vim cheatsheet

Get Help

:help - open the help docs. Ctrl+w - o to open help docs in full screen.

:helpgrep <term> - find help for a specific term. Use :cnext and :cprevious to cycle through matches.

Ctrl-] to follow a link, Ctrl-t to go back.

Plug (Plugin Manager)

Installation instructions

Install plugins

Use :PlugInstall.

Note: :PlugInstall will only be available after plug#start() ... plug#end() blocks in have been added to .vimrc.

Delete plugins

1. Delete the Plug line(s) from the .vimrc.
2. Source the .vimrc (:source % or :so % if .vimrc is open in buffer).
3. Call :PlugClean.

Cursor and files

Ctrl-g - show location in a file and file status

:r FILE - read FILE and insert its contents where cursor is

:r !<cmd> - execute command and insert its output where cursor is

o - open a line below cursor and go to insert mode, O to open a line above.

r - replace single character, R to replace more than one character.

Configurations

Tabs and Indentation

set cindent - Enable "C style" indenting. Example: when you type if (flag) { and hit enter, the next line will be indented. When you type the closing } of the block, unindenting will happen.

set shiftwidth=N - use N spaces for each step of indent when using cindent.

set tabstop=N - number of white spaces for a single tab. Whenever spaces add up to the size of tabstop, they are turned into a single tab character. This can be prevented by setting expanddtab.

set expandtab - replace tab character with spaces.

set softtabstop=N - move N spaces when pressing TAB and erasing tabs. A value of 0 disables softtabstop and gives regular tab. A negative value means fall back to shiftwidth. (See What is softtabstop used for?)

Syntax highlighting

syntax on - enable syntax highlighting.

Splits

set splitbelow - open split pane below open pane

set splitright - open split pane to the right of open pane

Line numbers

set [no]number - absolute line numbers, set [no]rnu - relative line numbers.

Others

To check for configured value, use ?, e.g. :set tabstop?.

View whitespace characters

Add to .vimrc:

set listchars=eol:$,tab:>·,trail:~,extends:>,precedes:<,space:·

Show the special characters using :set list and hide them using :set nolist

Indenting

== - Correct indentation of the current line.

gg=G - Re-indent the entire file.

>> - Increase indentation of current line.

<< - Decrease indentation of the current line.

Folding

Reference

zc - close fold

zo - open fold

za - toggle fold

To operate on all nested folds, use capital letter after z, i.e. zC, zO, zA.

zr - open one level of folds throughout buffer (regardless of cursor position)

zR - open all folds in file

zm - close one level of folds throughout buffer (regardless of cursor position)

zM - close all folds in file

Searching

/ to start search, ? to search in backward direction.

n to search again, N to search again in opposite direction.

% to find matching bracket.

Repeat search

After searching, an empty search pattern will repeat the last search. This works with /, :s and :g.

Source: https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Searching

Find a character x in the current line

• f-x: find the next occurence of the character
• F-x: find the previous occurence of the character
• ;: repeat in direction of search
• ,: repeat in reverse direction of search

Search for a string in the register

After pressing / to enter a search string, you can then use Ctrl+R and type the letter representing the register that you want to use.

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2312844/vim-yank-into-search-register

Search and replace

:#,#s/old/new/g - replace between line numbers (inclusive)

:%s/old/new/g - replace in entire file

:%s/old/new/gc - replace in entire file with prompt

• y - substitute
• n -skip
• a - substitute this and all remaining matches
• q - quit command
• l - substitute this match and quit
• ^E - scroll screen up
• ^Y - scroll screen down

Change current working directory

In Vim: :cd

In NERDTree: Focus on node in NERDTree tab that needs to be set as cwd and press keys cd

NERDTree

Open selected node in a new tab: place cursor on the folder and press t.

Open file/folder menu: press m.

Buffers

• Open buffer in split
  • Horizontal split: :sb N
  • Vertical split: vert sb N
• Open a new file in split mode
  • Horizontal split: :sp filename
  • Vertical split: :vsp filename

Splits

• Move split to right - C-W L

• Move split to a new tab - C-W T

• Resize all windows to equal dimensions based on their splits - C-W =
• Resize height of current window - C-W + / -
• Resize width of current window - C-W < / >

Highlighting

• Highlight all occurences of word under cursor (*)
• Highlight all occurences of words that contain word under cursor (g*)
• Hide all highlights - :noh
• Highlight search results - :set hlsearch

Navigation

• Go to definition of method under cursor - gd
• Go to file under cursor - gf
• Open file under cursor in new split - C-W C-F

• Go back - C-O, Go forward - C-I

• Move line under cursor to the center of screen - zz (lowercase, uppercase ZZ is for save and exit)
• Move line under cursor to top of screen - zt
• Move line under cursor to bottom of screen - zb

FZF

• Open file in horizontal split - C-x
• open file in vertical split - C-v

Inserting a character as it is

Problem: when pressing TAB, the tab character is automatically converted to spaces (because of expandtab)

Solution: Press Ctrl + V and then press TAB. Works in insert and command (: at bottom) mode.

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6951672/how-can-i-insert-a-real-tab-character-in-vim

Regular expressions with magic

Any Vim search pattern can include the special sequence \v (very magic), and this will make every following character except a-zA-Z0-9 and _ have special meaning. Using \V has the opposite effect: all characters have their literal meaning and must be preceded by \ to activate their special meaning.

Source: https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Simplifying_regular_expressions_using_magic_and_no-magic

Copying text across vim instances

Copied text is stored in registers in vim. ⊕More about registers: Vim registers: The basics and beyond

The * and + registers are used for the system clipboard. They can also be used to copy text across vim instances.

Copy to one of these from one vim instance: " * y

Paste from it in another vim instance: " * p