    → open in new tab
gt / gT         → next/prev tab

Common Patterns

Text Objects (Motion + Object)

Vim's most powerful feature: operate on semantic units

# Pattern: [operator][inner/around][object]
# operators: d (delete), c (change), y (yank), v (visual)
# i = inner, a = around (includes delimiters)

diw    # delete inner word (not surrounding spaces)
daw    # delete a word (including trailing space)
di"    # delete inside double quotes
da"    # delete inside + the quotes themselves
ci(    # change inside parentheses
ca{    # change around curly braces (including {})
yit    # yank inside HTML/XML tag
vip    # visual select inner paragraph

Macro Recording

Record and replay a sequence of commands

# Record macro to register 'a'
qa      # start recording into register a
  ...   # perform your commands
q       # stop recording

# Replay macro
@a     # run macro a once
10@a   # run macro a 10 times
@@     # repeat last macro

# Example: add semicolon to end of 5 lines
qa A;<Esc> j q
5@a

Global Search and Replace

Powerful substitution across file with regex

# Basic substitution
:%s/foo/bar/g         # replace all 'foo' with 'bar'

# Case insensitive
:%s/foo/bar/gi        # g=all, i=case insensitive

# With confirmation
:%s/foo/bar/gc        # c=confirm each

# Regex substitution
:%s/\(\w\+\)/[\1]/g  # wrap each word in brackets

# Only in selected range (visual mode first)
:'<,'>s/foo/bar/g