ChatGPT & Benji Asperheim— Tue Jul 8th, 2025

The Ultimate VIM Cheat Sheet and Beginner’s Guide

VIM is a legendary text editor favored by power users, developers, and sysadmins for its speed, efficiency, and keyboard-driven workflow. If you’ve ever felt lost in its modal editing, you’re not alone—but once you learn its basics, VIM becomes an incredibly powerful tool.

This article offers a compact yet comprehensive cheat sheet, plus extra tips, comparisons, and visual explanations to get you fluent with VIM quickly.

Check out the Git Gist for this to get the latest updates!

h: Move cursor left
j: Move cursor down
k: Move cursor up
l: Move cursor right
0 or ^: Move to beginning of the line
$: Move to end of the line
gg: Move to beginning of the file
G: Move to end of the file
:n: Move to line number n

Entering Insert Mode

i: Insert before the cursor
a: Insert after the cursor
I: Insert at the start of the line
A: Insert at the end of the line
o: Open a new line below
O: Open a new line above

Editing Text

x: Delete character under the cursor
dd: Delete current line
D: Delete from cursor to end of line
yy: Yank (copy) current line
p: Paste after the cursor
P: Paste before the cursor
u: Undo last change
Ctrl + r: Redo undone change
r<char>: Replace a single character with <char>
cw: Change the current word
cc: Change (replace) entire line

Visual Mode

VIM has three types of visual mode, useful for selecting and manipulating blocks of text.

v: Enter character-wise visual mode
V: Enter line-wise visual mode
Ctrl + v: Enter block-wise visual mode (great for columns or rectangular text)
>: Indent selection
<: Outdent selection
y: Yank selected text
d: Delete selected text
~: Toggle case of selected text

Searching and Replacing

/pattern: Search forward for pattern
?pattern: Search backward for pattern
n: Jump to next match
N: Jump to previous match
:%s/old/new/g: Replace all occurrences of old with new in the file
:noh: Clear search highlights

Saving and Quitting

:w: Save
:q: Quit
:wq or :x: Save and quit
:q!: Force quit without saving
ZZ: Save and quit (shortcut)

File and Buffer Management

:e filename: Open a file
:bn: Next buffer
:bp: Previous buffer
:bd: Close (delete) buffer
:ls or :buffers: List open buffers
:sp filename: Open file in horizontal split
:vsp filename: Open file in vertical split

Window Management

Ctrl + w, w: Switch between windows
Ctrl + w, h/j/k/l: Move focus to left/down/up/right window
Ctrl + w, s: Split window horizontally
Ctrl + w, v: Split window vertically
Ctrl + w, q: Close current window
Ctrl + w, =: Equalize split sizes

Miscellaneous Essentials

.: Repeat the last command/change
Ctrl + g: Show file info (line, column, path)
Ctrl + c: Abort current command
Ctrl + o: Execute one normal command from insert mode, then return
Ctrl + r: Redo
:set number: Show line numbers
:syntax on: Enable syntax highlighting
:set paste: Enable paste mode (avoids auto-indent issues)

How to Clear a File in VIM

To wipe a file’s contents:

Open the file in VIM: vim filename
Type gg to go to the top.
Press dG — deletes from current position to end of file.

Then save with :w or :wq.

How to Indent Multiple Lines in VIM

Option 1: Visual Line Mode

Move to the first line
Press V to enter visual line mode
Move cursor to select more lines (j)
Press > to indent (or < to outdent)
Press Esc to exit

Option 2: Visual Block Mode

Move to the column to begin indenting
Press Ctrl + v to enter visual block mode
Use j to go down and select block
Press > to indent
Press Esc to exit

Interactive Learning with `vimtutor`

If you’re new to VIM, there’s nothing quite like hands‑on practice. To launch the built‑in tutorial, simply run this in your terminal:

vimtutor

What you’ll get:

Step‑by‑step lessons covering modes, motion, editing, and more.
Practice exercises built right into VIM—no additional setup required.
A playground buffer you can experiment in; your real files stay safe.

Spend 20—30 minutes here and you’ll internalize the basics far faster than by reading alone.

Comparing VIM vs Emacs

The VIM vs Emacs debate has raged for decades. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Feature	VIM	Emacs
Modal Editing	Yes (Normal, Insert, Visual)	No (context-sensitive editing)
Startup Time	Very fast	Generally slower
Learning Curve	Steep at first	Also steep but different
Extensibility	Plugins, Vimscript, Lua	Full programming language (Elisp)
Configuration	`.vimrc`, plugins	`.emacs`, `.emacs.d/`
Ideal Use Case	Quick edits, terminal work	Full IDE replacement
Community	Very large and active	Also strong, especially among academics
Mouse Usage	Minimal or none	Fully supported

Verdict:

Choose VIM if you love keyboard-centric workflows, speed, and working from the terminal.
Choose Emacs if you want to treat your editor like an operating system and love extreme customization.

Conclusion

VIM can feel like a boss battle at first, but with practice, it becomes one of the most fluid and powerful editing environments available. This cheat sheet gives you the most essential keys to get started and build muscle memory.

Whether you’re editing config files, writing code, or managing content from the terminal, VIM rewards mastery like few other tools do. And if you’re just starting? Bookmark this, practice often, and embrace the hjkl!

Happy editing — and may your fingers never leave the home row.