Vim & Neovim Cheatsheet

Installation

Vim

  • macOS: brew install vim
  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install vim
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install vim
  • Windows: Download from vim.org

Neovim

  • macOS: brew install neovim
  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install neovim
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install neovim
  • Windows: Download from neovim.io

Opening Files

Command Description
vim file.txt Open file.txt in Vim
nvim file.txt Open file.txt in Neovim
vim +42 file.txt Open file.txt at line 42
vim +/pattern file.txt Open file.txt at the first occurrence of 'pattern'
vim +/word +42 file.txt Open file.txt at line 42, then search for 'word'
vim +"normal! G" file.txt Open file.txt at the end of the file
vim +"normal! gg" file.txt Open file.txt at the start of the file
  • You can use the same commands with nvim instead of vim for Neovim.

Useful Startup Options

Option Description
-R Open in read-only mode
-u NONE Start with no config
-O Open files in vertical splits (e.g., vim -O file1 file2)
-o Open files in horizontal splits

Quick Navigation (once inside Vim/Neovim)

Command Description
:42 Go to line 42
/word Search for 'word'
gg Go to the first line
G Go to the last line
n Next search result
N Previous search result

Common Motions

Command Description
h Move left
j Move down
k Move up
l Move right
w Jump forward to the start of the next word
b Jump backward to the start of the previous word
e Jump forward to the end of the word
0 Go to the beginning of the line
^ Go to the first non-blank character of the line
$ Go to the end of the line
f<char> Move to the next occurrence of on the line
F<char> Move to the previous occurrence of on the line
t<char> Move before the next occurrence of on the line
T<char> Move before the previous occurrence of on the line
gg Go to the first line of the file
G Go to the last line of the file
} Jump to next paragraph or block
{ Jump to previous paragraph or block
% Jump to matching bracket/parenthesis

Resources