Vim Motion

Think less. Move faster

Apr 5, 2026

vim neovim

Table of Contents

Modes
Basic Commands
Vim Commands Table (Logical Order)

Fast Navigation
Horizontal Motion
The Speed choice

This guide helps anyone open a file in Vim, edit it, save, and exit.

Know how to exit Vim

Modes

Vim has 4 main modes:

Normal – move, delete, undo, redo
Insert – type text
Visual – select text
Command – type : commands like save or quit

checkout Commands

Basic Commands

To edit a file, go to insert mode by pressing i or a, then start typing.
Once done typing, press Esc to go back to normal mode.
To save the file, type :w (: goes to command mode, w means write).
To quit, type :q (q means quit).
To save and quit at the same time, type :wq.
To force quit without saving, type :q!.
To go back to normal mode from any mode, just press Esc. It always works.
To select text, press v for letters or V for the whole line.
To undo, press u (like Ctrl+Z), and to redo, press Ctrl + r.

Vim Commands Table (Logical Order)

Keymap	Mode	What it does
`i`	Insert	Start typing
`a`	Insert	Start typing after text
`Esc`	Any	Back to normal mode
`h`	Normal	Move left
`j`	Normal	Move down
`k`	Normal	Move up
`l`	Normal	Move right
`v`	Normal	Select letters
`V`	Normal	Select whole line
`d`	Normal	Delete selection
`dw`	Normal	Delete a word
`gg`	Normal	Go to top of file
`{`	Normal	Jump backward paragraph
`}`	Normal	Jump forward paragraph
`u`	Normal	Undo last change
`Ctrl + r`	Normal	Redo change
`:w`	Command	Save file
`:q`	Command	Quit
`:wq`	Command	Save and quit
`:q!`	Command	Quit without saving

Horizontal Motion

The Speed choice