Linux Tutorial

This cheat sheet is intended to be a quick reminder for the main concepts involved in using the command line program Vim (or vi) and assumes you already understand its usage. It does not cover every command in Vim, only the ones we consider to be useful for most people for the majority of their text editing.

Visit the Vi page in our tutorial for a more in depth discussion on their usage.

Main Linux Cheat Sheet page.

Basic Usage

vim or vi: Run vim and open the given filename.
:w: Save file.
:x or SHIFT ZZ: Save and exit.
:q: Exit if no changes have been made.
:q!: Exit and undo any changes made.
:set nu: Display line numbers.

Movement

h: Move left one character.
j: Move down one character.
k: Move up one character.
l: Move right one character.
w: Move forward one word.
b: Move to the start of the word.
e: Move to the end of the word.
(: Move back one sentence.
): Move forward one sentence.
{: Move back one paragraph.
}: Move forward one paragraph.
^: Move to the beginning of the line.
$: Move to the end of the line.
<n>G: Move to the nth line.
G: Move to the last line.
gg: Move to the first line.
%: Move to the matching bracket.

Deleting

x: Delete a single character.
D: Delete the rest of the line.
dd: Delete the entire current line.
ndw: Delete the next n words.
ndd: Delete the next n lines.
:x,yd: Delete from line x through to line y.

Entering Insert mode

i: At the cursor.
a: After the cursor.
I: Before the current line.
A: After the current line.
o: Insert a new line after the current line.
O: Insert a new line before the current line.
C: Ovewrite the whold current line.
ESC: Exit Insert mode.

Search and Replace

/pattern: Search for pattern.
n: Find the next occurrence of pattern.
:%s/pattern/replace/g: Replace every occurrence of pattern with replace..