Every normal-mode key, organized by physical key location.
A row-by-row tour of the QWERTY keyboard: every unshifted key, every shifted key, with a note on Ctrl- variants. Useful as a wall poster and as a study plan.
Vim's bindings cover every key on the keyboard. Not most of them. Not the popular ones. Every key. Hold a finger over almost any character on a QWERTY keyboard, hit it in normal mode, and something happens — a motion, an operator, a prefix into a family of commands, a jump, an action. The empty key is the exception, not the rule.
That's also a study plan. You don't have to learn Vim's grammar all at once — you can walk the keyboard. Pick a key a day, hit it in normal mode, see what it does, look it up. After a few weeks the unshifted letters are second nature. Then shifted letters. Then shifted symbols. Then a handful of useful Ctrl- variants. By the time you've finished one full lap of the keyboard, you've absorbed essentially every common normal-mode command in Vim.
The order of importance:
1. Unshifted keys — the bulk of day-to-day editing. Motions (hjkl, w, b, e, f, t), operators (d, c, y), modes (i, a, o, v, :), basic editing (u, x, p, r, s).
2. Shifted keys — bigger, opposite, or specialised siblings of the unshifted versions. A appends at end of line, O opens above, I inserts at first non-blank, N reverses search, G jumps to last line.
3. Shifted symbols — search-word-under-cursor (*, #), sentence motions ((, )), paragraph motions ({, }), indent operators (>, <), end-of-line ($), bracket-match (%).
4. Ctrl- variants — window prefixes (Ctrl-W…), scrolling (Ctrl-D, Ctrl-U, Ctrl-F, Ctrl-B), the jumplist (Ctrl-O, Ctrl-I), inc/dec (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-X), redo (Ctrl-R), file-info (Ctrl-G). A full reference of every Ctrl- key lives in Complete Key Reference.
Pass 1 — Unshifted keys
Tilde row
Key
Function
`
Jump to mark (precise column) — `a jumps to mark a, `` to last position
Default <Leader> in most configs (custom mappings)
Home row
Key
Function
a
Append after cursor
s
Substitute one character (delete + insert)
d
Delete operator (cut)
f
Find char on line forward (motion — lands on match)
g
Prefix family (gg, gd, gf, gv, gU, gu, g~, gq, …)
h
Left
j
Down
k
Up
l
Right
;
Repeat last f/F/t/T in same direction
'
Jump to mark (line, first non-blank) — 'a jumps to mark a, '' to last position
Bottom row
Key
Function
z
Prefix family (zz centre, zt top, zb bottom, zf fold, zo/zc open/close fold, zM/zR close/open all)
x
Delete char under cursor
c
Change operator (delete + enter insert mode)
v
Visual mode (charwise)
b
Word backward (motion)
n
Next search match
m
Set mark (ma marks current position as a)
,
Reverse-repeat last f/F/t/T
.
Repeat last change (the killer feature)
/
Search forward
Special keys (no shift, no row)
Key
Function
Esc
Cancel / return to normal mode
Enter
Down to first non-blank of next line (same as +)
Space
Right one column (same as l)
Backspace
Left one column (same as h)
Tab
Next jumplist entry (same as Ctrl-I)
Pass 2 — Shifted keys
Once the unshifted keys feel automatic, walk the keyboard again with shift held. The pattern: shifted-letter = bigger / opposite / line-flavored version of its unshifted counterpart. Shifted-number = a punctuation symbol with its own meaning. Shifted-punctuation = often a paired motion or an operator.
Tilde row
Key
Function
~
Toggle case of character under cursor (advances cursor)
Shifted number row
Key
Function
!
Filter operator — run buffer range through external shell command (!ap)
@
Play macro from register (@a plays register a, @@ replays last)
#
Search backward for word under cursor
$
End of line
%
Jump to matching (/)/[/]/{/}; also %-range in Ex
^
First non-blank of line
&
Repeat last :s substitution on current line
*
Search forward for word under cursor
(
Sentence backward
)
Sentence forward
_
Down to first non-blank (same as -, but next line)
+
Down to first non-blank of next line (same as Enter)
Shifted top letter row
Key
Function
Q
In Neovim: replay last macro. In classic Vim: enter ex mode
W
WORD forward (whitespace-delimited, vs lowercase w word-delimited)
E
End of WORD
R
Enter replace mode (overwrite as you type)
T
Till char backward
Y
Yank line (classic Vim) / yank to end of line (Neovim default)
U
Undo all changes on current line (rarely used)
I
Insert at first non-blank of line
O
Open new line above and insert
P
Paste before cursor
{
Paragraph backward
}
Paragraph forward
|
Go to column N (5| = column 5)
Shifted home row
Key
Function
A
Append at end of line
S
Substitute whole line (delete + insert)
D
Delete to end of line
F
Find char on line backward
G
Go to last line (5G = line 5)
H
Top of screen (high)
J
Join current line with next
K
Lookup keyword under cursor (man, :help, or LSP hover)
L
Bottom of screen (low)
:
Enter command-line mode — type an Ex command
"
Register prefix ("ap paste from register a, "+y yank to system clipboard)
Shifted bottom row
Key
Function
Z
Save/quit prefix (ZZ save + quit, ZQ quit without saving)
X
Delete char before cursor
C
Change to end of line
V
Visual-line mode
B
WORD backward
N
Previous search match
M
Middle of screen
<
Dedent operator (<< line, <+motion range)
>
Indent operator (>> line, >+motion range)
?
Search backward
Pass 3 — Ctrl- variants
Most letters also have a Ctrl- variant. Many of them are useful, a handful are essential, and a few do nothing in normal mode at all. The most worthwhile to learn:
Jumplist backward — return to previous cursor location
Ctrl-I
Jumplist forward (same key as Tab)
Ctrl-A
Increment number under or after cursor
Ctrl-X
Decrement number under or after cursor
Ctrl-G
Show file info (path, line number, total lines)
Ctrl-]
Jump to tag under cursor (or LSP definition with plugin)
Ctrl-T
Jump back from tag
Ctrl-V
Visual-block mode (column selection)
Every other Ctrl- combination — including the obscure and the rarely-useful — is catalogued in Complete Key Reference. When in doubt about what Ctrl-X, say, does in some context, look it up there.