VI(M) reference card

Basic movement

h l k j character left, right; line up, down
b w word/token left, right
ge e end of word/token left, right
{ } beginning of previous, next paragraph
( ) beginning of previous, next sentence
0 gm beginning, middle of line
^ $ first, last character of line
nG ngg line n, default the last, first
n% percentage n of the file (*n must be provided)*
n| column n of current line
% match of next brace, bracket, comment, #define
nH nL line n from start, bottom of window
M middle line of window

Insertion & replace → insert mode

i a insert before, after cursor
I A insert at beginning, end of line
gI insert text in first column
o O open a new line below, above the current line
rc replace character under cursor with c
grc like `` r``, but without affecting layout
R replace characters starting at the cursor
gR like `` R``, but without affecting layout
cm change text of movement command m
cc or S change current line
C change to the end of line
s change one character and insert
~ switch case and advance cursor
g~m switch case of movement command m
gum gUm lowercase, uppercase text of movement m
<m >m shift left, right text of movement m
n<< n>> shift n lines left, right

Deletion

x X delete character under, before cursor
dm delete text of movement command m
dd D delete current line, to the end of line
J gJ join current line with next, without space
:rd↵ delete range r lines
:rdx↵ delete range r lines into register x

Insert mode

^Vc ^Vn insert char c literally, decimal value n
^A insert previously inserted text
^@ same as ^A and stop insert command mode
^Rx ^R^Rx insert content of register x, literally
^N ^P text completion before, after cursor
^W delete word before cursor
^U delete all inserted character in current line
^D ^T shift left, right one shift width
^Kc1c2 or c1←c2 enter digraph \c1,c2\
^Oc execute c in temporary command mode
^X^E ^X^Y scroll up, down
<esc> or ^[ abandon edition command mode

Copying

"x use register x for next delete, yank, put
:reg↵ show the content of all registers
:reg x↵ show the content of registers x
ym yank the text of movement command m
yy or Y yank current line into register
p P put register after, before cursor position
]p [p like `` p``, `` P`` with indent adjusted
gp gP like `` p``, `` P`` leaving cursor after new text

Advanced insertion

g?m perform rot13 encoding on movement m
n^A n^X +n, -n to number under cursor
gqm format lines of movement m to fixed width
:rce w↵ center lines in range r to width w
:rle i↵ left align lines in range r with indent i
:rri w↵ right align lines in range r to width w
!mc↵ filter lines of movement m through command c
n!!c↵ filter n lines through command c
:r!c↵ filter range r lines through command c

Visual mode

v V ^V start/stop highlighting characters, lines, block
o exchange cursor position with start of highlighting
gv start highlighting on previous visual area
aw as ap select a word, a sentence, a paragraph
ab aB select a block ( ), a block { }

Undoing, repeating & registers

u U undo last command, restore last changed line
. ^R repeat last changes, redo last undo
n. repeat last changes with count replaced by n
qc qC record, append typed characters in register c
q stop recording
@c execute the content of register c
@@ repeat previous `` @`` command
:@c↵ execute register c as an Ex command
:rg/p/c↵ execute Ex command c on range r

where pattern p matches

Complex movement

- + line up, down on first non-blank character
B W space-separated word left, right
gE E end of space-separated word left, right
n_ down n-1 line on first non-blank character
g0 beginning of screen line
g^ g$ first, last character of screen line
gk gj screen line up, down
fc Fc next, previous occurence of character c
tc Tc before next, previous occurence of c
; , repeat last `` fFtT``, in opposite direction
[[ ]] start of section backward, forward
[] ][ end of section backward, forward
[( ]) unclosed (, ) backward, forward
[{ ]} unclosed {, } backward, forward
[m ]m start of backward, forward Java method
[# ]# unclosed #if, #else, #endif backward, forward
[* ]* start, end of /* */ backward, forward

Search & substitution

/s↵ ?s↵ search forward, backward for s
/s/o↵ ?s?o↵ search fwd, bwd for s with offset o
n or /↵ repeat forward last search
N or ?↵ repeat backward last search
# * search backward, forward for word under cursor
g# g* same, but also find partial matches
gd gD local, global definition of symbol under cursor
:rs/f/t/x↵ substitute f by t in range r
  x: `` g``-all occurrences, `` c``-confirm changes
:rs x↵ repeat substitution with new r & x

Special characters in search patterns

.^ $ any single character, start, end of line
\< \> start, end of word
[c1-c2] a single character in range c1..c2
[^c1-c2] a single character not in range
\i \k \I \K an identifier, keyword; excl. digits
\f \p \F \P a file name, printable char.; excl. digits
\s \S a white space, a non-white space
\e \t \r \b <esc>, <tab>, <↵>, <>
\= * \+ match 0..1, 0..∞, 1..∞ of preceding atoms
\| separate two branches (* ≡* or)
\( \) group patterns into an atom
\& \n the whole matched pattern, nth () group
\u \l next character made upper, lowercase
\c \C ignore, match case on next pattern

Offsets in search commands

n or +n n line downward in column 1
-n n line upward in column 1
e+n e-n n characters right, left to end of match
s+n s-n n characters right, left to start of match
;sc execute search command sc next

Marks and motions

mc mark current position with mark c ∈[a..Z]
`c `C go to mark c in current, C in any file
`0..9 go to last exit position
`` `" go to position before jump, at last edit
`[ `] go to start, end of previously operated text
:marks↵ print the active marks list
:jumps↵ print the jump list
n^O go to nth older position in jump list
n^I go to nth newer position in jump list

Key mapping & abbreviations

:map c e↵ map c ↦ e in normal & visual mode
:map!  c e↵ map c ↦ e in insert & cmd-line mode
:unmap c↵  :unmap!  c↵ remove mapping c
:mk f↵ write current mappings, settings… to file f
:ab c e↵ add abbreviation for c ↦ e
:ab c↵ show abbreviations starting with c
:una c↵ remove abbreviation c

Tags

:ta t↵ jump to tag t
:nta↵ jump to nth newer tag in list
^] ^T jump to the tag under cursor, return from tag
:ts t↵ list matching tags and select one for jump
:tj t↵ jump to tag or select one if multiple matches
:tags↵ print tag list
:npo↵ :n^T↵ jump back from, to nth older tag
:tl↵ jump to last matching tag
^W} :pt t↵ preview tag under cursor, tag t
^W] split window and show tag under cursor
^Wz or :pc↵ close tag preview window

Scrolling & multi-windowing

^E ^Y scroll line up, down
^D ^U scroll half a page up, down
^F ^B scroll page up, down
zt or z↵ set current line at top of window
zz or z. set current line at center of window
zb or z- set current line at bottom of window
zh zl scroll one character to the right, left
zH zL scroll half a screen to the right, left
^Ws or :split↵ split window in two
^Wn or :new↵ create new empty window
^Wo or :on↵ make current window one on screen
^Wj ^Wk move to window below, above
^Ww ^W^W move to window below, above (wrap)

Ex commands (↵)

:e f edit file f, unless changes have been made
:e!  f edit file f always (by default reload current)
:wn :wN write file and edit next, previous one
:n :N edit next, previous file in list
:rw write range r to current file
:rw f write range r to file f
:rw>>f append range r to file f
:q :q! quit and confirm, quit and discard changes
:wq or :x or ZZ write to current file and exit
<up> <down> recall commands starting with current
:r f insert content of file f below cursor
:r! c insert output of command c below cursor
:args display the argument list
:rco  a :rm  a copy, move range r below line a

Ex ranges

zfm create fold of movement m
:rfo create fold for range r
zd zE delete fold at cursor, all in window
zo zc zO zC open, close one fold; recursively
[z ]z move to start, end of current open fold
zj zk move down, up to start, end of next fold

Miscellaneous

:sh↵  :!c↵ start shell, execute command c in shell
K lookup keyword under cursor with `` man``
:make↵ start `` make``, read errors and jump to first
:cn↵  :cp↵ display the next, previous error
:cl↵  :cf↵ list all errors, read errors from file
^L ^G redraw screen, show filename and position
g^G show cursor column, line, and character position
ga show ASCII value of character under cursor
gf open file which filename is under cursor
:redir>f↵ redirect output to file f
:mkview [f] save view configuration [to file f]
:loadview [f] load view configuration [from file f]
^@ ^K ^_  \  Fn ^Fn unmapped keys

This reference card is taken from Laurent Grégoire VIM Quick Reference Card (the original is better formatted than the present derivative) it exists also in pdf and translated in many format and languages.

There is also a fork (pdf) from Michael Goerz.