Vim keyboard shortcuts
Moving, editing, searching, and window commands in the Vim text editor.
81 shortcuts Linux and Mac checked September 14, 2026
Print all 81 shortcuts One sheet with every shortcut in this app, ready for the printer or a PDF.
9 actions and 18 key variants match.
- Vim Documented
| Action | Keys | Row actions |
|---|---|---|
| Move forward a paragraph Normal mode | Linux } 1 more variant | Source |
| Move back a paragraph Normal mode | Linux { 1 more variant | Source |
| Open a new line below Normal mode | Linux O 1 more variant | Source |
| Open a new line above Normal mode | Linux ShiftO 1 more variant | Source |
| Indent the line Normal mode | Linux >> 1 more variant | Source |
| Unindent the line Normal mode | Linux << 1 more variant | Source |
| Reindent the line Normal mode | Linux == 1 more variant | Source |
| Add an indent while typing Insert mode | Linux CtrlT 1 more variant | Source |
| Remove an indent while typing Insert mode | Linux CtrlD 1 more variant | Source |
About Vim and its shortcuts
Vim is the odd one out on this site, and deliberately so. It is modal: most of what other editors do with held combinations, Vim does with single letters typed in normal mode, which is why its commands are case sensitive and why a stray keypress can change what the next one means. Learning the modes matters more than learning any individual key.
Vim is endlessly configurable, so a configured installation may share little with the defaults published here. Commands also differ between terminal Vim, graphical versions and the Vim emulation built into other editors.
Where the Vim keys came from
Read from 1 documentation page published by the makers of Vim. Report a key that is wrong
To see how one action is done in other apps as well as Vim, browse the shortcuts by task. Shortcuts by task