Difference between revisions of "HowToUseVim"

This is just a start, hopefully this will get you on your way to being a vim power user

Why vim?

It works well in screen and is reasonably powerful programmer's editor. In addition, it is usually on every box in some form or another.

Minimal Custom Vimrc for Developers

Vim defaults are great in most cases, but some options need to be set. This is currently incomplete, but is a start.

version 6.0                # enable later-version vim functions
set nocompatible           # get rid of crufty vi compatibilites
set expandtab              # tabs can't be different on different systems if they don't exist
syn on                     # enable syntax highlighting
set autoindent             # help with formatting
set incsearch              # TODO
set hlsearch               # TODO
set fo=cqrt                # TODO

Modal Editing

Vim is a modal editor, meaning that unless you are in insert mode characters you type will not show up in the input buffer. I cannot stress enough that unless you are actually typing something in, you should be in command mode. This is very non intuitive for beginners.

If you get stuck, jamming on the key should get you back to command mode eventually.

Commands that start with : need to be finished by hitting

Quitting Vim

•  :q - quit vim

File Operations

•  :w - saves the file
•  :wq - saves the file and quits vim
•  :e - edit filename
•  :e . - open a file browser

Command Mode

command mode is the default mode for vim.

• i - insert
  • lets you type into the buffer. hit when done to return to command mode
• u - undo
  • will undo any commands. The undo buffer goes back to when you started your editing session and is really good, so it is better to stay in the habit of having an editor open for a long time and use ctrl-z and the fg command to drop to a shell
• ctrl-r - redo
  • redoes something that has been undone
• ct - change till
  • replace the text from here to the character with what you type. Puts you in insert mode
• cw - Change Word

Insert Mode

This is the mode you are in when you use the insert or change commands. Characters entered at the keyboard are inserted directly into the document, with automatic indentation for recognized source code constructs.

• ctrl-n - completion. Use multiple times to cycle through available completions. Can use ctags, to do project-wide completions.

Editing Multiple Documents

Since the undo buffer works better if you never exit out of vim, it is very handy to have multiple files open in one vim session and switch between them. ctrl-z to suspend vim and fg to get back into it are very handy.

•  :bn - buffer next. Switch to the next buffer.
•  :bp - buffer previous. Switch to the previous buffer
• \be - Buffer Explorer. Shows a list of open edit buffers, arrow keys and enter will select he buffer to switch to.

Multiple Windows

The most basic usage will be described here. All of these commands are from command mode.

• ctrl-w n - create new window, split horizontally
• ctrl-w v - create new window, split vertically
• ctrl-w w - switch window
•  :q - quit a window. If multiple windows are open, will just switch to the next window instead of exiting.

ToDo

• Document copy / paste / selections
• Vertical Insert
• plugins / links / documentation