Tips & Snips

gistfile1.md

Terminal:

• OPTION + LEFT / RIGHT skips words backwards/forwards.
• CTRL + k deletes everything at the right of the cursor.
• CTRL + u deletes everything at the left of the cursor.

Vim:

• in Command Mode:

  • gg/G goes to start/end of file.

    • 39gg moves cursor to line 39.
    • 39G moves cursor to line 39.

  • H/M/L moves to top/middle/bottom of screen.

  • f/F character finds forwards/backwards a character.

    • 3ft looks for the 3rd 't' after the cursor.
    • dft delete up to 't'

  • t/T character goes to cursor posititon adjacent to the character.

  • ;/, repeats command regarding f and t forwards and backwards.

  • yanking:

    • ye copies until the end of word (doesn't copy extra whitespace)
    • yt) copy from cursor until parenthesis.
    • Y/yy copies the whole line.

  • text objects:

    • caw 'change around word'
    • cis change inner sentence
    • cas change around sentence (like cis but also deletes extra whitespace
    • diw delete inside word. Deletes word under cursor (excluding whitespace).
    • daw delete around word. Deletes word under cursor (including whitespace).
    • dG delete until the end of file.
    • dgg delete until the start of file.
    • ~ change case of char(s) under cursor.
    • I move to the first non-blank character in the line, then go to insert mode.
    • Visual mode:
      • 2as selects two sentences.

  • w/W moves to the beginning of the next word.

    • 3d2w will repeat d2w 3 times.

  • e/E moves to the end of next word.

  • g + e/E moves to the last end of word/WORD.

  • b/B moves backwards, with cursor at end of word.

  • x/dl deletes what's under the cursor.

  • X/dh backspace.

  • D/d$ deletes from cursor until the end of line.

  • C/c$ deletes from cursor until the end of line and then goes to insert mode.

  • s/cl deletes the character under cursor, and goes to insert mode.

  • S deletes the whole line and then goes to insert mode.

  • r some_character replaces char under cursor with some_character

    • r <Enter> will replace a character with a line break.
    • 4r <Enter> will replace 4 characters with a line break.

  • R replace mode.

  • A appends end of line.

  • a appends after cursor.

  • p/P pastes before/after cursor (line, if in visual block mode).

    • xp swaps two characters.

  • Vp pastes to current line.

  • . repeats the last change. Works for all changes except undo, redo, and : commands.

    • Use case example:
      • /some_search_string searches for the nearest occurence of the search string.
      • r<Enter> replace char under cursor with some line break.
      • n goes to the next instance of the search.
      • . repeats the last change (i.e. r<Enter>).

  • v enter visual mode.

    • o/O goes to start/end of selection (works for visual block mode, too).

  • <CTRL>v shifts to visual block mode.

    • Great for editing tabular data!

  • #/* searches backwards/forwards for word under cursor.

  • % jumps between matching pairs([], etc.)

    • 50% moves cursor halfway to the end of file.

  • CTRL + T goes back to last buffer.

  • :! + some_external_command executes the external command.

  • :r <Filename> inserts the file contents to buffer.

  • :r !ls reads the output of the ls command and puts it below the cursor.

  • :<some_partial_name_of_vim_command> <CTRL + D> will show the list of commands that start out with the some_partial_name_of_vim_command string

  • Telling where you are:

    • :set ruler displays the absolute line number and horizontal position of cursor.
    • :set number displays absolute line numbers.
    • CTRL + G displays current file path.

  • Scrolling:

    • CTRL + f/ b moves up/down a whole screen.
    • CTRL + u/ d moves up/down half a screen.
    • CTRL + e/ y moves up/down 1 line.
    • z + t/z/b positions line where cursor exists to top/mid/bottom.

  • Searching:

    • :set ic/noic turns on/off ignore case of the searched string.
    • :/blah\c will search for "blah" with ignored case.
      • /<Up> shows the previously searched item.
    • • */# goes to the next/last occurence of the item under the cursor.
        • can be prepended by a count.
    • Searching for whole words
      • /the will include words such as 'the', 'there', etc.
      • /\<the\> will include 'the', but not 'there', nor 'atheist'.
    • Highlighting matches:
      • :set hls/nohls turns on/off highlighting of the searched string.
      • :nohls disables the highlighting (until the next search)
    • Tuning search:
      • :set incsearch/nois displays the matches as you type the string to be searched/disables incremental search.
      • :set nowrapscan stops going back to the top after the file reaches the end.
    • Search patterns:
      • /^the will match string 'the' that start out in the beginning of a line.
      • the$ will match string 'the' that end out in the beginning of a line.
      • /c.m will match strings such as 'camera', 'community', etc.
        • after\. will match strings 'after.'
    • Marks:
      • '' or `` moves the cursor backwards and forwards.
        • CTRL + o/i jumps cursor to even earlier/later positions (even across files), without setting marks!
        • :jumps gives you a list of lines to jump to.
      • Named Marks:
        • m<some_char> marks the spot of the cursor.
          • if some_char is uppercase, mark becomes global (accessible in all files.)
        • `<some_char> goes to the mark associated to some character.
        • :marks displays all the named marks.
          • :marks MCP shows lines associated to marks 'M', 'C', 'P'.
        • Special marks:
          • ' was the previous location before the last jump.
          • " was the cursor position before leaving the file.
          • [ was the start of the last change.
          • } was the end of the last change.
          • . position where you last made the change.
      • :marks shows list of marks.

  • Configuration:

    • :map shows all mappings.
      • might be a good idea to add mappings for common stuff.
        • Wrap word with parenthesis, curly braces, or '[]'

  • Editing more than one file.

    • :edit <filename> opens the file in the current buffer.
      • Vim will close the file and open the new one.
    • :write/:w writes the file.
    • :edit! <some_file> discards the changes and edits the new file.
    • :hide edit <some_file> edits some_file, but not write changes in the current file yet.
    • in the terminal, vim file-a file-b file-c
      • :next/:n or :previous/:p go to the next/previous file.
      • :next!/:n! discard changes of current file and go to the next.
      • :wnext/:wprevious to save current file and go to the next/previous file.
    • :args shows you where you are.
    • :args file1 file2 file3 redefines files to be opened.
      • <CTRL>-^ lets you move quickly from file to file.
        • Note: Doesn't change the idea of where you are. Only commands like :next, :previous do.
    • Using registers:
      • "fyas saves yanked-around-sentence to 'f' register.
      • "e3Y saves 3 lines to 'e' register.
      • "fp pastes whatever is saved onto the 'f' register.
      • CTRL-V_jjwb"ay go Visual mode, do stuff, save to register 'a'.
      • "wdaw delete a word and save to register 'w'.

  • Writing to a file

    • :write >> logfile appends to file called logfile.
    • SHIFT-Vjj:write appends to file called logfile, the two selected lines.

  • Viewing a file

    • vim -R file edits the file in read-only mode. Can save if :w!
    • vim -M file opens the file strictly in read-only mode. Unmodifiable.
    • While in viewer mode:
      • :set modifiable
      • :set write

  • Changing the file name

    • :edit file
    • :saveas file renames the open file to 'file' and saves it.
    • :file file renames the file to 'file' without saving it.

  • Splitting Windows

    • Split a window
      • :split/:sp
      • :vsplit/:vsp
    • Close a window
      • :close
    • Closing all other windows
      • :only
    • Split a window on another file
      • :split file
      • :new will open a horiz split on a new file.
    • Window Size
      • :3sp file opens the file with 3 lines as height.
      • CTRL-W10 +/- increases or decreases size by 10. {height}CTRL-W _ sets the window height to a specified num of lines.
    • Vertical splits
      • :vsplit
      • :vsplit file
      • :vertical new/:vnew
    • Moving between windows
      • CTRL + any one of hjkl to move around.
      • CTRL-Wt moves to the TOP window.
      • CTRL-Wb moves to the BOTTOM window.
      • CTRL-W w/W cycles to the next/previous window.
    • Moving windows
      • CTRL-W HJKL
    • Commands for all windows
      • :qall quits all
      • :qall! quits all (forcefully, if needed).
      • :wall writes all
    • Opening a window for all arguments.
      • vim -o a b c d will open files a, b, c. d onto horizontal splits.
      • vim -O a b c d will open files a, b, c. d onto vertical splits.
    • vimdiff
      • ...
    • various
      • :leftabove {cmd} left or above the current window
      • :aboveleft {cmd} idem
      • :rightbelow {cmd} right or below the current window
      • :belowright {cmd} idem
      • :topleft {cmd} at the top or left of the Vim window
      • :botright {cmd} at the bottom or right of the Vim window
    • Tab pages
      • :tabedit/:tabe file
      • g t/T go to next/previous tab.
      • tab split makes a new tab page with one window that is editing the same buffer as the window we were in.
      • :tab help gt opens a new help gt tab.
      • :tabonly closes all tab pages except the current one. Unless there are unsaved changes in other tab pages.

  • Making big changes

    • Record and playback commands
      • q{register} starts recording keystrokes. {register} must be in the range of 'a-z' * Type your commands.
      • @{register} to execute the commands.
        • 3@l, for example, executes the command(s) associated with the register 'l'.