My (Neo)Vim Cheat Sheet

I love Vim because I can do everything with the keyboard. The downside, is that you have to do everything with the keyboard.

In case you didn't get the pun, the real problem is that you have to memorize a bunch of commands and key combinations to to do things like delete a line in the current text or how to format the current buffer.

To aid myself on memorizing this commands I created this cheat sheet that works with my configuration.

If you want something more complete, graphical and generic, you can visit the Graphical vi-vim Cheat Sheet and Tutorial site.

One thing tough. I try to use the default key-maps as much as I can, so this cheat sheet might still be useful to you in case you want to create you own.

TOC

Movements and insert

This commands are for normal mode:

Command	Action
w	Beginning of the next word
b	Beginning of the previews word
e	End of the next word
o	To get to the other end of the selection
$	End of line
f<char>	Go to forward to the next character. Pe. fx
{	Go to previous paragraph (empty line)
}	Go to next paragraph (empty line)
A	Add text at the end of the line
I	Add text at the beginning of the line
zz	Place the current line in the middle of the editor window
z<enter>	Place the current line at the top of the editor window

Advanced movement commands

All this commands are for normal mode:

Command	Action
gg	Go to beginning of file
G	Go to end of file
<C-f>	Page Down (Page Forward)
<C-b>	Page Up (Page Backward)
gd	Go to definition of word or function in current file
gf	To to definition in other file
<number>G	Go to line <number>. P.e. 16G
<C-o>	Previous position or previous buffer (useful when using gd or gf)
<C-i>	Next position or next buffer

Advanced save

This commands are for normal mode:

Command	Action
<number1>,<number2>w file-name.txt	Saves lines to a new file. P.e. 12,43w
:r <file-name.txt>	Inserts contents of file-name.txt in current position

Delete Undo/Redo

This commands are for normal mode:

Command	Action
x	Cut (Works in visual mode too)
s	Cut (Substitute) char and place in insert mode
de	Delete to end of word
d0	Delete to the beginning of the line
db	Delete back
df<char>	Delete until the next <char>. P.e dfx
:.,$d	Delete until the end of the buffer
u	Undo
U	Undo on the whole line
<C-r>	Redo

Repeat

Most commands, when preceded by a number, are executed multiple times:

Command	Action
6dw	Delete next 6 words
6dd	Delete next 6 lines
.	Redo last change action
;	Redo last character find f{char}

Clipboard

Command	Action
y<movement>	Copy (Yank). <movement> can be h, j, l, k, w, e, $, 0
p	Paste it after the cursor
dd	Delete line
O	Paste over the current line
P	Paste under the current line

• The last 2 command work to add a new line before or after the current line if you haven't yanked anything yet

Registers

It's like a clipboard history

Command	Action
:reg, :reg [char]	List registers. Show contents of one register
"<number>p	Paste contents of register. P.e. "2p Pastes register 2
<C-r><char>	Paste the contents of register in insert mode
""	The register used when Copy (y), Cut (x) or Substitute (s)
"0-"9	Last yanked elements being "0 the newest ( "0p is the same as p)
"%	Current file path starting from the project root

• When you create a macro with q, p.e. qw, the steps of the macro will be stored in the register w
• :let @W='i;' (Uppercase W) will append a new step to the register w (lowercase w)

Changes

Command	Action
r	Replace current character
R	Overwrite content (replace) until you escape
ciw	Change Inside word no matter the position
cip	Change Inside paragraph (between empty lines) no matter the position
ci)	Change (inside) the contents until the next )

Folding

Command	Action
zi	Fold enable
zf2j	Fold the next 2 lines (depends of the fold type)
:20,40 fo	Fold from line 20 to 40
zfa}	Fold until the next }
zo zO	Open current fold. Open recursively
zc zC	Close current fold. Close recursively
za zA	Toggle current fold. Toggle recursively
zm zM	Reduce fold level by one. Close all folds
zr zR	Increase fold level by one. Increase recursively

• With set foldmethod=marker the {{{ and }}} symbols will be used as markers
• Use foldlevel (pe foldlevel=99) to fold all levels

Search

Command	Action
/	Search
?	Search backwards
*	Search for the word under the cursor
n	Next result
N	Previous result

Search & Replace

Command	Action
:s/original/new/g	Search and replace in the complete line
:%s/original/new/gc	Search in all document asking if do the change (c)

Visual

Command	Action
v	Start the visual (Use jkhl to move the selection)
v$	Select until the end of line
vip	Select current paragraph (content between empty lines)
V	Visual the complete line (Use jk to move the selection)

Splits

Command	Action
:sp, :vs	Split and Vertical split
:only	Focus on a splt
gi	Open in split in NERDTree

QuickFix and Location List

Command	Action
:copen	Open error list
:cclose	Close error list
:cnext	Go to next error

Debug utilities

Command	Action
Ctrl-g	Show file status
:verbose imap <tab>	Find if the <tab> key is defined
:verbose imap <C-p>	Find if the <ctrl>p key is defined
:lopen, :lclose	Open/closes the location list. Used by plugins like ALE to show a list of errors
:copen, :close	Open/Closes/Focuses the list of errors

Native Autocomplete

Command	Action
<C-x><C-p>	Autocomplete with an already present word

• Native autocomplete works by searching the current buffer

Sessions

Command	Action
:mks <path>	Saves the current session to a path. Better if it's a hidden dir

Markers and Macros

Command	Action
m<character>	Creates a marker with the name <character
'<character>	Jumps to marker. (Use backtick to include column )

Spell

Spell needs to have set spell option active on .vimrc and optionally use set spelllang=en_us. I use es_co for Spanish Colombia.

Command	Action
z=	Search for alternatives of the current word
zg	Add current word to dictionary
zw	Remove current word from dictionary
]s	Jump to next spell error
[s	Jump to previous spell error

Plugins

NERDTree Commands

This are particular to my configuration

Command	Action
<C-k><C-k>	Toggle NERDTree (open if closed, close if open)
<C-k><C-f>	Toggle NERDTree and select the current file

This commands are to be executed while inside the NERDTree sidebar:

Command	Action
s	Open on left
vs	Open on top
t	Open on new tab

NERD Commenter

This are the default key-maps

Command	Action
<leader>c<space>	Toggle comments
<leader>ci	Toggles the comment state of the selected line(s) individually.
<leader>cs	Toggle sexy Comments out the selected lines with a pretty block formatted layout.

FZF Commands

Its really helpful to use :help fzf-vim-comands to browse the documentation

Command	Action
:BCommits	Commits for the current buffer (Requires Fugitive)
:Commands	Searchable list of ALL commands
:GFiles	Ignores files in .gitignore
:History	Opens up the list of last edited files
:Rg!	Like grep for all the project files but faster
:Snippets	UtilSnips snippets
:Tags	Tags in the project
<C-k><C-u>	Executes :Buffers
<C-6>	Loops through the 2 most recent buffers

• Most commands support CTRL-T / CTRL-X / CTRL-V key bindings to open in a new tab, a new split, or in a new vertical split

GitGutter

Command	Action
:GitGutterToggle	Show/Hide file changes
[c	Show next block of changes
]c	Show previous block of changes
<Leader>hu	Remove hunk
:GitGutterFold	Toggle fold of the file changes

Fugitive

This commands are to be executed on the :Gstatus window

Command	Action
g?	Show help
=	Toggle small diff of the file under the cursor
-	Toggle stage/unstage file under cursor
dv	Diff split vertically
<leader>gs	Toggle Status (my .vimrc)

CoC commands

This commands assume you used the example configuration suggested by the CoC GitHub page

Command	Action
:Format	Code beautify
:Fold	Fold functions
:OR	Organize Imports
:CocConfig	Open the configuration file
:CocInstall <plugin name>	Install a new CoC plugin

Vim-Surround

A complete tutorial can be viewed here

Command	Action
ys<motion><char>	You surround. Pe, ysiw', ysa2w"
cs<char><char>	Change surrounding. Pe. cs'" Change surrounding ' with ". Or cstt change tag with another tag
ds<char>	Delete surrounding. Pe. ds' Remove surrounding quote. dst will delete a tag
dW	Delete word including it's surrounding space
yss<char>	The line. Pe yss" Surround the line with "
yssf, ysiwf	You surround with a function (It will prompt you for the function name). iw its inside a word
ysst, ysiwt	You surround with an html tag. (it will prompt you for the tag)
ysas"	You surround a Sentence
yS	Surround a motion and adds a line afterwards. Pe. ySi2w(
ySS	Surround the complete line and add a line afterwrds. Pe ySS(

• You have to provide a motion after the prefix. Pe: ysiw':

  • you surround.
  • inside.
  • Around a word.
  • The char '.
• If you use the opening character ([({<), instead of the closing one, you'll get an additional space in the surround

In visual mode

Command	Action
S	Surround the selected words
gS	Suppress auto indent

Aliases

Char	Alias
)	b
}	B
]	r
>	a
_ (space)	s
< (html)	t
f	Function

• If you change t with <C-T>. Surround will add an empty line before and after. And it will also indent the paragraph.