Commands
Startup
vi + file Open file at last line
vim -O file1 file2 Open two files in a vertical split.
Basic
ctrl \[ is equivalent to Esc
w forward a word
b backward a word
e move to the end of the word.
0 (zero) move to the beginning of the current line.
numG move to line number
gg move to the beginning of the file (in <<<vi>>> use <<<:1>>>).
G move to the last line in the file
H move to the top of the screen
M move to the middle of the screen
L move to the bottom of the screen
\{ Next paragraph.
\} Previous paragraph.
# same as * - but moves to previous item
ma make a bookmark named a
`a goto bookmark a
'a goto the start of the line for bookmark a
`. goto the cursor position where you last edited
'. goto the line you last edited
`` return you to the position you started from (after a jump command e.g. 'G').
:marks To list all the marks.
ctrl o Previous mark (o for older).
ctrl i Next mark (i beside o).
Buffers
ls or 'buffers' to list current buffers.
b followed by buffer number (or name). try 'b', 'tab' to cycle between open buffers.
bd close buffer
ctrl 6 or ctrl ^ to switch to the previously edited buffer.
Case
Vu lowercase line
VU uppercase line
g~~ invert case
diff
vim -d file1 file2 compare the two files using vimdiff.
:vert diffsplit file2 open first file, then 'diffsplit'.
:diffget or 'do', to merge the difference from the other file into the file where the cursor is.
:diffput or 'dp' to merge the other way (see previous command).
:diffthis do this in two buffers to compare open files
do get changes from other window into the current window.
dp put the changes from current window into the other window.
]c jump to the next change.
[c jump to the previous change.
Folding
Must set ‘set foldmethod=indent’:
zm fold a level
zr un-fold a level.
zR open all folds.
zM fold all...
zo open a specific fold
zc close a specific fold
How to enter insert mode…
I insert text at the beginning of the line
c<motion> replace the text selected by motion e.g. cw or c$
Replace Mode
R Replace mode (overtype/overwrite).
Scrolling
zt (or z 'enter') set current line at top of window.
zz (or z.) set current line at centre of window.
zb (or z-) set current line at bottom of window.
Selection…
v Select characters
V Linewise selection mode - press Shift V, let go and then select
ctrl v block selection (column edit in ultraedit). To insert a string after selecting your columns, <<<I>>>, <string>, <escape>. Note: Not sure this works on Windows!
Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete
c same as d, delete - but leaves editor in insert mode
cc cuts the whole line and leaves editor in insert mode
C cut from the cursor to the end of the line and leave in insert mode...
df delete up until the character you enter next
dh delete character to the left of the cursor position.
dw delete words forward
db delete words backwords
d0 (zero) delete from the cursor to the beginning of the line.
d/fred/ delete until 'fred' (press 'Enter' after)
d$ delete from the cursor to the end of the line (see next command)
D cut from the cursor to the end of the line
s cut the current character and leave in insert mode
]p the text you paste matches the indentation level - or try 'Esc', ':insert', 'Enter', then paste, then 'Esc'.
Clipboards (registers)
:reg to see registers
"kyy copy current line (yy) into register k ("kyw) for current word
"+yy to copy to the clipboard (could try "*yy if this doesn't work).
"kp paste contents of register k
"*p linux = paste selection, windows = paste clipboard
"+p paste clipboard
ctrl r, % (insert mode), paste the name and path of the current file.
Programming/Development
% will find the matching bracket
\>\> indent text
\<\< unindent text
\> indent selected text
\< unindent selected text
ga display ascii/hex/octal value of character under cursor.
gd goto definition (or declaration) of function of variable
== indent (current line or selection) http://vim.sourceforge.net/tips/tip.php?tip_id=83, Tip #83
=% auto tab nested ifs and loops (put the cursor on the first bracket or select first).
Search
/searchstring search forward
?searchstring search backwords
f search forward in the line for the next character you type.
F search backwards in the line for the next character you type.
n repeat search
N repeat search (in reverse)
set hlsearch Highlight search on...
set nohlsearch Highlight search off...
Search and Replace
:%s/searchstring/replacestring/g
% Search the whole file
s Search and replace
g replace every occurrence on a line
[i search in include files.
[<Tab> to jump to the include file.
\\=@a to replace with the contents of register 'a' (backslash, equals, ampersand, register).
To replace within a selection, enter visual mode using v, highlight the
section, enter command mode (:):
s/searchstring/replacestring/g
Spelling
:set spell turn on (<<<:set nospell>>> to turn off.
]s next misspelled word (<<<[s>>> for previous).
zg add word to the dictionary.
z= view spelling additions.
Splits
:sp filename Splits screen horizontally and open file
:vsp filename As previous - open vertically
ctrl W, W Moves to the next split (as does ctrl W ctrl W)
ctrl w, x exchange current window with the next one.
ctrl W, K Moves to file - above (<K> is the normal down key).
ctrl W, J Moves to file - below (<J> is the normal down key).
:res 30 Set height to 30
:vertical res 30 Set width to 30
5 ctrl W + Makes the split 5 lines bigger
ctrl W _ Maximise the current split (underscore)
5 ctrl W _ Sets the height of the current window
:sp Splits the current window
:close Close the current window
:only Closes every window apart from the current one
:new Creates a new window with an empty file
:vnew Creates a new vertical window with an empty file
Tabs
Vim 7 also has tabs in it. So you can edit multiple files without splitting:
:tabnew
:tabnew browse
ctrl PageUp
ctrl PageDown
Explorer
:cd Change the current directory
:pwd What is the current directory
:cd - To go back to the previous directory
gf If cursor is on a filename - then gf will go to the file
:Explore Open explorer.
:Sexplore Open explorer in a split window.
ctrl 6 Return to explorer window
:edit . Edit current directory (open explorer)
:e .. Edit parent directory (open explorer)
o Opens the file in a new split
s Sort (the heading shows what the sort order is)
i Toggle view (when exploring files).
grep
:vimgrep YourPattern **/*.apt | copen check current folder with 'pwd' first. 'cnext' ('cn') and 'cprev' to move through buffers.
Reading command output
:r <textfile> Insert text from <textfile> into the current buffer
:r ! <command> Read in the output of shell applications. Use <<<%>>> to refer to the current file.
Print
:hardcopy
Settings
:set Show all settings which are not set to the default.
Text Editing
:set tw=0 wrap linebreak
Word Wrap
To turn on nice word-wrap:
set wrap on
set nolist
set lbr
sort
highlight the area you want to sort:
:sort the command will look like this: <<<:'\<,'\>:sort>>>.
:sort n sort by the first decimal in the line.
:sort i ignore case.
:sort u deletes duplicate lines.
Undo/Redo
u undo
U undo changes on current line.
ctrl r redo the last change.