Helix cheatsheet

A quick reference for my Helix setup. Default keybindings plus my custom ones (C-s, C-q, C-/, C-r).

Move around

Key	Action
h j k l	Left / down / up / right
w / b	Next / prev word
e	End of word
W / B	Next / prev WORD (with punct)
gg / ge	Start / end of file
gh / gl	Start / end of line
gs	First non-blank char
C-u / C-d	Half page up / down
C-b / C-f	Full page up / down
f{c} / F{c}	Jump to char fwd / back
t{c} / T{c}	Jump before char fwd / back
{num}gg	Jump to line number
C-o / C-i	Jump history back / fwd
mm	Jump to matching bracket
gw	Word jump (labels on screen)
]f / [f	Next / prev function
]c / [c	Next / prev class
]d / [d	Next / prev diagnostic
]p / [p	Next / prev paragraph

Scroll view (z)

Key	Action
zc / zz	Center cursor on screen
zt / zb	Scroll cursor to top / bottom
zk / zj	Scroll up / down one line

Select

Key	Action
v	Enter/extend selection mode
x	Select entire line
X / xx	Extend selection by lines
%	Select entire file
;	Collapse selection to cursor
,	Clear extra cursors
Alt+;	Flip selection direction
_	Trim whitespace from selection

Select objects (m)

Key	Action
mi( mi{ mi[	Inside brackets
ma( ma{ ma[	Around brackets
mi" / mi'	Inside quotes
ma" / ma'	Around quotes
miw / maw	Inside / around word
mif / maf	Inside / around function
mic / mac	Inside / around class
mip / map	Inside / around paragraph

Select with syntax tree

Key	Action
Alt+o	Expand selection (syntax)
Alt+i	Shrink selection (syntax)
Alt+n / Alt+p	Next / prev sibling node

Multi-cursor

Key	Action
C	Add cursor on line below
Alt+C	Add cursor on line above
s	Search regex in selection
S	Split selection by regex
Alt+s	Split selection into lines
&	Align cursors to column

Edit

Key	Action
i / a	Insert before / after cursor
I / A	Insert at line start / end
o / O	New line below / above
d	Delete selection
c	Change (delete + insert)
y	Yank (copy)
p / P	Paste after / before
R	Replace from clipboard
r{c}	Replace selection with char
~	Toggle case
J	Join lines
> / <	Indent / outdent
=	Auto-format selection (LSP)
C-a / C-x	Increment / decrement number
C-/	Toggle line comment (custom)

Undo and macros

Key	Action
u / U	Undo / redo
Q	Record / stop recording macro
q	Play macro

Search and replace

Key	Action
/	Search forward
?	Search backward
n / N	Next / prev match
*	Search word under cursor
:s/a/b/g	Replace in selection
:%s/a/b/g	Replace in entire file

Find files and symbols (Space)

Key	Action
Space+e	File explorer (directory tree)
Space+f	File picker (fuzzy search)
Space+F	File picker in CWD
Space+b	Buffer picker (open files)
Space+j	Jumplist picker
Space+s	Symbol picker (functions, types)
Space+S	Workspace symbol picker
Space+/	Global search (grep project)
Space+?	Command palette

Code intelligence (LSP)

Key	Action
gd	Go to definition
gr	Go to references
gi	Go to implementation
gy	Go to type definition
ga	Go to last accessed file
Space+h	Hover docs
Space+k	Signature help
Space+a	Code action (fix, import)
Space+r	Rename symbol (refactor)
Space+d	Diagnostics (errors list)
Space+D	Workspace diagnostics

Windows and splits

Key	Action
C-w s / :hsplit	Split horizontal
C-w v / :vsplit	Split vertical
C-w h/j/k/l	Focus left/down/up/right
C-w w	Cycle through windows
C-w q	Close current window
C-w o	Close all other windows

Files and buffers

Key	Action
:w	Save (+ auto-format if on)
:q / :q!	Quit / force quit
:wq / :wqa	Save+quit / all
:o {path}	Open or create file
:bc	Close current buffer
:bn / :bp	Next / prev buffer
:sh mkdir -p dir	Create dirs from hx
C-s	Save (custom)
C-q	Quit (custom)
C-r	Reload all buffers (custom)

Useful commands (:)

Key	Action
:sh {cmd}	Run shell command
:format	Format entire file
:pipe {cmd}	Pipe selection through cmd
:config-reload	Reload .toml config
:lsp-restart	Restart LSP server
:theme {name}	Switch color theme
:set line-numbers rel	Relative line numbers
:tutor	Built-in tutorial

Registers and clipboard

Key	Action
"ay / "ap	Yank / paste register a
"+y / "+p	System clipboard copy / paste
"_d	Delete without yanking

Insert mode

Key	Action
C-x	Trigger autocomplete
C-w	Delete word backward
C-u	Delete to start of line
C-r	Insert from register
Esc	Back to normal mode

Common recipes

Sequence	Result
xd	Delete line
xy	Yank (copy) line
miw c	Change word
mi{ c	Change inside
% s{pat} c	Find and replace in file
x s{pat} c	Replace in selected lines
v+move d...p	Cut block, move, paste
x(repeat) C-/	Comment multiple lines
gd Space+r	Go to def + rename symbol