Vim: Commands Every Developer Must Know 💻🫵

No matter if you are a sysadmin or a software developer, if you work in the Linux terminal, you would face the situation where you need to edit text files in the terminal

What is Vim?

Vim is a powerful text editor used in Unix/Linux systems, known for its efficiency and flexibility. It operates in different modes, each serving a specific purpose. Here are some essential Vim commands to help you get started:

Modes in Vim

Vim has three primary modes:

Command Mode: This is the default mode when you start Vim. You can navigate, delete, and copy text in this mode.

Insert Mode: Used for inserting text into the file. Enter this mode by pressing i, a, I, A, o, or O.

Visual Mode: Allows you to select text using the arrow keys.

Basic Commands

Entering Insert Mode

• i: Insert before the cursor.
• a: Insert after the cursor.
• I: Insert at the beginning of the line.
• A: Insert at the end of the line.
• o: Open a new line below the current line.
• O: Open a new line above the current line.

Navigating in Vim

• h: Move left.
• j: Move down.
• k: Move up.
• l: Move right.
• gg: Move to the beginning of the file.
• G: Move to the end of the file.
• nG: Move to line number n.

Editing Text

• x: Delete the character under the cursor.
• X: Delete the character before the cursor.
• dd: Delete the current line.
• dw: Delete from the cursor to the end of the word.
• d$: Delete from the cursor to the end of the line.
• dG: Delete from the cursor to the end of the file.

Copying and Pasting

• yy: Copy the current line.
• yw: Copy from the cursor to the end of the word.
• y$: Copy from the cursor to the end of the line.
• yG: Copy from the cursor to the end of the file.
• p: Paste after the cursor.
• P: Paste before the cursor.

Undo and Redo

• u: Undo the last change.
• Ctrl + r: Redo the undone change.

Searching and Replacing

• /search_term: Search for search_term.
• n: Move to the next match.
• N: Move to the previous match.
• :%s/foo/bar/g: Replace all occurrences of foo with bar in the entire file.
• :%s/foo/bar/gc: Replace all occurrences with confirmation.

Saving and Quitting

• :w: Save the file.
• :wq: Save and quit.
• :q: Quit (if no changes have been made).
• :q!: Quit without saving changes.

These commands cover the basics of using Vim effectively. For more advanced usage, refer to the detailed guides and cheat sheets available online