Vim Essentials: A Practical Guide for Beginners

Vim has a reputation for being difficult to learn. There's even a famous joke about developers not knowing how to exit it. But here's the truth: once you understand Vim's logic, it becomes one of the most powerful and efficient text editors you'll ever use.

This guide teaches you the essential Vim commands you need to be productive. No overwhelming feature lists or obscure shortcuts. Just the core skills that will make you comfortable editing files in the terminal.

Whether you're SSH'd into a server, working on a remote machine, or just want to level up your terminal skills, this guide has you covered.

Why learn Vim?

Before diving into commands, let's address the obvious question: why bother learning Vim when modern editors like VS Code exist?

Vim is everywhere. Every Linux server, Mac, and Unix system has Vim or Vi installed by default. When you SSH into a production server to fix a critical bug at 2 AM, you won't have VS Code. You'll have Vim.

Vim is fast. Not just in performance, but in how quickly you can edit once you learn the commands. Your hands never leave the keyboard. No reaching for the mouse, no waiting for a GUI to load.

Vim is powerful. The modal editing approach might seem strange at first, but it's designed around how we actually work with text: navigating, selecting, editing, and repeating actions.

Let's start with the basics.

Opening files in Vim

Launch Vim from your terminal with:

vi text.txt

Or use the vim command if you have Vim installed (most systems alias vi to vim anyway):

vim text.txt

Replace text.txt with any filename. If the file doesn't exist, Vim creates it when you save.

You're now staring at Vim's interface. It looks minimal because it is. No toolbars, no menus, just your text and a command line at the bottom.

Understanding Vim's modes

This is where Vim differs from every other editor you've used. Vim operates in different modes, and each mode serves a specific purpose. Understanding modes is the key to understanding Vim.

Normal mode

This is where you start when you open Vim. In Normal mode, keys don't insert text. Instead, they execute commands. Think of it as command mode.

Press Esc any time to return to Normal mode from any other mode. When in doubt, hit Esc a couple times.

Insert mode

This is where you actually type and edit text like a traditional editor. To enter Insert mode from Normal mode, press i.

Your cursor changes (usually to a line or block), and you'll see -- INSERT -- at the bottom of the screen. Now you can type normally.

Press Esc to return to Normal mode.

Visual mode

Visual mode is for selecting text. Press v from Normal mode to enter Visual mode.

Your cursor becomes the start of a selection. Move the cursor to highlight text, then execute commands like copy or delete on the selection.

Press Esc to return to Normal mode.

The mode system seems weird initially, but it's incredibly efficient. You spend most of your time in Normal mode, navigating and executing commands. You briefly enter Insert mode to add text, then return to Normal mode. This workflow keeps your hands on the home row and eliminates repetitive mouse movements.

Navigating in Normal mode

Forget the arrow keys. Vim's navigation keys are faster because they keep your fingers on the home row.

Basic movement

These four keys are your primary navigation:

h - Move left
l - Move right (lowercase L)
j - Move down
k - Move up

At first, this feels unnatural. Your muscle memory screams for arrow keys. Resist the urge. After a few hours of practice, hjkl becomes second nature and you'll find yourself trying to use them in other applications.

Why these keys? They're on the home row, right under your right hand's fingers. Touch typists never need to move their hands.

Line navigation

Moving character by character is slow. These commands jump to key positions on a line:

0 - Move to the beginning of the line (that's a zero)
$ - Move to the end of the line
^ - Move to the first non-whitespace character on the line

The $ key makes sense if you remember regular expressions, where $ represents the end of a line.

Word navigation

Jump between words instead of individual characters:

w - Move forward to the beginning of the next word
e - Move forward to the end of the next word
b - Move backward to the beginning of the previous word

These commands are incredibly useful when editing code or prose. Combined with other commands, they become even more powerful.

File navigation

Jump to the top or bottom of a file instantly:

gg - Jump to the top of the file
G - Jump to the bottom of the file (capital G)

Combine G with a number to jump to a specific line. For example, 50G jumps to line 50.

You can also type :50 and press Enter to jump to line 50, which brings us to command mode navigation.

Advanced navigation tips

Here are some less obvious but incredibly useful navigation commands:

{ - Jump to the previous paragraph or code block
} - Jump to the next paragraph or code block
% - Jump to matching bracket/parenthesis/brace
Ctrl + u - Scroll up half a page
Ctrl + d - Scroll down half a page
Ctrl + b - Scroll up a full page
Ctrl + f - Scroll forward a full page

The % command is particularly useful when working with code. Place your cursor on an opening brace and press % to jump to its matching closing brace.

Editing in Normal mode

Navigation is only half the story. Vim's real power comes from editing commands in Normal mode.

Deleting text

x - Delete the character under the cursor
dd - Delete the entire current line
dw - Delete from cursor to the end of the word
d$ - Delete from cursor to the end of the line
d0 - Delete from cursor to the beginning of the line

Notice a pattern? The d key starts a delete command, and the second key specifies what to delete. This composability is central to Vim's design.

Copying and pasting

Vim calls copying "yanking," which explains the key choices:

yy - Yank (copy) the current line
yw - Yank from cursor to the end of the word
y$ - Yank from cursor to the end of the line
p - Paste after the cursor
P - Paste before the cursor (capital P)

When you delete with dd, the deleted text goes into Vim's clipboard. So dd followed by p cuts and pastes a line.

Undo and redo

Everyone makes mistakes. Vim makes them easy to fix:

u - Undo the last change
Ctrl + r - Redo (undo the undo)

You can press u multiple times to walk backward through your changes. Vim maintains a comprehensive undo tree, so you can undo dozens or even hundreds of changes.

Repeating commands

This is where Vim gets magical:

. - Repeat the last command

Made a change you want to apply elsewhere? Navigate to the new location and press . to repeat it. This works for deletions, changes, insertions, everything.

For example, if you delete a word with dw, move to another word, and press ., that word gets deleted too. This simple command saves countless keystrokes.

Working in Visual mode

Visual mode gives you precise control over text selection. Enter Visual mode by pressing v in Normal mode.

Selection types

Vim offers three types of visual selection:

v - Character-wise visual mode (select character by character)
V - Line-wise visual mode (select entire lines)
Ctrl + v - Block visual mode (select rectangular blocks)

In Visual mode, use the same navigation keys (hjkl, w, e, b, $, 0, etc.) to extend your selection.

Actions on selections

Once you've selected text, execute commands on the entire selection:

y - Yank (copy) the selected text
d - Delete (cut) the selected text
c - Change the selected text (deletes and enters Insert mode)
> - Indent the selected lines
< - Unindent the selected lines
~ - Toggle case of selected text

For example, to copy three lines: press V to enter line-wise visual mode, press jj to select two more lines (three total), then press y to yank them. Navigate elsewhere and press p to paste.

Searching and finding

Finding text is essential when working with large files.

Basic search

From Normal mode:

/search_term

Press /, type your search term, and press Enter. Vim highlights all matches and jumps to the first one.

n - Jump to the next match
N - Jump to the previous match (capital N)

To search backward through the file, use ? instead of /:

?search_term

Search tips

/\cpattern - Case-insensitive search (the \c flag)
/pattern\> - Match only whole words
* - Search for the word under the cursor
# - Search backward for the word under the cursor

The * command is particularly handy. Place your cursor on a variable name and press * to find all occurrences.

Jumping to specific lines

Navigate to a line number by typing : followed by the line number:

:42

This jumps to line 42. Press Enter to execute.

You can also use 42G (capital G) to achieve the same result without entering command mode.

Saving and exiting

This is the famous part. How do you exit Vim? More importantly, how do you save your work?

All these commands start with : which enters Command-line mode. Type the command and press Enter.

Basic exit commands

:q - Quit (only works if no unsaved changes)
:q! - Quit without saving (force quit, discards changes)
:w - Write (save) the file
:wq - Write and quit (save and exit)
:x - Write and quit (same as :wq, but only writes if changes were made)

The ! symbol forces a command. Use it carefully, especially with :q! since it discards all your unsaved work.

Save as a new file

:w newfile.txt

This saves the current buffer to a new file without closing the original.

Saving specific lines

:10,20w partial.txt

This saves lines 10 through 20 to a new file called partial.txt.

Combining commands for power

The real magic of Vim comes from combining commands. Most Vim commands follow a pattern:

[count] [operator] [motion]

Count is optional and specifies repetition. Operator is an action like delete or yank. Motion specifies what to operate on.

Examples of command composition

d2w - Delete two words
y3j - Yank current line plus three lines below
c$ - Change from cursor to end of line
d4j - Delete four lines (current line plus three below)
3dd - Delete three lines starting from current

Once you understand this pattern, you can construct powerful commands on the fly. Need to delete five words? d5w. Need to yank to the end of the paragraph? y}.

Essential settings and configuration

Vim is highly customizable through its configuration file. Create or edit ~/.vimrc to add these helpful settings:

# Enable line numbers
set number

# Enable syntax highlighting
syntax on

# Set tab width to 4 spaces
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

# Enable auto-indentation
set autoindent
set smartindent

# Highlight search results
set hlsearch

# Enable incremental search
set incsearch

# Show matching brackets
set showmatch

# Enable mouse support
set mouse=a

Save this file, and these settings apply every time you open Vim.

Common tasks and workflows

Let's put everything together with real-world examples.

Editing a configuration file

vim ~/.bashrc

Navigate to the line you want to edit using j and k
Press i to enter Insert mode
Make your changes
Press Esc to return to Normal mode
Type :wq and press Enter to save and exit

Finding and replacing text

To replace all occurrences of "foo" with "bar":

:%s/foo/bar/g

Breaking this down:

: enters Command-line mode
% means the entire file
s is the substitute command
/foo/bar/ means replace "foo" with "bar"
g means globally (all occurrences on each line)

Add c at the end for confirmation on each replacement:

:%s/foo/bar/gc

Deleting multiple lines

To delete lines 10 through 20:

:10,20d

Or navigate to line 10, press V to enter line-wise visual mode, press 10j to select 11 lines total, then press d to delete.

Copying content from another file

:r otherfile.txt

This reads the contents of otherfile.txt and inserts it below the current cursor position.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Typing commands in Insert mode. If you're in Insert mode and press j, you'll see the letter "j" appear instead of moving down. Always press Esc to ensure you're in Normal mode before executing commands.

Forgetting to save. Unlike modern editors that auto-save, Vim requires explicit saving. Get in the habit of typing :w frequently.

Using arrow keys. While arrow keys work in Vim, using them defeats the purpose of efficient, home-row-based editing. Force yourself to use hjkl for at least a week. It becomes natural.

Not understanding modes. Half of Vim confusion comes from being in the wrong mode. When something unexpected happens, press Esc a few times to reset to Normal mode.

Panicking when you can't exit. Take a breath, press Esc, type :q!, press Enter. You're out. Try again.

Practice exercises

The only way to get comfortable with Vim is to practice. Try these exercises:

Exercise 1: Basic navigation

Open a file with at least 20 lines
Jump to the top with gg
Jump to the bottom with G
Navigate to line 10 with :10
Move to the end of the line with $
Move to the beginning with 0

Exercise 2: Editing

Delete three lines with 3dd
Undo with u
Delete a word with dw
Paste it elsewhere with p
Copy a line with yy
Paste it five times with 5p

Exercise 3: Visual mode

Enter visual mode with v
Select a paragraph using } to jump to the end
Copy it with y
Navigate somewhere else
Paste with p

Exercise 4: Search and replace

Search for a common word with /word
Jump through matches with n
Replace all occurrences with :%s/word/replacement/g

Vim resources for deeper learning

This guide covers the essentials, but Vim has much more to offer. When you're ready to go deeper:

Built-in tutorial: Run vimtutor in your terminal for an interactive 30-minute tutorial that comes with Vim.

Vim documentation: Type :help inside Vim to access comprehensive documentation. Try :help navigation or :help modes for specific topics.

Vim Adventures: A web-based game that teaches Vim commands through gameplay (vim-adventures.com).

Practice regularly: Use Vim for all your terminal-based editing. The more you use it, the more natural it becomes.

Wrapping up

Vim intimidates beginners because it works differently than every other editor. But that difference is exactly what makes it powerful. Modal editing, command composition, and keyboard-driven navigation enable a speed and efficiency that mouse-based editors can't match.

You don't need to master Vim overnight. Start with the basics: navigating with hjkl, entering Insert mode with i, saving with :w, and exiting with :q. As these become muscle memory, gradually add more commands to your repertoire.

Before long, you'll find yourself reaching for Vim even when you have other options. Because once you experience the flow of modal editing, everything else feels slow.

Keep this guide bookmarked, practice daily, and soon you'll be editing at the speed of thought.