Wiki

Vim cheatsheet

updated 2026-05-02

Command output in a buffer

Commands that produce output, like :map or :digraphs, dump this output in some sort of less-like buffer that is quite primitive compared to a "real" Vim buffer. I haven't found a way to convert this into a buffer after the fact but it is possible to run such commands through an incantation like this:

:enew | pu=execute('map')

This makes all normal Vim editing commands available.

Folds

First :set foldmethod=indent or :set foldmethod=manual (there are other foldmethods, but I personally don't use them).

Command	Effect
`z` `i`	Toggle folding
`z` `a`	Toggle current fold
`z` `A`	Toggle current fold recursively
`z` `m`	Fold more (close one level)
`z` `r`	Reduce folds (open one level)

Regular expressions

Vim regexes are a bit peculiar. Some things I can never remember and always have to look up:

Non-greedy search: use \{-} instead of *, e.g. foo.\{-}bar
Match across line endings: add \_, e.g. foo\_.\{-}bar

Tabs

Command	Effect
`:tabnew`	Open a new empty tab
`g` `t`	Go to next tab on the right
`g` `T`	Go to previous tab on the left
number `g` `t`	Go to tab with given number

Vimdiff

To enter Vimdiff mode, either launch vimdiff file1 file2 or, inside Vim, open two buffers side by side (:vs) and do :windo diffthis. Or set up Git to use Vim as its difftool, see below.

Command	Effect
`:diffupdate`	Rescan files
`[` `c`	Go to previous change
`]` `c`	Go to next change
`d` `o`	Apply (obtain) this change from other buffer
`d` `p`	Apply (push) this change to other buffer

Vimdiff as Git mergetool

Tell Git to use Vimdiff as difftool and mergetool with git config --global diff.tool vimdiff (and same with merge.tool). When resolving Git merge conflicts we get a layout with four panes:

LOCAL — our changes
BASE — common ancestor
REMOTE — their changes
MERGED (bottom pane, usually labeled with just the filename) — result

Go to the bottom pane. Use :diffget REMOTE and similar to pull in changes. Check with /^<<<<, /^====, /^>>>> if there are remaining conflicts.

Windows

Command	Effect
`:new`	Create a new window by splitting current window horizontally
`:vnew`	Create a new window by splitting current window vertically
`Ctrl-w` arrow¹	Move cursor between windows
`Ctrl-w` `r`	Rotate windows
`Ctrl-w` `R`	Rotate windows backwards
`Ctrl-w` `t`	Go to top left window
`Ctrl-w` `b`	Go to bottom right window
`Ctrl-w` `│`²	Maximize current window horizontally
`Ctrl-w` `_`	Maximize current window vertically
`Ctrl-w` `=`	Equalize window sizes

Yes, h/j/k/l work too. ↩
That's actually supposed to be a vertical bar (|), not a "box drawings light vertical" Unicode character (│). Vimwiki, at least in Markdown mode, won't let me include a vertical bar inside a table. ↩