VIM Cheat Sheet

Posted by Ravikiran K.S. on January 1, 2006

  1. To insert output of a command at current cursor position do: :r !. For ex. :r !date

  2. Goto first line of file - shift-v

  3. Goto last line of file - shift-g

  4. Rapidly invoke an editor to write a long, complex, or tricky command ctrl-x ctrl-e

  5. Save a file you edited in vim without the needed permissions :w !sudo tee %

  6. Use vim to browse man pages. One can use Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-t to browse and return from referenced man pages. ZZ or q to quit. Note initially within vim, one can goto the man page for the word under the cursor by using [section_number]K.

  7. `` - place where last search was started

  8. `. - place of last edit

  9. To fix backspace issue on vim run: stty erase ‘^?’

  10. Source developer vim settings (overriding defaultts) if filereadable(expand(“$HOME/.vim_dev.rc”)) source ~/.vim_dev.rc endif

  11. Operating on multiple files. First input all file names using ‘args’. :args For ex. :args app/views// Then do the operation by ‘argdo’ command. ‘update’ is same as ‘write’ except for that it writes only if some modification in the file. :argdo For ex. :argdo %s/, :expire.*)/)/gec | update

  12. Some important commands Open all buffers in horizontal split - :sball Open Quickfix Window - :cwin Complete this filename - ctrl-x f Complete from included files - Ctrl-x i

  13. In search, :g//d - Delete all lines matching pattern :g!//d - Delete all lines not matching pattern patterns can be bundled together by ORing - ||

  14. See current vim settings key mappings - :map, :nmap, :cmap, :imap abbrevations - :ab, :iab, :cab

  15. Use ‘-u ~/.vimrc’ option while starting vim to avoid sourcing files like /etc/vimrc etc. This can avoid unexpected behaviors and trouble.

  16. To enter special characters like in either insert mode or in command mode, do: type CTRL-V, then CTRL-M. That is, hold down the CTRL key then press V and M in succession. Same for other characters.

  17. Vim profiling. This is required when vim load times are very high.
  1. Write time profiling of startup to file-name $ vim –startuptime
  2. Write time profiling when viminfo is not loaded to file-name $ vim -i NONE –startuptime
  3. Write time profiling when .vimrc isn’t loaded to file-name $ vim -u NONE –startuptime

  1. For filetype names used, look into ~/tools/freebsd/vim/share/vim/vim73/filetype.vim

  2. Make :set list! which shows visible whitespace, not mangle files set listchars=tab:>-,trail:.,extends:>

  3. Vim Marks and Jumps Vim records every line number with filename in jumplist. Upto 100 jumps are preserved.
    • To see all places of jump use “:jumps”
    • Use Ctrl-O to jump backward to that jump number
    • Crtl-I to jump forward to next jump location

http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Jumping_to_previously_visited_locations

Manually marks can be put in file and location for easy jumping back and forward. - To mark a particular line number and location ‘m’ - To jump to line with mark use ’. To jump to same column of mark use <x>. - To list all marks in vim use ':marks' - Jump to previous line with mark [', Jump to next line with mark ]' - Jump to previous mark [, Jump to next mark ]` http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/VimTip42

Vim shortcuts

% - reach matching else or } or ) or ] or #else. # - search backward * - search forward = - indent the paragraph

`. - goto last modified place [[ - previous { brace]] - next { brace ’’ - goto previous place

]c - next change [c - previous change do - diff obtain dp - diff put

zi - Toggles between open/close of folded text

ma - mark current line as ‘a’ - similary mb, mc etc. ‘a - goto mark ’a’ - similarly ’b, ’c etc. :buffers - show all marks :bd num - close/delete given buffer

:cf - take to first compile error :cl - list the errors :cn - goto next compilation error :e# - goto previous file

gg=G - indent the whole file at one go gUw - Change the word to upper case

:%s/foo/bar/g - replace all foo with bar in current file :bufdo %s/foo/bar/g - do the same in all files that I open :tabdo %s/foo/bar/g - do the same across all tabs that I open

:ls - list all open files :cd - cd :pwd - pwd :make - build using make

ctrl+l - redarw ctrl+p or ctrl+n - complete the word ctrl+w ctrl+w - switch windows ctrl+w gf - open file under cursor in a new tab ctrl-w ctrl– - Maximize current window. ctrl-w = - Realign all windows.

gg - Goto beginning of file G - Goto end of file Ctrl-V + gq - reformat selected text to textwidth