- C-a ==> CTRL-a
- Normal mode(n) When we open mode, the default mode is normal
- Insert mode(i) When we want to insert some text, we press i, a or A etc to go in insert mode
- Command mode(c) When we type colon(:) from normal mode, we enters command mode
- Visual mode(v) Using v or V or C-i
vim filename # Open a file in VIM
vim -p *.c # Open files in separate tabs, use :tabn and :tabp to switch between tabs
vim -d file1 file2 # Open files in diff mode
vim filename + # Open file with cursor at end
vim filename +n # Open file with cursor at line n
vim -o *.c # Open matching files horizontally splitted
vim -O *.c # Open matching files vertically splitted
# Use C-w then [h, j, k, l] to switch between vim splits
vim -u NOVIMRC <filename> # Open file in vanilla vim, without using .vimrc file
vim --noplugin <filename> # Open file without using any plugin
vim --noplugin -u NOVIMRC <filename> # Above 2 commands combined:w[rite] " Write unsaved changes to file
:w! " Save file forcefully
:wa[ll] " Save all files
:wa! " Save all files forcefully
" Forceful is required when we opened a file which is readonly like already opened by someone:q[uit] " Exit from vim editor
:wq " Save and exit
:q! " Forceful exit from vim, without saving changes
:wq! " Forceful save and exit from vim
:qa[ll] " Quit all opened files like when we open vim using 'vim *.c'
:wqa " Save all opened files and exit
:x " Save and exit, same as :wq
:xa " Save all opened files and exit, same as :wqa
:exit " Save and exit, same as :x or :wq
:exit! " Forceful save and exit from vim, same as :xa! or :wq!
" Any command postfixed with ! means forceful, other combinations are :x! or :xa! or :wqa!- Word(w) Separated by punctuations, like 'some.string' has 3 words
- Bigger Word(W) Separated by space, newline etc, like 'some.string' is single bigger word
- Sentence(s) A sentence is defined as ending at a '.', '!' or '?' followed by either the end of a line, or by a space or tab.
- Paragraph(p) A paragraph begins after each empty line
h " Move cursor left by one character
j " Move cursor down by one character
k " Move cursor up by one character
l " Move cursor right by one character
3j " Move 3(or n) lines down, similar for otherw " Move cursor at starting of next word
W " Move cursor at starting of next bigger word
e " Move cursor at the end of next word
b " Move cursor at starting of previous word
B " Move cursor at starting of previous bigger word
ge " Move cursor at the end of the previous word
3w " Move cursor at starting of 3(or n) words ahead, similar for other0 " Move to beginning of line
^ " Move to first character(non space) of line
$ " Move to end of line
g_ " Move to last character(non space) of line( " Jump to previous sentence
) " Jump to next sentence
{ " Jump to previous paragraph
} " Jump to next paragraph
% " Jump to open close blocks like /* .. */, [], {}, ()H " High, Move cursor at the top of file in current view
M " Mid, Move cursor at center of file in current view
L " Low, Move cursor to last in current viewC-b " Page up
C-f " Page down
5C-b " Move 5(or n) pages up, same for down
50gg " Move to 50th(or nth) line
50G " Move to 50th(or nth) linezt " Move current line to top of screen
zz " Move current line to centre of screen
zb " Move current line to bottom of screen
Lzz " Bring bottom line to the middle of the screen
Hzz " Bring top line to the middle of the screen
Lzt " Bring bottom line to top of screen
...zz or zt is useful when we search for some text and it comes in bottom of screen and we want to see lines below it
/some-text zz " Bring line having searched text to middle of screenC-e " Move/scroll screen up without moving cursor position
C-y " Move/scroll screen down without moving cursor position
5C-e " Move screen up by 5 lines without moving cursor position
5C-e " Move screen down by 5 lines without moving cursor position
C-d " Move screen down by half screen without moving cursor
C-u " Move screen up by half screen without moving cursor
5% " Move to a line by 5% of file like in a file having 500 lines, 5% will move to 25th lineBelow commands can be used to move from normal mode to insert mode
i " Insert at current cursor position
I " Insert at beginning of line
a " Insert just after current cursor position
A " Insert at end of current line
o " Insert newline below current line
O " Insert newline above current lines " Delete current character and start inserting
S " Delete current line and start inserting
cc " Delete current line and start inserting, same as S
cw " Delete current word and start inserting
C " Delete line from current cursor position to end of line and start insertingApart from above, c can be followed with various other motions like ciw to change text, explained later!
y{motion} " Yank block selected by motion
d{motion} " Delete block selected by motion
c{motion} " Change block selected by motion
v{motion} " Visually select block selected by motionyy " Yank current line
yw " Yank current word
y5w " Yank next 5(or n) words
yW " Yank current bigger word
yb " Yank previous word
y5b " Yank previous 5(or n) words
yB " Yank previous bigger word
yj " Yank current and next line
y5j " Yank current and next 5(or n) lines
yk " Yank current and previous line
y5k " Yank current and previous 5(or n) lines
y0 " Yank from current cursor position to begining of line
y$ " Yank from current cursor position to end of line
y^ " Yank from current cursor position to first char(non space) of line
yg_ " Yank from current cursor position to last char(non space) of line
...dd " Delete current line
D " Delete from current cursor position till end of line
dw " Delete current word
db " Delete previous word
dj " Delete current and next line
d5j " Delete current and next 5(or n) lines
dk " Delete current previous line
d5k " Delete current and previous 5(or n) lines
...ddp " Swap current line and next linecc " Change current line
C " Change from cursor position to end of line
cw " Change current word
c5w " Change next 5(or n) words
...v " Start visual mode, use other navigation commands to select more
V " Visually select current line
v$ " Visually select from current cursor position to end of line
...Text in default vim register(using yy, cw, dw...) can be pasted using below 2 commands
p " Paste after current cursor position
P " Paste before current cursor positionIn Normal mode we can perform undo and redo operations
u " Undo
4u " Undo the last four (or n) changes
C-r " Redo
C-r " Redo last four (or n) changesNote: Undo and redo can also be done in command mode using :undo and :redo but Normal mode one is more handy.
>> " Right indent current line
>5j " Right indent current and next 5(or n) lines
>5k " Right indent current and previous 5(or n) lines
<< " Left indent current line
<5j " Left indent current and next 5(or n) lines
<5k " Left indent current and previous 5(or n) lines== " Auto align current line
=5j " Auto align current line and 5(or n) next lines, or use '5=='
=5k " Auto align current line and 5(or n) previous linesBelow commands can be used to select text/blocks/objects when prefixed with
commands like y, c, d, v...
iw " Inner word
iW " Inner bigger word
it " Inner tag like <head>....</head>
i” " Inner double quoted contents
i' " Inner single quoted contents
i` " Inner backticked content
is " Inner sentence
ip " Inner paragraph
ib " Inner contents of block - enclosed with (...)
iB " Inner contents of bigger block - enclosed with {...}
i( " Inner contents of round brackets
i) " Inner contents of round brackets
i{ " Inner contents of curly brackets
i} " Inner contents of curly brackets
...
" This can be used with any other block also like [], <>...If prefix i above is replaced with a, it will include enclosing space/block also
aw " A word, include trailing space with word
aW " A bigger word
at " A tag like <head>....</head>
a” " A double quoted, including double quotes
a' " A single quoted
a` " A backticked block
as " A sentence
ap " A paragraph
ab " A block - '(...)'
aB " A bigger block - '{...}'
a( " A block of round brackets, including braces
a) " A block of round brackets
a{ " A block of curly brackets
a} " A block of curly brackets
...
" This can be used with any other blocks also like [], <>...Above motions can be used with y, c, d or v. First char is operation/command followed by motion
Any command prefixed with c will switch to insert mode after the operation
ciw " Change inner word
ciW " Change inner bigger word
cit " Change inner contents of tag
ci" " Change inner contents enclosed within double quotes
cib " Change inner contents of (...) block
ci{ " Change inner contents of {...} block, same as `ci}`
ci` " Change inner contents of `...`
...
caB " Change a bigger block `{...}` including braces
ca} " Change a block `{...}`, same as `ca}`
ca> " Change a tag, same as `ca<`
...
" c is operation and iw, iW, it... are motions in all above commands
" Text deleted using `c` command can be pasted at some other location using paste command(p/P)yiw " Yank inner word
yiW " Yank inner bigger word
yit " Yank inner tag
yi" " Yank inner double quoted text
yi' " Yank inner single quoted text
yis " Yank inner sentence
yip " Yank inner paragraph
yi( " Yank inner text inside () block, same as 'yi)'
yi[ " Yank inner text inside [] block, same as 'yi]'
...
yaw " Yank a word including trailing spaces
ya) " Yank a block including round braces, same as 'ya('
...
" y is operation and iw, iW, it... are motions in all above commands
" After yanking relevant text, it can be pasted at some other location using paste command(p/P)diW " Delete inner bigger word
di' " Delete inner text enclosed within single quotes
di] " Delete inner text within [...], same as 'di['
dip " Delete inner paragraph
...
das " Delete a sentence
daB " Delete a bigger block '{...}'
...
" After deleting relevant text, it can be pasted at some other location using paste command(p/P)viw " Visually select inner word
vi" " Visually select text within double quotes
vi} " Visually select contents enclosed with {...}
...
va} " Visually select a block '{...}'
vap " Visually select a paragraph
...f<char> " Find next `char` on current line and move cursor on it
t<char> " Find next `char` on current line and move cursor one before it
F<char> " Find previous `char` on current line and move cursor on it
T<char> " Find previous `char` on current line and move cursor one before it
; " Repeat f/t or F/T command to find next or previous occurrence respectively
, " Repeat f/t or F/T command to find previous or next occurrence respectivelyAbove commands(f/t/F/T) searches and operates(check below section) on current line
/<pattern> " Search for next occurrence of `pattern` in file
?<pattern> " Search for previous occurrence of `pattern` in fileAbove commands(/ and ?) searches and operates(check below section) across file
df<char> " Delete till next occurrence of `char`(included)
dt<char> " Delete till next occurrence of `char`(excluded)
dF<char> " Delete till previous occurrence of `char`(included)
dT<char> " Delete till previous occurrence of `char`(excluded)
d/<pattern> " Delete till next occurrence of `pattern` in file
d?<pattern> " Delete till previous occurrence of `pattern` in fileDelete and start inserting
cf<char> " Change till next occurrence of `char`(included)
ct<char> " Change till next occurrence of `char`(excluded)
cF<char> " Change till previous occurrence of `char`(included)
cT<char> " Change till previous occurrence of `char`(excluded)
c/<pattern> " Change till next occurrence of `pattern` in file
c?<pattern> " Change till previous occurrence of `pattern` in filecf<char> " Yank till next occurrence of `char`(included)
ct<char> " Yank till next occurrence of `char`(excluded)
cF<char> " Yank till previous occurrence of `char`(included)
cT<char> " Yank till previous occurrence of `char`(excluded)
c/<pattern> " Yank till next occurrence of `pattern` in file
c?<pattern> " Yank till previous occurrence of `pattern` in fileSame as above, y gets replaced with v
C-a " Increment current number by 1
C-x " Decrement current number by 1
5C-a " Increment current number by 5(or n)
5C-x " Decrement current number by 5(or n)By default increment and decrement works only for dec, hex, oct and bin.
Append alpha to nrformats to work with alphabets also
:set nrformats+=alpha " Increment alphabets also
:set nrformats? " View list of supported options/pattern " Search next occurrence of 'pattern' in file
/red\|green " Search multiple strings at the same time, this selects red and green
" Other regex are also supported in search:g/pattern/d " Delete all lines having 'pattern'
:v/pattern/d " Delete all lines **not** having 'pattern' or use :g!/pattern/d
:v/error\|warn\|fail/d " Delete all lines **not** having error, warn or fail
:g/^\s*$/d " Delete all empty lines from file
" Using grep command
:%! grep pattern " Delete all lines having 'pattern'
:%! grep -v pattern " Delete all lines **not** having 'pattern' or use :g!/pattern/d
:%! grep "error\|warn\|fail/" " Delete all lines **not** having error, warn or fail
" ^ Start of line
" \s Select space
" * 0 or any number
" $ End of line:%s/<some-text>/<some-text>/gn " Will give the count of the number of times 'some-text' occurs in a file
" g - Globally select in whole file
" n - Donot replace any occurrence, only gives the occurrences countC-] " Jump to a tag
C-t " Jump back from a tag
g] " List all tags defined on for current string, you can jump to any tag in list
" Note - tags file can be created using ctags utilityVim searches in tags file if present otherwise from list(:ls) of opened files in vim buffer to build list of autocompletes. Also has language specific logic to display autocomplete logic. Autocomplete commands works in insert mode only
C-p " Goto previous autocomplete in list
C-n " Goto next autocomplete in list
C-xC-n " Search in current file only
C-xC-f " Search filenames only
C-xC-] " Search from tags fileonly
C-xC-l " Search for whole line completion, searches by matching prefix- In normal mode press
qfollowed by a character likeqato record in register a - Do operations you want to record
- Press
qagain to stop recording @a- Playback recorded operations in a. Use10@ato repeat recorded operation 10 times@@- Repeat last playback
Below example shows how to replace string a new one in all C files present at current path
vim *.c- Open all c files in vimqa- Start recording in register a:%s/OldString/NewString/g- Replace oldString with newString:wnext- Save current file and move to next oneq- Stop recording@a- Verify if recording works correctly999@a- Repeat for all files, 999 used to cover all files
mx " Set a mark named x at current cursor position
‘x " Jump to beginning of line of mark x
`x " Jump to cursor position of mark xMarks work across files also, for setting marks within the same file use lower case(a-z) chars and for inter file use upper case(A-Z) chars
mX " Sets the mark, if we are in some other file, `X will open the marked line in other fileFrequently used marks already defined by VIM
‘’(2 single quotes) " Return to starting of line before the latestest jump
``(2 tik quotes) " Return to cursor position before the lastest jump(undo jump)
‘. " Return to the beginning of last line changed
gi " Move cursor to position where we were in insert mode last time, also set insert mode
'< " Move cursor to begining of line where last visual mode started
'> " Move cursor to begining of line where last visual mode ended
`< " Move cursor to position where last visual mode started
`> " Move cursor to position where last visual mode ended
‘[ " Move to start boundary of the chunk of text last changed or yanked
‘] " Move to end boundary of the chunk of text last changed or yanked
" Use `(tick) to jump on exact cusrsor positions:e " Refresh current file
:e! " Refresh current file forcefully, ignoring changes
:e <file> " Edit new file mentioned
:e# " View previous file
" Use TAB while searching for new <file> to see all options:sp " Horizontally split current file
:vsp " Vertically split current file
:sp <file> " Open given file in horizontally splitted window
:vsp <file> " Open given file in vertically splitted window
" Use TAB while searching for new <file> to see all optionsSwitch to other splitted window
C-wh " Move to adjacent right window
C-wj " Move to adjacent down window
C-wk " Move to adjacent up window
C-wl " Move to adjacent left windowC-wc " Close current window
C-wo " Maximize current window and minimize othersWhen we open multiple files using commands like vim *.py, below commands can be used for file navigation
:n[ext] " Move to next file in list of opened files
:N[ext] " Move to previous file in list of opened files
:wn[ext] " Save and move to the next file in list of opened files
:wN[ext] " Save and move to previous file in list of opened files:tabnew <file(s)> " Open file(s) in new vim tab
:tabn[ext] " Switch to next tab, :[tabN]ext also works
:tabp[revious] " Switch to previous tabList all buffered files, that was opened in current vim window using :e, :find, :sp, :vsp etc
:ls:b <pattern> " Open file which matches unique text in filename listed by `ls` command
:b <n> " Open file numbered n in `ls` command file list
:bn[ext] " Open next file in buffer
:bp[revious] " Open previous file bufferSome settings before using find command, can be added in ~/.vimrc
:filetype plugin on " Enables filetype(provided by vim itself) plugin
:set path+=** " Search in all directories and all subdirectories
:set path? " Show value of path variableBelow command will search all files/directory matching given pattern, use tab and shift + tab to move around files
:find <pattern>TABPress TAB to see files
:find *.py " Search all python files
:find main* " Search all files starting with main...
:find TAB " Show all files - current dir and all subdirs
:find <path/to/file/<pattern>> " Search for files matching pattern, in given subdirectoryVIM help is one the best resource to learn VIM, below are few commands on how to utilise VIM help manual
:help " Opens help manual, use C-] to open help of specific text, C-t to go back
:help ^n " Opens help on what C-n key does in normal mode
:help i_^n " Opens help on what C-n key does in insert mode
:help c_^n " Opens help on what C-n key does in command mode
:help v_j " Opens help on what does 'j' does in visual mode:helpgrep <edit> " Opens help which has keyword 'edit' in the entire vim help manual
" Navigate helpgrep result using below commands
:cl " List all occurrences
:cn " Goto next occurrence
:cp " Previous occurrence
:cc2 " Goto 2nd(nth) itemBelow mapping maps command find to alias ff
cnoremap ff find
" First c indicates that this mapping is applicable in command mode only
" Now we can use `ff` instead of `find` to find a fileBelow mapping maps keystroke -- to dump contents of some file jira.txt and start inserting after that content in normal mode
nnoremap -- :-1read $HOME/.vim/jira.txt<CR>A
" First n indicates this mapping is applicable in normal mode only
" -1 is used to make sure that text is inserted from current line and no new line inserted at the beginning
" `A` is used to start inserting at end of line(content of file)
" Note: Any custom sequence of vim commands can be added after <CR>Other mappings can be created using inoremap and vnoremap in insert and visual modes respectively
Below abbreviation command maps keystorke #b in insert mode to add given comment
:ab[breviate] #b /***********************/Maps keystroke ce to insert given comment in normal mode
:map ce :put='/*klocwork_fix_2_5_4_end*/'<CR>There are many VIM settings that we can do in VIM's current window or add permanent ones to .vimrc file. Below are some of the examples of VIM settings
:set nu[mber] " Set absolute line numbers
:set relativenumber " Set relative numbers, Useful for yanking(y) and deleting(d) lines w.r.t current position
:set spell " Enable spellcheck, To add any word to spell check dictionary, move cursor to that word and press zg
:set spell? " ? can be used to see value of a variable:8,11s/^/#/g " Insert `#` in starting of lines 8 to 11
" 8 and 11 are absolute line numbers(not relative)
" ^ Denotes start of line- Goto start line from where you want to comment
- Press
C-vto start visual mode, now usej(or k)with some number like9j(or k)to 9 select more lines - Press
I, press commenting character like#for scripting languages ESC, this will comment all lines selected
- Select a rectangular block in visual mode using
C-v+h, j, k, l - Press
cto cut the selection and then add any new text followed byESC - Selected rectangular block will be updated with new text
- Note Pressing
din second step will delete the selected text
- We can use vim plugin manager vim-plug to easy manage various plugins we use
- This plugin uses
fzfprogram in vim have fuzzy file searches - Some basic commands on how to this and open files using fuzzy search vim plugin
" Start search, this command used very frequently so it is aliased on some short key binding
" like <C-p> in normal mode using :nnoremap <C-p> :Files<Cr>
:Files
:Files! " Search in full screen window
:Buffers " Open list of files in buffer- Within fzf search window
- Use up/down arrow or
<C-p>/<C-n>to move up down in file list Enterto open selected file in current window<C-t>to open in new tab<C-v>to open in vertical split<C-x>to open in horizontal split
- Use up/down arrow or
- fzf window appearance
- Bottom:
let g:fzf_layout = { 'down': '40%' } - Popup:
let g:fzf_layout = { 'window': { 'width': 0.9, 'height': 0.6 } }
- Bottom:
We can encrypt files in VIM itself while saving
" Will ask for encryption key twice and then save the encrypted file
" Now when we open this file, it will ask for key to decrypt the file
:X
" Removes encryption from file
:set key=<ENTER>
" In VIM 8.x default encryption method used is *blowfish2* and this is the recommended method to use
" Other methods supported are zip and blowfish - not much reliable
:set cryptmethod=blowfish2K " Open man page of the word where cursor is
2K " Open man page section 2(or n)zg " Add word under cursor to vim dictionary, this word will not be marked as red with :spell:C-f " Open list of last 50 commands executed, goto any command and hit enter to redo that command:w " Saving file displays filename also
C-g " Show current filename with other details(char count, lines...)
:f " Show current filename with other details(char count, lines...), same as C-g
:echo expand("%") " Show current filename
# The advantage of having the status line displayed always is, you can see the current mode, file name,
# file status, ruler, etc.
:set laststatus=2
# Set filename in statusline, although is displayed by default but as an example
:set statusline=%F # Full absolute file path
:set statusline=%f # Relative filepath- My
.vimrc: https://github.com/hansrajdas/dotfiles - Useful plugins
- Shifting blocks: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/VimTip224
- Moving around: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Moving_around
- Increasing and decreasing: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Increasing_or_decreasing_numbers
- Recording keys for repeated jobs: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Recording_keys_for_repeated_jobs
- VIM navigation Commands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qem8cpbJeYc
- Mastering the VIM language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR5gYd6um0
- Without plugin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2WjJbmmoM
- From muggle to wizard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MquaityA1SM
- Cut copy paste: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Copy,_cut_and_paste
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