BastianHofmann

Start new Change

In VIM a new change usually only starts when you leave insert mode (i.e. if you press u for undo, everything in the last insert is reverted). By pressing ctrl+g and then u, you can start a new change while in insert mode. You could even map the return key to do this automatically when you start a new line: :inoremap u (undo will now only undo single lines).

BastianHofmann

Ack Search Word under Cursor

Use :Ack to search for the word under the cursor accross all files in the current working directory.

BastianHofmann

Swap Files Location

You can tell VIM to store your swap files in a fixed directory, instead of mixed in with your other files, by setting for example set directory^=~/.vim/tmp/swap//.

BastianHofmann

CtrlP Open in New Split

Use ctrl+v to open the highlighted result in CtrlP in a new split.

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NERDTreeFind

To reveal the current buffer in NERDTree use the :NERDTreeFind command. This will also open NERDTree if it's closed. You can map the command to a shortcut if you want to.

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Screen Jumping

Use H to the top of the screen, L to the bottom of the screen and M to jump to the middle of the screen.

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Search for Word under Cursor

Press * in command mode to search for the word under the cursor in the open buffer.

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NERDTree Jump

Use J in NERDTree to jump to the last node of the directory in the current tree depth (very usefull for the migrations directory).

I highly recommend checking out https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree/blob/master/doc/NERDTree.txt if you are using NERDTree.

BastianHofmann

Write and Quit

You can use :x or ZZ to write and quit instead of :wq.

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Undo and Redo

Use u in command mode to undo the last action and ctrl+r to redo the action. You can also use [count]u and [count]ctrl+r to undo and redo multiple times. You can also use U to revert all the changes in the last modfied line.