Neovim

Neovim (nvim) is the modal terminal editor that ships with built-in LSP, Tree-sitter, terminal, floating windows, and a Lua scripting runtime. Bindings are Vim-compatible by default, so every motion / verb / textobject that works in classic Vim works here; the additions are Neovim-only features (terminal mode, :Telescope-style pickers via plugins, the built-in LSP keymap, and Lua vim.keymap.set for user bindings).

For startup files, plugin managers (lazy.nvim, packer.nvim), and the difference from Vim, see Neovim (if present) or the upstream docs.

Modes

Key	Action
Esc / Ctrl-[	return to normal mode
i	insert before cursor
a	insert after cursor (append)
I	insert at start of line (first non-blank)
A	insert at end of line
o	open new line below, enter insert
O	open new line above, enter insert
R	enter replace mode (overtype)
v	enter character-wise visual
V	enter line-wise visual
Ctrl-v	enter block (column) visual
gv	reselect last visual region
:	enter command-line mode
/ / ?	enter search forward / backward
Ctrl-\\ Ctrl-n	return to normal mode from terminal mode

Movement

Key	Action
h / j / k / l	left / down / up / right
w / b / e	next word start / prev word start / word end
W / B / E	WORD variants (whitespace-delimited)
ge	previous word end
0 / ^ / $	start / first non-blank / end of line
g_	last non-blank on line
f<c> / F<c>	find next / previous c on line
t<c> / T<c>	till next / previous c
; / ,	repeat last f / t (same / opposite direction)
gg	go to file start
G	go to file end
<n>G / <n>gg	go to line N
:<n>	go to line N (command form)
H / M / L	top / middle / bottom of screen
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	half-page down / up
Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b	full-page down / up
%	jump to matching (), [], {}
* / #	search forward / backward for word under cursor
Ctrl-o / Ctrl-i	jump backward / forward through jumplist
g; / g,	previous / next change in changelist
'' / `` ` ` ``	jump to mark (line / exact position)
m<a-z>	set mark in current buffer
m<A-Z>	set global mark across buffers

Editing

Key	Action
x / X	delete char under / before cursor
s / S	substitute char / whole line (enter insert)
r<c>	replace single char with c
d<motion>	delete over motion (dw, d$, dgg)
dd	delete whole line
D	delete to end of line
c<motion>	change over motion (cw, c$)
cc	change whole line
C	change to end of line
y<motion>	yank over motion
yy	yank whole line
Y	yank to end of line
p / P	paste after / before cursor
"<reg>	prefix to choose a register (e.g. "+y yank to system clipboard)
u	undo
Ctrl-r	redo
U	undo every change on current line
.	repeat last change
J	join line below into current
gJ	join without inserting whitespace
~	toggle case of char under cursor
g~<motion>	toggle case over motion
gu<motion> / gU<motion>	lowercase / uppercase over motion
>> / <<	indent / dedent current line
>i{ / <i{	indent / dedent inside a code block
= / ==	reindent over motion / current line
Ctrl-a / Ctrl-x	increment / decrement number under cursor

Textobjects

Combine with verbs: daw deletes a word with surrounding whitespace, ci( changes inside parens, yi" yanks inside a string.

Key (after verb)	Action
iw / aw	inside / around word
iW / aW	inside / around WORD
is / as	inside / around sentence
ip / ap	inside / around paragraph
i( / a(	inside / around parens (same as i) / a))
i[ / a[	inside / around brackets
i{ / a{	inside / around braces
i< / a<	inside / around angle brackets
i" / a"	inside / around double-quoted string
i' / a'	inside / around single-quoted string
i + backtick / a + backtick	inside / around backtick string
it / at	inside / around XML / HTML tag

Visual Mode

After entering v / V / Ctrl-v, motions extend the selection; verbs act on it.

Key	Action
o / O	move to other end of selection (toggle anchor)
aw / ip etc.	grow selection to textobject
d	delete selection
c	change selection
y	yank selection
> / <	shift right / left
u / U	lowercase / uppercase selection
~	toggle case of selection
:s/old/new/	substitute within selection
I<text> (in block-visual)	insert text at start of every selected line
A<text> (in block-visual)	append text at end of every selected line
Esc	exit visual mode

Search and Replace

Key	Action
/<pat>	search forward
?<pat>	search backward
n / N	next / previous match
* / #	search forward / backward for word under cursor
g* / g#	same as * / # without word boundaries
:noh	clear search highlight
:s/old/new/	substitute first match on current line
:s/old/new/g	substitute every match on current line
:%s/old/new/g	substitute every match in the buffer
:%s/old/new/gc	same, but confirm each replacement
:g/pat/d	delete every line matching pat
:v/pat/d	delete every line not matching pat

Windows / Splits / Tabs

Key	Action
Ctrl-w s / :split	horizontal split
Ctrl-w v / :vsplit	vertical split
Ctrl-w h / j / k / l	focus split left / down / up / right
Ctrl-w H / J / K / L	move current window left / down / up / right
Ctrl-w w	cycle through splits
Ctrl-w o	close every split except current
Ctrl-w q / :q	close current split
Ctrl-w =	equalize sizes
Ctrl-w _	maximize current split’s height
Ctrl-w |	maximize current split’s width
Ctrl-w + / -	taller / shorter
Ctrl-w > / <	wider / narrower
:tabnew <file>	new tab
gt / gT	next / previous tab
<n>gt	jump to tab N
:tabclose	close current tab

Buffers

Command	Action
:e <file> / :edit <file>	open file in current window
:enew	new empty buffer
:ls / :buffers	list buffers
:b <name> / :b <n>	switch to buffer by name or number
:bn / :bp	next / previous buffer
:bd	delete (close) current buffer
:bd!	force-close without saving
Ctrl-^ / Ctrl-6	swap to alternate buffer
:w	write current buffer
:w <file>	write to a different file
:wa	write all
:wq	write and quit
:q!	quit, discarding changes

LSP (Built-in)

Neovim’s built-in LSP client. :LspInfo shows attached servers. Default bindings are sparse; most distributions (LazyVim, AstroNvim, NvChad, kickstart.nvim) set up the gd / K / gr family on LspAttach.

Key / Command	Action
K	hover (signature + docs)
gd	goto definition (when bound; default in nightly)
gD	goto declaration
gi	goto implementation
gy	goto type definition
gr	list references
Ctrl-]	alternate goto-definition binding (tags / LSP)
Ctrl-t	jump back from tag / definition
[d / ]d	previous / next diagnostic
<leader>ca	LSP code action (common mapping)
<leader>rn	LSP rename (common mapping)
<leader>f	format buffer (common mapping)
:LspInfo	show attached servers / capabilities
:LspRestart	restart language server
:LspLog	open LSP log

Terminal Mode

Neovim ships a built-in terminal emulator.

Key / Command	Action
:terminal	open terminal in current window
:split | terminal	terminal in horizontal split
Ctrl-\\ Ctrl-n	exit terminal mode (go to normal mode)
:q	close terminal buffer
i	re-enter terminal mode (from normal mode)
Ctrl-w :	command-line from terminal mode (rebind common)

Folds

Key	Action
zf<motion>	create fold over motion
zo	open fold under cursor
zO	open fold and every nested fold under cursor
zc	close fold under cursor
zC	close fold and every nested fold
za	toggle fold under cursor
zR	open all folds in buffer
zM	close all folds in buffer
zj / zk	next / previous fold
zd	delete fold under cursor
zE	eliminate every manually-created fold

Macros and Registers

Key	Action
q<reg>	start recording macro into register <reg>
q	stop recording
@<reg>	replay macro stored in <reg>
@@	replay last-run macro
<n>@<reg>	replay macro N times
"<reg>y / p	yank to / paste from register
"+y / "+p	yank / paste through system clipboard (+ register)
"*y / "*p	yank / paste through X11 PRIMARY (* register)
"0p	paste last yank (skipping the delete register)
:reg	print every register
Ctrl-r <reg> (insert mode)	paste from register at cursor

Command Line (:)

Command	Action
:w	write
:wa	write all
:q / :q!	quit / force-quit
:wq / :x	write + quit
:qa	quit all (fails on unsaved)
:qa!	force-quit all
:e <file>	open file
:e!	reload buffer, discard unsaved changes
:set <opt> / :set no<opt>	enable / disable option
:set <opt>?	print current value
:setlocal	buffer-local option
:source <file>	read commands from a vim / lua file
:luafile <file>	read commands from a Lua file
:help <topic>	open help
:checkhealth	run health checks (Neovim’s own diagnostic)
:messages	show recent messages

Discovery

Command	Action
nvim --version	print Neovim version + build features
nvim --clean	launch without user config / plugins
nvim -u NONE	launch with no init file
vimtutor	bundled 30-minute interactive tutorial
:help index	master index of every key in normal mode
:help vim-modes	mode reference
:checkhealth	environment / provider checks
:Lazy (if installed)	lazy.nvim plugin UI
:LspInfo	attached LSP servers
:Telescope (if installed)	common picker plugin
~/.config/nvim/init.lua	default Lua-based init file
~/.config/nvim/init.vim	legacy Vimscript init file