Vim notes

vim-notes.md

brew install neovim

• Open a file in vim editor using vi <path_to_file_name>

Important Points

• 4 modes
  • normal mode ~ just move cursor around
  • insert mode ~ can type regular editor
  • visual mode ~ highlighting with cursor
  • command mode ~ pressing :
    • :w ~ save the editor
    • :q ~ quite the editor
  • practice command with game:
    • :VimBeGood
    • Need to add this plugin
    • press dd at line hjkl , this will start a game. This game helps to build muscle memory

Modes

Normal mode:

Called as Vim motion. Motion is anything that moved motion

• h - move left
• j ~ move down
• k ~ move up
• l - right
• w - moves forward with per every word
• b - moves backward per every word
• d - delete
  • dd - delete current line
  • u - undo
  • ctlr + r - redo previous action

Examples:

• 8k - takes the cursor :luc_arrow_big_up: 8 times UP in the file
• 16j - takes the cursor :luc_arrow_big_down: 16 times in the file
• 7dd - deleted 7 lines :luc_arrow_big_down: from line where your cursor is
• 3u - undo the last3 changes in the file

Insert mode

• a - moves cursor to the right side of the curosr

  • Generally when we enter into insert mode, vim types the characters on the left side of the cursor

• v - Visual mode

  • Can be used any motions we learned so far

Search mode

• hit / in command mode and enter the string
  • For example: /schema - it takes you to the first character of first search result
  • to navigate down the results - lower case n
  • to navigate upwards - upper case N

• Search and replace

  • To search and replace , type : and then %s/<actual_string>/<new_string>/gc
    • g - stands for greedy ~ means replace every occurence not just first match
    • c - stands for confirmation - ask for confirmation for every replacement

Command mode

• all the above commands can be performed in command mode
  • to go to starting of the file [[ or gg
  • to go to ending of the file ]] or shift + g
  • to go to certain line <line_number>gg ~ 47gg
  • 69G

Copy

• copy ==== yank in vim's terminology
• to copy the text we use y key
• yiw - copy the current word
• yw - copy from cursor to the start of the next word
• yb - copy from cursor to the end of the previous word
• yy - copy the whole line
• y$ - copy from current cursor location to the end of the line
• 4yy - copy 4 lines from the line where cursor is , including current line

Cut

• diw - delete current word
• dw - delete from cursor location to start of the next word
• db - delete from cursor location to end of the previous words
• dd - delete the whole line
• 4dd - delete 4 lines from the where cursor is, including current line
• d$ - delete from current cursor location to end of the line
• d^ - delete from cursor location to the start of line

Search for files and across files:

• Space + s + f - opens up menu for find files
• gd - go to definition of the file
• Telescope keymaps
  • Find all possible keymaps those can be helpful in searching and sorting
• Mason
  • to install any of the language server supported
• Telescope help_tags
  • Shows all help tags