Vim Cheat Sheet

Essential Vim modal editing commands for navigation, editing, search-and-replace, and multi-file workflows.

2 PagesIntermediateJan 25, 2026

Modes & Navigation

Switching modes and moving around a file.

i / a / o- Enter insert mode: before cursor, after cursor, or on a new line below
Esc- Return to normal mode from any other mode
h j k l- Move left, down, up, right (arrow key alternatives)
w / b / e- Jump to next word start, previous word start, end of word
0 / $ / ^- Move to start of line, end of line, first non-blank character
gg / G- Jump to first line / last line of the file
:<N>- Jump to line number N (e.g. :42)

Editing Commands

Deleting, copying, and changing text.

dd / yy- Delete (cut) current line / yank (copy) current line
p / P- Paste after cursor / paste before cursor
x- Delete character under cursor
cw- Change word: delete word and enter insert mode
u / Ctrl-r- Undo / redo
.- Repeat the last change
v / V / Ctrl-v- Visual mode: character-wise, line-wise, block-wise selection

Search & Replace

Find text and substitute patterns.

vim

:/pattern              " Search forward for pattern:?pattern              " Search backward for patternn / N                  " Repeat search forward / backward:%s/foo/bar/g          " Replace all 'foo' with 'bar' in file:%s/foo/bar/gc         " Same, with confirmation per match:s/foo/bar/g           " Replace all occurrences on current line

Files & Windows

Saving, quitting, and splitting the view.

vim

:w              " Save:q              " Quit:wq or :x       " Save and quit:q!             " Quit without saving:sp file.txt    " Horizontal split:vsp file.txt   " Vertical splitCtrl-w w        " Cycle between split windows

Pro Tip

Learn to combine operators with motions (e.g. d2w, ci", y$) instead of memorizing hundreds of commands — Vim's power comes from composing a small set of verbs and motions, not rote memorization.

Was this cheat sheet helpful?

Shell Scripting Deep Dive Cheat Sheet

Tmux Cheat Sheet