Essential Vim Commands
Since the 1970’s, Vi and its successor Vim have been included by default on many operating systems, including almost all GNU/Linux distributions.
Vim is free and open-source and is one of the most popular code editors. It can be downloaded on Vim official site.
Table of Contents showVim is a modal text editor, which means that it has a mode for writing text, a mode for running commands, etc.
Vim has a total of 12 different editing modes.
The three main modes are:
- Command mode (also sometimes referred to as Normal mode) is where you can run commands. This is the default mode in which Vim starts up.
- Insert mode is the mode where you insert/write your text.
- Visual mode is where you visually select a bunch of text so that you can run a command/operation only on that part of the text.
Basic Vim Commands
Let’s start with an easy set of Vim commands to open, save, and exit Vim.
:e filename Open filename for edition :w Save file :q Exit Vim :q! Quit without saving 😡 Write file (if changes has been made) and exit :sav filename Saves file as filename . Repeats the last change made in normal mode Moving in the File
While in command mode, the following set of commands will allow you to easily move the cursor in the file, jump to a particular line number, or set the cursor position at the beginning of the file.
k or Up Arrow move the cursor position up one line j or Down Arrow move the cursor down one line e move the cursor to the end of the word b move the cursor to the beginning of the word 0 move the cursor to the beginning of the line G move the cursor to the end of the file gg move the cursor to the beginning of the file L move the cursor to the bottom of the screen :59 move cursor to line number 59. Replace 59 by the desired line number. % Move cursor to matching parenthesis [[ Jump to function start [{ Jump to block start Cut, Copy & Paste
Here are some basic Vim commands to cut, copy and paste portions of text. All the commands below has to be ran in command mode.
y Copy the selected text to clipboard p Paste clipboard contents dd Cut current line yy Copy current line y$ Copy to end of line D Cut to end of line Search
In command mode, you can easily search for any string within a file. This is extremely useful for developers and sysadmins alike.
/word Search word from top to bottom ?word Search word from bottom to top * Search the word under cursor /\cstring Search STRING or string, case insensitive /jo[ha]n Search john or joan /\< the Search the, theatre or then /the\> Search the or breathe /fred\|joe Search fred or joe /\<\d\d\d\d\> Search exactly 4 digits /^\n\{3} Find 3 empty lines :bufdo /searchstr/ Search in all open files bufdo %s/something/somethingelse/g Search something in all the open buffers and replace it with somethingelse Replace
Vim command line tool is extremely useful to replace many occurrences of a string by another within a file. Using more advanced commands, there are a lot of search and replace options available.
:%s/old/new/g Replace all occurrences of old by new in file :%s/onward/forward/gi Replace onward by forward, case insensitive :%s/old/new/gc Replace all occurrences with confirmation :%s/^/hello/g Replace the beginning of each line by hello :%s/$/Harry/g Replace the end of each line by Harry :%s/onward/forward/gi Replace onward by forward, case insensitive :%s/ *$//g Delete all white spaces :g/string/d Delete all lines containing string :v/string/d Delete all lines containing which didn’t contain string :s/Bill/Steve/ Replace the first occurrence of Bill by Steve in current line :s/Bill/Steve/g Replace Bill by Steve in current line :%s/Bill/Steve/g Replace Bill by Steve in all the file :%s/^M//g Delete DOS carriage returns (^M) :%s/\r/\r/g Transform DOS carriage returns in returns :%s#<[^>]\+>##g Delete HTML tags but keeps text :%s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/ Delete lines which appears twice Ctrl+a Increment number under the cursor Ctrl+x Decrement number under cursor ggVGg? Change text to Rot13 Case
Vim has some powerful commands to modify the case of text. All the commands below have to be run in command mode.
Vu Lowercase line VU Uppercase line g~~ Invert case vEU Switch word to uppercase vE~ Modify word case ggguG Set all text to lowercase gggUG Set all text to uppercase :set ignorecase Ignore case in searches :set smartcase Ignore case in searches excepted if an uppercase letter is used :%s/\<./\u&/g Sets first letter of each word to uppercase :%s/\<./\l&/g Sets first letter of each word to lowercase :%s/.*/\u& Sets first letter of each line to uppercase :%s/.*/\l& Sets first letter of each line to lowercase Read and Write Files
Vim is clearly one of the most powerful text editors available. This section shows how you can manipulate files, insert the content of a file into another, and export portions of a file into a new file.
:1,10 w outfile Saves lines 1 to 10 in outfile :1,10 w >> outfile Appends lines 1 to 10 to outfile :r infile Insert the content of infile :23r infile Insert the content of infile under line 23 File Explorer
Vim features a built in file explorer, which allows you to explorer the content of your server without exiting the text editor.
:e . Open integrated file explorer :Sex Split window and open integrated file explorer :Sex! Same as :Sex but split window vertically :browse e Graphical file explorer :ls List buffers :cd .. Move to parent directory :args List files :args *.php Open file list :grep expression *.php Returns a list of .php files containing expression gf Open file name under cursor Interact With Unix
Vim is installed by default on most Unix based operating systems, including Mac OS and most GNU/Linux distros. It therefore feature various commands that allows you to interact with the OS.
:!pwd Execute the pwd unix command, then returns to Vi !!pwd Execute the pwd unix command and insert output in file :sh Temporary returns to Unix $exit Retourns to Vi Alignment
In command mode, you can quickly and easily align a file’s lines for better clarity.
:%!fmt Align all lines !}fmt Align all lines at the current position 5!!fmt Align the next 5 lines Tabs and Windows
One of my favorite Vim options is the ability to use tabs to edit various files at the same time. The following Vim commands will let you open, close, and organize your tabs for better productivity.
:tabnew Creates a new tab gt Show next tab :tabfirst Show first tab :tablast Show last tab :tabm n(position) Rearrange tabs :tabdo %s/foo/bar/g Execute a command in all tabs :tab ball Puts all open files in tabs :new abc.txt Edit abc.txt in new window Window Spliting
Vim allows you to split the screen horizontally or vertically, so you can edit many files at once using the insert mode.
:e filename Edit filename in current window :split filename Split the window and open filename ctrl-w up arrow Puts cursor in top window ctrl-w ctrl-w Puts cursor in next window ctrl-w_ Maximize current window vertically ctrl-w| Maximize current window horizontally ctrl-w= Gives the same size to all windows 10 ctrl-w+ Add 10 lines to current window :vsplit file Split window vertically :sview file Same as :split in readonly mode :hide Close current window :nly Close all windows, excepted current :b 2 Open #2 in this window Auto-Completion
Vim can use external dictionaries to provide auto-completion. This can be a real time saver, so pay attention to the commands below if you want to speed up your workflow.
Ctrl+n Ctrl+p (To be used in insert mode) Complete word Ctrl+x Ctrl+l Complete line :set dictionary=dict Define dict as a dictionary Ctrl+x Ctrl+k Complete with dictionary Marks
When editing large files, it can be tricky to move in the file and remember important sections. Happily, Vim allows its users to create marks that can easily be accessed later. No need to remember a dozen of line numbers anymore!
m {a-z} Marks current position as {a-z} ‘ {a-z} Move to position {a-z} ” Move to previous position Abbreviations
This little known trick lets you define abbreviations that can be reused later and as many times as needed.
:ab mail mail@provider.org Define mail as abbreviation of mail@provider.org Text Indentation
Text indentation is vital when it comes to code readability. Luckily, Vim has a set of commands for the text editor to indent your lines in a clear and readable manner.
:set autoindent Turn on auto-indent :set smartindent Turn on intelligent auto-indent :set shiftwidth=4 Defines 4 spaces as indent size ctrl-t, ctrl-d Indent/un-indent in insert mode >> Indent << Un-indent =% Indent the code between parenthesis 1GVG= Indent the whole file Frequently Asked Questions
How do I Type Commands in Vim?
To type commands, you have to first activate Vim’s command mode. To do so, press the
Esckey of your keyboard. You can then type any command of your choice.How do I Start Typing Text in Vim?
Vim must be in insert mode for you to type text. Simply press the
ikey when in command mode to enter the insert mode.
