Vim

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General

Vim is a powerful text editor. Keystrokes can be chained together to combine actions, movements and selections into coolness. Folk using Vim 20 years still don't know it all. See also Emacs (and take care of your wrists (and posture)).

todo; big refactor to rearrange commands into motion, action, etc.

See also Documents

Quick

Images

  • Shortcut layout - a sample of movement/selection, layed out in their direction

Video

  • 7 Habits For Effective Text Editing 2.0 - "A large percentage of time behind the computer screen is spent on editing text. Investing a little time in learning more efficient ways to use a text editor pays itself back fairly quickly. This presentation will give an overview of the large number of ways of using Vim in a smart way to edit programs, structured text and documentation. Examples will be used to make clear how learning a limited number of habits will avoid wasting time and lower the number of mistakes. Bram Moolenaar is mostly known for being the benevolent dictator of the text editor Vim."

to sort

Install

Some scripts require Vim 7.3, but some distros have older builds. You can build 7.3 locally though or use a provision system.

Had syntax issue errors. Rumtime path also should include distro base config..; http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/vim-syntax-highlight-fails-after-debian-upgrade-378073/

Packages and support

Building

Modes

Ctrl-o
  perform normal mode command in insert mode

Visual

  • vim-expand-region is a Vim plugin that allows you to visually select increasingly larger regions of text using the same key combination.

Command line

What you get pressing : 

Ctrl-B
  beginning of line
Ctrl-E
  end of line

Spaces

Buffers

An area of Vim's memory used to hold text read from a file. In addition, an empty buffer with no associated file can be created to allow the entry of text. 

:b [buffer number of any part of name]
  switch to a buffer

set wildchar=<Tab> wildmenu wildmode=full
  with this, :b [tab] gives a menu
  • spinner.vim : fast buffer/file/tab/window switching plugin with only 3 keys.

Windows

Windows are like tmux panes, awesome clients, i3 windows, etc. Windows can hold file buffers or plugins like Nerdtree, which are browsable via searches, etc. 

:sp [filename]
  open file in new split window

Ctrl-W w
  move forward window
Ctrl-W W
  move backwards window

Ctrl-W then h, j, k, l
  move window focus to left, below, above, right

Ctrl-W then H, J, K, L
  move window in the direction of left, below, above, right

Ctrl-W x
  switch windows around

Ctrl-W =
  balance window splits

Ctrl-W _
  maximize focused window horizontally
Ctrl-W |
  maximize focused window vertically

:qall
  quit all buffer windows on current tab



  • golden-ratio - Resize windows automatically using the Golden Ratio

dwm.vim

map <silent> <C-J> <C-W>w
map <silent> <C-K> <C-W>W
map <silent> <C-,> :call DWM_Rotate(0)<CR>
map <silent> <C-.> :call DWM_Rotate(1)<CR>

map <silent> <C-N> :call DWM_New()<CR>
map <silent> <C-C> :call DWM_Close()<CR>
map <silent> <C-Space> :call DWM_Focus()<CR>
map <silent> <C-@> :call DWM_Focus()<CR>

map <silent> <C-H> :call DWM_GrowMaster()<CR>
map <silent> <C-L> :call DWM_ShrinkMaster()<CR>

Tabs

:tab new
  or
:tabe
  create new tab

:tabc
  close tab

:tabs
  list existing tabs

gt
  go to next tab
gT
  go to previous tab
{i}gt
  go to tab in position i

:tab drop {file}
  open {file} in a new tab, or jump to a window/tab containing the file if there is one
:tab split
  copy the current window to a new tab of its own

:tabm [n]
  move tab to nth position
:tabm
  move tab to last
:tab ball
  split all buffers into tabs
:tab help
  open a new help window in its own tab page

:bufdo qall
  send qall command to all tabs
:wqall!
:xall!
  to check


File operations

Command line

vim filename
  edit file (or create a buffer if file doesn't exist)

If you want to start vim with several files in a splitted window, just type; 

vim -o a b c

for the horizontal split, and 

vim -O a b c

for the vertical split.

  • https://github.com/c00kiemon5ter/v - z for vim. uses viminfo's list of recently edited files to open one quickly no matter where you are in the filesystem. by default, it will open the most recently edited file matching all of the provided regular expressions.

In Vim

:e filename
  open filename in vim

:w
  save
:w filename
  save as
:q
  quit if saved
:x
  save if changed and quit, same as :wq
ZZ
  save as above
ZQ
  even if not saved (also :q!)

:ex .
  explore files in file directory. opens in split pans if file modified.
:Sex
  as above but forces split
:Vex
  as above but vertical split
:Tex
  as above but in new tab

<enter>
  open file
o
  open file in new split buffer

display; 

:echo @%
  directory/name of file
:echo expand('%:t')
  name of file ('tail')
:echo expand('%:p')
  full path
:echo expand('%:p:h')
  directory containing file ('head')

File navigation

:Explore

:e ..
  • why_does_nerdtree_exist_whats_wrong_with_netrw

Cursor

:set cursorline

Motion

gg
  start of file
G
  end of file

123G
  move to line 123
:123
  move to line 123 (easier imo)

0
  line beginning
^
  first non-whitespace character
$
  line end

w
  forward to start next word
W
  forward to start of next WORD (ignoring hyphens, etc.)

e
  forward to end of word
E
  forward to end of WORD (ignoring hyphens, etc.)

b
  backward word
B
  backward WORD

ge
  backward to the end of word [count] |inclusive|.
gE
  backward to the end of WORD [count] |inclusive|. [15]

(
  beginning of previous sentence
)
  next sentence
%
  current brace

{
  beginning of previous
}
  next paragraph

H
  cursor to top of screen (high)
M
  cursor to middle of screen (middle)
L
  cursor to bottom of screen (low)
Ctrl-D
  move cursor down half-page
Ctrl-U
  move cursor up half-page 

ma
  mark cursor position 'a'
'a
  move to mark position 'a'

Ctrl-O
  move back location
Ctrl-I
  move forward location

g;

gj
  move down a soft linebreak line



zz
  centre screen on cursor
zt
  move screen top to cursor
zb
  move screen bottom to cursor

Ctrl-e
  Moves screen up one line
Ctrl-y
  Moves screen down one line
Ctrl-u
  Moves screen up ½ page
Ctrl-d
  Moves screen down ½ page
Ctrl-b
  Moves screen up one page
Ctrl-f
  Moves screen down one page [16]



Finding things

/
  search for text
*
  search for text under cursor

n
  repeat search forwards
N
  repeat search backwards



fX
  move to next X on same line

3FX
  move to third last X on same line

tX
  move to character before next X on same line

T2X
  move to second previous X on same line

;
  repeat find/to movement command
,
  repeat find/to movement in opposite direction
  • vim-extended-ft - adds the following behaviour to the default behaviour of the f, F, t, and T commands: Multiline - Can search across multiple lines or continue searching across multiple lines using ; and , keys, Smart Case - When the search character is lower case it matches both lower and upper case, and when the character is uppercase it matches only upper case. Allow repeating t and T commands using ; or , commands. Highlighting - Which is disabled automatically when moving your cursor afterwards. It's also worth noting that it only adds the new position to the jumplist if you've changed lines.


  • Seek is a vim plugin that aims to make inline navigation effortless. The motion seek, summoned with s by default, is similar to f, but instead of one it expects two characters.


  • EasyMotion provides a much simpler way to use some motions in vim. It takes the <number> out of <number>w or <number>f{char} by highlighting all possible choices and allowing you to press one key to jump directly to the target.



  • Command-T plug-in for VIM provides an extremely fast, intuitive mechanism for opening files with a minimal number of keystrokes. It's named "Command-T" because it is inspired by the "Go to File" window bound to Command-T in TextMate. Files are selected by typing characters that appear in their paths, and are ordered by an algorithm which knows that characters that appear in certain locations (for example, immediately after a path separator) should be given more weight. [19]
  • FuzzyFinder -FuzzyFinder provides convenient ways to quickly reach the

buffer/file/command/bookmark/tag you want. FuzzyFinder searches with the fuzzy/partial pattern to which it converted an entered pattern.


  • ctrlp.vim - Full path fuzzy file, buffer, mru, tag, ... finder for Vim.

Line numbers

Operations

.
  repeat last change. doesn't work with plugin actions without script.

i
  insert at cursor
I
  insert at line beginning

a
  append after the cursor
A
  append at the end of the line

o
  add ('open') line below and insert
O
  add line above and insert

x
  delete character under cursor
X
  delete character before cursor

s
  change one character and insert

Delete, yank and paste

Cut, copy, paste. 

y
  yank (copy) current text
yy
  yank current line
"+yy
  yank current line to system clipboard

:%y+
  yank all lines to clipboard [21]

d
  delete and yank (cut)
df*
  delete to (find) and including *
dl
  delete character (alias: "x")
dd
  delete current line including linebreak
dw
  delete to end of word from cursor including space
dE
  delete to end of word from cursor leaving spae
d$
  delete to end of line from cursor

diw
  delete inner word
diW
  delete inner WORD
daw
  delete word, up to delimiter
daW
  delete WORD, including previous space
dis
  delete inner sentence
das
  delete a sentence
dib
  delete inner '(' ')' block
dab
  delete a '(' ')' block
dip
  delete inner paragraph
dap
  delete a paragraph
diB
  delete inner '{' '}' block
daB
  delete a '{' '}' block

3dk would delete 4 lines in the upward direction

"add
  delete line, yank to 'a' register
"Add
  delete line, append yank to 'a' register

"_d
  delete line to blackhole register (no yank)

p
  paste yanked text after cursor/line
P
  paste yanked text before cursor/line

"ap
  paste 'a' register
"0p
  paste last yanked (not deleted) item

Change

c - change (delete and insert)

cc
  delete current line including linebreak, insert
cw
  delete to end of word from cursor, insert
c$
  delete to end of line from cursor, insert
ciw
  delete inner word, insert
ci"
  change inner quoted string
ci(
  change inner brackets
ci[
  change inner contents of [].. ci], ci) for insert on closing bracket
caw
  change an object
caW
  change an object, including space
etc.

Visual

Selection highlighting. 

v - visual select text

viw
  visual inner word
viw~
  visual inner word, toggle case
vip
  visual inner paragraph
vec
  visual, end of word, change highlighted

V
  visual select lines
Ctrl-v
  visual select a block

Indentation

>
  # indent right

<
  # indent left

=
  # fix indentation for selection

==
  # fix indentation for one line

V=
  # visual select lines, then reformat with =


Other

Ctrl-Y - copy character from line above
Ctrl-E - copy character from line below

Ctrl-N - auto-completion next match
Ctrl-P - auto-completion previous match

Search and replace

:s/foo/bar/ - search and replace first occurrence
:s/foo/bar/s - search and replace, global current line
:%s/foo/bar/g - search and replace, global whole file
:%s/foo/bar/gc - search and replace, with confirm

Global action

:[range]g/pattern/cmd

:g/LinesThatMatchThisRegex/ExecuteThisCommand



:g/text string/d
  delete all lines with text string

:!g/text string/d
  delete all lines without text string [23]

:g/pattern/d_
  fast delete

:g!/^\s*#/d
  delete all lines without a #



qaq:g/pattern/y A
  Explanation qaq is a trick to clear register a (qa starts recording a macro to register a, then q stops recording, leaving a empty). y A is an Ex command (:help :y). It yanks the current line into register A (append to register a).


Macros

qa - start recording macro 'a', q - stop recording
qA - start appending to macro 'a'
@a - play macro a
@@ - execute again
3@a - play macro 3 thrice

:let @a='macrogoeshere' - write macro manually
Ctrl-R Ctrl-R a - insert mode
:let @a='Ctrl-R Ctrl-R a - edit existing macro

(macros are saved in registers)

Registers

"adw
  delete word into the a register
"_dw
  delete word into no register

"*
  system clipboard

Client/server

Sessions

:mks sessionsave.file
  save session

vim -S sessionsave.file
  load session from cli
  • session.vim improves upon Vim's built-in :mksession command by enabling you to easily and (if you want) automatically persist and restore your Vim editing sessions. It works by generating a Vim script that restores your current settings and the arrangement of tab pages and/or split windows and the files they contain.
  • obsession.vim - Vim features a :mksession command to write a file containing the current state of Vim: window positions, open folds, stuff like that. For most of my existence, I found the interface way too awkward and manual to be useful, but I've recently discovered that the only thing standing between me and simple, no-hassle Vim sessions is a few tweaks: Instead of making me remember to capture the session immediately before exiting Vim, allow me to do it at any time, and automatically re-invoke :mksession immediately before exit. Also invoke :mksession whenever the layout changes (in particular, on BufEnter), so that even if Vim exits abnormally, I'm good to go. If I load an existing session, automatically keep it updated as above. If I try to create a new session on top of an existing session, don't refuse to overwrite it. Just do what I mean. If I pass in a directory rather than a file name, just create a Session.vim inside of it. Don't capture options and maps. Options are sometimes mutilated and maps just interfere with updating plugins.
  • https://github.com/mhinz/vim-startify - provides dynamically created headers or footers and uses configurable lists to show recently used or bookmarked files and persistent sessions. All of this can be accessed in a simple to use menu that even allows to open multiple entries at once.

Coding

  • movar is a Vim plugin that adds a couple of movements that make working with variables easier.
  • CamelCaseMotion - A vim script to provide CamelCase motion through words
  • textobj-word-column.vim - word-based column text-object makes operating on columns of code conceptually simpler and reduces keystrokes.
  • Surround.vim is all about "surroundings": parentheses, brackets, quotes, XML tags, and more. The plugin provides mappings to easily delete, change and add such surroundings in pairs.
  • vim-pasta - Pasting in Vim with indentation adjusted to destination context.
  • delimitMate provides insert mode auto-completion for quotes, parens, brackets, etc.

Undo

u
  undo last change
Ctrl-u
  undo whilst in insert mode 
U
  undo all changes to current line
Ctrl-r
  redo

Ctrl-g
  create new undo point
  • Gundo is a plugin to make browsing the undo tree less painful.

Completion

Ctrl-n
  # autocomplete keyword forwards
Ctrl-p
  # autocomplete keyword backwards

Ctrl-x
  # completion mode

Ctrl-x Ctrl-f
  # filepath completion mode


  • YouCompleteMe YouCompleteMe is a fast, as-you-type, fuzzy-search code completion engine for Vim. It has several completion engines: an identifier-based engine that works with every programming language, a semantic, Clang-based engine that provides native semantic code completion for C/C++/Objective-C/Objective-C++ (from now on referred to as "the C-family languages"), a Jedi-based completion engine for Python and an omnifunc-based completer that uses data from Vim's omnicomplete system to provide semantic completions for many other languages (Ruby, PHP etc.).[24]
  • neocomplcache is the abbreviation of "neo-completion with cache". It provides keyword completion system by maintaining a cache of keywords in the current buffer. neocomplcache could be customized easily and has a lot more features than the Vim's standard completion feature.
  • Supertab is a vim plugin which allows you to use <Tab> for all your insert completion needs (:help ins-completion).

Interface

  • vim-pad - A quick notetaking plugin for vim.
  • vimroom - Simulating a vaguely WriteRoom-like environment in Vim.
  • scratch.vim - Plugin to create and use a scratch Vim buffer

the above requires;

Folds

Folds are sections of text reduced to one line (based on brackets, indentation, etc.). Folding is on by default. I have the foldlevel dialed up to 20 to avoid them. 

zo - open fold
zO - open fold recursively
zc - close fold
zC - close fold resursive
zR - open all folds
zM - close all
zj - go down and up a fold
zk - go up a fold

Git

:Gwrite - git add file
:Gread - git checkout (revert) open to staged version
:Gremove - git rm and close buffer
:Gmove - git mv file. with /, relative to git root; without, relative to file
:Gcommit - git commit, opens message buffer
:Gblame - open split window with git blame details
:Gbrowse - open Github, else git instaweb for local sevrer

<c-w>h<c-w>c
  exit :Gdiff mode

vim#diff resolution: 

:diffget [buffer] - get diff from another buffer
:diffput [buffer] - put diff into another buffer
:diffupdate - update diff colouring
dg - get from other buffer pane (only 2 pane)
dp - put to other buffer pane (works in 3 pane)
[c - jump to previous changeset
]c - jump to next changeset
:only - close buffers other than active
  • gitgutter.vim - shows a git diff in the 'gutter' (sign column). It shows whether each line has been added, modified, and where lines have been removed. breaks vim on script load on server side git repos for me.
  • vim-signify - Sy shows all added, deleted and modified lines since the last commit via Vim its sign column. It supports several version control systems.
  • gitv is a ‘gitk clone’ plugin for the text editor Vim. The goal is to give you a similar set of functionality as a repository viewer. Using this plugin you can view a repository’s history including branching and merging, you can see which commits refs point to. You can quickly and easily view what changed to which files and when. You can perform arbitrary diffs (using Vim’s excellent built in diff functionality) and you can easily check out whole commits and branches or just individual files if need be.
  • gitsessions.vim - Automatically saves and loads sessions based on the current working directory and git branch name after the first manual save.

Syntax

General

  • Syntastic is a syntax checking plugin that runs files through external syntax checkers and displays any resulting errors to the user. This can be done on demand, or automatically as files are saved. If syntax errors are detected, the user is notified and is happy because they didn't have to compile their code or execute their script to find them. At the time of this writing, syntax checking plugins exist for applescript, c, coffee, cpp, css, cucumber, cuda, docbk, erlang, eruby, fortran, gentoo_metadata, go, haml, haskell, html, javascript, json, less, lua, matlab, perl, php, puppet, python, rst, ruby, sass/scss, sh, tcl, tex, vala, xhtml, xml, xslt, yaml, zpt
  • taglist.vim - Source code browser (supports C/C++, java, perl, python, tcl, sql, php, etc)
    • Taglist-plus provides excellent Javascript support via jsctags- best fork of the fork


HTML

Highlighting

Creating and editing

  • xml.vim : helps editing xml (and [x]html, sgml, xslt) files

CSS

SCSS

JavaScript

PHP

Other

Comments

Doesn't work with some languages 

gc{motion}
  toggle comments (for small comments)
gcc
  toggle comment for the current line
gC{motion}
  comment region
gCc
  comment the current line

Arrow keys

Config

I chose /usr/share/config/vim

/usr/local/share/vim is a default $VIMRUNTIME though


If you're editing .vimrc, you can reload it with: 

:so %

% stands for current file name (see :h current-file) and :so is short for :source, which reads the content of the specified file and treats it as Vim code. [27]

In general, to re-load the currently active .vimrc, use the following (see Daily Vim): 

:so $MYVIMRC

Vimscripts

Script management

  • NeoBundle is Vim plugin manager based on Vundle.
  • VAM is short name for vim-addon-manager. You declare a set of plugins. VAM will fetch & activate them at startup or runtime depending on your needs. Activating means handling runtimepath and making sure all .vim file get sourced.
  • vim-plug - A single-file Vim plugin manager. Somewhere between Pathogen and Vundle, but with faster parallel installer. [29]


Dashboard

  • https://github.com/mhinz/vim-startify - If you start Vim without giving any filenames to it (or pipe stuff to it so it reads from STDIN), startify will show a small but pretty start screen which shows recently used files (using viminfo) and sessions by default. Additionally, you can define bookmarks, thus entries for files that always should be available in the start screen. It also eases handling of loading and saving sessions by only working with a certain directory.

GitHub

Status

  • SmartusLine is Vim plugin that changes the color of the statusline of the focused window according with the current mode (normal/insert/replace)

Cursors

Services

  • Vmail is a Vim interface to Gmail.

To sort


  • Vim-OrgMode - Text outlining and task management for Vim based on Emacs’ Org-Mode



  • ZoomWin - Zoom in/out of windows (toggle between one window and multi-window)


  • subvim Vim customized to be like SublimeText


  • spf13-vim is a distribution of vim plugins and resources for Vim, GVim and MacVim. It is a completely cross platform distribution that stays true to the feel of vim while providing modern features like a plugin management system, autocomplete, tags and tons more.



Creating

System


  • Conque is a Vim plugin which allows you to run interactive programs, such as bash on linux or powershell.exe on Windows, inside a Vim buffer. In other words it is a terminal emulator which uses a Vim buffer to display the program output. 
:ConqueTerm zsh

:ConqueTermSplit <command>
:ConqueTermVSplit <command>
:ConqueTermTab <command>
  • browser-connect.vim - implements a VIM interface for browser-connect-server in order to provide a live coding environment similar to the one currently available in LightTable.

Colours

Themes

Mouse

Voice

Tmux integration

  • vimux - Easily interact with tmux from vim.

Remote


  • netrw.vim : Network oriented reading, writing, and browsing

Collaboration

Encryption

Handy

:e scp://root@example.com/~user/folder/.config - open remote file
$ vim scp://root@example.com/~user/folder/.config
:reg - list register contents
K - in normal mode, run man for current word (opens "man word" in shell)

Vim everywhere

Javascript

hmm.

Textaid

Chrome extension. As Chrome can't spawn child processes, text is passed to a local server which launches Vim.

It's All Text

Firefox extension. Only does textarea, no WYSIWYG support. Doesn't launch Vim correctly be default if FF not launched from terminal.

Other

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