Vim basic

Vim Key Maps: A Beginner’s Guide

Vim is a powerful text editor that has been around for decades. While it may seem overwhelming at first, once you learn a few basic key maps, you’ll find that Vim is a highly efficient and customizable tool for editing text.

Here is a list of some of the most commonly used key maps in Vim:

Navigation

• h: Move cursor one character to the left
• j: Move cursor one character down
• k: Move cursor one character up
• l: Move cursor one character to the right
• w: Move cursor to the start of the next word
• b: Move cursor to the start of the previous word
• 0 (zero): Move cursor to the start of the line
• $: Move cursor to the end of the line
• G: Move cursor to the last line of the file
• gg: Move cursor to the first line of the file
• :<line number>: Move cursor to a specific line number

Insert Mode

• i: Enter insert mode at cursor position
• I: Enter insert mode at the start of the line
• a: Enter insert mode after cursor position
• A: Enter insert mode at the end of the line
• o: Open a new line below the cursor and enter insert mode
• O: Open a new line above the cursor and enter insert mode
• Esc: Exit insert mode

Deleting Text

• x: Delete the character under the cursor
• dd: Delete the current line
• dw: Delete from the cursor to the end of the current word
• db: Delete from the cursor to the start of the previous word
• d$: Delete from the cursor to the end of the line
• d0: Delete from the cursor to the start of the line

Visual Mode

• v: Enter visual mode