Vim cheatsheet

Action	command	Details
Delete and insert	cc	Deletes current line and changes to insert mode
Delete and insert	C	Deletes from current position to end of line and changes to insert mode
Delete and insert	cw	Deletes current word and changes to insert mode
Indentation	==	Autoindents current line
Indentation	=G	Autoindents whole file if cursor is in line 1
Insert text	i	Insert text in the current position
Insert text	shift+A	Insert text at the end of the current line
Insert text	I	Insert text at the beginning of current line
Line numbers	:set number	Shows line numbers
Move cursor	w	Moves the cursor forward jumping words
Move cursor	b	Moves the cursor backwards jumping words
Move cursor	^	Moves the cursor to the beginning of current line
Move cursor	$	Moves the cursor to the end of current line
Move cursor	gg	Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document
Move cursor	G	Moves the cursor to the end of the document
Move cursor	Ctrl + w [hjkl]	Moves the cursor between split panes
Open file	:vsp filename	Makes a vertical split and opens file filename
Open file	:sp filename	Makes a horizontal split and opens file filename
Search and replace	:s/foo/bar/	Seaches word “foo” and replaces with “bar”: first occurrence in current line
Search and replace	:s/foo/bar/g	Seaches word “foo” and replaces with “bar”: all occurrences in current line
Search and replace	:%s/foo/bar/g	Seaches word “foo” and replaces with “bar”: all occurrence in all document
Search and replace	:%s/foo/bar/gc	Seaches word “foo” and replaces with “bar”: all occurrence in all document asking you first in each case
Repeat	.	Repeats the last action
Run shell command	:! command	Allows you to run a shell command without closing vim first, e.g., :! ls -lrt

Default settings

Default vim settings are stored in a file called .vimrc which usually is contained in the home directory.

A possible set of useful settings inside the .vimrc file could be:

set hlsearch # highlight search results
set incsearch # incremental highlight search results
set ignorecase # ignore case when searching
set relativenumber # show relative line numbers
set number # to show current line number
inoremap jj <Esc> # to exit insert mode typing "jj" instead of Esc key

these settings can be activated temporarily inside the document just writing the commands with a semicolon first, e.g., :set relativenumber, :set norelativenumber, :set number, :set nonumber…