Vim

Save/Quit

• Save file -> :w
• Save file and quit -> :x or ZZ
• Quit -> :q
• Quit discarding changes -> :q! or ZQ

Modes

• Normal -> ESC, Ctrl + c
• Insert -> i, I, a, A
• Replace -> R
• Visual -> v, V, Ctrl + v
• Command -> :

Moving around

• Search forward and backward once -> / and ?
• On search: (next hit -> n, previous hit -> N)
• f, F -> "find" the next character, including the character
• t, T -> "find" the next character, up to that character
• Search for next/previous match currently under cursor -> asterisk / #
• Find an replace all occurrences of foo with bar -> :%s/foo/bar/g
• Move to the paired parenthesis or curly brace -> %
• Move to the beginning/end of a word (forward) -> w / e
• Move to the beginning/end of a word (backward) -> b / ge
• Move to beginning/end of line and start editing -> I / A
• Move to the beginning/end of line -> 0 / $
• Jump forward/backward one line -> j / k
• Jump forward/backward one paragraph -> } / {
• Jump to the top/middle/bottom of the page -> H / M / L
• Jump forward/backward one page -> Ctrl + f / Ctrl + b
• Jump up/down half page -> Ctrl + u / Ctrl + d
• Jump to next line with same content -> Right Alt + 3
• Move cursor to the /top/middle/bottom of the page -> zt / zz / zb
• Move cursor to the beginning/end of document -> gg / G
• Move cursor to a specific line number -> :10
• Move cursor X lines above/below -> 10k/10j

Line numbers

• Activate absolute line numbers -> :set nu
• Activate relative line numbers -> :set rnu
• Toggle absolute line numbers -> :set nu!
• Toggle relative line numbers -> :set rnu!

Editing

Operators

Operators specify which operation to perfom:

• d -> Delete/Cut
• y -> Yank (copy)
• c -> Change (delete and enter insert mode)
• r -> Replace
• v -> Visually select
• < -> Indent to the left
• > -> Indent to the right

Motion

Motion specifies where the Operators operate in relation to the cursor position:

• w -> word
• p -> paragraph
• _ -> line
• 2j -> down 2 lines
• e -> until the end of the word
• $ -> until the end of the line
• 0 -> from the beginning of the line
• t/T -> until a specific character
• f/F -> until a specific character, including the specific character
• Ctrl + v -> Select block
• i -> INNER: inside/between something
  • iw -> "inner word" (works from anywhere in a word)
  • it -> "inner tag" (works within the contents of an HTML tag)
  • i" -> "inner quotes"
  • i_ -> "inner line"
  • is -> "inner sentence"
  • ip -> "inner paragraph"
• a -> AROUND: like INNER, but including the tag, quotes, etc
  • at -> "around tag" (works within the content of an HTML tag including the tags)
  • a" -> "around quotes" (works within the content of including the quotes)
  • as -> "around sentence"
  • ap -> "around paragraph"

Examples:

• Delete everything between a tag*, type: dit
• Delete everything until it finds a dot: dt.
• Delete everything until it finds a dot, including the dot: df.

* It will apply inside a tag or to the nearest tag

Common commands

• repeat last operation -> .
• copy selection -> y
• copy character-> yl
• copy word -> yiw
• copy line -> yy
• copy paragraph -> yap
• Select paragraph -> vip
• delete/cut selection -> d
• delete/cut word from cursor position -> dw
• delete/cut whole word -> diw
• delete/cut word and insert mode -> cw
• delete/cut paragraph -> dap
• paste -> p
• undo -> u
• redo -> ctrl + r
• delete character (Del) -> x
• delete character (Backspace) -> X
• replace character -> r
• delete character and insert mode -> s
• Switch to 'Insert' mode -> i
• Exit 'Insert' mode -> ESC or Ctrl + c
• Increase/Decrease the first number in a line: Ctrl + a/x
• Format block of text -> V + text selection + =
• Repeat command mode last command -> @:

Lines

• create new line below -> o
• create a new line above -> O
• copy line -> yy
• copy all lines under the cursor -> :.,$y or :+,$y
• paste -> p
• paste line above -> P
• delete/cut line -> dd
• delete/cut everything from the beginning of the line up to the cursor -> d0
• delete/cut everthing from the cursor to the end of the line -> D or d$
• delete/cut the rest of the line and insert mode -> C
• delete/cut the whole line and insert mode -> S
• delete/cut from the current line to the end of the file -> :.,$d or :+,$d
• delete/cut from the current line to the beginning of the file -> :.,1d
• delete/cut from line 3 to line 10 -> :3,10d
• delete/cut from line 3 to the end of the file -> :3,$d
• delete/cut the last line-> :$d
• delete/cut all lines-> :%d
• move current line after line 6 -> :m 6
• move line two lines above -> :m-2 (note that :m-1 won't work)
• move line one line below -> :m+1
• move line to beginning/end of document -> :m 0 / :m $
• move block of lines -> :5,7m 12 (move lines 5,6,7 after line 12)
• move block of lines -> :5,7m+4 (move lines 5,6,7 four lines below)
• indent current line -> << or >>
• indent current line plus 2 lines below -> 3<< or 3>>
• select a range of lines and indent -> :4,17<
• Delete all lines containing the string “foo”. It also removes line where “foo” is embedded in larger words, such as “football” -> :g/foo/d
• Delete all lines not containing the string “foo” -> :g!/foo/d
• Remove all comments from a Bash script. The pattern ^# means each line beginning with # -> :g/^#/d
• Remove all blank lines. The pattern ^$ matches all empty lines -> :g/^$/d

Special operations

• Comment a block of lines:

  1. Select the block of lines with V
  2. Enter command mode and type: norm I#

• Uncomment a block of lines:

  1. Select the block of lines with V
  2. Enter command mode and type: norm x

• Replace word1 for word2 X number of times:

  1. Search for word1: /word1 + enter
  2. Type cgn + word2
  3. ESC
  4. Iterate through the results:
  • Press . to replace next word1 instance for word2
  • Press n to skip next word1 instance

• Move all lines that start with specific character/s to the end of the document. In this example, the specific characters is static:

:g/^static/m$`

File Management

Explorer

• Open file explorer -> :Explore
• List files in current directory -> :e then press Space and Ctrl+d
• Open file in new window horizontally -> split filename or sp: filename
• Open file in new window vertically -> vsplit filename or vsp: filename
• Cycle through windows -> Ctrl + w twice
• Swap windows positions -> Ctrl + w + r
• Move windows directionally -> Ctrl + w + H/J/K/L
• Close current window -> Ctrl + q or :hide
• Close all windows except current one: -> :only

Tabs

• New tab -> :tabnew
• Go to next tab -> gt
• Go to previous tab -> gT
• Go to tab number -> #gt
• Go to first tab -> :tabr
• Go to last tab -> :tabl
• Move current tab to the last position -> :tabm
• Move current tab to the # position -> :tabm #
• Close tab -> :close

Buffers

• Open a new 100 characters width window buffer explorer -> :100vs .
• Toggle between open windows: -> Ctrl + w + w
• Open new file in buffer -> :e <filename path>
• Open a new file and split screen horizontally -> :sp
• Open a new file and split screen vertically -> :vsp
• List active buffers -> :ls
• Change to specific buffer -> :b <buffer-number>
• Move to next/previous buffer -> :bn / :bp
• Delete current buffer -> :bd
• Jump back/forward to last jump location -> Ctrl + o / Ctrl + i

Customize Vim

You can customize Vim by editing ~/.vimrc

let mapleader = "," 
set tabstop=2
set autoindent
set number " enable line numbering
syntax enable " syntax highlighting enabled
" KEY MAPPINGS
nmap <leader>ee :vsplit<cr> :Explore<cr> " pressing ,ee will open Explore in a new vertical window
nmap <leader>zz :split $MYVIMRC<cr> " Pressing ,zz will open ~/.vimrc in a new window
nmap <leader>zx :source $MYVIMRC<cr> " Pressing ,zx will source the changes made in ~/.vimrc
vmap <buffer> ;bo "zdi<strong><c-r>z</strong><esc>

Note: For the changes to take affect, run this command inside Vim:

:so $MYVIMRC

Key mapping

• List keymaps: :map
• Remove keymap: :unmap <keymap>

Snippet insertion

1. Create in ~/.vim/templates/ directory the text file containing the snippet
2. Add this lines in ~/.vimrc:

function Rsf() 
 :read ~/.vim/templates/<textfile>
endfunction

3. Restart vim: :so $MYVIMRC
4. When you need to insert the snippet, type: :call Rsf()

Note: Rsf() is used as an example. You can name your function whatever you want.

Plugins

It is recommended to install a plugin manager in order to install, load and uninstall plugins. In this case we are using vim-plug

1. Download vim-plug:

   $ curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

2. Add vim-plug in your ~/.vimrc file:

" vim-plug
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
" plugin section
" end vim-plug
call plug#end()

3. Add, for instance, vim-jsx-pretty, emmet-vim and Intellisense plugins in your ~/.vimrc file:

" vim-plug
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
" plugin section
Plug 'maxmellon/vim-jsx-pretty'
Plug 'mattn/emmet-vim'
Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'release'}
" end vim-plug
call plug#end()

4. Launch Vim and run: :PlugInstall

That's it. This is how you install plugins in Vim with vim-plug.

.VIMRC

This is a useful .vimrc file:

" map leader key to comma key
let mapleader = ","
" vim-plug
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
" plugin section
Plug 'maxmellon/vim-jsx-pretty'
Plug 'mattn/emmet-vim'
Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'release'}
" end vim-plug
call plug#end()
" Set tab width and indentations with spaces (no hard tabs) 
set expandtab
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
" Auto-indenting
set autoindent
set smartindent
filetype indent on
filetype plugin indent on
" Line numbers
set number " enable absolute line number
set relativenumber "enable relative line number
syntax enable " syntax highlighting enabled
"set hidden
"--- KEY MAPPINGS ---
" pressing <leader>ee will open Explore in a new vertical window
nmap <leader>ee :vsplit<cr> :Explore<cr> 
" Pressing <leader>zz will open ~/.vimrc in a new window
nmap <leader>zz :split $MYVIMRC<cr> 
" Pressing <leader>zx will source the changes made in ~/.vimrc
nmap <leader>zx :source $MYVIMRC<cr> 
"-- EMMET CONFIG --
"redefine trigger key (press emmet_leader key (,) twice to trigger
let g:user_emmet_leader_key=','