Vi/Vim Cheat Sheet 2026: Complete Editor Command Reference

Vi and Vim are powerful text editors found on virtually every Unix and Linux system. This comprehensive vi/vim cheat sheet covers essential commands for modes, navigation, editing, searching, visual selection, macros, and customization. Master the modal editing workflow for efficient text manipulation.

Modes

Switching Modes

# Enter insert mode (before cursor)
i

# Enter insert mode (after cursor)
a

# Enter insert mode (beginning of line)
I

# Enter insert mode (end of line)
A

# Enter insert mode (new line below)
o

# Enter insert mode (new line above)
O

# Return to normal mode
ESC

# Enter command mode
:

# Enter visual mode (character selection)
v

# Enter visual line mode (line selection)
V

# Enter visual block mode (column selection)
Ctrl+v

Basic Movement

# Move left
h

# Move down
j

# Move up
k

# Move right
l

# Move to beginning of line
0

# Move to first non-blank character
^

# Move to end of line
$

# Move forward one word
w

# Move backward one word
b

# Move to end of word
e

# Move to beginning of file
gg

# Move to end of file
G

# Move to line number (e.g., line 50)
:50 or 50G

# Move to matching bracket/parenthesis
%

# Move to top of screen
H

# Move to middle of screen
M

# Move to bottom of screen
L

# Scroll down half screen
Ctrl+d

# Scroll up half screen
Ctrl+u

# Scroll down full screen
Ctrl+f

# Scroll up full screen
Ctrl+b

# Center screen on cursor
zz

# Move screen so cursor is at top
zt

# Move screen so cursor is at bottom
zb

Editing

Delete

# Delete character under cursor
x

# Delete character before cursor
X

# Delete current line
dd

# Delete from cursor to end of line
D

# Delete word
dw

# Delete to end of word
de

# Delete to beginning of line
d0

# Delete inside word (cursor can be anywhere in word)
diw

# Delete inside parentheses
di(  or  di)

# Delete inside quotes
di"  or  di'

# Delete 5 lines
5dd

Copy (Yank)

# Yank current line
yy

# Yank word
yw

# Yank to end of line
y$

# Yank 3 lines
3yy

# Yank inside word
yiw

# Yank inside parentheses
yi(

# Yank entire file
:%y

Paste

# Paste after cursor
p

# Paste before cursor
P

Change

# Change word
cw

# Change to end of line
C

# Change entire line
cc

# Change inside word
ciw

# Change inside parentheses
ci(

# Change inside quotes
ci"

Undo/Redo

# Undo
u

# Redo
Ctrl+r

# Undo all changes on line
U

Replace

# Replace single character
r{char}

# Enter replace mode
R

Search and Replace

Search

# Search forward
/{pattern}

# Search backward
?{pattern}

# Next match
n

# Previous match
N

# Search for word under cursor (forward)
*

# Search for word under cursor (backward)
#

# Clear search highlighting
:noh

Replace

# Replace first occurrence on current line
:s/old/new/

# Replace all occurrences on current line
:s/old/new/g

# Replace all occurrences in file
:%s/old/new/g

# Replace all occurrences with confirmation
:%s/old/new/gc

# Replace in visual selection
:'<,'>s/old/new/g

# Replace whole words only
:%s/\<old\>/new/g

File Operations

Saving and Quitting

# Save file
:w

# Save and quit
:wq  or  :x  or  ZZ

# Quit without saving
:q!  or  ZQ

# Save as new filename
:w newfile.txt

# Save lines 10-20 to new file
:10,20w newfile.txt

# Force write (override read-only)
:w!

File Management

# Edit new file
:e filename

# Reload current file from disk
:e!

# Insert contents of another file
:r filename

# Insert output of command
:r !ls

# Browse files
:browse e

# Show current filename
:f  or  Ctrl+g

Multiple Files

Buffers

# List buffers
:ls  or  :buffers

# Next buffer
:bn

# Previous buffer
:bp

# Switch to buffer number
:b2

# Delete buffer
:bd

# Switch to last buffer
:b#

Windows (Splits)

# Split horizontal
:sp  or  Ctrl+w s

# Split vertical
:vsp  or  Ctrl+w v

# Close window
:q  or  Ctrl+w q

# Close all but current
:only  or  Ctrl+w o

# Move between windows
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l

# Move to next window
Ctrl+w w

# Resize window larger
Ctrl+w +

# Resize window smaller
Ctrl+w -

# Equal size windows
Ctrl+w =

# Maximize current window
Ctrl+w _

Tabs

# Open new tab
:tabnew

# Next tab
:tabn  or  gt

# Previous tab
:tabp  or  gT

# Close tab
:tabc

# List tabs
:tabs

# Go to tab number
:tabn 3  or  3gt

Visual Mode

Selection

# Select characters
v

# Select lines
V

# Select block
Ctrl+v

# Select all
ggVG

# Reselect last selection
gv

Operations on Selection

# Delete selection
d

# Yank selection
y

# Change selection
c

# Indent selection
>

# Unindent selection
<

# Convert to uppercase
U

# Convert to lowercase
u

# Comment/uncomment (with commentary plugin)
gc

Macros

Recording and Playing

# Start recording macro in register 'a'
qa

# Stop recording
q

# Play macro from register 'a'
@a

# Repeat last macro
@@

# Play macro 10 times
10@a

Marks

Setting and Jumping

# Set mark 'a' at current position
ma

# Jump to mark 'a'
'a

# Jump to exact position of mark 'a'
`a

# Jump to last position before jump
''  or  ``

# List all marks
:marks

# Jump to last edit position
`.

Indentation

Indent Commands

# Indent line
>>

# Unindent line
<<

# Indent in insert mode
Ctrl+t

# Unindent in insert mode
Ctrl+d

# Indent selection (visual mode)
>

# Auto-indent current line
==

# Auto-indent entire file
gg=G

# Indent 5 lines
5>>

Advanced

Registers

# Show all registers
:reg

# Yank to register 'a'
"ayy

# Paste from register 'a'
"ap

# System clipboard (copy)
"+y

# System clipboard (paste)
"+p

# Last search pattern
"/

# File name
"%

Command Line

# Execute shell command
:!ls

# Insert command output
:r !date

# Filter lines through command
:%!sort

# Run command on range
:10,20!sort

Completion (Insert Mode)

# Word completion
Ctrl+n  or  Ctrl+p

# Line completion
Ctrl+x Ctrl+l

# File path completion
Ctrl+x Ctrl+f

# Dictionary completion
Ctrl+x Ctrl+k

# Complete from tags
Ctrl+x Ctrl+]

Configuration

Common Settings

# Show line numbers
:set number  or  :set nu

# Show relative line numbers
:set relativenumber  or  :set rnu

# Enable syntax highlighting
:syntax on

# Set tab width
:set tabstop=4

# Set indent width
:set shiftwidth=4

# Use spaces instead of tabs
:set expandtab

# Enable mouse support
:set mouse=a

# Show matching brackets
:set showmatch

# Highlight search results
:set hlsearch

# Incremental search
:set incsearch

# Case insensitive search
:set ignorecase

# Smart case (case sensitive if pattern contains uppercase)
:set smartcase

# Enable line wrapping
:set wrap

# Disable line wrapping
:set nowrap

# Show current mode
:set showmode

# Enable auto-indenting
:set autoindent

# Enable smart indenting
:set smartindent

# Save settings to vimrc
:mkvimrc ~/.vimrc

Quick Tips

Repeat Actions

# Repeat last command
.

# Repeat 10 times
10.

# Repeat last search
n

# Repeat last substitute
&

Text Objects

# Inner word (diw = delete inner word)
iw

# Around word (daw = delete around word)
aw

# Inner sentence
is

# Around sentence
as

# Inner paragraph
ip

# Around paragraph
ap

# Inner tag block (HTML/XML)
it

# Around tag block
at

Useful Combinations

# Delete line and enter insert mode
S  or  cc

# Join current line with next
J

# Change case of character
~

# Increment number under cursor
Ctrl+a

# Decrement number under cursor
Ctrl+x

# Format/wrap text to textwidth
gq

# Open URL under cursor (netrw)
gx

Vi/Vim Cheat Sheet 2026: Complete Editor Command Reference

On This Page

Modes

Switching Modes

Navigation

Basic Movement

Screen Navigation

Editing

Delete

Copy (Yank)

Paste

Change

Undo/Redo

Replace

Search and Replace

Search

Replace

File Operations

Saving and Quitting

File Management

Multiple Files

Buffers

Windows (Splits)

Tabs

Visual Mode

Selection

Operations on Selection

Macros

Recording and Playing

Marks

Setting and Jumping

Indentation

Indent Commands

Advanced

Registers

Command Line

Completion (Insert Mode)

Configuration

Common Settings

Quick Tips

Repeat Actions

Text Objects

Useful Combinations

📥 Download & Print