Vim Basics

History & Pronounced

• Vi ( Visual ) -> Bill Joy
• Vim /vim/ -> Bram Moolenaar

Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim, not vi-ai-em. It's written with a

capital, since it's a name, again like Jim.

Learning Curve

Switch Between Modes

• normal mode
  • switch on
    • <ESC> / <C-c> / <C-[> [suggested]
  • switch off
    • i / o / a / s / c
• visual mode
  • switch on
    • v / <C-v>
  • switch off
    • <ESC> / <C-c> / <C-[> [suggested]
• insert mode
  • switch on
    • i / o / a / s / c
  • switch off
    • <ESC> / <C-c> / <C-[> [suggested]
• command mode
  • switch on
    • :
  • switch off
    • <ESC> / <C-c> / <C-[> [suggested]

Edit Action

key	name	intention	using with text object	notes
v	visual	select	O	u casing ~ toggle casing
y	yank	copy selection	O
d	delete	delete selection with scope	O
c	change	delete and insert with scope	O
i	insert	insert chars before cursor	X
a	append	append chars after cursor	X
x	delete	delete selection	X
o	open	open a new line	X
s	substitute	delete selection and insert	X
p	paste	paste the copy in clipboard	X
u	undo	undo action	X
r	replace	replace a char	X

Navigation Action

key	name	intention	using with text object	notes
f	find	find char	X
g	go	go to	X	d definition gg top G end <C-o> back cursor
b	back	back to word start	X
e	end	forward to word end	X
w	word	forward to next word start	X
%	pairs	jump between pairs	X
/	search	search a word with regex	X	<C-n> next <C-N> previous
{	block	search a word with regex	X	<C-n> next <C-N> previous

Commands

• stream editor (sed)
• split
• switch buffer <C-w> direction <C-w>*2

Text Object ( Scope + Noun )

Scope

key	name	intention
i	inner	inner scope
a	around	around scope

Noun

key	name
w	word
p	paragraph
b	block
i	indentation
{	curly brackets
[	square brackets
(	round brackets
'	quotation mark
`	back tick