I really enjoy using the console. Not only on my Mac, but also frequently on remote systems. And here I constantly switch between the editors vi and nano.
Unfortunately, I am also a very forgetful person and keep forgetting the same keyboard shortcuts or mixing them up. So what could be more obvious than creating little cheat sheets of the most frequently used shortcuts as a reminder?
Here we go...
Cheat Sheet: nano
Navigation
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Line start | Ctrl+A |
| Line end | Ctrl+E |
| Document start | Option+\\ |
| Document end | Option+/ |
| Page up | Ctrl+Y |
| Page down | Ctrl+V |
| Go to line/column | Ctrl+_ |
Search
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Search forward | Ctrl+W |
| Next match | Option+W |
| Replace | Ctrl+\\ |
| Search options (prompt) | Option+C (Case) • Option+R (Regex) |
Editing
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Cut (line) | Ctrl+K |
| Uncut (paste) | Ctrl+U |
| Copy | Option+6 |
| Mark text | Ctrl+^ |
| Undo / Redo | Option+U / Option+E |
File / Program
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Write out (save) | Ctrl+O |
| Read file (insert) | Ctrl+R |
| Exit | Ctrl+X |
| Cancel / abort input | Ctrl+C |
Misc
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Help | Ctrl+G |
| Justify (align) | Ctrl+J |
| Spell check | Ctrl+T |
| Execute command | Ctrl+R , Ctrl+X |
You can download a PDF version of the nano cheat sheet here.
Cheat Sheet: vi
Navigation
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Line up / down | k / j |
| Word forward / backward | w / b |
| Line start / end | 0 / $ |
| File start / end | gg / G |
| Page up / down | Ctrl+b / Ctrl+f |
Modes
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Insert (line start) | i • I |
| Insert (line end) | a • A |
| New line (above) | O |
| New line (below) | o |
| Visual | v (char) • V (line) • Ctrl+v (block) |
| Back to normal mode | Esc |
Editing
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Delete | x (char) • dd (line) • d + motion |
| Yank (copy) | yy (line) • y + motion |
| Paste | p (after) • P (before) |
| Change | c + motion • cc (line) |
| Repeat / Undo / Redo | . / u • Ctrl+r |
Search & Replace
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Search forward / backward | / pattern • ? pattern |
| Next / previous match | n / N |
| Word under cursor | * / # |
| Replace in file | :%s/old/new/g • confirm: :%s/old/new/gc |
Files & Buffers
| Action | Keys |
|---|
| Save / Quit | :w • :q • :wq • :q! |
| Open / reload file | :e file • :e! |
| Switch buffer | :bn / :bp • :b nr|name |
| Split / vsplit | :split • :vsplit |
| Switch between splits | Ctrl+w h/j/k/l |
| Close split / only this | :q • :only |
You can download a PDF version of the vi cheat sheet here.
