Vim Undo, Redo, and Repeat — u, Ctrl+r, .

Undo and Redo

Command	Action
u	Undo the last change
Ctrl+r	Redo (undo the undo)
U	Undo all changes on the current line
{n}u	Undo the last n changes

Vim's Undo Tree

Unlike most editors that have a linear undo history, Vim maintains an undo tree. If you undo several changes and then make a new edit, the previous redo history is not lost — it becomes a branch in the undo tree. You can navigate this tree with:

• g- — Go to an older text state
• g+ — Go to a newer text state
• :earlier 5m — Go to the text state from 5 minutes ago
• :later 10s — Go to the text state 10 seconds forward

The Dot Command (.)

The . command repeats the last change. This is arguably Vim's most powerful feature:

Example workflow:

1. ciwfoo — Change the word under cursor to "foo"
2. Move to another word
3. . — Change that word to "foo" too

What counts as a "change":

• Everything from entering Insert mode to leaving it
• Any Normal mode command that modifies text (x, dd, >>, etc.)
• A substitution command

Combining Dot with Search

The killer pattern is combining . with n:

1. /oldWord — Search for the word
2. cwNewWord — Change it
3. n — Jump to next match
4. . — Repeat the change
5. Repeat steps 3-4 as needed

This gives you manual control over each replacement, which :%s does not.