How to Delete a Line (or Lines) in Vim and Neovim

Looking at a sea of text or code, dreading the thought of having to delete unwanted lines one by one? Relax: Vim lets you mass-delete in style. Find out here how to delete a line (or multiple lines in one go) with Vim and Neovim ⤓.

How to Delete a Line Fast in Vim or Neovim

To delete a single line fast in Vim, Neovim and Vim-modes in other editing environments:

1. Position the text cursor in the line you want to delete.
   Here’s how: You can use the motion keys J (down) and K (up) in normal mode (exit insert mode first).
   Less repetition: Especially with line numbers visible, press : for command mode, enter the line number and press Enter.
   Anywhere: Any spot on the line is fine; you do not need to concern yourself with the horizontal position at all.
2. Press D D (D two times).
   Delete line contents: Press Shift D to delete from the current cursor position until the end of the line.
   Repetition: You can repeat this command to delete more than one line at a time, of course; see below.

How to Delete Multiple Lines in One Go in Vim or Neovim

Visual Mode: What You See Is What You Delete

One command to cut the lot?

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Vim Normal Mode: Delete Multiple Lines Fast

To delete a line or multiple lines of text fast in Vim in normal mode:

• Press D  D to delete the current line; see above.
• Press <number of lines> D  D to delete the next <number of lines> lines.
  Example: Press 3  D  D to delete the current and the next 2 lines.
  Shift: Here, the alternative <number of lines> Shift D deletes from the current cursor position until the end of the line plus the following $\mathrm{<𝑛𝑣𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟\; 𝑜𝑓\; 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠>}-1$ lines.
  Line numbers: You can have Vim show you line numbers (intermittently or by default), of course.

Vim Command or Normal Mode: Delete All Lines

To delete every line in the current buffer:

1. Press : to enter command mode.
2. Type %d.
3. Press Enter.
   Normal mode: In normal mode, you can press G  G  D  Shift G to delete the entire file’s contents.

Vim Command Mode: Delete Specific Lines

To delete lines by number in Vim:

1. Press : in normal mode to enter command mode.
2. Type the range of line numbers to delete separated by a comma.
   It’s also relative: Use -<line count> and +<line count> for lines relative to the line the cursor is on currently.
   First line: The first line is both 0 and 1.
   Last line: You can use $ for the last line.
3. Append d.
   Examples: :10,30d deletes lines 10–30; :.,+5d deletes the current and the next 5 lines and :%d deletes all lines in the current file.
4. Press Enter.

(Tested with Vim 9.1 and Neovim 0.9–0.12; first published April 2024, last updated September 2026)