Vim and tmux Cheat Sheet

Quick reference for editing in vim and managing terminal sessions with tmux. Chapters: Vim essentials, tmux.

Mint ships only vim-tiny. Install the full editor and tmux with sudo apt install vim tmux.

Vim: survival kit

Keys	What it does
Esc	Back to Normal mode (press it whenever you're unsure)
:w Enter	Save
:q Enter	Quit (fails if there are unsaved changes)
:wq or :x or ZZ	Save and quit
:q! or ZQ	Quit and discard changes
u / Ctrl+R	Undo / redo
:help topic	Built-in help (:q to close it)
vimtutor	A 30-minute interactive tutorial (run in the shell)

Vim: modes

Mode	How to enter	What it's for
Normal	Esc	Moving and running commands (the default)
Insert	i, a, o, …	Typing text
Visual	v (characters), V (lines), Ctrl+V (block)	Selecting text
Command-line	:	Ex commands: save, quit, substitute
Replace	R	Overwrite text

Vim: entering Insert mode

Keys	Start inserting…
i / a	Before / after the cursor
I / A	At the start / end of the line
o / O	On a new line below / above
cw / cc / C	Replacing a word / the whole line / to end of line
s	Replacing one character

Vim: motions

Keys	Moves to
h j k l	Left, down, up, right
w / b / e	Next word start / previous word start / word end
W / B / E	Same, for space-separated WORDS
0 / ^ / $	Line start / first non-blank / line end
gg / G	First line / last line
42G or :42	Line 42
f, / t,	Onto / just before the next , on this line (; repeats)
%	Matching bracket () [] {}
{ / }	Previous / next blank line (paragraph)
Ctrl+D / Ctrl+U	Half a page down / up
Ctrl+O / Ctrl+I	Back / forward in the jump list
* / #	Next / previous occurrence of the word under the cursor

Prefix a count to repeat: 5j moves down 5 lines, 3w 3 words.

Vim: operators (verb + motion)

Vim commands are a grammar: operator + motion or text object. d + w deletes a word; c + i" changes inside quotes.

Operator	Meaning	Examples
d	Delete (and save to a register, like cut)	dw word, dd line, d$ or D to end, dG to end of file
c	Change: delete, then Insert mode	cw, cc, ci(
y	Yank (copy)	yw, yy line, y$
> / <	Indent / unindent	>> line, >} paragraph
gU / gu	Uppercase / lowercase	gUiw
=	Auto-indent	=G, gg=G whole file

Single keys	What it does
x	Delete the character under the cursor
p / P	Paste after / before the cursor (or below / above the line)
r + char	Replace one character
J	Join the next line onto this one
.	Repeat the last change: the most useful key in vim
~	Toggle case

Vim: text objects

Use after an operator, or in Visual mode. i = inside, a = around (includes the delimiters or surrounding space).

Object	Selects	Example
iw / aw	Word	diw delete word under cursor
i" / a"	Inside / around double quotes	ci" replace a string
i', i`	Single quotes, backticks	di'
i( or ib / a(	Parentheses	ci( replace function arguments
i{ or iB	Braces	di{ empty a block
i[ / i<	Brackets, angle brackets	yi[
it / at	HTML/XML tag contents	cit
ip / ap	Paragraph	dap delete a paragraph

Vim: search and replace

Command	What it does
/error	Search forward (n next, N previous)
?error	Search backward
:noh	Clear search highlighting
:s/old/new/	Replace the first match on this line
:s/old/new/g	Replace all on this line
:%s/old/new/g	Replace all in the file
:%s/old/new/gc	Same, confirming each one
:10,20s/^/# /	Comment out lines 10–20
:'<,'>s/a/b/g	Replace in the visual selection (typing : in Visual mode inserts '<,'>)
:g/DEBUG/d	Delete every line containing DEBUG
:v/ERROR/d	Delete every line not containing ERROR

Vim: files, buffers, windows

Command	What it does
:e path	Open a file
:w path	Save as
:w !sudo tee %	Save a file you opened without sudo (then reload with :e!)
:r file / :r !date	Insert a file / a command's output
:ls, :bn, :bp	List, next, previous buffer
:sp file / :vsp file	Split horizontally / vertically
Ctrl+W w	Cycle between splits (Ctrl+W + h/j/k/l to move)
:set nu / :set rnu	Line numbers / relative numbers
:set paste	Paste without auto-indent mangling (:set nopaste after)
q + letter … q, then @ + letter	Record a macro, then play it (@@ repeats)

Vim: a starter ~/.vimrc

~/.vimrc

syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
set number relativenumber
set expandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4
set ignorecase smartcase incsearch hlsearch
set scrolloff=5
set mouse=a
set undofile
set undodir=~/.vim/undo//

Create the undo directory once with mkdir -p ~/.vim/undo.

tmux: concepts

tmux is a terminal multiplexer. A session is a set of windows (like tabs); each window is split into panes. Sessions keep running on the server when you detach or your SSH connection drops.

All key bindings start with the prefix, Ctrl+B by default. "Prefix c" means press Ctrl+B, release, then press c.

tmux: sessions (from the shell)

Command	What it does
tmux	Start a new session
tmux new -s work	Start a session named work
tmux new -A -s work	Attach to work, or create it if it doesn't exist
tmux ls	List sessions
tmux attach -t work	Reattach to work (tmux a attaches to the last one)
tmux kill-session -t work	End a session
tmux kill-server	End all sessions

tmux: key bindings

Keys	What it does
Prefix d	Detach (the session keeps running)
Prefix s	Choose a session interactively
Prefix $	Rename the session
Prefix c	New window
Prefix ,	Rename the window
Prefix n / p	Next / previous window
Prefix 0…9	Go to window number
Prefix w	Choose a window from a list
Prefix &	Kill the window (asks first)
Prefix %	Split into left and right panes
Prefix "	Split into top and bottom panes
Prefix arrow keys	Move to the pane in that direction
Prefix o	Next pane
Prefix ;	Last active pane
Prefix z	Zoom the pane to full window, and back
Prefix x	Kill the pane (asks first)
Prefix !	Break the pane out into its own window
Prefix Ctrl+Up etc.	Resize the pane by one cell (Alt + arrow: by five)
Prefix Space	Cycle through pane layouts
Prefix q	Show pane numbers
Prefix [	Enter copy mode (scroll back through output)
Prefix ]	Paste the last copied text
Prefix :	tmux command prompt
Prefix ?	List all key bindings

tmux: copy mode

Prefix [ enters copy mode. Use the arrow keys, Page Up and Page Down to scroll, and q to leave. With mode-keys vi (see the config below):

Keys	What it does
/ / ?	Search down / up (n, N repeat)
Space	Start a selection
Enter	Copy the selection and leave copy mode
g / G	Top / bottom of the history

tmux: a starter ~/.tmux.conf

~/.tmux.conf

set -g mouse on                 # click panes, drag borders, scroll with the wheel
set -g history-limit 50000      # more scrollback
set -g base-index 1             # windows start at 1, matching the keyboard
setw -g pane-base-index 1
setw -g mode-keys vi            # vi keys in copy mode
set -sg escape-time 10          # no delay after Esc (important for vim)

# Split with | and -, opening in the current directory
bind | split-window -h -c "#{pane_current_path}"
bind - split-window -v -c "#{pane_current_path}"

# Reload this file with prefix r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf \; display "config reloaded"

Reload a changed config in a running session with prefix : then source-file ~/.tmux.conf.

The SSH habit

On any remote server, run tmux new -A -s main right after you log in. If your connection drops in the middle of a long upgrade or a big rsync, log back in and run the same command to pick up exactly where you left off.