Basic Vim commands - For getting started vim unix vi commands. Started learning to use Vim.. Some simple commands to get started Vim has two mode. Insert mode Where you can just type like normal text editor. Press i for insert mode 2. Simply use the following commands:. If you already have Vim installed but want to update to the latest version, you may need to use additional Git commands which can be found here.

The following is a list of frequently used commands and what they do. Many of the commands can be made to repeat by adding a number to the command. This is not an exhaustive list because more advanced commands, such as how to use multiple buffers, are not included.

However, just about all of the basic commands for opening, editing and saving documents are included as well as commands that enable you to find and replace text and work with multiple documents. The most simple commands allow you to open and close documents as well as saving them. As with most other text editors, there are protections in place to help you avoid exiting the editor without having saved what you're working on.

When using movement commands, you can put a number in front of them to make Vim complete a command multiple times. For example, 5h will move your cursor five spaces to the left, and 90j will put your cursor at the beginning of the 90th line down from where your cursor currently is. Those who use Vim tend to use the term "yank" where most people would use the terms copy and paste. Therefore, the command for copying a word is yw , which stands for yank word, and the command for pasting whatever has been copied is p , meaning put.

Try typing it in vim like this:. With the cursor on! B , on the other hand, will skip you back over everything that isn't a space. B treats punctuation as part of the word, using only whitespace as word delimiters; b does not treat punctuation as part of the word.

Learn more. What's the difference between b and B in Vim? Ask Question. Asked 7 years, 4 months ago. Enables input of special characters by a combination of two characters. Enables recognition of arrow key codes which start off with an ESC. Allows hiding buffers even though they contain modifications which have not yet been written back to the associated file. And it is nice when showing Vim. So while you are typing the command "y23dd you will see "y23dd before you type the last 'd' which completes the command.

Makes learning Vi much simpler as you get some feedback to what you have already typed. Make use of the "status line" to show possible completions of command line commands, file names, and more. Allows to cycle forward and backward throught the list. Asked 7 years, 1 month ago.

Active 7 years, 1 month ago. Viewed times. Or any alternative way to put those files to args list and I can use argsdo. Dzung Nguyen. Dzung Nguyen Dzung Nguyen 6 6 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. Home Questions Tags Users Unanswered. Asked 5 years, 10 months ago. Active 4 months ago. Viewed k times. Related: How can I reload all buffers at once? Wrap up: all the answers so far are of "Poll" instead of "Push" style.

That is, instead of receiving an external file change event like it was done by other software's similar features, these answers rely on vim actively polling the file change, either manually or triggered by a user action or a timer.

The end result is you won't see change refreshed on screen instantaneously. Working solution at stackoverflow.

Active Oldest Votes. Karlo 1, 2 2 gold badges 11 11 silver badges 22 22 bronze badges.