VSCode + Vim Keybindings Cheatsheet

This cheatsheet covers essential Vim navigation, editing, and custom keybindings in VSCode to help streamline your development workflow.

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Install Vim Extension in VSCode

1. Open VSCode.
2. Go to the Extensions sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+X).
3. Search for Vim and install the extension by VSCodeVim.

Step 2: Configure Settings in settings.json and keybindings.json

1. Open the VSCode settings by pressing Ctrl + ,.
2. In the top-right corner, select Open Settings (JSON) to edit the settings.json file directly.
3. Copy and paste the settings.json into your settings.json
4. In the bottom-right corner press gear icon and click Keyboard Shortcut
5. Then look at the top-right corner, again click Open Keyboard Settings (JSON) to edit the keybindings.json
6. Copy and paste the keybindings.json to your keybindings.json`

Table of Contents

1. Basic Navigation
2. Word Navigation
3. Line Navigation
4. Searching
5. Editing
6. Visual Mode
7. Command-line Mode
8. Split Windows and Tabs
9. Leader Key Configurations
10. VSCode Keybindings

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Basic Navigation

Key	Command	Description
h	Move cursor left	Basic left movement
j	Move cursor down	Basic down movement
k	Move cursor up	Basic up movement
l	Move cursor right	Basic right movement
i	Insert mode	Enter insert mode
<ESC>	Normal mode	Exit insert mode

Word Navigation

Key	Command	Description
w	Move to start of next word	Jump to next word
b	Move to start of prev word	Jump to previous word
e	Move to end of next word	Move to next word end
ge	Move to end of prev word	Move to previous word end

Line Navigation

Key	Command	Description
0	Start of line	Jump to beginning of line
^	Start of non-blank line	Jump to first non-blank character
$	End of line	Jump to end of line

Searching

Key	Command	Description
/	Search forwards	Search for a pattern forwards
?	Search backwards	Search for a pattern backwards
n	Next search match	Go to the next match
N	Previous search match	Go to the previous match

Editing

Key	Command	Description
d{motion}	Delete	Delete text covered by motion
y{motion}	Yank	Copy text covered by motion
p	Paste	Paste text after the cursor
u	Undo	Undo last change
<C-R>	Redo	Redo last undo

Visual Mode

Key	Command	Description
v	Character-wise visual mode	Enter character-wise visual mode
V	Line-wise visual mode	Enter line-wise visual mode
<C-V>	Block-wise visual mode	Enter block-wise visual mode

Command-line Mode

Command	Description
:w	Save file
:q	Quit file
:wq	Save and quit file
:sp {file}	Open horizontal split with file
:vsp {file}	Open vertical split with file

Split Windows and Tabs

Key	Command	Description
:sp {file}	Open horizontal split
:vsp {file}	Open vertical split
<C-W> h	Move to split to the left
<C-W> j	Move to split below
<C-W> k	Move to split above
<C-W> l	Move to split to the right
:tabnew {file}	Open file in new tab

Vim Leader Key Configurations

Key Combination	Command	Description
<leader> + v	:vsplit	Open vertical split
<leader> + s	:split	Open horizontal split
<leader> + h	workbench.action.focusLeftGroup	Focus pane to the left
<leader> + j	workbench.action.focusBelowGroup	Focus pane below
<leader> + k	workbench.action.focusAboveGroup	Focus pane above
<leader> + l	workbench.action.focusRightGroup	Focus pane to the right
<leader> + w	:w!	Save file
<leader> + q	:q!	Close file without saving
<leader> + x	:x!	Save and close
[ + d	editor.action.marker.prev	Jump to previous marker
] + d	editor.action.marker.next	Jump to next marker
<leader> + c + a	editor.action.quickFix	Open quick fix for current line
<leader> + f	workbench.action.quickOpen	Open file quick-open menu
<leader> + p	editor.action.formatDocument	Format the current document
g + h	editor.action.showDefinitionPreviewHover	Preview definition under cursor

VSCode Keybindings

Key Combination	Command	Description
ctrl+shift+a	workbench.action.terminal.focusNext	Focus next terminal
ctrl+shift+b	workbench.action.terminal.focusPrevious	Focus previous terminal
ctrl+shift+j	workbench.action.togglePanel	Toggle panel visibility
ctrl+shift+n	workbench.action.terminal.new	Open new terminal
ctrl+shift+w	workbench.action.terminal.kill	Kill current terminal
ctrl+e	workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility	Toggle sidebar visibility
ctrl+e (in editor)	workbench.files.action.focusFilesExplorer	Focus file explorer
n	explorer.newFile	Create new file in file explorer
r	renameFile	Rename selected file
shift+n	explorer.newFolder	Create new folder in file explorer
d	deleteFile	Delete selected file

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This cheat sheet consolidates the most useful Vim commands, VSCode keybindings, and custom configurations to optimize your development experience!