100 Vim commands every programmer should know

Since the 70′s, Vi is one of the programmer’s best friend. Nevermind you’re new to Vi or not, here’s a big list of 100 useful commands, organized by topic, which will make your coder life better.

Basics
:e filename    Open filename for edition
:w    Save file
:q    Exit Vim
:w!    Write file and quit
Search
/word    Search word from top to bottom
?word    Search word from bottom to top
/jo[ha]n    Search john or joan
/\< the    Search the, theatre or then
/the\>    Search the or breathe
/\< the\>    Search the
/\< ¦.\>    Search all words of 4 letters
/\/    Search fred but not alfred or frederick
/fred\|joe    Search fred or joe
/\<\d\d\d\d\>    Search exactly 4 digits
/^\n\{3}    Find 3 empty lines
:bufdo /searchstr/    Search in all open files
Replace
:%s/old/new/g    Replace all occurences of old by new in file
:%s/old/new/gw    Replace all occurences with confirmation
:2,35s/old/new/g    Replace all occurences between lines 2 and 35
:5,$s/old/new/g    Replace all occurences from line 5 to EOF
:%s/^/hello/g    Replace the begining of each line by hello
:%s/$/Harry/g    Replace the end of each line by Harry
:%s/onward/forward/gi    Replace onward by forward, case unsensitive
:%s/ *$//g    Delete all white spaces
:g/string/d    Delete all lines containing string
:v/string/d    Delete all lines containing which didn’t contain string
:s/Bill/Steve/    Replace the first occurence of Bill by Steve in current line
:s/Bill/Steve/g    Replace Bill by Steve in current line
:%s/Bill/Steve/g    Replace Bill by Steve in all the file
:%s/\r//g    Delete DOS carriage returns (^M)
:%s/\r/\r/g    Transform DOS carriage returns in returns
:%s#<[^>]\+>##g    Delete HTML tags but keeps text
:%s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/    Delete lines which appears twice
Ctrl+a    Increment number under the cursor
Ctrl+x    Decrement number under cursor
ggVGg?    Change text to Rot13
Case
Vu    Lowercase line
VU    Uppercase line
g~~    Invert case
vEU    Switch word to uppercase
vE~    Modify word case
ggguG    Set all text to lowercase
:set ignorecase    Ignore case in searches
:set smartcase    Ignore case in searches excepted if an uppercase letter is used
:%s/\<./\u&/g    Sets first letter of each word to uppercase
:%s/\<./\l&/g    Sets first letter of each word to lowercase
:%s/.*/\u&    Sets first letter of each line to uppercase
:%s/.*/\l&    Sets first letter of each line to lowercase
Read/Write files
:1,10 w outfile    Saves lines 1 to 10 in outfile
:1,10 w >> outfile    Appends lines 1 to 10 to outfile
:r infile    Insert the content of infile
:23r infile    Insert the content of infile under line 23
File explorer
:e .    Open integrated file explorer
:Sex    Split window and open integrated file explorer
:browse e    Graphical file explorer
:ls    List buffers
:cd ..    Move to parent directory
:args    List files
:args *.php    Open file list
:grep expression *.php    Returns a list of .php files contening expression
gf    Open file name under cursor
Interact with Unix
:!pwd    Execute the pwd unix command, then returns to Vi
!!pwd    Execute the pwd unix command and insert output in file
:sh    Temporary returns to Unix
$exit    Retourns to Vi
Alignment
:%!fmt    Align all lines
!}fmt    Align all lines at the current position
5!!fmt    Align the next 5 lines
Tabs
:tabnew    Creates a new tab
gt    Show next tab
:tabfirst    Show first tab
:tablast    Show last tab
:tabm n(position)    Rearrange tabs
:tabdo %s/foo/bar/g    Execute a command in all tabs
:tab ball    Puts all open files in tabs
Window spliting
:e filename    Edit filename in current window
:split filename    Split the window and open filename
ctrl-w up arrow    Puts cursor in top window
ctrl-w ctrl-w    Puts cursor in next window
ctrl-w_    Maximise current window
ctrl-w=    Gives the same size to all windows
10 ctrl-w+    Add 10 lines to current window
:vsplit file    Split window vertically
:sview file    Same as :split in readonly mode
:hide    Close current window
:­nly    Close all windows, excepted current
:b 2    Open #2 in this window
Auto-completion
Ctrl+n Ctrl+p (in insert mode)    Complete word
Ctrl+x Ctrl+l    Complete line
:set dictionary=dict    Define dict as a dictionnary
Ctrl+x Ctrl+k    Complete with dictionnary
Marks
mk    Marks current position as k
˜k    Moves cursor to mark k
d™k    Delete all until mark k
Abbreviations
:ab mail [email protected]    Define mail as abbreviation of [email protected]
Text indent
:set autoindent    Turn on auto-indent
:set smartindent    Turn on intelligent auto-indent
:set shiftwidth=4    Defines 4 spaces as indent size
ctrl-t, ctrl-d    Indent/un-indent in insert mode
>>    Indent
<<    Un-indent
Syntax highlighting
:syntax on    Turn on syntax highlighting
:syntax off    Turn off syntax highlighting
:set syntax=perl    Force syntax highlighting