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Vim - text editor

Basic navigation​

  • h -- Move left
  • j -- Move down
  • k -- Move up
  • l -- Move right
  • Ctrl + d -- Scroll down
  • Ctrl + u -- Scrole up
  • H -- Move to the top line on screen
  • M -- Move to the middle line on screen
  • L -- Move to Bottom line on screen
  • gg -- Move to the first line of the file
  • G -- Move to the last line of the file
  • :20,20G, or 20gg -- Move to the line 20 of the file
  • 0 or ^ -- Move to the beginning of current line, then remain normal mode
  • $ -- Move to the end of current line, then remain normal mode
  • I -- Move to the beginning of current line, then enter insert mode
  • A -- Move to the end of current line, then enter insert mode

Optional navigation​

  • 10h -- Move left 10 characters
  • 10j -- Move down 10 lines

Editing​

Basic editing

  • a -- Append after cursor - [ Normal Mode => Insert Mode ]
  • i -- Insert before cursor - [ N => I ]
  • o -- Open new line below - [ N => I ]
  • O -- Open new line above - [ N => I ]
  • u -- Undo - [ N ]
  • Ctrl + r -- Redo - [ N ]
  • D or d$ -- Delete from cursor to the end - [ N ]
  • d0 or d^ -- Delete from cursor to the beginning - [ N ]
  • dw -- Delete one word from top of the word - [ N ]
  • db -- Delete one word from bottom of the word - [ N ]
  • :%s/old/new/g -- Replace all old with new throughout file - [ N ]
  • :%s/old/new/gc -- Replace all old with new throughout file with interactive confirmations - [ N ]

Optional editing

  • Ctrl+u -- Delete from cursor to the beginning - [ Insert Mode ]
  • :r file -- Insert file after current line - [ Command Mode ]

Opening, closing and saving files​

Basics​

  • :w -- Save the current file
  • :wq -- Save the current file and close it
  • :w newname -- Save the current file as 'newname' but continue editing the original file
  • :sav newname -- Save the current file as 'newname' and start editing the 'newname' file
  • :q! -- Close a file without saving
  • :e filename Opens a file in the current buffer

Optional​

  • ZZ -- Same as :wq
  • :x -- Write any changes to the file and close the file

Mode switching​

  • i -- Enter insert mode
  • : -- Enter command mode
  • R -- Enter replace mode
  • v -- Enter visual mode (highlighting)
  • V -- Enter visual line mode (highlighting lines)
  • Esc -- Return to normal mode from insert or replace mode
  • Esc+Esc -- Return to normal mode from command or visual mode
  • /word -- Find the next occurence of 'word'
  • /word/c -- Find the next occurence of 'word', ignoring case
  • :noh or :nohlsearch -- Un-highlight words

Vim Plugin​

Vim-plug​

Install vim-plug:

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

NERDTree and NERDTree Tabs -- a file system explorer and tabs​

Add these two plugins in the vim-plug:

Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree'
Plug 'jistr/vim-nerdtree-tabs'

My basic config for them:

" Toggle NERDTree by Ctrl + \
map <C-\> <plug>NERDTreeTabsToggle<CR>

" Open NERDTree at starting vim
let g:nerdtree_tabs_open_on_console_startup=1

" Show hidden files
let NERDTreeShowHidden=1

Tips​

Install Vim from source​

$ apt update
$ apt install -y git build-essential libncurses-dev
$ git clone https://github.com/vim/vim.git
$ cd vim
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
$ make
$ make install