Key Bindings

Table of contents

  1. Normal Mode
    1. Cursor Movement
    2. Word Movement
    3. File Movement
    4. Character Search
    5. Search
    6. Entering Insert Mode
    7. Operators
    8. Common Operations
    9. Visual Mode
    10. Tabs and Windows
    11. Registers
  2. Insert Mode
  3. Visual Mode
  4. Command Mode
    1. File Commands
    2. Window Commands
    3. Tab Commands
    4. Shell Commands
    5. Navigation
  5. Search Mode

Normal Mode

Cursor Movement

Key Action
h Move left
j Move down
k Move up
l Move right
0 Move to line start
^ Move to first non-blank character
$ Move to line end
Shift-Left Move to end of previous line
Shift-Right Move to start of next line

Word Movement

Key Action
w Move to next word start
b Move to previous word start
e Move to word end

File Movement

Key Action
gg Go to first line
G Go to last line
:{number} Go to line number
Key Action
f{char} Find character forward (on character)
F{char} Find character backward (on character)
t{char} Find character forward (before character)
T{char} Find character backward (after character)
Key Action
/pattern Search forward
?pattern Search backward
n Next match
N Previous match
* Search word under cursor (forward)
# Search word under cursor (backward)

Entering Insert Mode

Key Action
i Insert before cursor
a Append after cursor
I Insert at line start
A Append at line end
o Open line below
O Open line above

Operators

Operators can be combined with motions (e.g., dw = delete word).

Key Action
d Delete
c Change (delete and enter Insert mode)
y Yank (copy)

Common Operations

Key Action
dd Delete line
cc Change line
yy Yank line
x Delete character at cursor
p Paste after cursor
P Paste before cursor
u Undo
Ctrl-r Redo

Visual Mode

Key Action
v Enter Visual mode
V Enter Visual Line mode
gv Reselect last visual selection

Tabs and Windows

Key Action
gt Go to next tab
gT Go to previous tab
Ctrl-w h Go to left window
Ctrl-w j Go to below window
Ctrl-w k Go to above window
Ctrl-w l Go to right window
Ctrl-w w Cycle to next window
Ctrl-w c Close current window
Ctrl-w o Close all other windows

Registers

Key Action
"a - "z Use named register
"" Use unnamed register
"0 Use yank register
"1 - "9 Use delete history
"_ Use black hole register (discard)

Example: "ayy yanks line to register a, "ap pastes from register a.

Insert Mode

Key Action
Esc Return to Normal mode
Ctrl-n Next completion candidate
Ctrl-p Previous completion candidate
Tab Accept completion
Arrow keys Move cursor
Shift-Left Move to end of previous line
Shift-Right Move to start of next line
Backspace Delete character before cursor

Visual Mode

Key Action
Esc Return to Normal mode
d Delete selection
c Change selection
y Yank selection
> Indent selection
< Unindent selection
* Search for selected text (forward)
# Search for selected text (backward)
All motion keys Extend selection

Command Mode

Enter with : from Normal mode.

File Commands

Command Action
:w Save file
:w filename Save as filename
:q Quit
:q! Force quit
:wq Save and quit
:e filename Open file

Window Commands

Command Action
:sp [filename] Horizontal split
:vs [filename] Vertical split
:close Close window
:only Close all other windows

Tab Commands

Command Action
:tabnew [filename] New tab
:tabclose Close tab
:tabnext Next tab
:tabprev Previous tab
:tabfirst First tab
:tablast Last tab
:tabmove N Move tab to position N

Shell Commands

Command Action
:!cmd Run shell command
Command Action
:{number} Go to line number

Search Mode

Enter with / or ? from Normal mode.

Key Action
Enter Execute search
Esc Cancel search
Tab Cycle through completion
Shift-Tab Cycle backward
Backspace Delete character

Search supports regular expressions.