Vim Hands-On

What I would teach people about vim.

Getting started

• vimtutor
• Getting help :h :help (great documentation)
  • Help on normal mode command :help CTRL-p
  • Help on insert mode command :help i_CTRL-p
  • Help on visual mode command :help v_CTRL-]
  • Help on command line command :help :s
  • Jump to tags with CTRL-], on German keyboards that is AltGr+Strg+9
• Edit file: :e [file]
• Edit new (unnamed) file: :enew or :tabnew
• Quitting: :q :qa :q! :wq :wqa! ZZ :x

Starting it

• Commands
  • vim
  • gvim
  • (g)vimdiff
• Parameters for multiple files:
  • Vertical split: vim -O [files]
  • Horizontal split: vim -o [files]
  • Open in tabs: vim -p [files]

Modes (and how to get there)

• Normal: Esc CTRL-C
• Insert: i I a A c C
• Visual: v V CTRL-V gv
• Command line: :
• Ex: Don’t do it (Q)

Insert Mode (Writing)

• Start insert mode: i I a A c C
• Completion
  • Repetition: CTRL-P, CTRL-N, CTRL-x CTRL-p
  • File or path: CTRL-x CTRL-f
  • Exact line: CTRL-x CTRL-l
  • Abort completion: CTRL-e
  • Others: :help ins-completion
• Replace/Overwrite: r R
• Undo/Redo
  • u CTRL-R U
  • :earlier :later g+ g-

Motions

• In normal mode: move the cursor or define range for a command
• Moves selection in visual mode
• Characterwise: h j k l (gj gk)
• Word-wise:
  • w e b
  • W E B
• With count: 17h
• Within Line: 0 ^ $ f F t T
• In File: gg G [count]G
• Move Cursor in Screen: H L M
• Move Screen (Scroll): CTRL-f, CTRL-b, CTRL-e, CTRL-y, zz, zb, zt
• Other Blocks: { } ( ) [ ]
• Matching parens %
• Back and forth jumps: CTRL-O CTRL-I/TAB
• Last edits: g; g,
• Marks:
  • Set: m[letter]
  • Goto: '[letter][letter]`
• Goto first occurence of word under cursor
  • ] Ctrl-I after current position
  • [ Ctrl-I from start of file
  • Ctrl-W Ctrl-i same as above, but open new window with cursor at that position

Cut, Copy, Paste:

• y[motion] d[motion] p P, Y D, yy dd, [count]d[motion], x, xp, ddp deep
• Substitute: c[motion]
• Text objects a[something] i[something]
• Registers "[letter]dd"
• Special registers ("*+%)
• Copying registers :let @+=@%
• In insert mode/command line: CTRL-R [register]
• :put

Selections

• Visual modes: regular, full-line, block: v, V, CTRL-V
• With commands as “motion”
• With command line
• go to other side: o O
• Repeat selection gv
• Select next search match: gn gN

Command Line Mode

• History: CTRL-p, CTRL-n
• Editing: CTRL-f
• Filename substitions and modifiers: % %:r, %:h
• Shell Execution:
  • :![command] [args]
  • :%![command] [args] or with visual range
  • :r [file]
  • :r![command] [args]

Windows, Tabs

• Open/close splits: :sp, :vs, CTRL-W v, CTRL-W s, CTRL-W n, CTRL-W c
• Arranged splits: :bo :to
• Rearrange splits: CTRL-W [HJKL], CTRL-W T
• Move between windows: CTRL-W [hjkl], CTRL-W wW CTRL-W p_
• Rearrange windows:
• Rearrange tabs: :tabmove
• Move between tabs: [count]gt gT
• Resize CTRL-W =, CTRL-W [count]<>+-, CTRL-W |__
• Execute command for all windows/tabs: :windo, :tabdo
• Diffing
  • :diffthis (+ @: in next window)
  • :windo diffthis
  • :diffup

Neat stuff you should know

• In normal mode
  • Repeat last edit: .
  • Repeat last command line: @:
  • Join lines: J
  • go to file under cursor:
    • gf, gF in same window (the latter with line number: filename.txt:123)
    • CTRL-W [fF] in new split window
    • CTRL-W g[fF] in new tab (CTRL-W f, CTRL-W T works too)
    • CTRL_-^ go back to previous file
  • Macro recording and playback q[letter] q @q @@
  • Formatting: gw/gq[motion] gwap
  • Suspend: CTRL-Z (gvim: minimizes window)
  • Increment/decrement the next number in the line: CTRL-x, CTRL-a
• In command line
  • Start Terminal: :term, :term [command]
    • Back to “normal mode”: CTRL-W N
    • Window commands (switching etc) move to a window in “outer” vim
    • Use :wincmd [hjkl] to move in “inner” vim
    • Hack to edit a file as root: :term sudo vim [filename] (or edit normally and save via %!sudo tee [filename])
    • To edit the current file as root: :term sudo vim %
  • Colorschemes :colo [name] (tab completion works for name)
• Other
  • You can directly open a directory (:e [path]) for browsing
  • You can open a GUI dialog for open/save commands using :browse, e.g. :browse e
    • can state directory :browse tabe include
    • for opening files: e, vs, sp, tabe, diffsplit, …
    • for saving files: w, sav, wq, …

Search & Replace

• / ? n N (case settings)
• * # g* g#
• :g!/xxx/d
• :%s/xxx/yyy/g
• [i ]i [I ]I - quick display of occurences of the word under cursor

Options

• Billions of options
• :options provides overview, current settings and documentation
• let/set -> go to .vimrc.md
• set [option] and set no[option]

Programming/IDE

• :syntax :set syntax=cpp
• :make :set makeprg
• copen
• Manual Indent: < >
• Autoindent: =[motion] ==
• Comment block: Block selection + I//Esc
• Folding
  • set foldmethod=syntax (or indent)
  • zr zR zm zM za zA
  • set foldmethod=manual, zf
• See ~/.vimrc options
• :help path for going to include files with gf

Plugins

• vim-plug
• vim-fugitive
• YouCompleteMe
• tagbar (sudo apt install exuberant-ctags)
• nerdtree
• indentLine
• go to ~/.vimrc

Other stuff

• Leader mappings
• man pages/help: K
• Upper/Lowercasing: gu[motion] gU[motion]
• ROT13: g?[motion]
• CTRL-V for verbatim entry
• :r![command]
• :set autoread
• Change the working dir with :cd, e.g., :cd ..
• Spelling
  • :set spell
  • :set spelllang=de
    • wget -P ~/.vim/spell/ http://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/de.utf-8.spl
    • wget -P ~/.vim/spell/ http://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell/de.utf-8.sug
• Tags (exuberant-ctags)
  • in shell, create tagfile of
    • current directory in current directory (available when in that directory): ctags --sort=yes --c++-kinds=+p --fields=+iaS --extra=+q --language-force=C++ $(find . -regex .*.hp*)
    • other directory (here /opt/ros/crystal) in directory “.vim/tags” (always available): ctags -f ~/.vim/tags/ros2_install --sort=yes --c++-kinds=+p --fields=+iaS --extra=+q --language-force=C++ $(find /opt/ros/${ROS_DISTRO:-crystal}/include -regex .*.hp*)'
  • Jump to tag under cursor with CTRL } or CTRL-W } (i.e. search word under curser in tagfile and open containing file)
  • Use tag-completion: CTRL-X CTRL-]