My personal cheat-sheet to remember and help me learn vim commands.

vim-commands.md

Vim Commands

Language

Most editors treat inserting text as the primary action. Vim treats changing text as the primary action.

• Verb + Noun (e.g. dw - "delete word")

Verbs (Operators)

Act upon Motions or Text Objects.

• d - delete
• c - change (delete and enter Insert mode)
• > - Indent
• v - visually select
• y - yank (copy)

Nouns

Motions

• w - forward by a word
• b - back by a word
• 2j - down 2 lines

Text Objects

• iw - inner word (works from anywhere in a word)
• it - inner tag (contents of HTML or XML tag)
• i" - inner quotes
• ip - inner paragraph
• as - a sentence

Parameterized Text Objects

• f, F - find the next character
• t, T - till the next character
• / - search
  • :noh - to clear search highlighting.

Tips

• Try to use Text Objects instead of Motions for maximum repeatability with the dot operator.
• Visual mode is a smell.
  • Breaks repeatability.

Configuring Vim

:h vimrc

• Reload vim configuration
  • :so % - % stands for current file name (see :h current-file) and :so is short for :source, which reads the content of the specified file and treats it as Vim code.

Windows

• Ctrl + W, s - Open horizontal split.
• Ctrl + W, v - Open vertical split.

Jump List

• Ctrl + o - Jump out.
• Ctrl + i - Jump in.
• :h ju

Editing

• In Vim, replace all occurrences of current term under cursor

Copying & Pasting

• Paste into vim from system clipboard
  • "+p - " Use register, + the plus register for system clipboard, and paste contents.
• How to copy ("yank") text into your buffer and paste it over a word
  • viwp - Visual select inner word and paste

Exiting

• Save and Quit
  • ZZ in command mode

External Resources

• Mastering the Vim Language
• Learning Vim in 2014: Vim as Language
• Vim Text Objects: The Definitive Guide

Plug-Ins

• tpope/vim-surround
• christoomey/vim-sort-motion
• christoomey/vim-system-copy
• joshdick/onedark.vim
• itchyny/lightline.vim
• sheerun/vim-polyglot