Neovim

Created March 2, 2024 · Updated September 1, 2024 · 4 min read · 924 words

Link

Shortcuts

Remember that Neovim is very customizable, so any shortcuts shown here might not be configured in your installation.

Shortcut	In mode	Function
`:`	NORMAL	Switch to COMMAND-LINE mode
`:!`command	NORMAL	Execute “command” (using the shell)
`:#,#s/old/new/g`	NORMAL	Replace all occurences of “old” on lines #-# with “new”
`:%s/old/new/g`	NORMAL	Replace every occurence of “old” in the whole file with “new”
`:%s/old/new/gc`	NORMAL	Replace every occurence of “old” in the whole file with “new”, but ask for confirmation (y/n) for each substitution
`:r` FILENAME	NORMAL	Insert contents of FILENAME below cursor position
`:r!` COMMAND	NORMAL	Insert output of external COMMAND below cursor position
`:s/old/new/`	NORMAL	Replace first occurence of “old” on the current line with “new”
`:s/old/new/g`	NORMAL	Replace all occurences of “old” on the current line with “new”
`:set inv`OPTION	NORMAL	Toggles a boolean option
`:set no`OPTION	NORMAL	Disables an option
`:set` OPTION	NORMAL	Sets an option
`?`TERM	NORMAL	Search backwards (behaves the same as `/`, except the first result is searched for toward the top of the file instead of downwards, and `n` goes up and `N` goes down)
`/`TERM	NORMAL	Search for term (forward in the document)
`%`	NORMAL	Move to matching bracket (`()`, `[]`, `{}`)
`^`	NORMAL	Move to the first non blank character on the current line
`$`	NORMAL	Move to the end of the current line
`0`	NORMAL	Move to the beginning of the current line
`1G`, `1gg`	NORMAL	Move to first line
`a`	NORMAL	Switch to INSERT mode after the current character
`A`	NORMAL	Switch to INSERT mode after the end of the current line
`b`	NORMAL	Move to previous word (“backwards”)
bd	COMMAND	Close current buffer
`c`+motion	NORMAL	Change text (deletes and places in INSERT mode)
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`V`	INSERT	Paste
`Ctrl`+`d`	COMMAND	Suggest completion for the partially typed command
`Ctrl`+`D`	NORMAL	Move half a screen downward
`Ctrl`+`g`	NORMAL	Show file name, total number of lines and relative position
`Ctrl`+`i`	NORMAL	Go ahead to next cursor position in the jump list
`Ctrl`+`o`	NORMAL	Go back to previous cursor position in the jump list
`Ctrl`+`r`	NORMAL	Redo
`Ctrl`+`u`	NORMAL	Move half a screen upward
`Ctrl`+`w`	NORMAL	Start window management (needs further keypresses to do something)
`Ctrl`+`w` `Ctrl`+`w`	NORMAL	Switch windows
`d`+motion	NORMAL	Delete
`dd`	NORMAL	Delete line
`Esc`, `Ctrl`+`C`	Any except NORMAL	Switch back to NORMAL mode
`F1`	NORMAL	Open help in a new “window”
`G`	NORMAL	Go to the end of the file
`gg`	NORMAL	Go to the beginning of the file
`gUiw`	NORMAL	Switch the word under cursor to uppercase
`h`	NORMAL	⬅️ Move cursor left
`help`	COMMAND	Open help in a new “window”
`i`	NORMAL	Switch to INSERT mode before the current character
`j`	NORMAL	⬇️ Move cursor down
`k`	NORMAL	⬆️ Move cursor up
`l`	NORMAL	➡️ Move cursor right
`n`	NORMAL	Next search result
`nohlsearch`	COMMAND	Remove highlighting of matches (after enabling it with `:set hlsearch`)
`N`	NORMAL	Previous search result
number+`G`	NORMAL	Move to line <number>
`o`	NORMAL	Open a new line below the current and switch to INSERT mode
`O`	NORMAL	Open a new line above the current and switch to INSERT mode
`p`	NORMAL	Insert deleted/yanked text after cursor (whole lines go below)
`P`	NORMAL	Insert deleted/yanked text before cursor (whole lines go above)
`q`	COMMAND-LINE	Quit (current window; or the whole app, if this is the last/only window open within Neovim)
`q!`	COMMAND-LINE	Quit without saving (current window; or the whole app, if this is the last/only window open within Neovim)
`r`	NORMAL	Replace one character
`R`	NORMAL	Replace multiple characters (i.e., “overwrite”)
`u`	NORMAL	Undo
`U`	NORMAL	“Undo line” (resets the current line to its original state, possibly undoing multiple commands - but it does not correspond to multiple `u` in a row, because `U` itself can be undone…)
`v`	NORMAL	Switch to VISUAL mode
`w`	NORMAL	Move to next word
`w`	COMMAND-LINE	“Write” (save)
`w` FILENAME	COMMAND-LINE	“Write” (save) the current file as FILENAME
`w` FILENAME	VISUAL	“Write” (save) the current selection as FILENAME
`wq`	COMMAND-LINE	“Write” (save) and quit
`x`	NORMAL	Delete character under cursor
`<`	VISUAL	Outdent (shift left) selected lines
`y`	VISUAL	“Yank” (copy) selection
`y`+motion	NORMAL	“Yank” (copy) text indicated by motion
`<`	VISUAL	Outdent (shift left) selected lines
`*`	NORMAL	Search for the word under the cursor

Motions

Character	Meaning
w	Until start of next word
e	Until end of current word
$	To the end of the line

Options

Option	Meaning
ignorecase, ic	Ignore case when searching
hlsearch, hls	Highlight results of last search
incsearch, is	Highlight search results incrementally (while typing term)

FAQ

Show unsaved changes

:w !git diff --no-index % -

Enter key does not insert autocomplete suggestion

Press Ctrl+y or see no key combination accepts autocomplete suggestion or init.lua about how to reconfigure to e.g. Enter

Highlight TODO

Use folke/todo-comments.nvim and see Ripgrep pattern for no colon if you do not want to have to type a colon after “TODO”

Switch to a terminal

This can be achieved using standard shell features:
- Ctrl+Z to suspend Neovim
- fg to switch back to Neovim
Or with the :terminal command
- Switch to “INSERT” mode with “i” as usual to type in the shell
- Exit the shell with Ctrl+D and (maybe?) :bd