Vim : The Exit Command

Date: 30 March 2025

Picsart_25-03-30_17-02-13-838

Vim is a powerful command-line editor designed to boost your coding speed—even if you’re using it to write another editor within Vim itself.

This article will take you from struggling to exit Vim to customizing your own keybindings for quitting like a pro.

Table of Content

Modes

Modes

Normal Mode

Cursor Movement

h : Move left
l : Move right
j : Move down
k : Move up

Movement with Numbers

{number}h, {number}l → Move left/right {number} times (e.g., 4h moves 4 characters left)
{number}j, {number}k → Move down/up {number} lines (e.g., 4j moves 4 lines down)

Undo & Redo

u : Undo
Ctrl + r : Redo
{number}u : Undo {number} times (e.g., 3u undoes 3 times)
{number}Ctrl + r : Redo {number} times

Searching

/X : Search for X, press n to jump to the next occurrence, Shift + n to go back
* : Search forward for the word under the cursor
# : Search backward for the word under the cursor

Marking Points

mX : Mark the current position with X (where X is any character)
'X : Jump to the marked position

Other Useful Commands

zz : Center the current line in the window

Insert Mode

a : Insert after the character
i : Insert before the character
o : Insert on a new line below the current line
Shift + a : Insert at the end of the line
Shift + i : Insert at the beginning of the line
Shift + o : Insert on a new line above the current line

Command Mode

Press : and enter the command (e.g., :set number to enable line numbers)
:set relativenumber : Show relative line numbers
:set mouse=a : Enable mouse support
:%s/X/Y/g : Replace all occurrences of X with Y in the entire file
To replace within a selected area in Visual Mode:
:s/X/Y/g

Configuration

Location: ~/.vimrc

We can place any settings in ~/.vimrc to make them permanent.

set mouse=a
set number
set relativenumber

Visual Mode

Press v to enter Visual Mode
d : Delete selection
dd : Delete the entire line
Shift + d : Delete from cursor to end of the line
y : Copy (Yank in Vim)
yy : Yank the whole line
p : Paste after cursor
Shift + p : Paste before cursor

Combining with Numbers

{number}p : Paste {number} times
{number}d : Delete {number} lines

Change & Replace

c : Delete and enter Insert Mode
cc : Change the entire line (delete and enter Insert Mode)
Shift + c : Delete from cursor to the end of the line and enter Insert Mode
rX : Replace the character under the cursor with X

w : Jump forward by one word
Shift + w : Jump forward treating consecutive characters as a single word
e : Jump to the end of the word
b : Jump backward by one word

Deleting Words

dw : Delete one word
d{number}w : Delete {number} words (e.g., d2w deletes two words)
diw : Delete the word under the cursor

0 : Move to the beginning of the line
$ : Move to the end of the line
ciX : Change the content inside an enclosure (e.g., ci" to change inside " ")
% : Jump between matching brackets ({}, [], ())
tX : Jump just before the next occurrence of X
fX : Jump directly to X
Shift + tX : Jump before X

gg : Jump to the beginning of the file
Shift + g : Jump to the end of the file
{number}Shift + g : Jump to line {number}

Indentation & Repetition

= : Auto-indent
. : Repeat the last command

Visual Line Mode

Shift + v : Select entire lines

Visual Block Mode

Ctrl + v : Select a block of text

Registers & Macros

Registers

:reg : Show all registers
Use "<register><command> (e.g., "ap pastes from register a)

Macros

qX : Start recording macro in register X
q : Stop recording
@X : Execute macro stored in register X
Macros can be nested by calling other macros inside them

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