Appendix: Cheat Sheet

Everything from this book, on one page. Not a teaching document, this is what you skim once you already know why each command exists.

Modes

Key	Effect
`i` / `a`	Insert before / after cursor
`I` / `A`	Insert at start / end of line
`o` / `O`	Open new line below / above
`v`	Visual (character)
`V`	Visual (line)
`Ctrl-v`	Visual (block)
`:`	Command-line mode
`Esc`	Back to Normal mode, always

Moving around

Key	Effect
`h j k l`	Left, down, up, right
`w` / `b` / `e`	Next word / back a word / end of word
`0` / `^` / `$`	Start of line / first non-blank / end of line
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom of file
`12G`	Go to line 12
`{` / `}`	Previous / next paragraph
`3j`, `5w`, etc.	Repeat a motion N times

Editing

Key	Effect
`x`	Delete character
`dd`	Delete line
`dw`	Delete to end of word
`d$`	Delete to end of line
`yy`	Yank (copy) line
`yw`	Yank word
`p` / `P`	Paste after / before cursor
`u` / `Ctrl-r`	Undo / redo
`.`	Repeat last change
`cw`	Change word (delete + insert)
`cc`	Change whole line

Search and replace

Command	Effect
`/text`	Search forward
`?text`	Search backward
`n` / `N`	Next / previous match
`:s/old/new/`	Replace first match on current line
`:s/old/new/g`	Replace all matches on current line
`:%s/old/new/g`	Replace all matches in the whole file
`:%s/old/new/gc`	Same, but confirm each replacement

Registers and clipboard

Command	Effect
`"ayy`	Yank line into register `a`
`"ap`	Paste from register `a`
`"+yy`	Yank line into system clipboard
`"+p`	Paste from system clipboard

Files and buffers

Command	Effect
`:w`	Save
`:q`	Quit
`:q!`	Quit without saving
`:wq` / `:x`	Save and quit
`:e file`	Open a file
`:ls`	List open buffers
`:b 2`	Switch to buffer 2
`:sp file` / `:vsp file`	Horizontal / vertical split
`Ctrl-w` + direction	Move between splits
`:tabnew file`	Open file in a new tab
`gt` / `gT`	Next / previous tab

When stuck

Action	Effect
`Esc`	Back to Normal mode from anywhere
`:help topic`	Built-in help
`:q!`	Escape hatch out of a file entirely