An overview of vim and a list of important commands with examples

vim-overview.md

vim notes

• the following notes are derived from this awesome presentation
• a modal text editor
• modes:
  • normal (default on start)
  • insert
  • visual
  • command mode
• don't use the arrow keys
• i,I insert (begin of line)
• a,A append (line end)

motions

• cursor motions:
  • use h,j,k,l for right,down,up,left
  • 0, $ jump begin/end of line
• word motions
  • w, b next/prev word beginning
  • e, eg next/prev word ending
• character jump:
  • f<char>, F<char> find next/prev (on character)
  • t<char>, T<char> find next/prev (one character before)
• other movement:
  • ), ( next/prev sentences
  • }, { next/prev paragraphs
• all those previous commands can be prefixed by a number (counts), e.g. 3j jumps three lines down
• :set relativenumber enables relative numbering based on the current line, this makes relative jump counts fairly easy

edits (verbs and nouns)

• change/replace c character, c$ = C till end of line, cc line
  • replace a word cw
• delete d, d$ = D till end of line, dd line
• xC, XC delete Count characters after/before
• copy y character, Y = yy line
  • map Y y$ to get consistent behaviour

modifiers (adjectives)

• aw a word, iw inner word
• as a sentence, iw inner sentence
• ap a paragraph, ip inner paragraph
• at a tag, it inner tag
  • <h1>change in tag</h1> to replace the heading: cit (change in tag)
• modify inside iX, outside aX, where X is ", `, ', <, ...

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• . repeat the last edit
• J join lines

window movement

• C-f, C-b page up/down
• C-d, C-u half page up/down
• C-y, C-e line up/down
• relative to cursor: zt (top), zz (center), zb (bottom)

cursor movement

• move cursor inside window: H (top), M (mid), L (bottom)
• jump to <number>gg top, <number>G bottom of the file

selection

• v char. wise
• V line wise
• C-v block wise

command mode

• : enter command mode
• wq wqa write quite (all)
• x, xa only write if changes were made
• w! discard and quit
• r <filepath> read-in file
• %!command filter through external command
  • e.g. %!tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'
• :.!command insert command output in place
  • the . can be replaced with any position

search and replace

• %s/foo/bar/g replace every occurence of foo with bar, g will match multiple occurences in one line
• %s/foo/bar/gc like above with confirm

ranges

• % = 1,$ entire file
• .,$ from current to last line
• X,/some text/ from line x to some text
  • e.g. v.,/autocomplete/ selects from current cursor to first occurence of autocomplete
• /text/+1 line below text

search

• / forward search
• ? backward search

buffers/windows/tabs

• a buffer is basically a file
• :ls list buffers
• :sp split window
• a window is a view of a file
• switch between windows C-{h,j,k,l}
• a tab is an arrangement of windows (not like a usual tab in GUI text editors)

registers

• copy/paste buffers are `registers
• overview :reg
• "0 last yanked
• "1-"9 last deletes
• named register "a-z
• copy into named register "aY where a is the registers name and Y is yank line
• GUI clipboards: "* and "+
• yank the entire file/buffer into the system clipboard: %y+

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general tips

• :tab help start help in tab
• :help <bs <tab>> autocomplete help