Learning Path

A structured approach to mastering Vim from zero to full-stack development.

Week 1: Survival

Run vimtutor (built-in, takes 30 minutes).

Concept	What to learn
Motions	h j k l, w b e, 0 $ ^, gg G
Insert	i a o I A O six ways to enter insert mode
Exit	:w save, :q quit, :wq or ZZ save+quit
Undo	u undo, Ctrl-R redo
Delete	x char, dd line, dw word

Golden Rule

Never use arrow keys. Force hjkl until it's muscle memory.

Week 2: The Language of Vim

Vim commands follow operator + motion grammar:

d + w  = delete word
c + i" = change inside quotes
y + $  = yank to end of line

Operators	d delete, c change, y yank, v visual select
Motions	w word, $ end, 0 start, } paragraph, f{char} find
Text Objects	iw inner word, i" inner quotes, a{ around braces, ip inner paragraph

The Dot Command (.) repeats your last change. This is Vim's superpower.

Week 3: Registers & Navigation

• "ayy yank line to register a
• "ap paste from register a
• "+y yank to system clipboard
• :reg view all registers
• Ctrl-O / Ctrl-I jump back/forward
• m{a-z} set mark, '{a-z} jump to mark

Week 4: Plugins (dotvim)

Key	Action
Ctrl+P	Find files (FZF)
Space e	File explorer (NERDTree)
Space fg	Search in files (ripgrep)
Space t	Toggle terminal
Tab / S-Tab	Next/previous buffer

Month 2: LSP & Git

Key	Action
gd	Go to definition
gr	Find references
K	Hover documentation
Space rn	Rename symbol
Space ca	Code actions
Space gs	Git status
]h / [h	Next/previous git hunk

Month 3: Power User

• Macros: qa record, q stop, @a replay, 100@a bulk
• Global: :g/TODO/d delete all TODO lines
• Substitute: :%s/old/new/gc find and replace with confirmation
• External: :%!sort pipe buffer through shell command

Ongoing

Read :help for one new command per day. After 6 months, you'll be faster than any GUI editor.