Getting Started with Vim by Vimtutor

———————- Vim: The God of Editors ———————-

This is a simple Vim Tutorial from vim built-in documents, you can get the whole vimtutor by typing vimtutor in shell or vimtutor -g for GUI version. It is intended to give a brief overview of the Vim editor, just enough to allow you to use the editor fairly easily.

Lesson 1: Text Editing Commands

1. The cursor is moved using either the arrow keys or the hjkl keys:
   	h (left)       j (down)       k (up)       l (right)
2. To start Vim from the shell prompt type:  vim FILENAME <ENTER>
3. To exit Vim type:   <ESC>  :q!  <ENTER>   to trash all changes.
            OR type:   <ESC>  :wq  <ENTER>   to save the changes.
            OR type:   <ESC>  shift + zz     to save the changes
4. To delete the character at the cursor type:  x
5. To insert or append text type:
         i   type inserted text   <ESC>      insert before the cursor
         A   type appended text   <ESC>      append after the line

Lesson 2: Deletion Commands

1. To delete from the cursor up to the next word type:    dw
2. To delete from the cursor to the end of a line type:   d$
3. To delete a whole line type:    dd
4. To repeat a motion prepend it with a number:   2w
5. The format for a change command is:  d2w / 4dd
     operator   [number]   motion
       where:
         operator - is what to do, such as  d  for delete
         [number] - is an optional count to repeat the motion
         motion   - moves over the text to operate on, such as  w, e, $, etc.
   For exmaple: d2w: delete 2 words
                d4d: delete 4 lines
6. To move to the start of the line use a zero:  0
7. To undo previous actions, type:           u  (lowercase u)
8. To undo all the changes on a line, type:  U  (capital U)
9. To undo the undo's, type:                 CTRL-R

Lesson 3: Replace and Change Commands

1. To put back text that has just been deleted, type   p .  
  This puts the deleted text AFTER the cursor (if a line was deleted it will go on the line below the cursor).
2. To replace the character under the cursor, type   r   and then the new character. eg:
    Type  3rx to replace the 3 characters by 'xxx'
3. The change operator allows you to change from the cursor to the motion, eg:
    Type  ce  to change from the cursor to the end of the word, 
          c$  to change to the end of a line.
4. The format for change is:
    c   [number]   motion

Lesson 4: Jump, Search, Substitute Commands

1. CTRL-G      displays your location in the file and the file status
   G           moves to the end of the file.
   number G    moves to that line number.
   gg          moves to the first line.

2. Typing  /  followed by a phrase searches FORWARD for the phrase.
   Typing  ?  followed by a phrase searches BACKWARD for the phrase.
   After a search type  n  to find the next occurrence in the same direction
                    or  N  to search in the opposite direction.
   CTRL-O takes you back to older positions, CTRL-I to newer positions.

3. Typing  %  while the cursor is on a (,),[,],{, or } goes to its match.

4. To substitute new for the first old in a line type    :s/old/new
   To substitute new for all 'old's on a line type       :s/old/new/g
   To substitute phrases between two line #'s type       :#,#s/old/new/g
   To substitute all occurrences in the file type        :%s/old/new/g
   To ask for confirmation each time add 'c'             :%s/old/new/gc

Lesson 5: Execute External Commands

1. :! command  executes an external command.
       :!ls            -  shows a directory listing.
       :!rm FILENAME   -  removes file FILENAME.
2. :w fname   writes the current Vim file to disk with name FILENAME.
3. v motion :w FILENAME  saves the Visually selected lines in file FILENAME.
4. :r fname   retrieves disk file FILENAME and puts it below cursor position.
5. :r !ls     reads the output of ls command and puts it below cursor position.

Lesson 6: Open Append Set Commands

1. Type  o  to open a line BELOW the cursor and start Insert mode.
   Type  O  to open a line ABOVE the cursor.
2. Type  a  to insert text AFTER the cursor.
   Type  A  to insert text after the end of the line.
3. The  e  command moves to the end of a word.
4. The  y  operator yanks (copies) text,  p  puts (pastes) it.
5. Typing a capital  R  enters Replace mode until  <ESC>  is pressed.
6. Typing ":set xxx" sets the option "xxx".  Some options are:
      'ic' or 'ignorecase'       ignore upper/lower case when searching
      'is' or 'incsearch'        show partial matches for a search phrase
      'hls' or 'hlsearch'        highlight all matching phrases
7. Prepend "no" to switch an option off:   :set noic

Lesson 7: Getting help

1. Type  :help          to open a help window.
2. Type  :help cmd      to find help on  cmd .
3. Type  CTRL-W CTRL-W  to jump to another window
4. Type  :q             to close the help window
5. Create a vimrc startup script to keep your preferred settings.
      :r $VIMRUNTIME/vimrc_example.vim
6. When typing a  :  command, 
      press CTRL-D to see possible completions.
      Press <TAB> to use one completion.

Next Step

It is far from complete as Vim has many many more commands. The next step you can read the vim built-in user manual:

:help user-manual
	Press  CTRL-]  to jump to a subject under the cursor.
	Press  CTRL-O  to jump back (repeat to go further back).