Terminal mode is one way to use shell commands from within Vim.

  • :terminal open a new terminal window as a horizontal split
    • opens above the current window unless splitbelow option is set
  • :vertical :terminal open a new terminal window as a vertical split
    • opens to the left of the current window unless splitright option is set

Here are some shortcuts to navigate between windows and change modes:

  • Ctrl+w followed by w or Ctrl+w move to the next window
    • helps you to easily switch back and forth if you have one text editing window and one terminal window
    • see the Splitting tip for more such commands
  • Ctrl+w followed by N goes to Terminal-Normal mode which will help you to move around using Normal mode commands, copy text, etc (note that you need to use uppercase N here)
    • Ctrl+\ followed by Ctrl+n another way to go to Terminal-Normal mode
    • :tnoremap <Esc> <C-w>N map Esc key to go to Terminal-Normal mode
  • Ctrl+w followed by : go to Command-line mode from terminal window

info Depending on your shell, you can use the exit command to end the terminal session. Ctrl+d might work too.

info There are lot of features in this mode, see :h terminal.txt for more details.

Video demo:


info See also my Vim Reference Guide and curated list of resources for Vim.