NeoVim

To install NeoVim

Run the following,

sudo apt update
sudo apt install neovim

Now select y and press enter to confirm the installation.

NeoVim Operation

Opening a file in NeoVim

To call or execute NeoVim, use the command nvim <filename> to do so.

Eg.

nvim ~/wsprdaemon/wsprdaemon.conf

to start editing the wsprdaemon.conf file.

Editing a File in NeoVim

When entering nvim you will be defaulted into Normal mode, this mode allows you to press a key to enter a different mode or perform actions. (Note that you Cannot edit/type in the document in this mode.)

To start entering/editing text press the i key, this will put you in the insert mode.

From here you can type anything you need to edit the document.

To save the document you need to exit insert mode which you can do by pressing Esc.

This will put you back into Normal mode.

Now, to save the document press the colon [:] key.

(Not the semicolon [;], make sure you press shift.)

This opens the vim commandline which allows you to enter commands.

To save type in w to write, and press enter to execute the command.

Now you can press Esc to go back to Normal mode and i to enter insert mode again, if you would like to continue editing the file.

Exiting NeoVim

If you would like to exit nvim, go back to the commandline by pressing : in Normal mode. Then, enter wq to save (write) and quit. Or if you would like to exit the document enter q instead. However, If you made any changes to the file you will receive an error, if you enter q by itself. To quit without saving if you made any edits enter, q! to force/override quit.

Quick Reference

Operation	Keybind	Explanation
Enter Normal Mode	Press Esc	Go back to Normal mode from any other mode
Enter Insert Mode	Press i in Normal Mode	Allows text editing/modification
Enter Insert Mode (On new Line)	Press o in Normal Mode	Creates a blank new line below the cursor and puts you into Insert Mode
Enter Vim Command Line	Press : in Normal Mode (Remember to press shift)	Opens the Vim Command Line (Commands listed in table below)
Enter Visual Mode	Press v in Normal Mode	Starts highlighting text starting from your initial cursor position, move cursor w/ arrow keys to highlight
Copy Text (Yank)	Press y in Visual Mode	Copies text highlighted in visual mode to (nvim only) clipboard
Paste/Print Text	Press p in Visual Mode	Pastes text from (vim only) clipboard. (Note that if you are using SSH to connect to a server, anything copied from your comuter with `Ctrl C` will not paste with p. Instead press `Shift Ctrl V` in insert mode).
Move Cursor Up	Press j in Normal/Visual Mode	Equivalent to the Up Arrow
Move Cursor Down	Press k in Normal/Visual Mode	Equivalent to the Down Arrow
Move Cursor Left	Press h in Normal/Visual Mode	Equivalent to the Left Arrow
Move Cursor Right	Press l in Normal/Visual Mode	Equivalent to the Right Arrow
Undo	Press u in Normal Mode	Equivilent to `Ctrl z` in MS Word
Delete/cut entire row	Press dd in Normal Mode	Deletes/cuts entire row that the cursor is currently on. (Also adds line to yank clipboard)
Replace text	Press c in Visual Mode (with text highlighted)	Will erase highlighted text, and put you into insert mode in its place to replace the text

Operation	Vim Commandline	Example
Save/Write	`w`	`w` to save the file
Quit/Exit	`q`	`q` to exit Vim (If no changes were made to the file)
Force/Override	`!` (After Vim command)	`q!` to Force Quit, or `w!` to overwrite/force save.
Perform Bash Command	`!` (Before Bash Command)	`!ls` to List directory contents using the standard Bash commandline without exiting nvim
Undo	`u`	Equivalent to `Ctrl z` in MS Word

Last modified: 09 April 2025