Very useful to open multiple files on the same screen or the same file at different places. Splits consists of sharing the vim's screen.

There are basically two possibilities :

• split = horizontal split
• vsplit = vertical split

$ vim -o foo bar = open foo and bar in split
$ vim -O foo bar = open foo and bar in vsplit

'^' is the CTRL key.

^w s = share the screen horizontally in two
^w v = share the screen vertically in two

^w j = select the bottom split
^w k = select the top split
^w + = extend the current split a line
^w - = reduce the current split a line

^w h = select the vsplit on the left
^w l = select the vsplit on the right
^w > = extend the current split a column
^w < = reduce the current split a column
^w w = switch between splits
^w [up,down,right,left] = select the split

^w H = move on the left
^w L = move on the right
^w K = move on the top
^w J = move on the bottom

^w q = close the current split
^w o = close all the splits but the current