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TL;DR: A cheat sheet of Vim commands and concepts.

Command line#

  • Open and run a command in vim: > vim -c '...'
  • Print the path of VIMRUNTIME: > vim --cmd 'echo $VIMRUNTIME' --cmd 'quit'
  • Regenerate the tags (?): > vim -c "helptags ~/.vim/doc"
  • Skip reading the config .vimrc: > vim -u 'NONE'

Brief concepts#

Buffer - An in-memory representation of a file's content, once it's loaded into Vim - Multiple buffers can be open at once (one per file you've edited/loaded) - Lists open buffers: :buffers - Switches to one buffer: :b <name/number>

Window (aka viewport) - A viewport into a buffer: the visible frame showing (part of) a buffer's content - Multiple windows can display the same buffer simultaneously - E.g., two views scrolled to different lines - Created by splitting the screen - Navigate with Ctrl-w + direction (h/j/k/l) - Closed with :q (doesn't close the buffer, just the view)

Split - The act of dividing the screen into multiple windows - Horizontal split: :split or :sp (stacks windows top/bottom) - Vertical split: :vsplit or :vsp (side by side) - Each split is a window - Each window shows a buffer

How they relate - Tabs (:tabnew) contain layouts of windows - Windows contain/display buffers - Buffers hold the actual file content - In brief: one buffer -> can be shown in many windows -> windows are arranged via splits -> splits live inside tabs

Help#

  • Get help: :help TOPIC
  • CTRL-d or tab to auto-complete
  • Get help on a shortcut: :help CTRL-W_CTRL-W
  • Open help about TOPIC in a vertical split: :vert help TOPIC
  • E.g., :vert help marks
  • Get help about registers: :help registers
  • Get help about copying and moving: :help copy-move

Custom shortcuts (from .vimrc)#

Leader key#

  • Leader key is set to comma (default is \): ,

Editing and movement#

  • Delete line into the black hole register (doesn't clobber clipboard): <C-c><C-d>
  • Open file under cursor in a new tab (overrides default "go to declaration"): gd
  • Shift-Down/Shift-Up pass through as normal <Down>/<Up> (macOS compatibility)

Tabs#

  • Go to next tab: <C-p>
  • Go to previous tab: <C-o>

Windows#

  • <C-w><C-w> is disabled; use directional <C-w>h/j/k/l instead
  • Highlight from the current * line to the line before the next *: ,y
  • Move to the next * line: ,n
  • Move to the previous * line: ,p

Autocorrect#

  • Autocorrect the word under/before the cursor: <C-l><C-l>

Taglist / tags#

  • Toggle the tag list panel: <C-Y><C-Y>
  • Open tag under cursor in a new tab (:TagTab): <C-Y><C-T>
  • Open tag under cursor in a preview window (:TagPreview): <C-Y><C-P>

Function keys#

  • Quit without saving all buffers: <F1>
  • Toggle search highlighting: <F2>
  • Toggle spell checking: <F3>
  • Toggle paste mode: <F4>
  • Re-sync syntax highlighting from the start of the file: <F5>

Quickfix / buffers (non-diff mode)#

  • Previous / next quickfix error: <F9> / <F10>
  • Previous / next buffer: <S-F9> / <S-F10>

Diff mode (vimdiff)#

  • Refresh the diff view: <F8>
  • Get diff (pull change from the other file into this one): <F6>
  • Put diff (push change from this file into the other one): <F7>
  • Accept left side (copy left file to right, keep it as baseline): <F9>
  • Accept right side (copy right file to left, overwriting it): <F10>

Settings#

  • Show value of a variable: :set var?
  • Disable an option: :set noXXXX
  • Set for all buffer: :set XXXX

  • Toggle for all buffer: :set XXXX!

  • Set only for the current buffer: :setlocal XXXX

Useful settings#

  • Disable flashing on error: :set visualbells
  • Disable beeping on error: :set noerrorbells
  • Set case sensitive/insensitive: :set ic, set noic
  • Set preview height: :set previewheight=15
  • Show line number: :set number (or :set nu)
  • To avoid automatic indentation: :set paste

Misc settings#

  • Show cursor line (using underline): :set cursorline
  • To highlight the position of the cursor.: :highlight CursorLine guibg=lightblue ctermbg=lightgray
  • Show all the color scheme: :highlight
  • Show the palette: :runtime syntax/colortest.vim

Setting path#

  • Print path: :set path
  • Look for certain file in path: :find file_name
  • Update path: :set path+=/path/

Opening files under the cursor#

  • Open file under the cursor: gf
  • Jump to a file and line (like in a cfile): gF
  • Open an URL under the cursor with the default browse: gx
  • Open file under the cursor in a split window: CTRL-W, CTRL-F

Custom clipboard shortcuts (from .vimrc)#

  • Copy current line to system clipboard (normal or visual mode): ycc (not standard)
  • Copy file:line 'content' reference of line under cursor to clipboard: ycl

Edit command and search history#

  • Edit search history In command mode: q:
  • Search in search history: q/, q?

Moving#

  • Move one character at the time: ijkl

  • Move forward to the start/end of a word: w, e

  • Move backward to the start/end of a word: b, ge

  • Go to the start of the file: gg

  • Go to the end of the file: G

  • Move to the Home, Middle, or Last of the current screen: H, M, L

  • Move to the next/previous paragraph: ), (
  • Move to the beginning/end of a line: 0, $
  • Move to the first character of a line: ^

Move to char#

  • Move to the next, previous occurrence of character x: fx, Fx
  • Repeat the last fx command: ;
  • Like fx, but moves to the character immediately before: tx

Moving on wrapped-around lines#

  • Move up and down: gj,gk
  • Move at the beginning/end of a line: g$,g0
  • Move to the center: gm

Highlighting stuff#

  • Reselect a visual area: gv

  • Highlight a word without moving: *#

  • Block highlight: CTRL-v

  • Move to the next matching word under the cursor: *

  • Move to the previous matching word under the cursor: #

Moving the edit window#

  • Move line with cursor to the center: zz
  • Move line with cursor to the top of the page: z<CR>
  • Move line with cursor to the bottom of the page: z-

Editing#

  • Go to insertion mode: i
  • Insert at the beginning of the line: I
  • Insert at the end of the line: A (append)
  • Replace one char: r

  • Replace more than one chars: R

  • Change case of a char: ~

  • Switch case of {motion} text: g~{motion}

Go to normal mode for one command#

  • Execute one command while in insert mode: CTRL-O + command
  • Delete the rest of the line while in command mode: CTRL-O d$

  • Find the next k while in command mode: CTRL-O fk

  • Yank and insert: c{motion} yank the text and then insert

Joining#

  • Join selected lines (with spaces): J

  • Join selected lines without spaces: gJ

  • Delete line without saving in the buffer (black hole): "_dd

Use registers#

  • Show the contents of registers: :reg
  • Delete and save in 0 registers (from 0 to 9): 0_d
  • Copy and save in 0 registers: 0_y
  • Paste content of register 0: 0_p

Files#

  • Write the range to a file: :[range]w FILE
  • Read file and paste it in the current spot: :r FILE

Format / Indent#

  • Indent a range of lines: :[range]!indent (or =)

  • Indent entire file: gg=G

  • Visual select entire file: ggVG

  • Format comments and text: gq{motion}

  • E.g., gq)

  • Sort entire file: %! sort | uniq

Buffers#

  • Redraw the screen: :redraw

  • Next/previous file in the list: :n, :N

  • Show all the files splitting the screen: :all
  • Close all the previews: CTRL-w + z
  • Show all the files in a tabbed way: :tab ball

  • Close the tabs (with all the splits): :tabc

  • Show all the buffers / files: :buffers

  • Go to buffer N: :b <NUMBER>

  • Go to previous / next buffer: :bN, :bn

  • Go to buffer by name: :buf ... (<CTRL-D> to autocomplete)

  • Print the name of the buffer: :echo bufname("%")

  • Delete current buffer: :bd

  • Delete buffer N: :bd N

BufExplorer#

  • Get help about bufexplorer: :help bufexplorer
  • To show the buffer browser: \be or CTRL-j

MiniBufExplorer#

  • Select next/previous buffer: CTRL-j and CTRL-k
  • To toggle MiniBufExplorer: :TMiniBufExplorer

Viewports#

  • Split horizontally: :split, :sp

  • Split vertically: :vsplit, :vsp

  • Close the active window: CTRL-w q

Move between viewports#

  • CTRL-w CTRL-w
  • Move one viewport down: CTRL-w j
  • Move one viewport up: CTRL-w k
  • Move one viewport to the left: CTRL-w h

  • Move one viewport to the right: CTRL-w l

  • Resize viewports to be of equal size: CTRL-w =

Change size of viewport#

  • Reduce active viewport by one line: CTRL-w -
  • Reduce active viewport by 10 lines: CTRL-w 10-
  • Increase active viewport by one line: CTRL-w +

Search and replace#

  • Clear previous search: :noh, :nohlsearch

Turn off highlighting completely#

  • :set nohlsearch

  • Toggle :set nohlsearch!

  • Help with search and replace: :help substitute

Replace OLD with NEW everywhere#

  • :%s/OLD/NEW/g
  • Case insensitive: cgi

  • Case sensitive: cg or cgI

  • Incremental search: /

  • To replace exactly the word foo: %s/\<foo\>/bar/gc

To replace from the cursor to the end of the file#

  • .,$s/foo/bar/
  • The range is . (cursor) to $

Repeat last substitute#

  • & (flags are not remembered)

  • && (to keep the flags)

  • Repeat last substitute on all lines with the same flags: g&

Pull onto search/command line#

  • /<CTRL-r><CTRL-w>

  • :%s/<CTRL-r><CTRL-w>/NEW/g

  • Delete using non-greedy matching: :%s/|\/tmp.\{-}|/|/g

  • Preview search result at the bottom of the window: :g/\<DmaImage2System\>/

  • To show some context: :g/\<DmaImage2System\>/z#.5 " echo "=========="

  • Preview all the occurrence of the word under cursor in a separate window: [I

Navigating Filesystem#

  • netrw ships with Vim and allows to navigate the file system

  • Open netrw in the directory of the current file: :Ex

  • Open current path: :Ex <path>
  • Open horizontal split: :Sex

  • Open vertical split: :Vex

  • Open file or descent into dir: <Enter>

  • Go up one dir: -
  • Go back to previous dir (history): u
  • Preview file in a split: p

Vim regex#

  • Help for regex: :help regex

Using perl#

  • Execute perl CMD on all the lines selected: :perldo CMD

  • Print matching lines: :%!perl -ne 'print if ///'

  • Replace and print: :%!perl -ne 's/reg[^\w]//; print $_'

  • Use very magic (to use perl-like tokens): /\vdassert_.*\(/

  • Alphabetic character: \a

  • Save token: \( \)
  • Token number 1: \1
  • Any character: .
  • One or more: \+
  • Any number of times: *
  • a or b: [ab]
  • Match foo or bar: foo\|bar
  • Match the previous token non greedy (e.g., .{-}): {-}
  • Like * but not greedy so we can match multiple times the same line: \{-0,}
  • Replace 1. with 5$1: s/1\(.\)/5\1/cg

Vim regex examples#

  • dos2unix (<CTRL-v><CR> to enter ^M character): :1,$s/^M//g
  • To add a # in front to a selection: :'<,'>s/^\(.\)/#\1/g
  • To prepend a XXXX in front of each line of a block: :'<,'>s/^/XXXX/
  • Replace //... Ppe with //... PPE: :%s/\(\/\/.*\)Ppe/\1PPE/cg
  • Replace /* XXXX */ with // XXXX: :%s/\/\*\(.*\)\*\//\/\/\1/cg

Tags#

  • Show tag stack: :tags
  • Jump to tag: :tag TAG
  • List matching tags: :ts[elect] TAG
  • Split window :tag: :stag TAG

Jump to the tag under the cursor#

  • CTRL-]
  • Use :tselect instead of :tag: g]

Preview / split tag#

  • Split horizontally and get to the tag under the cursor: CTRL-W ]
  • Preview window for the tag under cursor: CTRL-W g}

  • Close all the preview windows: CTRL-W z

  • Pop from the stack: CTRL-t

Indent#

  • Get help: :help cinoptions, :help cinoptions-values
  • To reindent the current block: =a{

Quickfix#

  • Help quickfix: :help quickfix

Make#

:let &makeprg="cd /home/saggese/src/zs/trunks/tree2/build/host/; make"

Grep and quickfix#

> \grep -n -R "dbg.dassert" | tee /tmp/tmp
> vi -c "cfile /tmp/tmp"

Quickfix: open window with all matches#

  • :copen
  • Jump to n-th error: :cc n

Go to prev / next quickfix#

  • Prev: :cp or <F9>

  • Next: :cn or <F10>

  • Show current error: :cc

Marks#

  • List all the current marks: :marks

Set a mark#

  • m[a-z]
  • Marks valid within on file: a-z

  • Marks (aka file marks) are valid between files: A-Z

  • Go to the corresponding parenthesis: %

  • Jump to beginning of line of mark: 'a

  • Jump to position of mark: `a

Delete mark#

  • :delmarks A

  • Delete all the marks: :delmarks A-Z 0-9 a-z [].^\" or KillMarks

  • Beginning-end sentence markers: ()

  • Beginning-end paragraph markers: {}

  • Alternate between last marks: `

Autocompletion#

// http://www.vim.org/tips/tip.php?tip_id=91

To find the matching words in insertion mode#

  • find matching word backwards: <CTRL-P>
  • find matching word forward: <CTRL-N>

Vimdiff#

  • vimdiff: go to prev difference: [c, <F9>
  • vimdiff: go to next difference: ]c, <F10>
  • vimdiff: get text: :diffget
  • vimdiff: copy next text: :diffput
  • vimdiff: refresh update: :diffupdate

vimdiff: Switch between vertical and horizontal split#

  • Vertical split: CTRL-w J
  • Horizontal split: CTRL-w H

SpellChecking#

  • To set the file: :setlocal spelllang=en_us, :set spellfile=~/.vim/spell/en.utf-8.add
  • To enable / disable the spelling: :setlocal spell / nospell
  • To go to the next/prev misspelled word: ]s, [s
  • To add to the local spell check: zg
  • To see spelling suggestions: z=
  • Accept the first suggestion: 1z=
  • To regenerate the .spl file after editing the .add file: :mkspell! ~/.vim/spell/en.utf-8.add

Folding#

  • Open all folds: zR
  • Close all folds: zM

  • Open current fold recursively: zO

  • Move the cursor to the next fold: zj

  • Move the cursor to the previous fold: zk

  • Jump to start/end of the fold: [z, ]z

  • Toggle fold: za

  • Toggle fold recursively: zA

Crypt#

  • Open file
  • Set :cm blowfish2 and enter password
  • Save :w

Functions#

  • How to write functions: http://vim.sourceforge.net/tips/tip.php?tip_id=32
  • Get help for functions: :help functions
  • Get help for script: :help script
  • http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=72
  • http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=197

Non-Ascii Editing#

Inserting non-printable chars#

  • To insert a tab, i.e., ^I: CTRL-v + TAB
  • To insert a return, i.e., ^M: CTRL-v + ENTER
  • To match non-ascii chars: /[^\x00-\x7F]

Hex editing#

  • To see character under the cursor: ga
  • To show non-printable characters: :set display=uhex
  • To open a file in hex form: vim -b datafile, :%!xxd

Digraphs#

//Greek/math symbols in gvim with // http://www.alecjacobson.com/weblog/?p=443 // http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/mathchart.html

  • to see all the symbols: :digraphs

  • triple equality: CTRL-k =3

  • belongs: CTRL-k (-
  • there exists: CTRL-k TE
  • for all: CTRL-k FA

Useful Packages#

Commentify#

  • Comment the selected block out with: :norm i# (lower case i)
  • To uncomment, highlight your block again, and uncomment with: :norm ^x
  • Toggle: :TC
  • Comment: :CC
  • Uncomment: :UC
  • To prepend a XXXX in front of each line of a block: :'<,'>s/^/XXXX/

vim-commentary#

  • Plugin: tpope/vim-commentary (https://github.com/tpope/vim-commentary)
  • Install via vim-plug: add Plug 'tpope/vim-commentary' to .vimrc, then run :PlugInstall
  • Comment/uncomment current line: gcc
  • Comment/uncomment a motion or visual selection: gc{motion}, e.g. gcap, or gc in visual mode

ctags#

  • Jump to the tag underneath the cursor: g] or :tag CTRL+(gr)
  • Jump back up in the tag stack: Ctrl-t
  • Jump to next / prev matching tag: :tn, :tp

  • List the tags that match : :ts[elect] <tag_name>

  • Preview window (horizontal split): :pts[elect] <tag_name>

  • Open a preview window with the location of the tag definition: Ctrl + w }
  • Close preview window: :pc

  • Show the contents of the tag stack: :tags

  • Copy word under cursor to command line: CTRL + (gr)

Alternate#

  • Switches to the file corresponding to the current file being edited: :A
  • Splits and switches: :AS
  • Vertical splits and switches: :AV
  • New tab and switches: :AT
  • Cycles through matches: :AN
  • Switches to file under cursor: :IH
  • Splits and switches: :IHS
  • Vertical splits and switches: :IHV
  • New tab and switches: :IHT
  • Cycles through matches: :IHN
  • Switches to file under cursor: <Leader>ih
  • Switches to the alternate file of file under cursor: <Leader>is
  • (e.g. on switches to foo.cpp): ``
  • Cycles through matches: <Leader>ihn

ShowMarks#

  • Help about marks: :tab help showmarks
  • Toggles ShowMarks on and off.: \mt
  • Hides an individual mark.: \mh
  • Hides all marks in the current buffer.: \ma
  • Places the next available mark.: \mm

Cscope#