By Manny Fernandez

September 29, 2026

The vi Cheat Sheet (2026 Edition): From Survival Keys to Power Moves

Executive Summary

Back in 2017 I posted a short VI cheat sheet with a simple premise: vi is on pretty much everything. Same reason I lived in the CLI during my Cisco days. GUIs break, GUIs are missing, but the CLI (and vi) is always there. That premise has not changed. What has changed is how much I lean on vi for real work: cleaning config exports, bulk editing address objects, diffing backups, and piping buffers through jq and sort.

This is the rebuilt version. The original scrolling, delete, undo, and copy/paste tables are all still here, corrected and expanded, plus everything I wish that first post had covered.

Objective Give practitioners a single vi and vim reference that runs from the survival keys you need on a locked-down appliance to the power moves (ex commands, text objects, registers, macros, filters) that make vi faster than a GUI for config work.
Target audience Network and security engineers, sysadmins, and anyone who SSHs into servers, firewalls, containers, or embedded appliances where vi is the only editor on the box.
Scope POSIX vi commands that work everywhere, plus vim and Neovim extensions (flagged with (vim) in the tables).

Prerequisites: Which vi Do You Actually Have?

“vi” is a family, not a single program. Before you trust a cheat sheet, know which implementation is answering when you type vi. Anything tagged (vim) in this guide needs vim or Neovim. Everything else is POSIX vi and works on nvi and BusyBox too.

Implementation Where you meet it What to expect
vim (full) Most Linux desktops and servers; macOS /usr/bin/vi is vim Everything in this guide works
vim-tiny Minimal Debian and Ubuntu installs, cloud images Starts in vi-compatible mode; no syntax highlighting; arrow keys can misbehave in insert mode
nvi FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD Faithful to classic vi; u toggles undo; no visual mode or text objects
BusyBox vi Alpine containers, routers, embedded appliances, rescue shells Core POSIX subset only; typically no visual mode, text objects, or multi-window
Neovim Installed separately as nvim; sometimes aliased to vi vim-compatible keys; :checkhealth for diagnostics; paste option is deprecated

Identify what you are running:

# Version banner (vim, nvim)
vi --version | head -n 2

# Follow the symlink chain to the real binary
readlink -f "$(command -v vi)"

# Debian/Ubuntu alternatives system
ls -l /etc/alternatives/vi

# BusyBox shows its banner in --help output
vi --help 2>&1 | head -n 1

# Does this vim have system clipboard support?
vim --version | grep -o '[+-]clipboard'
Built-in trainer: if vim is installed, run vimtutor. It is a 30 minute hands-on lesson in a scratch copy of a file and the best on-ramp there is.

The Mental Model: vi Modes

Every “vi is confusing” story comes down to not knowing which mode you are in. vi is modal: the same key does different things depending on the mode. Normal mode is home base. You leave it to type text or run commands, and you always come back with Esc.

Figure 1. vi mode transitions. Esc always brings you back to Normal.
Mode How you get there What it is for
Normal Start-up default; Esc from anywhere Moving, deleting, yanking, pasting. Keys are commands, not text.
Insert i a o I A O s c Typing text. The status line shows -- INSERT -- (vim, or :set showmode).
Command-line : / ? ex commands (save, quit, substitute, global) and searches
Visual (vim) v char, V line, Ctrl-v block Selecting text, then acting on the selection
Replace R Overtyping existing characters
Lost? Press «Esc» twice. That always lands you in Normal mode. From there :q! Enter gets you out with no changes saved.

Opening, Saving, and Quitting

Command Function
vi file Open (or create on first write) a file
vi +42 file Open with the cursor on line 42 (great with error messages that cite a line)
vi + file Open at the last line (log files, appended configs)
vi +/pattern file Open at the first match of pattern
vi -R file or view file Open read-only
vi -r / vi -r file List swap files / recover a file after a crash
:w Write (save)
:w newname Write the buffer to a different file (you stay in the original)
:10,20w part.txt Write only lines 10 through 20 to a new file
:w >> file Append the buffer to an existing file
:w! Force the write when the readonly flag is set but permissions allow it
:wq / :x / ZZ Write and quit. :x and ZZ only write if something changed (preserves mtime)
:q Quit (refuses if there are unsaved changes)
:q! / ZQ Quit and throw away changes
:e! Revert the buffer to the last saved version
:qa / :wqa (vim) Quit all / write and quit all open files
:w !sudo tee % > /dev/null (vim) Save a root-owned file you opened without sudo (see Gotchas; does not work in Neovim)

Entering and Working in Insert Mode

Key Function
i / a Insert before / append after the cursor
I / A Insert at first non-blank of the line / append at end of line
o / O Open a new line below / above and insert
s / S Substitute the character / the whole line
C Change from the cursor to end of line
R Replace mode: overtype characters until Esc
gi (vim) Resume inserting where you last left insert mode
Ctrl-w (in insert) Delete the word before the cursor
Ctrl-u (in insert) Delete everything typed on this line
Ctrl-v key (in insert) Insert the next key literally, for example a real Tab
Ctrl-o cmd (vim) (in insert) Run one Normal-mode command, then return to insert
Ctrl-r reg (vim) (in insert) Paste a register, for example Ctrl-r "
Ctrl-n / Ctrl-p (vim) (in insert) Autocomplete from words in open buffers

Movement

Every movement accepts a count: 5j moves down five lines, 3w jumps three words. Movements are also the “nouns” that operators act on (see Operator Grammar), so learning them pays off twice.

Key Function
h j k l Left, down, up, right
0 / ^ / $ Start of line / first non-blank / end of line
w / b / e Next word / back a word / end of word
W / B / E Same, but by WORD (whitespace-delimited). 10.0.0.1 is 7 words but 1 WORD
fx / Fx Jump forward / back onto character x on this line
tx / Tx Jump forward / back to just before character x
; / , Repeat the last f/t/F/T forward / reverse
gg / G First line / last line
42G or :42 Go to line 42
H / M / L Top / middle / bottom of the screen
% Jump to the matching ( ), [ ], or { }
{ / } Previous / next paragraph (blank-line separated block)
( / ) Previous / next sentence
Ctrl-o / Ctrl-i (vim) Back / forward through the jump list
Practitioner tip: W and B are the right way to hop across IP addresses, MAC addresses, and file paths. The lowercase versions stop at every dot, colon, and slash.

Scrolling and Screen Control

This was the first table in the 2017 post. It is all still valid, with a few additions.

Key Function
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u Scroll down / up half a screen
Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b Page forward / backward a full screen
Ctrl-e / Ctrl-y Scroll the view one line without moving the cursor
z Enter or zt Reposition: current line at the top of the screen
z. or zz Reposition: current line in the middle
z- or zb Reposition: current line at the bottom
Ctrl-l Redraw the screen (fixes garbage from a noisy serial console)
Ctrl-g Show file name, modified status, current line, and position
g Ctrl-g (vim) Word, line, and byte counts for the file or selection

Searching

Command Function
/string Search forward
?string Search backward
n / N Repeat the search in the same / opposite direction
* / # (vim) Search forward / backward for the whole word under the cursor
/\<word\> (vim) Match word only as a whole word
/pattern\c (vim) Case-insensitive for this search only
:set ic / :set noic Ignore case on / off for all searches
:set ic scs (vim) Smartcase: ignore case unless the pattern has a capital
:set hls / :noh (vim) Highlight all matches / clear highlight
:set is (vim) Incremental search: jump to matches while typing
/^\s*set ip (vim) Lines that start (after indentation) with set ip
/\v(\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3} (vim) Very-magic regex: any dotted-quad IPv4 address
In a vi search, . means “any character”. To find a literal IP like 10.1.1.1 exactly, escape the dots: /10\.1\.1\.1. Unescaped, it also matches 10a1b1c1.

Operator Grammar: The Key to Everything

Most vi editing is a sentence: [count] operator [count] motion. Learn a handful of operators and every movement you know becomes something you can delete, change, copy, or indent. d3w is “delete three words”. y} is “yank to the end of the paragraph”. c$ is “change to end of line”. Doubling an operator (dd, yy, cc, >>) acts on the whole line.

Operator Action
d Delete (into a register, so it doubles as cut)
c Change: delete, then drop into insert mode
y Yank (copy)
> / < Indent / outdent
! Filter through an external shell command
= (vim) Auto-indent
gU / gu / g~ (vim) Uppercase / lowercase / toggle case

And the single most valuable key in vi: . (dot) repeats your last change. Make an edit once, then move and press . wherever else it is needed.

Delete and Change

Command Function
x / X Delete the character under / before the cursor
dd / 5dd Delete the line / five lines (into the unnamed register)
dw / d3w or 3dw Delete a word / three words
db Delete the previous word
D or d$ Delete to end of line
d0 / d^ Delete to start of line / to first non-blank
dt; Delete up to (not including) the next semicolon
d) / d} Delete to end of sentence / paragraph
dG / dgg Delete to end of file / to start of file
:10,20d Delete lines 10 through 20 (ex form, no cursor movement needed)
cw / c3w Change a word / three words
cc or S Change the whole line
C or c$ Change to end of line
rx Replace one character with x (stays in Normal mode)
~ Toggle case of the character and advance
J Join the next line onto this one (adds a space)
gJ (vim) Join without adding a space
xp Swap two characters (fixes teh typos)
ddp Swap the current line with the one below

Text Objects (vim)

Text objects let you act on a structure no matter where the cursor sits inside it. i means “inner” (contents only) and a means “a” (contents plus the delimiters or surrounding space). Combine them with any operator.

Object Selects
iw / aw A word / a word plus trailing space
iW / aW A WORD (IP, path, MAC) / plus space
i" / a" Inside double quotes / including the quotes (also i' and i`)
i( / a( Inside parentheses / including them (also ib)
i{ / a{ Inside braces / including them (also iB)
i[ / i< Inside brackets / angle brackets
it / at Inside an XML or HTML tag pair / including the tags
ip / ap A paragraph / plus the trailing blank line
is / as A sentence / plus trailing space

Real examples: on a FortiOS line like set comments "old description", put the cursor anywhere inside the quotes and type ci" to retype just the description. dap deletes an entire blank-line-separated block. yi{ yanks the body of a JSON object or code block.

Copy, Paste, and Move Lines

Command Function
yy or Y / 5yy Yank the line / five lines
yw / y$ / yG Yank a word / to end of line / to end of file
p / P Paste after / before the cursor (below / above for whole lines)
:10,20y Yank lines 10 through 20
:10,20t$ Copy lines 10 through 20 to the end of the file (also :co)
:5t. Copy line 5 to below the current line
:10,20m0 Move lines 10 through 20 to the top of the file
>> / << / 5>> Indent / outdent the line / five lines
gg=G (vim) Re-indent the entire file

Undo and Redo

Command Function
u Undo the last change
U Undo all changes made to the current line
Ctrl-r (vim) Redo
. after u (nvi) Keep undoing (in classic vi, a second u redoes)
:earlier 10m (vim) Rewind the file to how it looked 10 minutes ago
:later 10m (vim) Move forward in time again
g- / g+ (vim) Walk the undo tree backward / forward, including abandoned branches
:set undofile (vim) Persist undo history across sessions
Classic vi has one level of undo. On nvi and some BusyBox builds, pressing u twice undoes the undo. If you are on a minimal system, save often with :w before big edits.

Visual Mode (vim)

The 2017 copy/paste table leaned on visual mode, so here it is in full. Select, then apply an operator.

Key Function
v Select characters
V Select whole lines
Ctrl-v Select a rectangular block (columns)
o Jump to the other end of the selection to extend it
gv Reselect the previous selection
d / x Delete (cut) the selection
y Yank (copy) the selection
c Change the selection
> / < Indent / outdent the selection
U / u / ~ Uppercase / lowercase / toggle case
J Join the selected lines
: Run an ex command on the selected range (:'<,'> is filled in)

Block insert: comment out a column of lines

Put the cursor on the first character of the first line, press Ctrl-v, move down with j to cover the lines, press I (capital i), type # , then press Esc. The text appears on every selected line. Use $A instead of I to append to the end of each line.

Ctrl-v      start block selection
jjjj        extend down four lines
I# <Esc>    insert "# " at the start of every line

Registers and the System Clipboard

Every delete and yank lands in a register. Prefix an operator with " plus a register name to choose which one. "ayy yanks the line into register a, "ap pastes it.

Register Contents
"" Unnamed: the last delete or yank (what plain p pastes)
"0 The last yank only. Deletes do not overwrite it
"1 to "9 History of the last nine multi-line deletes
"a to "z Named registers you control
"A to "Z Append to the matching named register instead of replacing it
"_ Black hole: delete without clobbering any register
"+ (vim) System clipboard (needs +clipboard in vim --version)
"* (vim) X11 primary selection (same as "+ on macOS and Windows)
"% / "/ / ": (vim) Current file name / last search / last ex command
:reg (vim) Show the contents of all registers
The classic annoyance: you yank a line, delete something else, press p, and get the deleted text. Your yank is safe in "0, so "0p pastes it. Or delete with "_d so the yank is never displaced.

Search and Replace (:s)

The substitute command is where vi pulls ahead of GUI editors. Format: :[range]s/pattern/replacement/[flags].

Command Function
:s/old/new/ First match on the current line
:s/old/new/g Every match on the current line
:%s/old/new/g Every match in the file (% means all lines)
:%s/old/new/gc Confirm each one (y, n, a for all, q to quit)
:10,20s/old/new/g Lines 10 through 20 only
:.,$s/old/new/g Current line to end of file
:'<,'>s/old/new/g (vim) Only the visual selection
:%s#/var/log#/srv/log#g Any delimiter works; avoids escaping every slash
:%s/\s\+$//e (vim) Strip trailing whitespace (e suppresses the no-match error)
:%s/\r$// Strip Windows carriage returns (the ^M characters)
:%s/^/# / Prefix every line (comment out a file)
:%s/$/;/ Suffix every line
:%s/,/\r/g (vim) Replace commas with newlines (\r inserts a line break)
:%s/port\d\+/[&]/g (vim) & reinserts the whole match
:%s/\(\w\+\) \(\w\+\)/\2 \1/ Capture groups: swap the first two words
:%s/\<hostname\>/\U&/g (vim) Case modifiers \U \L \u in the replacement
:%s/pattern//gn (vim) Count matches without changing anything

Config-migration examples:

" Rename an interface everywhere in a FortiGate config export
:%s/"port1"/"wan1"/g

" Renumber a subnet (escape the dots so they are literal)
:%s/10\.10\.20\./10.10.30./g

" Turn a list of bare IPs (one per line) into FortiOS address objects
:%s#^\(\S\+\)$#edit "h-\1"\rset subnet \1/32\rnext#

After the last command, add config firewall address with ggO and end with Go, and you have a paste-ready CLI block.

The Global Command (:g)

:g/pattern/command runs an ex command on every line that matches. :v (or :g!) runs it on every line that does not. This is how you filter a 20,000 line config in one keystroke.

Command Function
:g/pattern/d Delete every matching line
:v/pattern/d Keep only matching lines (delete everything else)
:g/^$/d Delete empty lines
:g/^\s*$/d (vim) Delete blank lines, including whitespace-only lines
:g/^\s*#/d (vim) Strip comment lines from a Linux config file
:g/pattern/p Print matching lines (a built-in grep)
:g/pattern/# Print matches with line numbers
:g/pattern/t$ Copy every matching line to the end of the file
:g/pattern/m0 Move every matching line to the top
:g/^/m0 Reverse the order of every line in the file
:g/pattern/s/a/b/g Substitute only on lines that match pattern
:g/pattern/normal A; (vim) Run Normal-mode keys on each match (here, append a semicolon) 
" Drop every UUID line before diffing two FortiGate backups
:g/set uuid /d

" Pull just the interface IP lines into their own file, then restore
:v/set ip /d
:w interface-ips.txt
u

Shell Integration and Filters

vi can hand any range of lines to a Unix command and replace them with the output. That turns every CLI tool on the box into an editor feature.

Command Function
:!cmd Run a shell command and show the output
:sh Drop to a shell; exit returns to vi
Ctrl-z then fg Suspend vi to the shell / bring it back
:r file Insert the contents of another file below the cursor
:r !cmd Insert the output of a command (for example :r !ip -br a)
!!cmd Replace the current line with its output through cmd
:%!sort -u Sort the whole file and drop duplicates
:sort / :sort u / :sort n (vim) Built-in sort / unique / numeric
:%!jq . Pretty-print a JSON API response
:%!column -t Align whitespace-separated columns into a table
:'<,'>!sort -V (vim) Version-sort the selection (handles IPs reasonably)
:%!xxd / :%!xxd -r (vim) Hex view / convert back (open binaries with vim -b) 
" Sort a list of IPv4 addresses numerically, octet by octet
:%!sort -t . -k1,1n -k2,2n -k3,3n -k4,4n

" Timestamp a change log entry
:r !date

Marks and Macros

Marks

Command Function
ma Set mark a at the cursor (a through z)
'a / `a Jump to the line of mark a / the exact position
'' / `` Jump back to where you were before the last jump
d'a / y`a Delete to the line of mark a / yank to the exact mark
:'a,'bd Delete everything between marks a and b
'. (vim) Jump to the line of the last change
mA (vim) Uppercase marks are global and work across files
:marks (vim) List all marks

Macros (vim)

Command Function
qa Start recording keystrokes into register a
q Stop recording
@a Play macro a
@@ Replay the last macro
50@a Play macro a fifty times (it stops early when a motion fails)
:%normal @a Run macro a on every line of the file

Example: wrap every hostname in a list in quotes and add a trailing comma, ready to paste into a JSON array.

qa          start recording into register a
I"<Esc>     insert a quote at the line start
A",<Esc>    append a quote and comma at the line end
j           move to the next line
q           stop recording
99@a        run it down the rest of the list

Buffers, Windows, Tabs, and Diff (vim)

Command Function
:e file Edit another file in the same session
:e# or Ctrl-^ Toggle to the alternate (previous) file
:ls / :b2 / :bn / :bp List buffers / go to buffer 2 / next / previous
:sp file / :vsp file Split horizontally / vertically
Ctrl-w w Cycle between windows
Ctrl-w h/j/k/l Move to the window left / down / up / right
Ctrl-w = / Ctrl-w o Equalize window sizes / close all but this one
:tabnew file / gt / gT New tab / next tab / previous tab
vi -o a b / vi -O a b Open files in horizontal / vertical splits
vimdiff a b or vim -d a b Side-by-side diff with highlighting
]c / [c (diff) Next / previous change
do / dp (diff) Obtain the change from / put it to the other file
:diffupdate (diff) Recompute the diff after edits
Config review workflow: vimdiff fgt-before.conf fgt-after.conf after stripping the UUID lines with :g/set uuid /d in each window gives you a clean change review in seconds.

Settings and a Server-Friendly .vimrc

Setting Function
:set nu / :set nonu Line numbers on / off
:set rnu (vim) Relative numbers (makes counts like 7dd obvious)
:set list Show tabs as ^I and line ends as $
:set nowrap (vim) Stop wrapping long lines (log files)
:set ai Auto-indent new lines
:set ts=4 sw=4 et (vim) Tab width, indent width, expand tabs to spaces
:retab (vim) Convert existing tabs using the current settings
:set paste / :set nopaste (vim) Disable auto-indent while pasting (deprecated in Neovim)
:set ff? / :set ff=unix (vim) Show / set line endings (unix, dos, mac)
:syntax on (vim) Syntax highlighting
:set option? Show the current value of an option
:set all Show every option

A minimal, plugin-free ~/.vimrc that behaves well on servers and over SSH:

" ~/.vimrc  (create the undo dir first: mkdir -p ~/.vim/undo)
set nocompatible
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
set number ruler showmode showcmd
set ignorecase smartcase incsearch hlsearch
set expandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
set backspace=indent,eol,start
set scrolloff=3 wildmenu
set undofile undodir=~/.vim/undo//
set mouse=
autocmd FileType yaml setlocal ts=2 sw=2 sts=2 et

For nvi and classic vi, the equivalent file is ~/.exrc, which only accepts the POSIX options (for example set ai, set ic, set showmode, set number).

Practitioner Scenarios

Edit a root-owned file the safe way

Instead of sudo vi, use sudoedit. It copies the file to a temp location, runs your editor as you (so your .vimrc loads and the editor never runs as root), and writes it back on save.

export SUDO_EDITOR=vim
sudoedit /etc/hosts

Make vi the default everywhere

# Shell (add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc); crontab -e, visudo, etc. honor these
export EDITOR=vi VISUAL=vi

# Git commit messages
git config --global core.editor vim

# Debian/Ubuntu system default
sudo update-alternatives --config editor

vi keys in your shell

Your muscle memory also works on the command line. In bash run set -o vi, in zsh run bindkey -v. Press Esc to enter Normal mode on the prompt, then use b, w, cw, / (search history), and the rest.

Paste a config block without the staircase

If pasted text indents further and further on each line, auto-indent is fighting you. Run :set paste, enter insert mode, paste, press Esc, then :set nopaste. Modern vim (8.0+) and Neovim handle this automatically in terminals that support bracketed paste.

Fix a file full of ^M characters

A script edited on Windows fails with bad interpreter: /bin/bash^M. Run :set ff=unix then :w, or strip them directly with :%s/\r$//.

Verification: A Five-Minute Practice Drill

Build a messy test file, clean it with four ex commands, and confirm the result. This exercises the global command, substitution with escaped dots, and trailing whitespace cleanup.

printf 'hostname fgt-lab\nset ip 10.10.20.1 255.255.255.0\n\n' > drill.txt
printf 'set ip 10.10.20.2 255.255.255.0   \n' >> drill.txt
vi drill.txt

Inside vi, run these in order (vim syntax; on nvi use :g/^$/d and :%s/[ ]*$//):

:g/^\s*$/d
:%s/\s\+$//e
:%s/10\.10\.20\./10.10.30./g
:wq

Verify with cat -e, which marks every line end with $ (works on both Linux and macOS):

$ cat -e drill.txt
hostname fgt-lab$
set ip 10.10.30.1 255.255.255.0$
set ip 10.10.30.2 255.255.255.0$

Success looks like: three lines, no blank line, the new 10.10.30.x subnet, and $ directly after 0 on the last line (no trailing spaces).

Troubleshooting and Gotchas

1. “I can’t get out” or the screen froze

Symptom: keys do nothing, or you see a : prompt that will not go away. Cause: usually one of three things. You are in insert mode, you accidentally pressed Q and entered Ex mode, or you pressed Ctrl-s, which sends XOFF and freezes terminal output.

Esc Esc          back to Normal mode
:q!              quit without saving
visual           (from Ex mode) return to full-screen vi
Ctrl-q           resume a terminal frozen by Ctrl-s

# Permanently disable XON/XOFF flow control (add to ~/.bashrc)
stty -ixon

2. E325: ATTENTION, found a swap file

Symptom: vi warns that .file.swp already exists. Cause: another session has the file open, or a previous session crashed or lost its SSH connection. Resolution: check for a live session before choosing Recover or Delete.

# Is someone (or you, in another tmux pane) still editing it?
ps aux | grep -E '[v]i(m)? .*file'

# List recoverable swap files, then recover
vi -r
vi -r file
:w
# Once you confirm the recovered content is correct, remove the stale swap
rm .file.swp

3. E45 readonly or E212 can’t open file for writing

E45 means the readonly flag is set but you own the file: :w! works. E212 means you lack permission, typically because you opened a system file without sudo. In vim, :w !sudo tee % > /dev/null writes it through sudo (then :e! to reload). In Neovim that trick fails because sudo cannot prompt for a password, so save to /tmp with :w /tmp/fix.conf and move it with sudo, or use sudoedit next time.

4. Arrow keys type A, B, C, D or Backspace does nothing

Cause: vim-tiny running in vi-compatible mode, or a wrong $TERM. Resolution: :set nocompatible and :set backspace=indent,eol,start for this session, put both in ~/.vimrc, or install the full vim package (sudo apt install vim). Check echo $TERM if the problem persists.

5. Mouse selection enters Visual mode and copy breaks

Cause: Debian’s defaults.vim enables mouse=a when you have no ~/.vimrc. Resolution: :set mouse= (or put it in ~/.vimrc), or hold Shift while selecting in most Linux terminals (Option in iTerm2) to bypass vim’s mouse handling.

Diagnostic commands for anything else

vim --clean file           # start with no vimrc or plugins to isolate config issues
:verbose set tabstop?      # show the value AND which file last set it
:scriptnames               # list every script vim loaded
:checkhealth               # Neovim: full environment report

Quick Reference Card

The 30 commands that cover 90 percent of daily work. Print this part.

Task Keys Task Keys
Save / quit / force quit :w :q :q! Save and quit :wq ZZ
Insert / append i a New line below / above o O
Line start / end 0 $ File top / bottom gg G
Go to line 42 42G Word / WORD forward w W
Half page down / up Ctrl-d Ctrl-u Jump to character x fx
Search / next / prev / n N Word under cursor *
Delete line / word dd dw Delete to end of line D
Change word / line cw cc Change in quotes ci"
Yank line / paste yy p Paste last yank "0p
Undo / redo u Ctrl-r Repeat last change .
Visual line / block V Ctrl-v Indent line >>
Replace all :%s/a/b/g Replace with confirm :%s/a/b/gc
Delete matching lines :g/pat/d Keep matching lines :v/pat/d
Sort file :%!sort Insert command output :r !cmd
Record / play macro qa … q @a Escape any mode Esc Esc

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