Vim Basic Survival Commands

The Problem

New Vim users are lost without familiarity of any commands. Without these five commands, you cannot open a file, save it, or do anything productive.

Core Idea

Five core Normal-mode commands are enough to survive: insert text, delete characters, save, and quit.

How It Works

Essential commands for Level 1 (Survival):

Command	Action
`i`	Enter Insert mode (type text)
`x`	Delete character under cursor
`:wq`	Save and quit (`:w` = save, `:q` = quit)
`dd`	Delete (cut) the current line
`p`	Paste the last deleted/yanked text

Recommended additions:

hjkl — cursor movement (←↓↑→), j looks like down arrow
:help <command> — show help for any command (:help for general help)

Key Properties

All five commands work in Normal mode
dd both deletes and yanks (stores in default register)
:wq fails if file is read-only — use :wq! to force
p pastes after cursor, P pastes before cursor

Edge Cases & Gotchas

x works on characters, not bytes in multi-byte encodings
dd copies to register, so p can retrieve it
:wq saves even without changes — use :x to save only if modified

Visual Explanation

Semantic Network

Connections

Vim Modes — All commands work in Normal mode
Text Objects — Extend deletion/selection beyond single lines
Navigation — Moving efficiently within lines and files
Repetition — Repeat commands with counts