introduction to vim

Vim - The Hacker’s Editor

Vysakh Sreenivasan

vysakh.quora.comvysakh0 - twitter/facebook

April 29, 2013

Table of Contents

1 VimHistoryVi BasicsAdvancedPluginsResources and Links

Vysakh Sreenivasan (vysakh.quora.com) Vim - The Hacker’s Editor April 29, 2013 2 / 35

Billion Dollar Editor

What is the big deal?

Vi, that got its start in 1976.- Grand Daddy!Moving: if IDEs walk, vim swingsDefault in most OSesIncreases Productivity!!Most Hackers use!The last editor you would use!

How do Vim users feel :)

Vim History

Line and Screen Editors

History of Text editors in a nutshell

Basic Line editor - Ed editor - made by Ken Thompson

Advanced line editor Ex editor

Screen Editor - you could see stuff while editing :) Vi

An improved Vi - Vim

Vim History

Vim Vi Basics

Fire up Vim

vim filenameOpens up vim with a filename.

:w - to save:q - to quit:wq or :x - to save and quit:q! - to quit without saving.:e filename - to open another file:r filename - to read content from one file into current file

Vim Vi Basics

Insert - Only for typing!!!i to insert in the cursor positionI to insert in the beginning of linea to append after cursor positionA to append at the end of the lineo to insert a new line belowO to insert a new line above

Command - delete/copy/paste/movement/..Ctrl + C or Ctrl+ [ or esc

Vim Vi Basics

Modes contd..

Ex mode - Similar to ex editor

:wq - begins with a colon, followed by commands.:g/re/p - grep was inspired from ex editor. This prints the lines whichhas ”re”

Visual - For Selectionv Selects charactersV Selects rows/lines

Ctrl+v Selects block/column

Vim Vi Basics

ctrl+w+s or :sp - split horizontallyctrl+w+v or :vsp - split verticallyctrl+w+w - move next pane

Vim Vi Basics

:tabe filename To open a file in a new tabgt To move to next tab

gT To move to prev tab

Vim Vi Basics

Movements

j - points downwards!k - the straight k line points upwards

Vim Vi Basics

More on key combo

diw - delete the word where the cursor is in. dw - deletes letters fromcursor till next word.ciw - changes the word where cursor is in.di’ d“ di{ di( di[ replaces words inside ’ ” { ( [

Vim Vi Basics

Search, Replace

Search /searchwordSearch current word *Search and Replace :%s/search/replace/g

% - every lines (without that, only current line)s - substituteg - replace all occurences (without that, only firstoccurence)

Vim Vi Basics

Play around with ex editor/ex mode

ex filename (will open the file)i (to insert words). (in the next line will end inserting)p (to print current line)%p (to print all lines)a (to append at the bottom). (full stop in next will end appending)

Vim Vi Basics

t$ (copy current line to the end of the file)1,3m5 (move 1-3 lines after 5th line)c (to change the current line)w (to write/save changes)wq (to save and quit)q (to quit)e filename (to edit the file)

Vim Vi Basics

Ctrl+win insert mode will backspace the word you are typing. Also works in shell.

JCapital j will join two lines.

gfIf the cursor is on a word sample, the command gf would open the filesample if it is present in current directory

giGo back to the place where you are editing. Handy command when youare in the middle of your typing and go to command mode to fix issues.

Vim Advanced

Omni complete

Ctrl + n or Ctrl + p (in insert mode, handy when calling functions)Ctrl + x + k - dictionary completionCtrl + x + f - file name autocompletion

Vim Advanced

Macros

Records set of actions - qm or qa or qb (begin with q)To repeat the recorded macro - @m or @a or @b (begin with @followed by the letter)

Vim Advanced

Mark your position in the file - ml or mb or mq (begin with m)Go to the marked position - ’l or ’b or ’q (begin with ’ followed bycorresponding letter)

Vim Advanced

Ctrl + o - to go the previous position in your files.ctrl + i - to go to the next position in your files.:jumps - to see all the jumps

Vim Advanced

Registers

”kyy - Copying the current line to k register”kp - Pasting the line from k register”Kyy - Appending to the k register”kp - Paste the lines from k register

Vim Advanced

norm in ex mode

:1,3 norm I WowThis would add the add word Wow at the beginning of 1-3 lines

:[range] norm [Commands]

Vim Advanced

What we have learnt now?

Vim Plugins

.vimrc

The file .vimrcYou could customize your vim setup

Vim Plugins

Plugins - installation

Plugin ManagersUse Vundle.(latest one) or Pathogen.

Vim Plugins

Plugins I use

NERDTreeNerdcommenterCtrl+Pdwmsurroundsnipmaterails.vimsupertabLaTeXBox

Vim Plugins

New Plugins which is worth a try

gist vimWriting your gist files in Vim :D

Etherpad vimYup! Etherpad in Vim! :) Also check out remote pair programming usingVim

In browserVimium in Chrome! is way awesome.Pentadactly in Firefox. (not sure if it is active)

Vim Resources and Links

Learn Vim

vimtutor (in terminal after installing Vim):help thingyouwantosearch (inside Vim)openvim.comvimcasts.comusevim.orgplenty more

Vim Resources and Links

Why waiting?

introduction to vim

Technology

vim swingsdefault

vim historyline

vim users

hackers use

linksvysakh sreenivasan

blockcolumnvysakh sreenivasan

nutshellvysakh sreenivasan

escvysakh sreenivasan