Vim

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Vim (Vi IMproved), is a text editor derived from Vi. It's notoriously known for its steep learning curve, and user unfriendly interface. However, because of it's efficiency, variety of plugins, and customization options vim is one of the most popular text editors for programmers and *nix users (along with Emacs*). A graphical version gVim which provides a user with menus is also available.

*Note that The Cult of Vi has determined that using emacs may cause dry mouth, blurred vision, drowsiness, dizziness, profuse sweating, tremors, sexual problems, headache, nausea and abdominal pain.

1 Installation
2 Configuration
3 VIM quick start guide
4 Line Numbers and Jumping to Lines
5 Comparing or Merging 2 or more files (vimdiff and vsplit)
6 Vim Tutor
7 External links

[edit] Installation

vim depends on vi, so that must be installed first. However, since vi is part of the base installation most users should already have it.

pacman -S vim

[edit] Configuration

vim's configuation file is in a user's home directy (~/) and is named .vimrc. A sample .vimrc can be found in /etc/vimrc.

"Sample .vimrc
set nocompatible
set showmatch
set incsearch
set ignorecase  
set smartcase
set history=100
set backspace=eol,start,indent
set ruler
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab
set virtualedit=all
set background=dark
set vb t_vg=
set mouse=v
set textwidth=79
set formatoptions=tcrq

To install gvim (Just like vim but with gtk2 interface and listens to /etc/gvimrc and ~/.gvimrc)

pacman -S gvim

There is also a group of selected popular vim scripts available via pacman

pacman -S vim-plugins

[edit] VIM quick start guide

[edit] How to start vim

to start vim and edit a file (new or existing)

vim filename

to start vim and open a new file

vim

(You may name your file later when you save it.)

[edit] Modes

Vim is a modal editor. There are many modes, but the basic modes of vim are:

Insert mode, in which anything you type (except some special keys) will appear on the screen and become part of your file buffer. There are many insert modes. The most basic form of insert mode is entered by pressing i.
Command mode (also called normal mode), in which your key strokes are interpreted as commands. Command mode is entered by pressing <ESC>
ex mode, where you may save a file, split the screen, open additional files, etc. ex mode commands are preceded by a colon, :
Visual mode, which allows you to expediently cut, copy and pasted large areas of text with the keyboard or mouse. Visual mode is entered by pressing v

Open a new text file with vim:

vim mytext

After you start vim, you're in command mode.

Switch between modes

1. From command mode to insert mode, press i

Enter some text.

2. from insert mode to command mode, press <ESC>

You are now in command mode. Vim is waiting for your commands. Notice if you try typing, you get weird and unexpected results, because, well, you need to learn some commands, and Vim is not in insert mode.

3. Press <ESC> again to make sure you are truly in command mode and press : (colon)

Now you are in ex mode, which will allow us to save your first file. Type:

wq

for write and quit.

Your file is written and vim will exit. You have just utilized 3 of the main modes of vim.

We'll focus on visual mode later.

[edit] Navigation

In both the command mode and the insert mode, the arrow keys function to move the cursor, and with gvim you can mouse click to get to a new position. However, this is not the vim way. The most effective way of moving the cursor is to first enter the command mode by pressing ESC and then use vim's cursor-moving commands to move around. The 4 basic commands are

j move down one line

k move up one line

h move left one character

l move right one character

Remember: these commands work only in command mode. At first you may feel a bit uncomfortable. After you get familiar using these commands you will stick to them and forget the arrow keys.

Advanced movement:

0 (zero) move to the first character of a line

$ move to the last character of a line

w move to the first character of the next word

e move to the last character of the next word

( move to the beginning of the previous sentence

) move to the beginning of the next sentence

{ move to the beginning of the current paragraph

} move to the beginning of the next paragraph

PGUP or <CTRL>F move up one page

PGDOWN or <CTRL>B move down one page

H move cursor to the top left

L move to the bottom of the screen.

:25 go to line 25

G move to end of file

[edit] How to delete text

First I will tell you that the DELETE key always works, and the BACKSPACE key works with the newly typed text in the insert mode. However, I suggest you do not use them. Instead, force yourself to use vim's deletion commands.

1. Make sure you are in command mode by pressing <ESC>

2. move the cursor to the character you want to delete

3. press x , this character disappears

x is just one of the many powerful deletion commands. Remember, try to use the cursor motion commands j k h l to locate your target, and don't leave the command mode.

[edit] How to insert text

While in command mode, move the cursor to the desired location.

i enter insert mode. This will insert before the current character.

a enter append mode. This will append text after the current character.

I move the cursor to the beginning of the current line and subsequently enter insert mode.

A move the cursor to the end of the current line and subsequently enter insert append mode.

o create a new blank line below the current line into which you can insert text.

O (capital O) To create a new line above the current line.

cc cut and replace the entire current line with a new line.

c$ cut and replace everything from the current cursor position to the end of the line.

c0 replace everything from the current cursor position to the beginning of the line.

To re-enter command mode, press <esc>

[edit] How to CUT, COPY and PASTE

If you run the GUI version of vim, gvim, you can use mouse and the pull-down menus to do that---the same fashion with other editors. However, that is not the preferred style. You'll feel better off if you can live without a mouse.

1. Enter command mode by pressing ESC

2. Move the cursor to the line which you want to copy, by pressing j or k

3. press

yy

to make a copy of the line, or

dd

to cut it and make a copy

4. now move cursor (by pressing k or j) to the the location where you want to put this copy

5. press

to put the buffer after the current line, or

to put the buffer before the current line

If you want to copy or cut several lines, put a number before the yy or dd command, like

8yy

to copy 8 lines.

[edit] CUT, COPY and PASTE with Visual mode

Visual mode is like Command mode, but the movement commands extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement command is used, it is executed for the highlighted area. Cutting, copying and pasting large sections of text is more efficient in visual mode.

Hit v to enter visual mode from command mode, then use the cursor to go up or down. As you do, the lines of text will become highlighted. (You may also use the mouse to highlight areas of text)

To copy the highlighted section or 'yank':

To cut the highlighted section or 'delete':

To paste or 'put'

to place it before, or

for after.

[edit] Undo and Redo

Now that you have learned how to cut and delete, you may need to undo some mistakes

will undo the last function. Pressing it repeatedly will undo successive functions. Likewise, use

Ctrl-R

to redo.

[edit] How to search for a word

Suppose you want to find all the words apple in your file

1. Make sure you are in command mode by hitting ESC

2. type

/apple

followed by ENTER to find an occurrence of apple. When you type the slash, it and the following characters will be shown on the bottom of the screen. After you press ENTER, the cursor will go to the first occurrence of apple if found, and the target will be highlighted.

3. after you got the first apple, you can keep typing

to find other apples

Suppose you want to search for the word under the current cursor position there's no need to type the word. Instead

1. Make sure you are in command mode by hitting ESC

2. type

this will highlight the word under the curser. Then just like before use

to jump to the next occurence of word you're searching for.

Hint: With default settings the search stops when you hit the end of the file. To make searches wrap around the end of a file add

 set wrapscan

to your ~/.vimrc.

[edit] How to substitute text

First make sure you're in command mode by pressing <ESC>.

to replace a single character, move the cursor over the character and hit r followed by its replacement.

The following commands utilize ex. Recall from above that ex commands are all preceded by a colon, :

replace first occurrence of old in current line with new

:s/old/new/

replace all occurrence of old in current line with new

:s/old/new/g

replace the first occurrence of old in each line between line n1 and n2 with new

:n1,n2s/old/new/

replace all occurrence of oldbetween line n1 and n2 with new

:n1,n2s/old/new/g

replace all occurrence of old in the whole buffer with new, prompt for confirmation.

:1,$s/old/new/gc

replace all occurrence of old in the whole buffer with new, prompt for confirmation.

:%s/old/new/gc

[edit] How to exit vim

To save and exit: press <ESC> to enter command mode, then use ex:

:wq

:x

or, from command mode, without ex:

ZZ

to save your file as newname before exiting:

press <ESC> to enter command mode, then type

:wq newname

To exit without saving, press <ESC>, then type

:q

Forced quit

If :q doesn't work, it's probably because you didn't save the change. If you want to save, use :wq. If you don't want to save the changes, type

:q!

[edit] Line Numbers and Jumping to Lines

Showing all line numbers - to show line numbers for a document, in insert mode, type :set number
Jumping to a line - If you want to jump to a particular line in a file, in insert mode, type :<line number>, for example, :43 to jump to line #43.

[edit] Comparing or Merging 2 or more files (vimdiff and vsplit)

Occasionally, you may need to compare or merge multiple files.

Hypothetical 1

While editing ~/.bashrc,

vim ~/.bashrc

you recall there are some global environment variables set within /etc/profile that you would like to merge into ~/.bashrc.

Simply enter ex mode and invoke vsplit:

:vsplit

which will split the screen, and then re-enter ex mode and load /etc/profile with the e command:

:e /etc/profile

to load /etc/profile into the newly split window.

Recall from above that

CTRL-w

and then h and l will allow you to switch windows.

Subsequently invoking vsplit from ex mode will again split your sessions, so it is possible to compare 3, 4 or more files.

Hypothetical 2

After a pacman -Syu, pacman warns you that there are files to be merged, saved with the extension .pacnew

Invoke vimdiff from the shell:

$ vimdiff filename filename.pacnew

Recall from above that

CTRL-w

and then h and l will allow you to switch windows.

Cursor location will indicate the window for which commands will affect.

[edit] Vim Tutor

For more, run:

vimtutor

from a shell. Vim will open the tutor file.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vim"

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