⚡ Neovim/Vim Cheatsheet: The Lazy Developer’s Guide to Ultimate Efficiency

Why Should You Even Care About Vim/Neovim? 🤔

Let’s be honest. Learning a new tool feels like extra work, especially when your IDE already does everything. But hear me out—what if you could code, navigate, and edit like a machine without ever lifting your hands from the keyboard? No more dragging your mouse around, no more clunky UI menus—just pure, uninterrupted flow.

That’s where Vim and Neovim come in. These aren’t just text editors; they’re efficiency boosters that let you do more with less effort.

🥊 Vim vs. Neovim vs. Other Editors

Feature	Vim	Neovim	VS Code / IntelliJ
Blazing Fast	✅	✅	❌ (Gets sluggish with plugins)
Highly Customizable	✅	✅✅ (More modern)	✅ (But GUI-based)
Works Everywhere	✅	✅	❌ (Requires UI)
LSP & Modern Features	❌ (Needs plugins)	✅ (Built-in)	✅
Mouse Required?	❌ (Never!)	❌ (Never!)	✅ (Too much 😩)
Best for Keyboard Lovers?	✅✅✅	✅✅✅✅	❌ (Mouse is your frenemy)

Long story short:

Vim is powerful but traditional—great for purists.
Neovim is Vim’s smarter, younger sibling, built for the modern age.
VS Code & IntelliJ are great, but bloated and mouse-dependent.

If you’re tired of your mouse slowing you down, this cheatsheet will help you unlock Vim/Neovim superpowers. 🦸‍♂️

🚨 Pro Tip: Vim doesn’t use arrow keys (well, you can use them, but real pros don’t). Instead, use HJKL to move.

Command	Description
`h`	Move left ←
`l`	Move right →
`j`	Move down ↓
`k`	Move up ↑
`0`	Jump to beginning of line
`^`	Jump to first non-blank character in line
`$`	Jump to end of line
`gg`	Go to the top of the file
`G`	Go to the bottom of the file
`5G`	Jump to line 5 (replace `5` with any number)

🎯 Challenge:
Try navigating through a file without using arrow keys. Your fingers will thank you later.

📝 Editing & Inserting (a.k.a. "Actually Writing Stuff")

Vim has modes, and you start in Normal Mode. To type something, you need to enter Insert Mode first.

Command	What it does
`i`	Insert before cursor
`I`	Insert at beginning of line
`a`	Append after cursor
`A`	Append at end of line
`o`	Open a new line below cursor
`O`	Open a new line above cursor
`r<char>`	Replace single character with `<char>`
`u`	Undo last action
`Ctrl + r`	Redo last action
`.`	Repeat last action (super useful!)

🚀 Speed Tip:
Instead of pressing Esc every time, map jk or jj to escape mode in your vimrc or init.lua.

🔍 Searching & Replacing

Finding stuff in a file is easy with these commands:

Command	Action
`/word`	Search for `word` (press `n` for next, `N` for previous)
`?word`	Search backwards for `word`
`:%s/old/new/g`	Replace all occurrences of `old` with `new`
`:%s/old/new/gc`	Replace with confirmation

🔥 Pro Trick:
Use * to search for the word under your cursor automatically.

📌 Copy, Paste, and Delete

Command	Action
`yy`	Copy current line
`3yy`	Copy 3 lines
`p`	Paste after cursor
`P`	Paste before cursor
`dd`	Delete current line
`3dd`	Delete 3 lines
`d$`	Delete from cursor to end of line
`x`	Delete character under cursor

📌 Tip: Use "0p to paste from the last yank, so deletions don’t overwrite your clipboard.

📂 Working with Files

Command	Action
`:w`	Save file
`:q`	Quit
`:q!`	Quit without saving
`:wq` or `ZZ`	Save and quit
`:e filename`	Open a file
`:saveas filename`	Save as a new file

🖥 Splits & Windows (Multitasking Like a Pro)

Command	Action
`:split` or `:sp`	Split horizontally
`:vsplit` or `:vsp`	Split vertically
`Ctrl + w + w`	Switch between splits
`Ctrl + w + h/j/k/l`	Move between splits
`Ctrl + w + q`	Close current split

🔥 Tabs (Because You Love Having 100 Open at Once)

Command	Action
`:tabnew`	Open a new tab
`:tabclose`	Close current tab
`:tabn`	Go to next tab
`:tabp`	Go to previous tab

🚀 Git Integration (via Fugitive Plugin)

Command	Action
`:Git status`	Show Git status
`:Git add %`	Add current file to Git
`:Git commit -m "message"`	Commit changes
`:Git push`	Push changes
`:Git pull`	Pull latest changes
`:Gdiffsplit`	View Git diff

🎯 Final Thoughts

Congrats! 🎉 You now have enough Vim/Neovim knowledge to be dangerous.

But don’t stop here—Vim mastery is a journey. The more you practice, the faster and more efficient you’ll become.

💡 Your next step? Try using Vim/Neovim exclusively for one full day. It’ll feel weird at first, but by the end, you’ll be 10x more productive. 🚀

Happy coding! 🎉

📜 Neovim/Vim Cheatsheet