Vim editor keyboard shortcuts

File commands

Keys	Description
i	insert mode before character
a	append mode after character
:q	quit file
:q!	quit file and ignore saving
:w	save file
:wq	save file and quit
:x	save file and quit
/{string}	the first occurrence of this string in the file is highlighted
:set number	shows line numbers in the file
:set nonumber	to stop showing the line numbers in the file
v + select text using arrow keys	visually select text
d	cut the text selection
y	copy the text selection
p	paste the text selection
/<text>	selects and projects the first occurrence of this text in the file
:%s/foo/bar/g	Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in all lines), and replace it with ‘bar’.
:s/foo/bar/g	Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in the current line only), and replace it with ‘bar’.
:%s/foo/bar/gc	Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’, but ask for confirmation first.
:%s/\<foo\>/bar/gc	Change only whole words exactly matching ‘foo’ to ‘bar’; ask for confirmation.
:%s/foo/bar/gci	i => case insensitive
:%s/foo/bar/gcI	I => case sensitive

Navigation commands

Keys	Description
1G	go to line no. 1
5G	go to line no. 5
G	go to the last line
^	go to the beginning of the line
$	go to the end of line
dw	delete the word
dd	delete the entire line
dG	delete all contents of the file
x	delete the current character
u	undo the last change
w	move forward word by word
b	move backward word by word