Field Guide for the Trapped

Symptom: "Everything I type does weird stuff."

Likely cause: you're not in Insert mode.

Fix: press Esc once. Then once more because it's free.

Esc Esc

Symptom: ":q won't quit."

Likely cause: unsaved changes.

Fix options:

:wq   "save and quit
:q!   "quit without saving
:w    "save but stay in Vim
:u    "undo (repeat as needed)

Symptom: "I'm stuck in a prompt/search/help/something."

Likely cause: you're in a mini-mode inside Vim.

Fix: press Esc. If that didn't do it, press it again.

Esc Esc

Yes, I repeat that a lot. That's because it works a lot.

Symptom: "It's replaying a macro / I started something and it won't stop."

Likely cause: you're either recording a macro or playing one back.

If you're recording:

Press q again to stop recording.

q

If a macro is playing and you want it to stop right now:

Press Ctrl+C to interrupt, then press Esc to get back to Normal mode.

Ctrl+C
Esc

Bonus: if you were recording into a register like qa, the "stop" is still just q.

Symptom: "Vim is just… messed up."

Likely causes: Vim is having a day.

• Your .vimrc or plugin config is throwing errors on startup.
• The file is read‑only or the filesystem is mounted read‑only.
• A swap file exists, and Vim thinks another session is alive.
• Your terminal is in a weird state (mouse mode, paste mode, or wonky key mappings).
• You’re in a special mode (Replace, Visual Block, or Select) without realizing it.

Fix options:

• Start over clean: vim -u NONE -U NONE to bypass config.
• Force read/write: :set noreadonly then :w! if you really mean it.
• Deal with swap: :recover or delete the swap file if it’s safe.
• Normalize: hit Esc a few times, then :set nopaste.

If all else fails, see the main page for the nuclear options.