How to undo and redo in Vim

Press u in Normal mode to undo your last change, and Ctrl+r to redo it. Each u steps back one more change.

The keys

Keys	What they do
`u`	Undo the last change
`Ctrl`+`r`	Redo what you just undid
`3u`	Undo three changes
`:earlier 10m`	Wind the file back ten minutes
`:later 10m`	And forward again

One change is one undo. Everything you type between i and Esc counts as one change, so u takes back the whole burst at once.

Vim keeps the full history, not just the last step. That's why :earlier and :later can move through it by time.

Watch outDon't reach for Ctrl+z. In a terminal it suspends Vim and drops you back at the shell. Type fg and press Enter to get it back.

Want all of Vim, in order? Vim Scoops is a free game that starts at h j k l and builds up to macros.