How do I redo an undone change in Vim?

Explanation

The <C-r> (Ctrl+r) command redoes the last change that was undone with u. Vim maintains a full undo/redo history, so you can move back and forth through your edits freely.

How it works

• u undoes the last change
• <C-r> redoes the last undone change
• You can press <C-r> repeatedly to redo multiple undone changes

Example

Given the text:

Hello, world!

You delete world! with daw, leaving:

Hello, 

Pressing u undoes the deletion, restoring Hello, world!. Pressing <C-r> redoes it, deleting world! again.

Tips

• Vim has an undo tree, not just a linear history — use :undolist to see the branches
• Use U to undo all changes on the current line (this counts as its own change)
• Use :earlier 5m to jump to the buffer state from 5 minutes ago
• Use :later 5m to move forward in time
• If you accidentally undo too far, <C-r> will get you back