Notes on playing with VIM

Three steps to learn how to use VIM efficiently:

　　i. do never touch your mouse
　　ii. memorize the key mapping in your mind and use them often
　　iii. just forget about the key mapping

 

Part I: Basic Cursor Movement

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　　　　k 　　　　 　　　　  up

　　h　　　  l　　=>　　left 　　 right

　　　　j 　　　　　　　　  down

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w => move the cursor to the first letter of the next word

W=> same as "w", but taking special signs together with alphabets to be a part of word.

e  => move the cursor to the last letter of the current word

E => same as "e", but taking special signs together with alphabets to be a part of word.

b  => move the cursor to the first letter of the previous word

B => same as "b", but taking special signs together with alphabets to be a part of word.

　　ps. "special signs" here exclude "_" that is often used in function and variable naming

　　pps. another way to understand the function of "W", "E" and "B":

　　　　only when reaching "space", will it be recognized as the separation of two words

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^  =>move the cursor to the first non-blank of the current line

0  =>move the cursor to the first position of the current line

$  =>move the cursor to the last position of the current line

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gg =>move the cursor to the beginning of the file

G  =>move the cursor to the end of the file

　　ps. (x)gg and (x)G will move the cursor to line (x)

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f(x)  =>find the first character of (x) after the cursor

F(x) =>find the first character of (x) before the cursor

Notice: the parenthesis () is only a gesture used for explaining down below. No need to type in VIM.

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Ctrl + e => roll down for one line

Ctrl + y => roll up for one line

Ctrl + d => roll down for half a screen

Ctrl + u => roll up for half a screen

Ctrl + f => roll down for a whole screen

Ctrl + b => roll up for a whole screen

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H => move the cursor to the first line of the current screen

M=> move the cursor to the middle line of the current screen

L => move the cursor to the last line of the current screen

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{ => move the cursor to the previous blank line

} => move the cursor to the next blank line

( => move the cursor to the previous blank line or the first line after the previous blank line

) => move the cursor to the next blank line or the first line after the next blank line

　　ps. a blank line is a complete empty line, with even no "space" inside

　　pps. these keys can be used for paragraph navigation

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# => search for the word under cursor upwards

* => search for the word under cursor downwards

/(x) => search the word (x) from the cursor to the end of file

?(x) => search the word (x) from the cursor to the top of file

n => find the next one match

N => find the previous one match

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% => match brackets

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-  => move the cursor to the first character of the previous line

+ => move the cursor to the first character of the next line

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m(x) => mark current character with an alphabet (x) as marking

`(x) => move to marking (x)

　　ps. `. => move to the lastest edit

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Part II: File Editting

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y(x)  => copy from the cursor to the position (x)

　　ps. yy  or Y => copy the current line

p  => paste after the cursor

　　ps. Shift + p=>paste at the beginning of the current line

:(x),(y) co (z)  => copy from line (x) to line (y), and paste after the line (z)

Notice: the parenthesis () is only a gesture used for explaining down below. No need to type in VIM.

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x => cut the current character under cursor

X => cut the character before cursor (i.e. backspace)

s => cut the current character under cursor and then enter insert mode

S => cut the current line and enter insert mode (same function as C)

d(x) => cut from the cursor to the position (x)

　　ps. dd => cut the current line

D => cut from the cursor to the end of the current line

c(x) => cut from the cursor to the position (x) and enter insert mode

　　ps. cc => cut the current line and enter insert mode

C => cut the current line and enter insert mode (same function as S)

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o => start a new line after the current line

O=> start a new line before the current line

J => combine the current line with the next line

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. => repeat the previous file edit action (exclude "undo" action or other command action)

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r(x) => replace current character with character (x)

R => enter REPLACE mode, allowing replacing the character one by one (hit "Esc" to exit)

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~ => character case switch (lower case to upper case, and backwards)

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:s/(x1)/(x2) => swap the next one of the word (x1) with the word (x2) in the current line

:%s/(x1)/(x2) => swap the first word (x1) with the word (x2) in every line

:s/(x1)/(x2)/g => swap all the words (x1) with the word (x2) in the current line

:%s/(x1)/(x2)/g => swap all the words (x1) with the word (x2) in every line

:(n1),(n2) s/(x1)/(x2)/g => swap all the words (x1) with the word (x2) from line (n1) to line (n2)

:g/^\s*$/d => delete all blank lines (^ is start of line; \s* is zero or more whitespace characters; $ is end of line) 

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"(x) => register to the address (x) of the registry

　　usage: "(x) can be followed by many actions like y(x) and p, etc.

　　ps. use :reg to browse the registry

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=(x) => formalize all lines from current line to the line of position (x)

　　ps. use == to formalize the current line

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To be continued...

 

Useful Combination Commands

Multiple Window Operations

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:sp (x) => split the current file into two windows, if (x) is neglected, otherwise, create a new file named (x) in the new window

:new (x) => split the window into two and create a new file named (x) in the new window

:sf (x) => split the window into two and open one existed file named (x) in the new window

:vsp (x) => same as :sp (x), but spliting the window into left and right parts

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:close => close the current window

:only => close all the windows except the current one

　　ps. :close and :only just close the window(s), the file are still in the buffer after closed.

　　　  Only quit commands like :q! or :wq can really close the current file.

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Ctrl + w + j/k => switch to window above (+k) or window below (+j)

Ctrl + w + h/l => switch to window on the left (+h) or window on the right (+l)

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:res(ize) (x) => resize the current window into the space of (x) lines

:res(ize)+(x) => enlarge the space of the current window for (x) lines

:res(ize)-(x) => narrow the space of the current window for (x) lines

　　ps. for window width resize operation, add vert(ical) to the front of the commands above

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Visual Mode Commands

General Commands

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u => undo

Ctrl + r => redo

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Ctrl + Shift + + => increase font size

Ctrl + Shift + -  => decrease font size

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:f (x) => rename the file as (x)

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Reference