wu-ys's personal website!

Turorial: Vim

  • Jan 25, 2022

Vim Basics

This part is concluded from (MIT)The missing semeter/editor.

Modes

Normal: Press Esc to escape from other modes Insert i, enter-and-insert o Replace R Visual v, visual line V, visual block Ctrl+V Command line :

Commands

:q: quit (close current window) :qa: quit all windows :w: write(save) :qw: quit-and-save :q!: quit-without-save :e <file-name>: open file for editing :help <key>: ask for help for some key :sp: separate current tab :tabnew: create new window in the current tab

Movement Shortcuts

hjkl: Movements left/down/up/right w,b: Move forward/backward for one word e: Move to end of the word 0,$: Move to beginning/end of a line ^: Move to non-empty beginning of a line Ctrl+U,Ctrl+d: Scroll up/down G,gg: Move to end/beginning of the buffer H,M,L: Move to Top/Middle/Bottom of screen f+{char},F+{char}: Move to the next/last char in this line t+{char},T+{char}:

Ctrl+W+j,Ctrl+W+k: moving to the above/below window Ctrl+h

Editing Shortcuts

d+{movement}: delete the contents along the movement. Example: dw: delete the word de: delete end of the word dl: delete one char dj: delete one line dd: delete the current line

c+{movement}: exactly same function with the d command, and turns into insert mode cc: change the current whole line

u: undo Ctrl+R: redo

x: delete one char r+{char}: replace one char

y+{movement}: copying the movement area p: pasting

Counts

Enter a number s.t. to execute the following command for many times

4j = jjjj

Modifiers

In c and d command, we can select movement in a range bracketed by something. ci[: change contents inside the bracket [] da[: delete contents around the bracket [] (included)

General formula: action(c,d,v) + range(count,i,a) + motion(0,$,j,k,w,(,[)

%: Jump to the matching bracket /something: search for something .: repeat the same editing command as previous

Subtitution

:s substitute command (one-line) :%s: substitute command (all lines)

Examples:

  • :s/foo/bar/g: Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in the current line only), and replace it with ‘bar’.

  • :%s/foo/bar/g: Find each occurrence of ‘foo’ (in all lines), and replace it with ‘bar’.

  • :%s/foo/bar/gc: Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’, but ask for confirmation first.

  • :%s/\<foo\>/bar/g: Change only whole words exactly matching ‘foo’ to ‘bar’.

  • :5,12s/foo/bar/g: Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’ for all lines from line 5 to line 12 (inclusive)

  • :.,$s/foo/bar/g: Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’ for all lines from the current line (.) to the last line ($) inclusive.
  • :.,+2s/foo/bar/g: Change each ‘foo’ to ‘bar’ for the current line (.) and the two next lines (+2).

Advanced tools & Plugins

A website for various plugins: https://vimawesome.com/plugin

NerdTree

Type :NERDTree to have a file tree

Sneak

To quickly search the pattern of two specific letters

  • s/S+<char><char>: jump to next/last pattern <char><char>
  • s/S+{char}<Enter>: jump to next/last <char>
  • ;/,: jump to next/last result (according to last search)
  • [count]s/S{char}{char}: jump to next pattern <char><char> with count.

Surround.vim

Install:

git clone https://tpope.io/vim/surround.git
vim -u NONE -c "helptags surround/doc" -c q

Main features: add/modifiy/delete “surroundings”. In other words, it adds an s ranging in the general formula above.

  • cs"': change " to '.

  • cs[{: change [] to {}.

  • ds[: delete [].
  • ys+<motion>+"": add "" in the motion

Repeat.vim

Install:

git clone https://github.com/tpope/vim-repeat.git

Support . for repeating last command in vim plugins.

vim-fugitive

Git support in Vim. Install:

git clone https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive
vim -u NONE -c "helptags fugitive/doc" -c q

Type :Git and execute any Git commands in Vim.

vim-airline

git clone https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline
Search