vimtexteditor.md

VIM Text Editor

Modes

Unlike most editors, VIM does not let you type text right away. It starts in Normal mode, where key presses are commands instead of text input. You switch between modes depending on what you want to do. [vim](/man/vim) textfile.txt

Key	Description
i	Enter Insert mode — type text freely
v	Enter Visual mode — select characters
V	Enter Visual Line mode — select whole lines
Ctrl+v	Enter Visual Block mode — select a rectangle
:	Enter Command-line mode — run commands
R	Enter Replace mode — overwrite existing text
Esc	Return to Normal mode

File Management

All commands starting with : are typed in Command-line mode. Press Enter to execute them.

Key	Description
:e	Reload current file from disk
:e {file}	Open a file for editing
:w	Save current file
:w {file}	Save to a different file
:q	Quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:q!	Quit and discard unsaved changes
:wq	Save and quit
:x	Save and quit (only writes if modified)

Navigation

These work in Normal mode. VIM uses h j k l instead of arrow keys, but arrow keys also work.

Key	Description
h	Move left
j	Move down
k	Move up
l	Move right
w	Jump to start of next word
W	Jump to start of next WORD (whitespace-separated)
e	Jump to end of word
E	Jump to end of WORD
b	Jump back to start of previous word
B	Jump back to start of previous WORD
0	Jump to start of line
$	Jump to end of line
gg	Jump to first line of file
G	Jump to last line of file
{number}G	Jump to a specific line number
gk	Move up one display line (useful for wrapped lines)
gj	Move down one display line (useful for wrapped lines)

Insertion

Each of these enters Insert mode from Normal mode, but places the cursor differently. Press Esc when done to return to Normal mode.

Key	Description
i	Insert before cursor
I	Insert at beginning of line
a	Append after cursor
A	Append at end of line
o	Open a new line below and start inserting
O	Open a new line above and start inserting
R	Replace mode — type over existing characters
:r {file}	Insert contents of a file below the cursor

Editing

These work in Normal mode. VIM combines operators like d (delete) and y (yank/copy) with motions like w (word) or $ (end of line).

Key	Description
u	Undo last change
Ctrl+r	Redo last undone change
yy	Yank (copy) the current line
y{motion}	Yank text covered by a motion (e.g. yw for a word)
p	Paste after cursor
P	Paste before cursor
x	Delete character under cursor
dd	Delete current line
d{motion}	Delete text covered by a motion (e.g. dw for a word)
.	Repeat the last change

Search and Replace

Press / or ? in Normal mode to start a search. Replace commands use the : command line.

Key	Description
/pattern	Search forward for pattern
?pattern	Search backward for pattern
n	Jump to next match
N	Jump to previous match
:s/foo/bar/	Replace first occurrence of foo with bar on current line
:s/foo/bar/g	Replace all occurrences of foo with bar on current line
:%s/foo/bar/g	Replace all occurrences of foo with bar in the entire file
:%s/foo/bar/gc	Replace all in file, asking for confirmation each time

Multiple Windows

VIM can split the screen to show multiple files at once. Window commands start with Ctrl+w.

Key	Description
:split {file}	Split horizontally and open file
:vsplit {file}	Split vertically and open file
:sview {file}	Split horizontally and open file as read-only
Ctrl+w w	Cycle to the next window
Ctrl+w k	Move to the window above
Ctrl+w j	Move to the window below
Ctrl+w h	Move to the window on the left
Ctrl+w l	Move to the window on the right
Ctrl+w _	Maximize current window height
Ctrl+w =	Make all windows equal size
:hide	Close the current window
:only	Close all windows except the current one
:ls	List all open buffers
:b {number}	Switch to a buffer by its number