Vim Keyboard Reference

Complete QWERTY keyboard reference for Vim commands in Normal mode. This covers movement, editing, searching, and common operations.

Essential Modes

Key	Action
`Esc`	Enter Normal mode (from Insert/Visual)
`i`	Insert mode (cursor before character)
`a`	Insert mode (cursor after character)
`I`	Insert at start of line
`A`	Insert at end of line
`o`	Insert new line below
`O`	Insert new line above
`v`	Visual mode (character select)
`V`	Visual mode (line select)
`Ctrl+v`	Visual mode (block select)
`:`	Command mode
`/`	Search forward
`?`	Search backward

Movement - Home Row (HJKL)

Key	Action
`h`	Move left 1 character
`j`	Move down 1 line
`k`	Move up 1 line
`l`	Move right 1 character
`0`	Move to start of line
`$`	Move to end of line
`^`	Move to first non-blank character
`g_`	Move to last non-blank character

Word Movement (Top Row - QWERTY)

Key	Action
`w`	Jump to start of next word
`b`	Jump to start of previous word
`e`	Jump to end of word
`W`	Jump to start of next WORD (ignores punctuation)
`B`	Jump to start of previous WORD
`E`	Jump to end of WORD
`ge`	Jump to end of previous word
`gE`	Jump to end of previous WORD

Line Movement (Left Side)

Key	Action
`gg`	Jump to start of file
`G`	Jump to end of file
`[line]G`	Jump to specific line (e.g., `69G`)
`Ctrl+g`	Show current line number
`)`	Jump to next sentence
`(`	Jump to previous sentence
`}`	Jump to next paragraph
`{`	Jump to previous paragraph

Scrolling

Key	Action
`Ctrl+f`	Scroll forward (page down)
`Ctrl+b`	Scroll backward (page up)
`Ctrl+d`	Scroll down (half page)
`Ctrl+u`	Scroll up (half page)
`Ctrl+e`	Scroll down 1 line
`Ctrl+y`	Scroll up 1 line
`zt`	Center cursor at top of screen
`zz`	Center cursor in middle of screen
`zb`	Center cursor at bottom of screen

Deletion (D-Row)

Key	Action
`x`	Delete character under cursor
`X`	Delete character before cursor
`dw`	Delete to end of word
`db`	Delete to start of word
`dd`	Delete entire line
`d0`	Delete to start of line
`d$`	Delete to end of line
`dG`	Delete to end of file
`dgg`	Delete to start of file
`d[n]j`	Delete n lines down (e.g., `d3j` deletes 3 lines)
`D`	Delete to end of line (same as `d$`)

Change (C-Row - Insert After Delete)

Key	Action
`cw`	Change word (delete + insert mode)
`cb`	Change to start of word
`cc`	Change entire line
`c0`	Change to start of line
`c$`	Change to end of line
`C`	Change to end of line (same as `c$`)
`s`	Substitute character (delete + insert mode)
`S`	Substitute entire line (same as `cc`)

Copy/Paste (Y-Row and P-Row)

Key	Action
`yy`	Copy entire line
`yw`	Copy to end of word
`yb`	Copy to start of word
`y0`	Copy to start of line
`y$`	Copy to end of line
`yG`	Copy to end of file
`ygg`	Copy to start of file
`p`	Paste after cursor
`P`	Paste before cursor
`]p`	Paste with auto-indent
`[p`	Paste before with auto-indent

Undo/Redo (U-Row)

Key	Action
`u`	Undo last change
`U`	Undo all changes on line
`Ctrl+r`	Redo
`g-`	Go to older text state
`g+`	Go to newer text state

Find/Replace (F and R)

Key	Action
`/pattern`	Search forward
`?pattern`	Search backward
`n`	Next search result
`N`	Previous search result
`*`	Search word under cursor forward
`#`	Search word under cursor backward
`g*`	Search partial word under cursor forward
`g#`	Search partial word under cursor backward
`:s/old/new/`	Replace on current line
`:s/old/new/g`	Replace all on current line
`:%s/old/new/g`	Replace all in file
`:%s/old/new/gc`	Replace all with confirmation

Selection - Visual Mode (V)

Key	Action
`v`	Start visual selection (characters)
`V`	Start visual selection (lines)
`Ctrl+v`	Start visual selection (block)
`o`	Jump to other end of selection
`aw`	Select word (in visual or operator)
`ab`	Select block with brackets
`at`	Select tag block (HTML/XML)
`iw`	Select inside word
`ib`	Select inside brackets
`it`	Select inside tags

Operators (Can Be Combined with Motions)

Pattern: [operator][motion]

Operator	Action
`d`	Delete
`c`	Change (delete + insert)
`y`	Yank (copy)
`>`	Indent right
`<`	Indent left
`=`	Autoindent
`gU`	Uppercase
`gu`	Lowercase
`~`	Toggle case
`!`	Send to external command

Examples:

d3w = Delete 3 words
y2b = Copy 2 words backward
gU5j = Uppercase next 5 lines
<3j = Indent left 3 lines
=ap = Autoindent paragraph

Numbers and Repeats

Key	Action
`.`	Repeat last command
`[n]`	Prefix any command with number (e.g., `5j` = down 5 lines)
`[n]dd`	Delete n lines
`[n]yy`	Copy n lines
`[n]p`	Paste n times
`[n].`	Repeat last command n times

Marks and Jumps (M and G)

Key	Action
`m[a-z]`	Set mark (e.g., `ma` sets mark 'a')
`'[a-z]`	Jump to mark (e.g., `'a` jumps to mark 'a')
`''`	Jump to previous position
`Ctrl+o`	Jump to previous position (older)
`Ctrl+i`	Jump to next position (newer)
`g;`	Jump to previous change
`g,`	Jump to next change

Increment/Decrement (Numbers)

Key	Action
`Ctrl+a`	Increment number under cursor
`Ctrl+x`	Decrement number under cursor

Case Operations (G-Row)

Key	Action
`~`	Toggle case of character
`g~w`	Toggle case of word
`gUw`	Uppercase word
`guw`	Lowercase word
`gUU`	Uppercase line
`guu`	Lowercase line

Line Operations (Blank Row)

Key	Action
`J`	Join lines (delete newline)
`gJ`	Join lines (no space)
`[count]J`	Join n lines (e.g., `3J` joins 3 lines)

Indentation (Q-Row, Z-Row)

Key	Action
`>>`	Indent line right
`<<`	Indent line left
`==`	Autoindent line
`>[motion]`	Indent selection
`<[motion]`	Unindent selection
`=[motion]`	Autoindent selection
`Tab`	Insert tab (in insert mode)
`Shift+Tab`	Delete tab (in insert mode)

Folding (Z-Row)

Key	Action
`zf[motion]`	Create fold
`zo`	Open fold
`zc`	Close fold
`za`	Toggle fold
`zR`	Open all folds
`zM`	Close all folds

Command Mode (Colon)

Command	Action
`:w`	Save file
`:q`	Quit
`:wq`	Save and quit
`:q!`	Quit without saving
`:e [file]`	Open file
`:bn`	Next buffer
`:bp`	Previous buffer
`:bd`	Delete buffer
`:vs [file]`	Open file in vertical split
`:sp [file]`	Open file in horizontal split
`:set number`	Show line numbers
`:set relativenumber`	Show relative line numbers
`:set spell`	Enable spell checking
`:help [topic]`	Open help

Key	Action
`Ctrl+w h`	Move to left window
`Ctrl+w j`	Move to bottom window
`Ctrl+w k`	Move to top window
`Ctrl+w l`	Move to right window
`Ctrl+w w`	Cycle through windows
`Ctrl+w =`	Equal size windows
`Ctrl+w _`	Max height current window
`Ctrl+w \|`	Max width current window
`Ctrl+w c`	Close window
`Ctrl+w o`	Close all other windows

Brackets and Matching

Key	Action
`%`	Jump to matching bracket/paren
`[{`	Jump to previous opening brace
`]}`	Jump to next closing brace
`[(`	Jump to previous opening paren
`])`	Jump to next closing paren

Special (Miscellaneous)

Key	Action
`r[char]`	Replace character under cursor
`R`	Replace mode (overwrite)
`q[a-z]`	Start recording macro
`@[a-z]`	Play macro
`@@`	Replay last macro
`&`	Repeat last :substitute
`gv`	Reselect last selection
`;`	Repeat last f/t/F/T search
`,`	Repeat last f/t/F/T search in opposite direction
`f[char]`	Find char on line (forward)
`F[char]`	Find char on line (backward)
`t[char]`	Till char on line (forward)
`T[char]`	Till char on line (backward)

QWERTY Layout with Commands

Esc  1!  2@  3#  4$  5%  6^  7&  8*  9(  0)  -_  =+  Bksp
     Tab  q   w   e   r   t   y   u   i   o   p   [{  ]}  \|
          a   s   d   f   g   h   j   k   l   ;:  '"      
          z   x   c   v   b   n   m   ,<  .>  /?

Most used keys:

Left side (QWERT/ASDFG/ZXCVB): Motion, search, operators
Right side (YUIOP/HJKL/NM): Movement, selection, copy/paste
Modifiers: Ctrl, Shift, Alt for extended commands

Common Command Chains

Edit a word

cw[new word]Esc    " Change word

Delete 3 lines

3dd                " Delete 3 lines

Copy and paste

yy                 " Copy line
p                  " Paste below

Find and replace

/pattern           " Find
:%s/old/new/g      " Replace all

Undo and redo

u                  " Undo
Ctrl+r             " Redo

Learning Strategy

Start with these 10 keys:

hjkl - Movement
w/b - Word movement
dd - Delete line
yy - Copy line
p - Paste
i - Insert mode
Esc - Normal mode
u - Undo
/ - Search
:wq - Save and quit

Then add:

cw - Change word
v - Visual select
dw - Delete word
o - Insert line

Master these, then explore others as needed.

LazyVim Specific Additions

LazyVim adds custom keybindings (Space = leader):

Key	Action
`Space`	Open Which Key menu
`Space ff`	Find files
`Space fg`	Find by grep
`Space e`	Toggle file explorer
`gd`	Go to definition
`K`	Hover documentation
`Space ca`	Code actions
`Space /`	Toggle terminal
`Ctrl+h/j/k/l`	Navigate windows

See Installing LazyVim for full LazyVim keybindings.

Practice Tips

Use relative numbers (set relativenumber) to practice counting motions
Disable arrow keys to force hjkl usage
Learn combos: Most power comes from combining operators + motions
Type slowly: Speed comes naturally; focus on accuracy first
Use . repeat to practice the same edit multiple times
Create marks for positions you jump to frequently

Vim Keyboard Reference

Vim Keyboard Reference

Essential Modes

Movement - Home Row (HJKL)

Word Movement (Top Row - QWERTY)

Line Movement (Left Side)

Scrolling

Deletion (D-Row)

Change (C-Row - Insert After Delete)

Copy/Paste (Y-Row and P-Row)

Undo/Redo (U-Row)

Find/Replace (F and R)

Selection - Visual Mode (V)

Operators (Can Be Combined with Motions)

Numbers and Repeats

Marks and Jumps (M and G)

Increment/Decrement (Numbers)

Case Operations (G-Row)

Line Operations (Blank Row)

Indentation (Q-Row, Z-Row)

Folding (Z-Row)

Command Mode (Colon)

Window Navigation (Ctrl+W)

Brackets and Matching

Special (Miscellaneous)

QWERTY Layout with Commands

Common Command Chains

Edit a word

Delete 3 lines

Copy and paste

Find and replace

Undo and redo

Learning Strategy

LazyVim Specific Additions

Practice Tips

Links

Vim Cheat Sheet

OpenVim - Interactive Vim Tutorial

Vim Adventure Game