Vim

Personal VIM cheatsheet.

Useful Websites

• QuickRef.me/Vim
• Colours in terminal

Commands

• q/ - opens search history window
• q: - opens command history window
• :g!/dont/d - delete all lines not containing the string dont
  • g - is the global command
  • d - stands for delete
  • ! - inverts the matching
• :g/delete-me/d - delete all lines containing the string delete-me
• :!command - executes an external command.
• :r or :read - read command
  • :r FILENAME - retrieves disk file FILENAME and puts it below the cursor position.
  • :r !ls - reads the output of the dir command and puts it below the cursor position.
• R - replace mode. Like insert mode but deletes existing characters
• When typing a : command, press Ctrl-d to see possible completions. Press <TAB> to use one completion.
• q/ - opens a command window with history of searches
• q: - opens a command window with history of Ex commands
• 2,$!sort -k2 - execute sort cmd in terminal on lines 2-end with -k2 arg to sort by items in second column
• edit %:h - edit active file directory

Copy & move

:copy or :co or :t :move or :m

• :copy $ - copy current line to the end
• :t6 - copy current line below line 6
• :6t. - copy line 6 below current line
• :m$ - move current line at the end of the file

Normal cmd

• :.,$normal A; - append ; at the end of each line from the current one till the last one

Under the hood

• :{start},{end}{command}
  • . - current line
  • $ - last line
  • 1 - first line
  • 0 - zero line (used when you move test to beginning for example :move 0)
  • % - all lines in the file
  • < - start of visual selection
  • > - end of visual selection
• :1,10d - delete lines 1-10
  • :.,$copy - copy from current line . till the end $

Substitute cmds

:s is just shortcut for :substitute

• :s/old/new - to substitute new for the first old in a line
• :s/old/new/g - to substitute new for all old's on a line
• :#,#s/old/new/g - to substitute phrases between two line #'s
• :%s/old/new/g - to substitute all occurrences in the file
• :%s/old/new/gc - to ask for confirmation each time add c

Project-wide search and replace

/Rg "old" # will populate quick-fix list
:cfdo %s/old/new/gc # will ask you if you want to replace 'old' with 'new' for each occurence in quick-fix list
:wa #write all to disk

Search

• /\ccase insensitive search - use \c switch
• /\Ccase sensitive search - use \C switch
• g* search for word under cursor with partial word matching

Text editing

• daw deletes the whole word wherever the cursor is
• dip delete inside paragraph
• das delete around sentence
• di{ delete inside { curly braces
• vip visual select inside paragraph
• cip change inside paragraph
• gU - change text to UPPERCASE
• gu - change text to lowercase

Navigation

• Ctrl+o - back
• Ctrl+i - forward
  • :jumps - displays jumps for current window
• <number> + G go to line
• Ctrl+g shows info about current position within the file in the bottom line
• H - Highest line on the screen
• M - Middle line on the screen
• L - Lowest line on the screen
• zt - scroll view so that cursor is aligned to the top
• zz - scroll view so thet cursor is aligned in the middle
• zb - scroll view so that cursor is aligned to the bottom

Automatic Marks

• " position before the last jump within current file
• '. location of last change
• '^ location of last insertion
• '[ start of last change or yank
• '] end of last change or yank
• '< start of last visual selection
• '> end of last visual selection

Tabs

• gt (or :tabn) - to go to next tab
• gT (or :tabp or :tabN) - to go to previous tab
• #gt (or :tabn #) - to go to #th tab

Motions

• g; - go to most recent modification in the document
  • press again and you go to most recent - 1
• `. go to most recent modification
• `^ go to last insertion
• 0 go to the start of the line
• ^ go to the first character on the line

Spell checking

• :setlocal spell enable spell checking
• :set nospell disable spell check
• ]s move to next misspelled word
• [s move to previous misspeled word
• zg mark word as a good word
• zG mark good just for current instance (will be lost after restart)
• zw mark word as wrong word
• zW mark word as wrong word for current instance
• z= suggest correction

Netrw explorer

• - go one level up in direcotry tree
• :Vex vertical split
• :Sex horizontal split
• % create new file
• R rename file
• D delete file
• d create new dir
• i change view

Registers (a.k.a. clipboard)

• "{register-name}{y|p|d}
• "byy copy to b register
• "bp paster from b register
• "bdd delete to b register
• o register holds what was yanked most recently
• lowercase letter overwrites register, uppercase appends to it
• "_ black hole register - a place from which nothing returns
• * register references system clipboard ("*p, "*y)

Buffers

• :buffers or :ls to list all open buffers
• :ball opens all buffers in windows
• :bd close current buffer (buffer delete)
• :bnext or :bn
• :bprev or :bp
• %bd delete all unsaved buffers (it will refuse to delete unsaved ones)

Windows

• Ctrl+w = resize windows equally
• Ctrl+w 10 > change width to left by 10
• Ctrl+w 10 < change width to right by 10
• Ctrl+w 10 + incerease height by 10
• Ctrl+w 10 - decrease height by 10
• :res[ize] +10 increase window height/width by 10
• :res[ize] -10 decrease window height/width by 10
• z10 set height/width to 10
• :only[!] close all other windows except this one (add ! to close even unsaved ones)

Splits

• Ctrl+w followed by capital H,J,K or L will move the current window to the far left, bottom, top or right respectively like normal cursor navigation
• Ctrl+w followed by Shift+T will move split to new tab

Insert mode

• Ctrl+w delete back one word
• Ctrl+u delete all entered characters before the cursor
• Ctrl+h delete one character (backspace)
• Ctrl+o enters Insert Normal Mode -> You can execute one command (e.g.: zz) and then return back to Insert mode

Visual mode

• Ctrl+v block-wise visual mode
• gv reselect the last visual selection
• o go to the other end of visual selection

Folding

Collapsing multiple lines of text into single line

• zf{motion} - fold (e.g.: zf{ folds inside {} brackets)
• za - toggle fold
• zR - open all folds in current buffer
• zM - close all folds in current buffer
• zc - close fold
• zo - open fold
• zd - delete fold under cursor (not text, just fold)

Macros

• q{a-z} to record
• @{a-z} to replay
• @@ to replay the most recently replayed macro

External commands

• :%!<command> - runs external command with current buffer content
• :%!sort will run sort with current buffer