Vim Cheatsheet

January 13, 2026 · 4 min read

Vim was initially released in January 1992.

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Vim is a powerful command-line text editor that’s been around for decades, and it’s still widely used today. Whether you’re SSH-ing into a remote server or just prefer the keyboard-centric workflow, Vim is often the go-to choice. The learning curve can be steep at first — I remember the first time I opened Vim and couldn’t even figure out how to quit. But once you get the hang of it, the efficiency gains are real. This cheatsheet covers the essentials I use most often, and I’m trying to condense them.

Features #

A command-line text editor.
Automatically detects programming languages based on file extensions. Supports code indentation, syntax highlighting, and more.
Usage: vim filename
- If the file exists, it opens it.
- If the file doesn’t exist, it creates a new file named filename.

Modes #

Normal Mode: The default mode. Commands are entered like casting skills in a game — pressing different keys performs different operations. You can copy, paste, delete text, etc.
Insert Mode
- Press i in Normal Mode to enter Insert Mode.
- Press ESC to exit Insert Mode and return to Normal Mode.
Command-Line Mode
- Press any of :, /, or ? in Normal Mode to enter Command-Line Mode. The command line appears at the bottom.
- You can search, replace, save, quit, configure the editor, etc.

Command rules #

In VIM, many commands can be expanded into 3 parts:

The first part is a number, representing the repeat count;
The middle part is the command;
The last part represents the object of the command.

examples #

In 3de, 3 means execute 3 times, d is the delete command, e means from the current position to the end of the word. Delete 3 words forward from the current position.
3ce means delete 3 words forward from the current position, then enter insert mode.
n<Space>: n is a number, press the number then space, the cursor will move n characters to the right on the current line
n<Enter>: n is a number, the cursor moves down n lines

Insert #

i: Enter insert mode
I: Move cursor to the beginning of the line and enter insert mode
a: Move cursor one character to the right and enter insert mode
A: Move cursor to the end of the line and enter insert mode
u: Undo
Ctrl + r: Redo
Ctrl + q: Cancel the currently executing command when Vim is frozen

Command-Line Mode #

:w Save
:w! Force save
:q Quit
:q! Force quit
:wq Save and quit :saveas <path> Save as
:set paste Enable paste mode, disable auto-indent (prevents extra spaces from editor auto-indentation when pasting code)
:set nopaste Disable paste mode, enable auto-indent
:set nu Show line numbers
:set nonu Hide line numbers
:noh Turn off search highlight

Movement #

h or Left Arrow: ←
j or Down Arrow: ↓
k or Up Arrow: ↑
l or Right Arrow: →
gg: Move cursor to the first line (equivalent to 1G)
G: Move cursor to the last line
- gg=G: Format the entire file.
- ggdnG: gg jumps to the beginning, d means delete, nG means delete to line n.
- ggdG: Delete all content.
0: Move cursor to the beginning of the current line
$: Move cursor to the end of the current line
:n or nG: Move cursor to line n (where n is a number)
e: Move right to the next word (beginning of the next word)
>: Indent selected text to the right once (press 10> to indent 10 times)
<: Indent selected text to the left once
Ctrl+g: Display current line number and file info
Ctrl+b: Scroll up one screen
Ctrl+f: Scroll down one screen

Search #

/word: Search for “word” below the cursor.
?word: Search for “word” above the cursor.
n: Repeat the previous search in the same direction.
N: Repeat the previous search in the opposite direction.

Selection #

v: Select text

Delete #

d: Delete selected text
dd: Delete current line

Copy and Paste #

y: Copy (yank) selected text
yy: Copy current line
p: Paste copied content on the next line (for copied lines) or at the next position (for copied text)

Exception Handling #

Every time you edit a file with vim, it automatically creates a temporary file named .filename.swp. If you try to open a file when its swp file already exists, you’ll get an error. This is because two processes could have read/write conflicts.

There are two ways to resolve this:

Find the program that currently has the file open and close it. This prevents read/write conflicts.
Simply delete the swp file directly.

Examples #

:n1,n2s/word1/word2/g: n1 and n2 are line numbers. Search for word1 between line n1 and n2, and replace it with word2
:1,$s/word1/word2/g: Replace all occurrences of word1 with word2 in the entire file
:1,$s/word1/word2/gc: Replace all occurrences of word1 with word2 in the entire file, with confirmation prompt before each replacement