Vim Commands List

1. Vim Motions

• Vim motions consist of modes and commands that help developers navigate and edit code more efficiently.
• Vim comes with three modes:
  • Normal Mode: Where you type all the Vim commands.
  • Insert Mode: Where you actually write code.
  • Visual Mode: Helps us visually select and manipulate text.
    • Normal Visual Mode: Works like selecting text with a mouse.
    • Block Visual Mode: Helps you select text as a block.

Navigation Commands

• h, j, k, l: Move left, down, up, right
• w, b, e: Navigate forward word by word, backward word by word, jump to the end of a word
• 0, ^, $: Jump to the beginning of the line, first non-empty character, end of the line
• f<character>, F<character>: Jump to the next/previous occurrence of <character> on the line
• (, ): Move one sentence up/down
• {, }: Move one paragraph up/down
• Ctrl + d, Ctrl + u: Move down/up half a page
• Ctrl + f, Ctrl + b: Move down/up a full page
• gg, G: Move to the top/bottom of the file

2. Vim Editor

• :w: Save the current file
• :set number, :set nonumber: Show/hide line numbers

Insert Mode Commands

• i, a: Insert text before/after the cursor
• I, A: Insert text at the beginning/end of the line
• o, O: Insert a new line below/above the current line
• c, s: Change the current word or selected text / Replace the current character and enter insert mode

Copy and Paste Commands

• y, p: Yank (copy) selected text / Paste yanked text
• yy: Yank the entire line
• yi{char}, ya{char}: Yank text inside/including specified braces or quotes

Undo and Redo Commands

• u: Undo the last change
• Ctrl + r: Redo the undone change

Deletion Commands

• d: Delete the current word, sentence, or paragraph
• dd: Delete the current line
• dt<character>: Delete up to a specific character
• dw, ds, dp: Delete word / Delete sentence / Delete paragraph

Search Commands

• /: Search forward for a word
• ?: Search backward for a word
• n, N: Jump to the next/previous search result
• *, #: Search forward/backward for the word under the cursor

Marks and Bookmarks

• m{a-z}: Set a mark with a specific letter
• '{mark}, '': Jump to the mark / Toggle between the last two positions
• '.: Jump to the position of the last edit

Special Commands

• .: Repeat the last command
• :q, :wq, :qa: Quit Vim / Save and quit Vim / Quit all files

3. Command Mode Commands

• :Explore: Opens the file explorer within Vim to navigate and open files.
• :w: Saves the current file.
• :q: Quits Vim. Use :q! to quit without saving.
• :wq: Saves the file and quits Vim.
• :e <filename>: Opens the specified file in Vim.
• :vsp <filename>: Opens the specified file in a vertical split.
• :sp <filename>: Opens the specified file in a horizontal split.
• :tabnew <filename>: Opens the specified file in a new tab.
• :bd: Closes the current buffer (file).
• :set number: Displays line numbers.
• :set relativenumber: Displays relative line numbers.
• :set syntax=<syntax>: Enables syntax highlighting for a specific language.
• :noh: Clears search highlighting.
• :%s/<old>/<new>/g: Replaces all occurrences of <old> with <new> in the file.
• :!<command>: Runs an external shell command from within Vim.
• :help <command>: Opens help documentation for the specified command.