Vim¶

1. Getting started 🧰¶

Vim motions for beginners (by Dispatch) (video)
Intermediate Vim motions (by Dispatch) (video)
Vim graphical cheat sheet & tutorial (highly recommended):
PDF version (here)
PDF version (glump.net)
Web version (viemu.com)
Writing at the speed of thought (by No Boilerplate) (video)
Untold story of Vim (by CodeSource) (video)

Cheat sheets¶

2. Configuration¶

To configure Vim, you need to modify the file ~/.vimrc. If it does exist, you need to create it. A good place to start is the example vimrc that comes with Vim (example on Matrix):

vim /usr/share/vim/vim91/vimrc_example.vim

These is my recommended setup for ~/.vimrc:

" get the defaults that most users want
source $VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim

"
" Colors
"

" set colorscheme (some good ones: habamax, retrobox, slate)
if &t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running")
  colorscheme habamax
endif

" switch on highlighting the last used search pattern
if &t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running")
  set hlsearch
endif

"
" Search
"

" ignore case when the search pattern contains lowercase letters only
set ignorecase
set smartcase

" search while typing (when it's possible to timeout)
if has("extra_search") && has('reltime')
  set incsearch
endif

"
" Buffers
"

" allow switching buffers without writing to disk
set hidden

" set key mappings to traverse buffer list
nnoremap <silent> [b :bprevious<CR>
nnoremap <silent> ]b :bnext<CR>
nnoremap <silent> [B :bfirst<CR>
nnoremap <silent> ]B :blast<CR>

"
" Line Numbers
"

" show hybrid (relative+absolute) line numbers
if v:version >= 740
  set number relativenumber
endif

"
" Indentation
"

" interpret blanks as tabs
set smarttab

" set default indentation: 2 spaces
" (ts=tabstop, sts=softtabstop, sw=shiftwidth)
set ts=2 sts=2 sw=2 expandtab

" override indentation for Go
autocmd FileType go setlocal ts=4 sts=4 sw=4 noexpandtab

" override indentation for Makefile
autocmd FileType make setlocal ts=4 sts=4 sw=4 noexpandtab

" override indentation for Python
autocmd FileType python setlocal ts=4 sts=4 sw=4 expandtab

Colorschemes¶

Show all installed colorschemes, inside Vim: enter :colorscheme, then Space, then Tab.

Gallery of some built-in Vim color schemes

3. Vim essentials¶

Vim has three primary modes. They are like different layers of the keyboard.

Vim modes:

Normal mode: navigation & operations with the keyboard
Insert mode: enter text with the keyboard
Visual mode: select text

After starting Vim we find ourselves in Normal mode.

Going back to Normal mode: Press the Esc key!

Exiting Vim¶

Go back to Normal mode if you are in Insert mode, and then type :q (this will show in Vim's bottom line).

If the file was changed then :q will fail, because Vim does not want you to loose the changes. Your options to exit are:

save changes and exit with :wq
discard changes and exit with :q!

4. Vim - fundamental commands¶

Vim commands are used in Normal mode.

Cursor movement¶

Basic movement:

h        # move cursor left
j        # move cursor down
k        # move cursor up
l        # move cursor right
w        # jump forwards to the start of a word
b        # jump backwards to the start of a word

The cursor keys on the keyboard will work, too.

Additional movement:

0        # jump to the start of the line
^        # jump to the first non-blank character of the line
$        # jump to the end of the line
gg       # go to the first line of the document
G        # go to the last line of the document
5gg      # go to line 5
5G       # go to line 5 (same as above)
Ctrl + b # move back one full screen
Ctrl + f # move forward one full screen
Ctrl + d # move forward 1/2 a screen
Ctrl + u # move back 1/2 a screen

Insert mode - inserting/appending text¶

The commands below will switch to Insert mode.

i        # insert before the cursor
I        # insert at the beginning of the line
a        # insert (append) after the cursor
A        # insert (append) at the end of the line
o        # append (open) a new line below the current line
O        # append (open) a new line above the current line
Esc      # exit insert mode

Editing¶

The commands below will stay in Normal mode.

dw       # delete to the start of the next word
de       # delete to the end of the next word
dd       # delete the entire line, beginning to end
D        # delete the from the cursor to the end of the line
x        # delete one character

The commands below will switch to Insert mode.

cw       # change (replace) to the start of the next word
ce       # change (replace) to the end of the next word
cb       # change (replace) to the start of the previous word
c0       # change (replace) to the start of the line
c$       # change (replace) to the end of the line
cc       # change (replace) the entire line, beginning to end
C        # change (replace) the from the cursor to the end of the line
s        # delete single character and substitute text

Repeat and undo edits/commands¶

These make the use of Vim efficient, because we often need to repeat the same operation multiple times.

.        # repeat last command
u        # undo
Ctrl + r # redo

Search and replace¶

/pattern # search for "pattern"
n        # repeat search in same direction
N        # repeat search in opposite direction

Next¶

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